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TEN
the BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JANUARY 28, 1939
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID. Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta. Georgia
Subscription Price $2.00 Per Year
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1937-1938
ALFRED M BATTEY Augusta President
J. J. HAVERTY. K_ S. G_ Atlanta ...First Vice-President
J. B McCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS F. WALSH, K: S. G., Savannah Treasurer
RICHARD REID, K. S. G. Augusta . Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY. Augusta. Asst Exec. Secretary
Vol. XX
January 28. 1939
No. 1
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta. Ga_ under act of March. 1879. Ac
cepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103. Act. of October 3, 1917. authorized
September l 1921.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service the Catholic Press
Association of the United States, the Georgia Press
Association and the National Editorial Association.
Published monthly by the Publicity Departaaeat
with the Approbation of the Most Rev. Bishops of
Raleigh Charleston. Savannah. St Augustine and Nash-
ville and of the Rt Rev Abbot. Ordinary of Belmont.
A New Era Dawns
T HE STATE of Georgia and the Diocese of Savannah-
Atlanta have a Catholic history covering four cen
turies, from that day three hundred and ninety-nine
years ago when priests with the expedition of De Soto
first offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on what
is now Georgia soil.
Glorious days have been liberally sprinkled over this
great expanse of years. Churches have been blessed,
schools and institutions erected, prelates who have ach
ieved the dignity of Archbishop and even membership
in the Sacred College of Cardinals have been consecrat
ed or installed. But never in all that period has the
Diocese had a .day more glorious or more brilliant than
that which was made forever memorable in the annals
©f the See by the dedication of the Co-Cathedral of
Christ the King.
The presence a', the ceremony of His Eminence, the
Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia, the Metropolitan of
the Province, three other Archbishops and the many
Bishops, Abbots and numerous members of the Papal
household, clergy and religious brought to the Diocese
the most distinguished group of prelates Georgia and
perhaps the Southeast have ever seen. There has never
been in this section an ecclesiastical procession more
impressive than that which opened the Co-Cathedral
ceremonies.
The list of speakers at the dedication dinner, in
cluding His Emimnce, the Governor of the Common
wealth, two Archbishops, and two Bishops, is without
doubt the most illustrious group which has ever ad
dressed a Catholic affair in the Southeastern section of
©ur Nation.
The presence at any ceremony of such illustrious per
sonages would elevate the event to distinction. But it
was the distinction of the event itself which brought
these great figures to the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta
and the Capitol City of the Empire State of the South.
The dedication of a Cathedral is always a ceremony of
major importance, but the dedication of a Cathedral
where there was none before is an event of great his
torical significance. In this particular case, it marks the
Science and Religion
T HE alleged antagonism of religion toward science
and the manner in which religion was supposed to
be lagging behind science were axioms of a certain school
of pseudo-scientists of a generation and even a decade
ago, or until the 1929 debacle demonstrated how helpless
science is in the face of modern problems.
True scientists know that there is no antagonism be
tween true religion and true science; wherever there ap
pears to be antagonism, either the science or the re
ligion is false. True scientists realize also that without
the assistance of Divine Providence, science can accom
plish nothing.
In the current crisis in Europe, the Church has shown
the way to science, the New York Times says editorially.
Some scientists in Germany and Italy who “will starve
to pursue a theory and risk their lives in experimenting
with X-rays and noxious fumes” have, with some nota
ble exception^, given up their academic positions, their
nationalities, their human rights without a whisper.
“The Church has done better than Science in the world
crisis,” The Times asserts. “A Cardinal Faulhaber will
make a Cathedral ring with his denunciation of the bar
baric suppression of religious freedom, and a Pastor
Niemoeller will hearken his congregation from his cell.
How many scientists in totalitarian Germany and Italy
have dared to speak their minds about the tyranny which
has reduced them to laboratory serfs?”
The Reactionary “Liberals”
' l .’HE Bulletin has expressed itself unequivocally in
JL condemnation of the persecution of the Jewish
people, and has expressed its regret that Father Coughlin
has put himself in the position of being understood by
millions of people as condoning that persecution.
The fact that Father Coughlin denies that he is oppos
ing the Jewish people and asserts he is condemning only
the bad Jews does not alter the situation materially. We
Catholics'are generally suspicious of public figures not’
of our faith who attack bad Catholics. We wonder why
they do not atiack bad citizens irrespective of creed, in
stead of singling out one group.
We feel, however, that barring Father Coughlin from
the radio, as several states htive done, when avowed op-'
ponents of our American system of government such as
the Communist candidate for the-presidency, Earl Brow
der, and representatives of anti-religious forces are al
lowed to broadcast their destructive views has no war
rant in law or in logic.
It is our conviction that the growing tendency of the
alleged "liberals” of this country to use their influence
to exclude from the press and the radio criticism of radi
cal efforts here and abroad is the greatest current threat
to freedom of speech and of the press.
Dixie Musings
In a certain North Carolina city
there is a Protestant Church with
a vested choir. The surplices got
soiled, as white goods will, and they
were sent to the laundry. They were
returned, all starched and dean, with
a bill “for washing and ironing twelve
Catholic shirts.”
June 6 was the centennial of “The
Night of the Big Wind”, of which all
of Irish ancestry have heard their
forebears speak. The “big wind” blew
constantly from ten o’clock at night
until eight the next morning. Fish
were blown hundreds of yards out
of lakes, torrents of salt water fell
miles from the sea, tropical birds
were found dead in several parts of
Ireland, and the storm all but wiped
out the crows there. Those who ex
perienced that tragic night said- that
the Battle of Waterloo could have
been fought a hundred yards away
and the sound of the cannon could
not have been heard above the'roar
of the wind.
Philip Musica, alias F. Donald
Coster who had himself listed in
“Who’s Who” as a member of a Pro
testant denomination, had among his
personal effects a card saying. “I am
a Catholic. In case of accident notify
a priest.” He could not live as a pro-
ctical Catholic because the require
ment of Easter duty would involve
confession, and restitution is a pre
requisite for a valid confession of a
swindler.
No “Exchange of Opinion”
H L. MENCKEN writing in The Baltimore Sun
. voices convictions on the recent Youth Congress
similar to those of the Catholic Press. “It was hardly
more than a sub-division of the 'People's Front’, which
is owned and operated by the Stalinist, or orthodox,
wing of Communists,” he asserts, and he continues:
‘Whenever a Youth Congress is held at Vassar or
some other spot it turns out that the Marxians are in
charge of the booth marked ‘ideology’. The tendency
of the proceedings is always to suggest that there will
Tom Mooney is out of prison, and
the consensus of opinion seems to be
that he, was not guilty of the crime
for which he was convicted and sen
tenced to be. hanged, to have his sen
tence commuted to life imprisonment,
through the good offices of President
Wilson
Ten innocent bystanders were kill
ed and forty persons were mangled
by the bombing for > which Mooney
was convicted, and the evidence is
conclusive that the crime was the
work of radicals, radicals of the sort
that Tom Mooney associated with in
those days and with whom he is again
affiliating. • , .
mic stress. In 1928 the Republicans
were promising us not merely a
chicken in every pot but two cars in
every garage, and asserting that they
had ended poverty forever in these
United States. The Democratic normal
minority for the most part merely
echoed the Republican’s promises,
pledging themselves to carry them out
in a bigger and better way.
The late Will Rogers said that be
ing a Democrat in 1928 hurt Governor
Smith more than being a Catholic,
and the political history of the United
States seems to demonstrate the
validity of his thesis.
Governor Smith received 15.106,000
votes in 1928. John W. Davis, Demo
cratic nominee, received 8.385,000
votes in 1924 and James M. Cox, 9.-
147,000 votes in 1920.
President Hoover likewise increased .
the Republican vote from the 15.-
725.000 of President Coolidge 1924 to
21,392.000. While President Hoover
was increasing the Republican vote
by 5.667,000 ballots. Governor Smith
was increasing that of the Democrats
by 6,721,000. Therefore Governor
Smith gained over a million more
votes for his party than President
Hoover did for the Republicans.
Before the 1928 election. President
Coolidge, asked what he tfought of
the prospects and the necessary tac
tics, said that to win the election it
was only necessary for the Republi
cans to hold their 1924 voters. If the
Republicans had not gained a single
voter, and Governor Smith had in
creased the Democratic vote by 6.-
721,000, as he did, Herbert Hoover
would still have had a porv lar vote
majority, 15,725,000 to 15,016.000.
Mooney has the sympathy of the
public now, but it will soon turn to
suspicion and hostility if he continues
the trend indicated by his, reference
to his mother as “a true proletarian
mother.” He is in a position to render
the cause of the common people a
great service, a position he will for
feit by allowing the Communists, who
have the people of Russia in bondage
similar to that under the Czars, to
exploit him.
We read that radicals no longer
wish to be known as liberals; hence
forth they are to be called progres
sives. They'have made the term
“li beral” so obnoxious that even they
are ashamed of it.
Allen and Pearson. "The Merry-Go-
Round” boys, whose symoathy for
the Loyalists in Spain is daily evident
in their column, assert: “United
States flour shipments were deliber
ately planned to keep the Loyalists
alive and fighting through the winter
Furthermore, they were planned by
the President himself, in part to make
up for the short-sighted policy of his
State Department when it opposed
lifting the Spanish embargo last
May.”
Undoubtedly a sufficient number of
votes were influenced by Governor
Smith's religion to affect the result
adversely in New York and a number
of other states, including some of our
Southern Commonwealth. Not includ
ing, however, South Carolina, Geor
gia. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
and Arkansas, all of which cast their
popular and electoral votes for Gov
ernor Smith.
On the other, hand, Governor Smith
did not increase the Democratic vote
from 8,385,000 to 15,106,000. over 1,-
000,000 mote than the Republican vote
increased,; by people voting against
him because of his religion.
We agree with Current History,
therefore, when it says that the 1928
campaign did not demonstrate that a
Catholic cannot be elected president
of the United States. The Bulletin is
not in politics, and is not advocating
that a Catholic be or be not nominat
ed by either or both parties. That is
a matter we entrust to the discern
ment of the national conventions . of
the respective parties.
But we welcome this opportunity
to do what we can toward keeping
the record straight, as we see the rec
ord. Ten years ago, immediately after
the election, we wrote an article on
the subject for “America”, entitling
it: “Let’s Look at the Record.” Gov
ernor Smith wrote us a letter of ap
preciation. but a number of readers
of “America” wrote indienantly to its
editor asking in effect why he allow
ed an article from that Georgia Ku
Kluxer to get into his columns.
opening of a new era for the Church in Georgia, giving
the slate a new center of apostolic teaching to supple
ment that of the venerable Cathedral at Savannah, from
which the Church has been built up to its present im
pressive proportions, despite the comparatively few
Catholics in the state.
Few Dioceses anywhere have greater traditions than
that of Savannah-Atlanta, with its memories of the
illustrious Bishop England and the scholarly Bishop
Reynolds of the days before the Diocese was created,
and of the Ktroic Bishop Garlland, the missionary Bishop
Barry, the saintly Sulpician Bishop Verot, the renowned
Capuchin Bishop Persico, later to become a Cardinal in
Rome, the eloquent Redemptorist Bishop Gross, later
Archbishop of Oregon City, the able Bishop Becker, the
venerable and learned Bishop Keiley and the fatherly
and beloved Marist Bishop Keyes.
That the Diocese is not content to live on its traditions
is evident ffom its recent and current history: the See
of Savannah-Atlanta is indeed experiencing a glorious
second spring which gives promise of a mighty
harvest. In his sermon. Monsignor Corrigan referred to
the Co-Cathedral as a material symbol of the greater
edifice of the people's faith. It is that faith which moves
the faithful of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta, priests,
religious and the laity, to dedicate themselves anew to
their beloved Bishop in all his blessed efforts for our
great Diocese of State in the great days which we knew
are ahead.
Robbing the Cradle
C ATHOLIC and other religious-minded parents are
urged to examine their children's story books for
evidences of attacks on religion. A New York parent
going over a book, “Who's Who in the Zoo”, he bought
for his little niece, discovered that it is said that man
was different from the apes only in superior intelli
gence and that “as a spiritual being man ranks with
the apes.” Another such book said that the ape fam
ily is of special interest to us because it includes in
its ranks ‘ the most intelligent of animals, man.” This
indicates the\extent to which anti-Christian and anti-
geligious forces go in their campaign against religion.
be no hope for democracy in this great Republic until
we adopt the theology of Moscow, where everyone is
free to vote for Stalin, and steady jobs are open to all
at $6.75 per month and half a herring every Thursday.”
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt attended the Youth Con
gress and expressed surprise at criticism of her atten
dance. She is not conscious of having been influenced
toward radicalism by being there, she says.
But the attendance of Mrs. Roosevelt influenced many
young people to attend and while one with Mrs. Roose
velt's mental attainments may be expected to see the
fallacies of the radical arguments, young people with
minds which are impressionable rather than discerning
are obviously only a fraction as capable of detecting the
sophisms.
Nor is there any merit in the argument that the dis
cussion at the Youth Congress made it possible for the
young people attending to arrive at sound conclusions.
Some who were in attendance tell us that the radicals,
after having their turn on the floor would leave, to come
back to the assembly only to flaunt their views again.
The young people with no radical ties were there for
an exchange of opinion; the radicals were there as pro
fessionals for the purpose of propaganda only. These
who believe that such a set-up did the minds of the sin
cere, truth-seeking young people there any good ignore
the elementary principles of psychology.
Germany. Russia and the Jews
T HE persecution of the Jews in Germany has merited
the vigorous condemnation of ail classes of our
people, and the Holy Father himself has expressed his
alarm also on the imitation of Nazi anti-Semitic latics
in Italy. Few but Catholics appear to be concerned over
the barbarous treatment of the Jews in Russia.
Reports seeping out of Soviet Russia indicate that, bad
as the situation is in Germany, the Reds can teach the
Nazis diabolical lessons in cruelty. Thousands of religious
Jews have been butchered, and the Soviet government is
now exiling tens of thousands of others by forcing them
to a bleak corner of the Empire on the pretext of pro
viding a refuge for them. Their synagogues have
shared the fate of other churches.
In attributing this intention to the
government, Allen and Pearson may
be indulging in some wishful think
ing, but the effect will be in the
direction indicated by the assertion.
In the Soanish War. our government
appears to be about as neutral as it
was before we entered the World
War, when our neutrality was ac
curately defined as our not caring
who licked the Germans.
The Raleigh News and Observer
editorially quotes the Baltimore Eve
ning Sun on the triumph of the
Anglo-Saxons over the Poles, Czechs.
Russians and Hungarians as repre
sented by the record of the Duke
eleven before Southern California
turned the last fifty seconds of the
football struggle into a basketball
game.
“Shades of St. Patrick. St. Andrew
and St. David.” say The Sun and
the News of Observer. "This greet
ing will make the ancestors of Duke's
stout young men shift resentfully in
their graves, especially the Gaels and
Celts who for years fought the Sas-
senachs across the British Isles. By
no stretch of the imagination can
O’Mara and McFee be construed as
Anglo-Saxon names, while Johnson
is surely Welsh, and Purdue, Darnell
and Baskerville suggest a French
origin and Spangler has a Teutonic
sound.” The American team which
scored the touchdown against the
team coached by King George III
over a century and a half ago like
wise, says The News and Observer,
was made up partly of Frenchmen.
Poles, Germans and Scotchmen. And
not a few Irish.
We were just about to quote one
of our esteemed contemporaries, a
Diocesan weekly, which asserts that
a Catholic cannot be elected Presi
dent of the United States, and to ex
press a polite but firm disagreement
when along comes Current History
to take the words out of our mouth.
We have always ben convinced that
1928 did not settle the matter, for we
believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt
would have been defeated in 1928. and
that Governor Smith would have
been elected in 1932.
The Democrats have never turned
the Republicans out o£ the White
House except in time of great econo-
The Catholic Laymen’s Associa
tion's Circulating Library has at
tained such popularity that arrange
ments are being made by Miss Ruth
Park, volunteer librarian, and her
committee to keep the library open
Saturday afternoons and. Tuesday
evenings, in addition to the regular
office hours of the Association.
Practically all the modem Catholic
works are included in the lbrary
through the generosity of Bishop
John M. McNamara of Washington
and Miss Louise Mulherin. All mem
bers of the Laymen's Association are
urged to make use of the library;
there is no charge except for mailing
when mailing is required.
Carleton Beals in his_ “Coming
Struggle for Latin America” takes
issue with President Roosevelt and
other public men when they talk
about democratic South America face
to face with a Facist world. How
much democracy is there in Mexico,
and in some of the other countries in
Central and South America where
dictatorship is an old story, and
where their ruthless denial of the
rights of individuals and of the
Church rivals that of the dictators
of Europe?
The new Superior-General of the
Fathers of the Sacred Heart, with
headquarters in Paris, is the former
Count Claude d’Elbee, who started
his studies for the priesthood in 1920,
his wife at the same time entering the
Carmelite Convent at Louvain. The
Count was ordained at this convent in
1925 by Cardinal Mercier; the Coun
tess is now superior at Louvain under
the name of Sister Clare.
An Associated Press report states
that reliable authorities place the
number of Americans killed fighting
for the Leftists in Spain at 2,000; the
maximum estimate of the number
serving is 6,500. The killing of one
out of three of the Americans seems
to be abnormally high, especially in
an army which boasts of daily vic
tories. We wonder if the fatalities
among the Red Russians in the Leftist
forces is proportionately as high as
among the Americans. All the Amer-
; icans are serving in defiance of the
Jaw of the United States.—R. R.