Newspaper Page Text
FOURTEEN
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
MAY 28. 1938
Social Hygiene Leaders Hear
Moral Element’s Importance
Cited by Father McNamara
Diocesan School Superintendent at Recent State
Hygiene Council Conference Points Out That Problem
Is Not Entirely Physical But Moral and Psychological
At a recent conference of the Geor
gia Social Hygiene Council at the At
lanta Athletic Club, the part that re
ligious organizations can play in the
movement was discussed by the Rev.
W. A. Shelton, Rabbi Samuel Sand-
mel and Father T. J. McNamara, the
Rev. A.J. Moncrief, pastor of the First
Baptist Church, presiding. Father Mc
Namara's address follows:
I am happy to be associated with
you in formulating a state-wide pro
gram on this all-important subject of
Social Hygiene. I say, all-important,
because Social Hygiene seeks to safe
guard the family and the family is
not merely the unit of Government
but is as well the Unit of Human So
ciety.
It would seem to me that working
within the framework of a govern
ment such as ours the solution to our
problem should be readily at hand.
Our conception of Democracy finds its
basic and inspirational principles in
that classic of all literature, the Bible,
which all Christian bodies and the
Jew likewise hold in the highest rev
erence. If then we are to be loyal to
the womb in which this nation of ours
was conceived and out of which it
was born, then it would seem to me
that we must ever hold fast and seek
to manifest in our lives, both indi
vidually and collectively, those glori
ous realities in time, which are but
faint reflections of the Ultimate Re
ality of eternity.
To be more specific, we must show
a living conviction of man’s dignity,
a dignity, which is comprehended
within the scope of reason and free
dom. We are men, not angels; con
sequently we are partly body and not
just a soul. We are a composite being,
body-soul. man. We should _ never
have any false idea that we will ever
be able, or even ought to wish, to ig
nore that. It is as much as our soul is,
and God is not going to save us in
defiance or even in disregard of our
nature, but only in and through it.
Reason shows us that this body of
ours has several instincts in it, chief
ly that of self-preservation, which
lends to acquiring property; and of
self-reproduction. All these instincts
should be kept in order and subordi
nated to right reason. We can, if we
wish, however, allow them to get the
upper hand and thus enslave us, make'
us their victims and thus in conse
quence end as does the first under
such circumstances by making us
gluttons, or drunkards, or men of in-
controlled temper; or as does the sec
ond under such circumstances,
making us kleptomaniacs; or as does
the third, the instinct of self-repro
duction, under such circumstances,
sexual maniacs. All of them, that is
all of these instincts are good in them
selves and if managed by right reason
make man’s dignity manifest in his
living.
In regard to the instinct of self-re-
production, as a justification for its
abuse, the statement; “Well after all,
it’s natural!” I suppose no formula is
more often used about anything than
this is about this topic. It is a half-
truth, and that is why it sounds so
plausable. In a man, such actions, un
controlled. are partly natural; they
correspond to instinct. But if they are
duly controlled, they are fully natural
for then they correspond to instinct
and reason. If we act simply and sole
ly from instinct we cut out nature,
so to speak, in half, and act as does
the animal, because we cut away the
very part that makes us human.
Therefore, to let ourselves go to in
stinct is not being humanly-natural,
to possess instinct and control it, is.
To control it, we mainifest that liber
ty, that freedom, which is essential to
our being, if it is to have that char- -
acteristic dignity .which is the pri
mary conception of our Philosophy of
Government.
To express it otherwise, we must
show by our lives that subjects not
only exclude from the Kingdom of
Heaven but from the society of men
as well. We must demonstrate in our
lives the conviction that lust takes
on all the malice, all the heinousness,
all the loathsomeness of the complet
ed sin. In a word, we should show by
our speech and by our action, that the
principle of conduct we have set
ourselves, by way of attaining and
sustaining that human dignity, which
is basic to our conception of govern
ment, is the principle expressed suc-
cintly in the two Latin words; “Obsta
principiis,” that is we do not merely
concern ourselves with external acts
and their consequences, with social
EVERYBODY
AGREES
SOUTHERN
MILK
BREAD
■prKts
★MADE WITH
MILK AND
BUTTER
CAROLINA RAKING CO.
Columbia, S. C.
Holy Father Lauds Jesuits
as General Meeting Closes
diseases, but rather we are chiefly
concerned with those things, which,
unchecked and uncontrolled, lead
to destruction, individually and so
cially. Our chief concern then is with
thoughts. The root of the whole mat
ter is the mind. As our thoughts, so
(almost invariably) will be our be
haviour. At least no man’s behaviour
is likely to be bad, unless his thoughts
are bad first. We are what our
thoughts are.
To sum up. In formulating, a state
wide program of Social Hygiene, we
must not deal with the subject mere
ly from the physical side, and again
not merly from the spiritual side,
but we must deal with it from what
I would call the psychological side.
To substantiate this conviction, I
would conclude by reading for you a
reprint from a little pamphlet, called
“Keeping Fit”, published by no less
an authority than the U. S. Public
Health Service. When we remember
that the man who made the country
acutely conscious of the evil, against
which we are contending I think this
reprint takes on added significance.
Of course, I refer to_Dr. Parran, who
writes.
“In an accident at sea, when every
one is anxious to reach the lifeboats,
the rule for all men is ‘women and
children first’. If a man rushes in
ahead of them he is looked upon as
a coward. It is more important for
men to protect girls and women from
other dangers, especially from those
dangers which threaten to ruin their
lives. Every man who has any prin
ciple believes in fair play. He de
spises cheating. “The young man
should think of all girls as the future
mothers of the race arid understand
that one of their most important fun
ctions in life is to become the mothers
of healthy children who will make
useful citizens. A nation may be well
judged by its attitude toward women.
The youth who is fair will treat every
girl as he expects other boys and
men to treat his own sister, his girl
friend, or his sweetheart.
“A young man’s plan for marriage
will often help to keep him straight
when nothing else would. The young
man who is fair will adopt for his
own life the same standards he de
mands of the woman he expects to
marry some day.
“Each youth who grows up and
marries becomes a link in a great
chain of human beings. This chain
reaches back into the past for thous
ands of years, and it may reach for
ward into the future and even
longer time. One false step may infect
the racial stock and blight the lives of
generations to come. If the young man
keeps his body in good condition and
lives a clean life, his descendants will
in all probability be vigorous and use
ful citizens. The. spark of life is to be
accepted as a sacred trust to be trans
mitted undimmed to future genera
tions.”
From the same pamphlet: “If a boy
or man frequently permits himself
to look at suggestive pictures, to
listen to vulgar stories, and to in
dulge in lewd thoughts, he brings
about a mental condition which may
lead him later into serious sin.
Furthermore, such indulgence de
velops a low attitude toward sex,
which ought to be associated with the
finest and most beautiful relationships
in life. While it is not always possible
to prevent lewd ideas coming to one’s
attention, it is possible by using one’s
will power, to direct the attention
away from them and center it on
wholesome subjects. Some young man
will need to learn the trick of switch
ing the thoughts away from vulgar
subjects quickly to sports, school
work, or other helpful activities. The
mind should not be made a cesspool,
but a reservoir.”
Wm. A. McCafferty
Dies in Columbus
Central of Georgia Master
Mechanic Native of Macon
(Special To The Bulletin)
COLUMBUS, Ga.— William A. Mc
Cafferty, for many years in charge of
the mechanical department of the
Central of Georgia's Columbus divis
ion, died late in April after a brief
illness. Mr. McCafferty w'as one of
the most widely known and highly
respected railroad men of this section.
He was born in Macon, August 31,
1877, and entered the Central of Geor
gia shops as an apprentice 46 years
ago. Surviving are his two sons. W. A.
McCafferty, Jr., and Thomas McCaf
ferty, and four daughters, the Misses
Frances, Elizabeth and Katherine Mc
Cafferty and Mrs. Margaret Bruner.
The funeral was held with a Requiem
Mass at Holy Family Church: inter
ment was in Rose Hill Cemetery, Ma
con.
CATHOLIC CLUB ENTERTAINS
FOR ITS BUILDING FUND
The Catholic Club entertained re
cently for the benefit of its building
fund, with Mrs. John T. Allen as
general chairman. Mrs. Mark Mote
and Mrs. Lucile Kennon were mem
bers of the prize committee, Mrs.
Mrs. Harry Bize was chairman of the
candy committee and Mrs. E. C.
Suelzer chairman of the cold drinks
committee and Ted Bryant chairman
of ticket distribution.
NEW YORK STATE would be ask
ed to amend the State Constitution in
order to empower the Legislature to
provide financial aid for parochial
schools, according to the terms of a
proposal to the constitutional conven
tion made by James J. Heffernan of
Brooklyn. State grants would be
limited to fifty per cent of the cost
of maintaining a school.
Atlanta Boy Radio
Competition Winner
Jackie Chess of Immaculate
Conception School First in
Voice Division
ATLANTA. Ga.—When the Radio
Station WSB here announced its dis
trict winners in voice, recitation, de
clamation, instrumental music and
readings, Jackie Chess of the seventh
grade, Immaculate Conception School,
was announced winner in voice for
the Atlanta District. He will compete
with the other district winners in
June for the trip to Radio City.
The successful contestants were en
tertained at a banquet by the School
of the Air Directors, Governor Rivers
Vis the principal speaker for the oc
casion. He was impressed by the great
resemblanc of Jackie Chess to Fred
die Bartholomew. Jackie’s selection
for the School of the Air Program
was “Did Your Mother Come From
Ireland?”
Catholic Educators
Meet in Milwaukee
Bishop Peterson Re-elected
Association President
MILWAUKEE.—The Catholic defi
nition of education—education that
prepares the student for this life and
for eternity—waS insisted upon by
speakers at the annual convention of
the National Catholic Educational As
sociation, which closed its sessions
here.
Godless education was deplored and
denounced. At the same time, speak
ers enjoined their hearers not to shun
the new in teaching methods, if the
new were proven good. More than
4,000 educators and interested laymen
attended the sessions.
The annual banquet, which assem
bled about 1,000 persons, was ad
dressed by the Rev. Dr. George John
son, Secretary General of the N. C.
E. A., and Judge John A. Matthews,
of Newark, N. J. The Most Rev. Sam
uel A. Stritch, Archbishop of Milwau
kee and host to the convention, pre
sided. Prominent among the speak
ers at the convention were the Most
Rev. John B. Peterson, Bishop of Man
chester and President General of the
N. C. E. A., and the Most Rev. Aloisius
J. Muench, Bishop of Fargo.
(Cable N. C. W. C. New- Service)
VATICAN CITY—His Holiness Pope
Pius XI manifested the greatest bene
volence towards the Society of Jesus
when on April 28 he received in
audience the General Congregation of
the Society presented by the Very
Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, General
of the Jesuits. All the American prov
inces of the Jesuit Fathers were rep
resented at the convention.
Expressing his trust in what they
have done and what they are always
doing for the greater glory of God,
His Holiness declared that the Pope
can always be sure that he can count
on the prompt and generous work of
Ihe Society of Jesus, under any cir
cumstances and at any moment, es
pecially in these times when so many
not only forget the Kingdom of God,
but act against God. proclaim war
against God. The Holy Father con
cluded by imparting his most affec
tionate blessing.
In presenting the members of the
General Congregation of Jesuits,
Father Ledochowski read an address
in Latin. Father Ledochowski re
newed the expression of the tradition
al and particular devotion of the
Jesuits to the Holy See, and thanked
the Holy Father for having granted,
for the first time in history, the hon
or of the Congregation participating
at the canonization of a Jesuit, St.
Andrew Bobola. He concluded by ask
ing the Sovereign Pontiff’s blessing on
all the Society of Jesus, especially on
the new Vicar General, the new As
sistant to the General for Latin
America, and all the curia.
In beginning his response to this ad
dress, Pope Pius thanked the General
of the Jesuits lor his beautiful words
that added to the visual joy of such
a beautiful assembly auditive joy
produced by such filial sentiments.
His Holiness thanked Providence for
having permitted him to raise to the
honors of Sainthood, so great a glory
of the Jesuits, St. Andrew Bobola.
Among the Jesuits received at this
audience was the Rev. Joseph Mary
Murall, S. J., who was shot with three
companions in Barcelona on July 23,
1936. His companions died. Father
Murall lay wounded among the
corpses. Later he fled.
THE CATHOLIC COLLEGE Press
Association has repudiated as far as
it is concerned the American Student
Union “Peace Plan” which it regards
as subtle Soviet propaganda. The As
sociation says it, like the American
Student Union, is opposed to Fascism,
but it is also opposed to Communism.
We are Proud of
PROVIDENCE
Hospital
We deem it a privilege to applaud the great
good that has been done by the Catholic people
end the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine.
This new hospital with its pronounced dignity
and modem facilities will render a .wonderful
service to humanity, here in Columbia, and the
entire State of South Carolina. A recognized
asset to the community.
Besides highly praising the ones responsible
for selecting our fair city as the ideal site for
this institution, we would like to mention the
love, tenderness and personal interest, which
Catholic Sisters never fail to bestow upon their
patients. ,