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TWELVE
jm?J BULLETIN or IHE CATHOUC LAYMEN’S association of Georgia
OCTOBER 25. 1041
THE BULLETIN
The Official OrgaD of the Catholic Laymen’*
Association of Georgia
HUGH KINCHLEY. Editor
216-217 Southern Finance Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price 12.00 Per Year
> ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1939-1940
BERNARD J KANE. Atlanta President
MARTIN J. CALLAGHAN. Macon .. 1st Vice-President
J B. WcCAta-UM Atlanta .... Secretary
THOMAS F WALSH. K S. G_ Savannah .... Treasurer
HUGH. KJNCH1.EY Augusta .... Executive Secretary
MISS CECILS FERRY Augusta. Asst Exec. Secretary
A \1 tl-AtlT.imr, Aupncta Auditor
Vel. "xxn
October 25. 1941
No. 18
Entereo 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 >n Section 1103' Act of October 3. 1917 authorized
tpmh°? \ 1^21 '
. W C News Service the Catholic Press
the United States the Georgia Press
Rditorigt A t ^cvciotlon
Pn|lishfd mrnthl* by ihr Publicity Oenarfment with
ii nprnhiition of the Most Reverend Bishops of
Charleston, and Savannah-Atlanta, and of the
Potor^nHI 4 f h-f?tnarv of. °el»r»ent
1 THE CONVENTION IN ROME
F OR the first time in its twenty-five years of history
the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia will
hold its annual convention in Rome.
By accepting the invitation to convene in Rome the
officers of the Laymen's Association will be giving many
of its members an opportunity and occasion to visit for
the first time what is probably the most beautiful region
of the State of Georgia.
Surrounded by seven hills, a circumstance which
prompted the giving of the name of the Eternal City to
the little community that has developed into a substantial
and growing city with a population of about thirty
thousand, Rome is located in a section of Georgia that
is famed for its scenic beauty and which abounds in
minerals which have combined with agriculture and
manufacturing interests to bring the city a more than
average measure of prosperity.
It will be an important convention, not because it
meai^s the end of an epoch which brought national and
international recognition of the work which the Laymen’s
Association had carried on so well, but because it should
signal the beginning ©f a new era in which the efforts
of the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia would
be devoted, not only to maintaining the ground that it
has gained, but rather to go forward with a greater and
more ambitious program of Catholic Action.
The convention will be honored by the presence of
His Excellency the Most Reverend Bishop of Savannah-
Atlauta, who has b en to the Catholic Laymen’s Associa-
tio of Georgia an inspiration and a guiding spirit from
the day that he was consecrated as Bishop of Savannah.
The convention program will offer two noted speakers,
Mrs.' Fra-k Shecd and Richard Reid. Those who have
had the nriv*’?e^je of hca*ing Mrs. Shecd speak do not
hesit te to e?a*s Wr as being as brilliant a sneaker as
her Jv*oband, who thrive 1 those who heard the address
he delivered at the convention in Savannah last year.
Richard Reid, wl*e was executive secretary .of the
Catholic Laymen's Association for eighteen years, needs
no word of introduction to any Catholic in Georgia. It is
not necessary to mention that h« “home-coming” will
fee an occasion f**r great rejoicing.
M veers of Laymen's Association in Rome, under
the leadership of Bernard Fahy, have prepared a pro
gram of entertainment that will add to the attraction
which file convention holds, and every one who attends
the convextk>n can fee.assured that they will be well re
paid for the journey, even though it be a long one, and
m? ! e at a sacrifice.
Every effort is fo* i-">g made by the folks in Rome to
make this convention particularly attractive to the
younger genu at : ©n, and the San eta Maria Club, the
Catholic Youth Organization in Rome, is taking an active
part in preparing a program that will appeal to our
young people.
Is it necessary that The Bulletin urge the attendance
of every officer, member and friend of the Laymen’s
Association?
Tfcere could hardly bo such necessity when every
Catholic in Georgia should apreciate what the existence
of the Laymen's Association has meant to his Church
and his State, and every Catholic man and woman of the
Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta * should realize that a
continuance and extension of the work of the Association
is essential.
May all of the roods that lead to Rome be burdened
tips- week-end with Catholics of Georgia en route to
their Laymen’s Association convention.
Fifty Fruitful Years
I N Georgia, where he was a pioneer in missionary
•work among the Colored people, the Very Reverend
Ignatius P. Lssner, of the Society of the African Mis
sions, was honored in Savannah on last Sunday, the
occasion being a part of the observance of Father Liss-
ner’s golden jubilee in the priesthood.
No place where he has exercised his priestly ministry
appreciates more.than Georgia the. piety and apostolic
zeal which Father Lissner has shown in the half-century
of his life that he has devoted to bringing the blessing
of the Catholic Faith to so many of our Colored people.
Father Lissner's friends in Georgia, and they are many,
extend him hearty and sincere congratulations on the
fifieth anniversary of his ordination, as they offer pray
ers that he will be spared for many more years of fruit
ful missionary service.
A Source of Edification
C ATHOLICS are few in number in many sections
of the South, but with the establishment of
Army camps throughout the Southern States, those re
gions where a Catholic priest was seldom seen and a
Catholic layman a rarity, suddenly acquired rather large
Catholic populations.
It is from these Catholic soldiers that many people in
the South are deriving their first direct impressions of
Catholics, and it is very pleasing to know that through
their attendance at Mass and in other ways our young
men and boys in the service are proving to be a source
of edification to those who may be coming in contact
with Catholics for the first time.
An instance of this is found in an editorial which ap
peared recently in the Daily' News of Goldsboro, North
Carolina, which, commenting on observations made by
Editor Ike London of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch,
quoted Mr. London as follows:
“Last Sunday there was a Roman Catholic Mass cele
brated in the Richmond Theatre here—first time in the
156 years of the town’s history that Mass has been held
here. I attended, just to see what it was all about.
Believe me', those Catholics boys are loyal; they piled
into the theatre in a steady stream. Not only every
seat (716 of them) was occupied but by my own count
there were 4llf standing up in the aisles, and in the rear.
Many hundreds of soldiers could not get in at all. This
service lasted from 10 to 10:45. After 11 o'clock, I took
a look at the four Protestant churches, and at all" four
there were not over 155 soldiers—40 . at the Episcopal
church, 28 at the Baptist. 42 at the Presbyterian, and 45
at the Methodist—yep, these figures are accurate, not
just newspaper estimate. Contrast, those 155 w'ith the
1,132 who were/ actually in the theatre attending Roman
Catholic Mass.
“I’d never admit that the Catholics have anything that
we haven’t and our Protestant churches are most cordial
and hospitable to the soldiers—but the fact remains the
Catholic soldiers go more readily to Mass than our
Protestant soldiers do to their church. Why? You ask
one, or answer it.”
Dixie Musings
When the General “Got Thar Fust ?
B ECAUSE the hotel which will be the headquarters
cf.the convention of the Catholic Laymen's Asso
ciation which will be held in Rome is named for Gereral
Nathan Bedford Forrest, of the Confederate Army; an
article by Flavian Reilly. O. P., which appeared in The
Torch, and which was published in condensed form
by the Catholic Digest is quoted, even though we do
not approve the statement that the general fought on
the “rebel” side.
“The. quasi-mortal phrase, ’Git that fustest with the
mostest men,” belongs to the Confederate general, Nathan
Bedford Forrest. Outside of this quotation. General
Forrest is, for the average reader, no more than a vague
personality of Civil War days who fought on the rebel
side as a most successful, if almost totally illiterate
calvary leader. He deserves a better -fate.
“Biographies of Forrest give full accounts of his very
active life, recounting how at the age of 16 he became the
main support of a large family, telling of his shrewd
trading in horses and cattle, of the cotton plantations
he acquired in Mississippi and Arkansas, not suppressing
even his trade in Negro slaves. The article devoted to
him in the Dictionary of American Biography records
that-Mils courage in^cold blood was as great as in the
heart of battle” and adds, “Alone and with no other
weapon than a knife, he once overawed and dispersed
a mob bent on lynching.” No printed source, however,
tells of a similar incident in the Confederate general’s
life which is vary likely the real story. The occasion
for recalling this happening is the centenary celebration
of St. Peter’s Church in Memphis, Tenn, which occurred
in May of this year.
"The incident takes us back to 1856. Knownothingism
then still flourished against Catholics in the U. S., at a
time when the brick and mortar age of the Church with
its ambitions and arduous building program had just set
in. In that year Thomas Langdon Grace, O. P., pastor
of St. Peter’s (and later bishop of St. Paul, Minn.),
decider! to replace the original little church with the
present Gothic structure. Father Grace had just had
the new building under roof so that services could be
held in it, when an unruly mob of Knownothing agitators
and their followers resolved to cut short the growing
success of the Catholic Church in Memphis, by burning
the new St. Peter’s to the ground. Here it was that
Nathan Bedford Forrest stepped into the picture.
“Father Victor F. O'Daniel tells the story as he heard
it from Mrs. John Lilly, a member of St. Peter's parish,
who was living at the time of the incident; They had
gathered in some cotton sheds on Third St. opposite the
church and were preparing to attack the edifice. General
Forrest heard of this just as he had heard of an witnessed
previously other vicious though less violent acts of the
Knownothings. He determined to take hand in the
proceedings and employed the same circling tactics
which later were to make him famous in the war between
the states. Racing around in. front of the mob already on
the move toward the building singled out for destruction,
he confronted them with the terrifying face characteristic
of him when in anger. In his hand he brandished menac
ingly a horse pistol, and informed them that the first
man who raised a finger against the church would receive
the gun’s contents. At that time there were certainly
members of the mob who also were armed, but evidently
none of them cared to shoot it out with Forrest, who
even then was highly respected not only for fair play but
also for his reputation to back it up with a gun.
“Thus, by the prompt and vigorous action of the future
i Confederate general who got 'that fustest’ not with ‘the
mostest men’ but alone, was St. Peter’s saved."
It is hoped that all of the readers
cf the September issue of The Bul
letin read the article about the Sisters,
written by Dudley Glass, columnist
of The Atlanta Constitution, even
though in the intricate performance
of composing the type for the pages
of Hie Bulletin the beautiful tribute
that Mr. Gl^s paid our Catholic Sis
terhood was somewhat obscured.
Not having had the pleasure of talk
ing it over with Mr. Glass, the edi
tor of The Bulletin doesn’t know
whether or not Dudley wrote to
Bishop O’Hara to find out how Sisters
who have received their eternal re
ward could be happy in Heaven,
when according to what he had been
taught, there were no unfortunate
souls in Heaven for the Sisters to
serve.
Dudley has been rather busy with
his column and disposing of surplus
coat-hangers around his house, so it
is more than likely that he has not
written to His Excellency the Most
Reverend Bishop of Savannah-Atlan-
ta about the matter.
If he had. Dudley would no doubt
have -been told about the wonder
ful Catholic doctrine that is embrac
ed in the Apostles’ Creed—“I believe
in the Communion of Saints.”
When we consider that consoling
doctrine we realize that Our Bless
ed Lord must have known that good
and holy souls, like members of the
religious orders who attained Saint
hood, such as Saint Rita, Saint Brid
get, and Saint Therese, “The Little
Flower”, would not be happy in
Heaven if they could not still be
serving suffering humanity, and made
it possible for them to do it by aid
ing those still on earth who would
seek their intercession in obtaining
spiritual.and temporal favors.
More than six hundred persons,
including Mayor Edward J. Kelly,
of Chicago, and persons prominent
in theatrical circles, paid tribute to
Helen Morgan, noted stage and
screen singer, at services preceding
her burial in Holy Sepulcre Ceme
tery, La Grange. Illinois. The Re
quiem Mass in St. Francis Xavier's
Church was celebrated by the Rev.
William J. O'Brien, the pastor. Miss
Morgan became a member tff the
Catholic Church a week before her
death.
In this issue of The Bulletin there
appears a notice of the death ot
Aline Kilmer, widow of the famous
poet. Joyce Kilmer, whose exalted
patriotism brought him to a heroic
death upon the battlefield in Franc*,
where he was serving in the A. E.
F. as a sergeant in the famous
“Fighting 68th” regiment from New
York.
A convert to the Catholic Church,
like her illustrious husband. Mrs.
Kilmer was also a poet, and in the
hope that it will not be infringing
on the rights of Doubleday, Doran
and Company, publishers of her “Se-
lectecf Poems”, her best known poem,
the exquisite “I Shall Not Be
Afraid,” is quoted:
I shall not be afraid any’ more.
Either by night or day
M'hat would it profit me to be
afraid
With you away?
Now I am brave. In the dark
night alone
All through the house I go,
Locking the doors and making
windows fast
When sharp winds blow
For there is only sorrow in my
heart:
There is no room for fear.
But how I wish I were afraid
again.
My dear, my dear!
In “The Universe,” published in
London, it is read that Jirmino
Juarez, a Spanish Red who was chief
of a squad of statue burners and
who personally poured petrol over
the celebrated statue of Christ Cru
cified in Cartegena, has suffered the
same fate. He was standing near
a petrol lorry in Chile, where he
was in exile, when one of the barrels
fell neai" him. It burst open and
enveloped him in flames. He died
in a hospital from his injuries.
The Bulletin is happy to be able
to report that Evelyn Harris, of At
lanta, a member of the executive
committee of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, has recover
ed from the severe injury which he
received in an automobile accident
in July, and is now able to be up
and out.
Recently (he editor of The Bulletin
had the pleasure of visiting for the
first time the Oratory School for
Boys, conducted by the Congregation
of the Oratory, at Rock Hill, South
Carolina.
While the visit was very limited
in its duration it did provide time
enough to gather at least a faint ''tfr
of the wonderful work that the Very
Rfev. Paul V. Hatch and the other
Oratorian Fathers and Brothers are
doing, and to learn something also
about the Sisters of the Third Order
of St. Fran: is, of the Peoria com
munity, and the good which they
have accomplished at St. Phillip’s
Hospital and St. Phillip's Infant
Heme and Day Nursery in Rock Hill.
And The Bulletin would like to
suggest to its readers that any time
that any of them are in the neighbor
hood of Rock Hill, it would be worth
their while to visit the Oratory on
Charlotte Sheet. Indeed, it would
be well worth their while if they
gained nothing from their visit but
the opportunity of meeting “J. C.”—
the very youngest of the “little boys’
at the Oratory, even if they would
find “J. C.” much distressed, as I
did, because his playmate, another
attractive little youngster, possessed
two niekles while “J. C.” had only
a smaller, and to him the less valu
able coin, a dime.
The Diocese of Charleston has its
ov.n “Boys Town” of which it can
be proud.
Over in Orangeburg. South Caro
lina, the folks have begun a cam
paign to make the word "Xmas” ta
boo as a substitute for "Christmas”
and business houses and newspapers
have been asked to refrain from the
use of the abbreviated form of the
word during the holidays.
Sponsors of the movement said that
now, more than ever, the true rea
son for the observance of Christmas
should be stressed.
It is good to see this effort to put
Christ into the observance of the
festival of His nativity. Too long it
has been a custom in this country to
make a religious festival more of a
holiday than a holyday, and the day
has lost much of its true significance.
Richard Crawford of Augusta, who
graduated from Belmont Abbey Col
lege in June is now Frater Augustine,
O. S. B.. having entered the novitiate
at St. Vincent Arehabhey, Latrone,
Pennsylvania.
Columbus Day programs were
broadcast under the auspices of
local councils of the Knights of
Columbus over Station WSAV and
Station WTOC, Savannah: Station
WRDW and 'Station WGAC. Au
gusta; Station WMAZ, Macon; Sta
tion WWNC, Asheville, Station WSJS.
Winston-Salem, in Charleston and in
other places in the Carolines and
Georgia.
From the Kev. William J. Smith,
S. J., director of the Crown Heights
School of Catholic Workmen, in
Brooklyn, The Bulletin has received
an interesting pamphlet describing
a plan to put into practice the prin
ciples advanced by His Holiness Pope
Leo XIII and His Holiness Pope Pius
XI in the famous encyclicals on La
bor that have been brought into new
prominence through the anniversary
observance. The pamphlet, entitled
The Catholic Labor School,” is pub
lished by the Paulist Press, and it is
believed that it will be of interest
to all who are giving any thought
to the labor problems now confront
mg the nation. A free copy of the
booklet can be obtained by address
ing Father Smith at the school. Nos
trand Avenue and Carroll Street,
Breeklya.
There is no Catholic Church in
Wadesboro. N. C., the nearest being
a chapel located 25 miles away,
served by priests attached to St-
James’ Church, Hamlet, of which
Wadesboro is a mission station.
So the five members of the Suther
land family in Wadesboro. under the
direction of Mrs. S. H. Sutherland,
have furnished a special club room
as a recreational center for the
soldiers who were encamped around
the town.
Although they are the only perma
nent Catholic residents of Wades
boro, the Sutherlands, a mother and
four daughters, are already at work
as volunteer hostesses.
Their little hospice is well-provided
with daily papers, magazines, books,
writing materials, games and puz
zles.
Station WGAC in Augusta is now
broadcasting as a sustaining feature
the transcribed “Boys Town” pro
gram.
For many, many years Augusta has
boasted of its wonderful climate and
held out the premise of glorious
weather as an attraction to tourists.
This week while the city was prac
ticing hew to defend itself against
bombing raids the Augusta news
papers came out with front-page
headlines proclaiming "Bad Weather
Saves Augusta From Attack.”
Parishes, schools and lay organiza
tions arc faced with duties of book
keeping heretofore unconsidered in
connection with the new federal tax,
effective October 1, on admissions to
such functions as card parties, enter
tainments. and athletic events where
the beneficiaries are religious, edu
cational and charitable institutions,
the Michigan Catholic points out in
an article.
The article declares regional -rep
resentatives of the Bureau of Inter
nal Revenue have made known that
a sworn statement of taxes collect
ed must be made monthly, together
with the payment of tax due. The
tax is one cent for each ten cents of
the total cost of admission to the
various events.
A national bureau, offering speak
ers of distinction, has been establish
ed under the direction of Muriel N.
Delaney, at 17 East 42nd Street, in
New York City. Among the Catho
lic speakers who are presented un
der the auspices of the bureau are
the Most Rev. Francis C. Kelly. D.
D., Litt D„ Ph. D„ Bishop of Okla
homa City and Tulsa: the Rev. Wil
fred Parsons, S. J.. the Rev. Theo-
phane Maguire, C. P.. the Rev. Fran
cis X. Talbot, S. J., the Princess
Catherine Radziwill, Count Antono
Tamowski. and Frances Parkinson
Keys-H. K.