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APRIL 25, 1942
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINE
Spartanburg NCCS
Club Serving Men
at Station Hospital
(Special to The Bulletin)
SPARTANBURG, S. C. — For
tiie past several months, enter
tainments sponsored by the USO-
NCCS Club in Spartanburg, have
been held at the recreation hall
in the Station Hospital. Even the
men who are confined to the
wards are given the privilege of
“talking a letter home” on the re
producing machine which is one
of the popular features that the
club offers to the men in uni
form.
Each month nearly a lnindred
of the men in service are sent
birthday greetings, and those
who come to the party planned
for them at the club, all receive
flat-fifty packages of cigarettes.
Sixteen nights out of the
month dances are held at the
club for the men from Camp
Croft, and hundreds of the sol
diers are enjoying dancing with
girls from Greenville, Anderson,
Gaffney, Greer, Duncan and
Spartanburg.
Neither does the USO overlook
the spiritual aspects of its pro
gram. No less than eight Field
Masses and Communion break
fasts have been arranged by the
USO-NCCS Club in cooperation
with the chaplains at Camp Croft.
More than 3,000 soldiers having
attended.
Under the auspices of the USO-
NCCS Club, the sound motion
picture of the Mass, “The Eter
nal Gift,” was exhibited recently
at Camp Croft in the post chap
els, at the Station Hospital, and
at the NCCS Club. No admission
was charged, of course.
During Holy Week, Director
Sam J. Francis arranged for the
presentation of the transcribed
radio drama, “The Living God,”
at the NCCS Club.
Motion pictures are now being
shown regularly at the club.
Field Mass in Spartanburg
THE SOCIETY FOR THE
0. S. Forces Present
Provisions to Catholic
Institutions in Ireland
By N. C. W. C. News Service
BELFAST—When ane group of
American troops recently arrived
at a Northern Ireland port, one of
the first acts of its Command was
to present several hundred loaves
of bread and stocks of canned
fruits, coffee, meat and poultry
to a Catholic charitable institu
tion, it has been revealed by
Father McGouran, Administrator
of Sacred Heart Church here and
. cousin of the Most Rev. Daniel
Mageean, Bishop of Down and
Connor.
Father McGouran said the gen
erosity of the American forces to
wards the people in Ulster is
“rapidly endearing them to the
Irish.” “This latest gesture is
but one of many which they have
made since the arrival of the
initial batch some weeks ago,” he
said.
“Indeed, it is a common thing
for them, when situated near a
monastery or other religious com
munity, voluntarily to send food
and their own chefs to prepare it
and various other supplies inval
uable at the present time.”
For Victory
Pictured above is a group of members of the Holy Name Society
from Camp Croft, gathered on the lawn of St: Paul’s Church, Spar
tanburg, S. C., to attend Mass celebrated by the Rev. Francis O. Ferri,
the pastor, on the open porch of the parochial school.
Holy Name Society
From Camp Croft
Attend Field Mass
BUY U.S. BONDS
AND STAMPS
(Special to The Bulletin)
SPARTANBURG, S. C.*-Headed
by their president, Private Joseph
A. Burns, of Co. C., 33rd Train
ing Battalion, members of the
Holy Name Society at Camp~Croft
attended a field Mass celebrated
by the Rev. Francis O. Ferri, pas
tor of St. Paul’s Church, on the
church grounds on Sunday, April
12, and approached Holy Com
munion in a body.
The Rt. Rev. Monsignor Joseph
L. O’Brien, of Charleston, deliver
ed the sermon at the Mass, music
for which was sung by a soldiers’
choir.
Following the Mass, breakfast
was served at the Cleveland Hotel.
Speakers at the breakfast included
Private John Cunningham, of the
33rd Battalion; Paul J. Malhol-
chic, regional supervisor of the
National Catholic Community
Service, Atlanta; and Father Mc
Guire, spiritual director of the
Holy Name Society.
The Communion-Breakfast was
the climax of a series of religious
and social activities undertaken
by the group since its. organiza
tion under the direction of the
Rev. Matthew L. Nestor, recently
transferred. Several dances,
spaghetti suppers, and outdoor
religious services weer sponsored
by the Society under the leader
ship of Private Burns, the presi
dent, Private Nadeau, treasurer,
and Private Walter Tucker, secre
tary.
Guests invited to the break
fast included: Tom C. McGee,
president of the Chamber of Com
merce; Major Gerald H. Greeve,
post adjutant, Camp Croft; Jamile
J. Francis, president of the Na
tional Council of Catholic Men,
Greenville; Ned Joyce, Jr., presi
dent of the Holy Name Society
of St. Paul’s Church, and An
thony Redmond, state deputy of
the Knihgts of Columbus, Ashe
ville, N. C. Cooperating with
the group in sponsoring the event
was Sam J. Francis, director of
the USO-NCCS Club in Spartan
burg.
THE STATE DEPARTMENT
has informed the Legal Depart
ment of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference that it has re
ceived a message from the Ameri
can Legation in Bern, Switzerland,
stating that Maryknoll mission
aries in the Far East areas under
Japanese control are permitted to
use their churches for their own
needs but have been prohibited
from having contact with their
parishioners.
BRIGADIER GENERAL HUGH
CASEY, who accompanied General
Douglas MacArthur from the
Philippines to Australia and later
gave a vivid account of the break
through the Japanese blockade in
Philippine waters, is a Catholic
and a former parishioner of St.
Agatha’s Church, Brooklyn. In
January, General Casey was pro
moted from the rank of Colonel to
Brigadier General for outstanding
heroism and extraordinary gal
lantry in action in the Philippines.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE
HELD IN TIMES SQUARE
ATTENDED BY 3,000
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK—More than 3,000
persons, gathered before the
statue of Father Duffy in Times
Square Good Friday afternoon,
witnessed the first presentation of
“The Way of the Cross,” a dra
matized version of the Gospel
story of the Crucifixion.
The presentation, which brought
to a close a religious and patriotic
observance sponsored by the
Catholic War Veterans of the
United States, was carried to a
nation-wide radio audience over
Station WOR here and the nation
al network of the Mutual Broad
casting Company.
Participants gathered at Holy
Cross Church on 42nd Street, of
which the late Rev. Francis P.
Duffy, famed chaplain of the
“Fighting Sixty-Ninth” Regiment
in World War 1, was pastor.
Thence they marched in proces
sion to the Father Duffy monu
ment.
A program of sacred and pa
triotic music preceded the actual
dramatization, which was broad
cast from 2:45 to 3 p. m. At the
close of the reading, the Rev.
Joseph F. Stedman, Director of
the Confraternity of the Precious
Blood, who arranged the narra
tive for “The Way of the Cross,”
blessed the crowd with a Crucifix
in which was embzedded a relic
of the True Cross.
Parts in the presentation, which
followed closely the manner of the
reading of the Passion at the Mass
of the Pre-Sanctified, were taken
by the Rev. John F. Bukey, Kings
County Chaplain of the Catholic
War Veterans; the Rev. John M.
Quinn, past National Chaplain,
and the Rev. Matthew Toohey,
present National Chaplain. Thom
as J. Walsh, National Command
er of the C. W. V., presided.
Reappointed
-/
FOR HOME AN
1 . .
DIOCESAN DIRE*
/?zv James J. Graot
FOREIGN MISSIONS
EAST'HARRIS ST,
S&VANMAH. GA.
MAY MISSION INTENTION
“For Native Clergy in China”
The Most Rev. William D O’Brien,
Auxiliary Bishop of Cliicago, who
has been confirmed in the office
of President of the Catholic
Church Extension Society, for an
other term of five years, accord
ing to word received from the
Holy See. This is Bishop O'Brien’s
fourth term of five years.
IN.C.W.C.)
When one considers the forma
tion and expansion of a native
clergy in China it might be-well to
recall the inquiry expounded by
Ignatius Ying-ki of the Catholic
University of Pekin some years
ago. “What would have been the
eonditon of the Catholic Church to
day in China,” he asks, “had the
Crown Prince Constantine, son of
the Emperor Yung-li, last of the
Ming Dynasty and heir apparent
to the throne, become ruler of the
country in the latter half of the
seventeenth century? At the death
of his father this Prince, who with
his mother and sister had accepted
,Christianty, was murdered and the
Church lost its-greatest opportuni
ty to achieve a really prosperous
stale in China.”
American Catholics may be un
aware that 300 years before the
Pilgrim Fahers landed at Plymouth
Rock the Franciscan missionary,
John of Montecorvino, had inaugu
rated an era of Catholic evangeli
zation in the Flowery Kingdom.
“By 1304 5,000 persons had been
baptized, the New Testament and
the Book of Psalms appeared in
Chinese, a school for boys, intend
ed to be the foundation of the na
tive clergy, was begun. Cambaluc
(Pekin) reached the height of its
early ecclesiastical glory when the
archdiocese of Pekin was set up
and John of Montecorvino was
made its first Archbishop, with the
title ‘Patriarch of the‘ entire
Orient’. Seven Bishops in charge
of suffragan sees were given him
as assistants.” When this zealous
follower of the gentle Saint of As
sisi was called to his reward there
were 30,000 Catholics enrolled in
the archdiocese of Pekin alone.
This is but a brief outline of the
condition of Catholicism in China
before "Christopher Columbus
made his discovery of a New World
but it is proof positive that Christi
anity was known and loved in the
Dragon Empire long before the
name of Christ was heard in Am
erica.
With the accession of Pope Bene
dict XV to the Chair of Peter, new
impetus was given the work of
forming a native clergy in China.
His statement, “I would be more
pleased to hear that you conferred
Holy Orders upon a Chinese than
if you had Christened 100 men,”
became the signal for renewed ef
fort in the training of young men
to the priesthood in the Flowery
Kingdom. Pope Pius XII further
granted the seal of his approval to
this project by personally conse
crating six Chinese Bishops. This
imposing ceremony took place -in
the Vatican Basilica in 1926 and
was attended by many Cardinals
and members of the papal and
diplomatic corps. Then to climax
this effort a Chinese was conse
crated by Pope Pius XII as one of
jthe twelve Bishops, who, like the
original Apostles would carry the
message of the Redemption to the
farthermost parts of the world.
The day is still far distant when
China will be ready to dispense
with the aid of European and Am
erican missionaries but the work is
well under way. However, despite
a five year war native sons of the
Dragon Empire continue to answer
the call of the Master thus prepar
ing themselves as “other Christs”
to care for this harvest which is
whitening.
BE GLAD IT’S UNIVERSAL!
There is a sign outside of a
large non-Catholic church in New
York which boasts that the ser
vices of that particular place of
worship are held in"four different
languages, so that even members
of the congregation who do not
understand English may partici
pate in the prayers and hymns.
An announcement like this must
give Cathoic passers-by something
to think about, another blessing to
count along with the countless
others offered by Holy Mother
Church. For in the Roman Ca
tholic Church the world over,
Mass, Bened.ction, and the other
parts of the liurgy are spoken in
the same language. The Latin
which our parish priests use to
day is materially the same as that
used by tha early Popes, and,
what is even more important, the
Sacrifice and the prayers them
selves have remained unchanged
by times or customs.
What a consolation it is for us
to reflect upon this in relation to
the men of our armed forces, who
are defending their country in
lands where almost everything is
strange and foreign to them.
Once in a Catholic Chapel they
are “at home” again, for there
they will be able to assist at a
Mass identical with the one at
which they received their first
Holy Communion “back in the
States”.
Did You Know That . . .
The first hospital in North
America was founded in Mexico
by Cortez in 1632?
Great Britain is now to have
religious education in ,its schools?
The Board of Education has ar
ranged to put its plan for religious
education into operation next
year?
Africa is said to have possessed
the first Latin Bible? During
the second century many transla
tions were made there and from
these emerged the version known
as the Vetus Itala?
The Catholic population und^r
the care of the Irish Dominicans
in the West Indies has doubled
within the past twenty-five years?
The natives of India had prohi
bition in the thirteenth century
when the Moslem ruler, Ala-ud-
din, passed a law frbidding the
use of intoxicating liquors and
drugs? The law had to be repeal
ed because smuggling and the
use of private stills became so
general.
BOLIVIAN MISSION
In accordance with the recent
direction of the Holy See, Mary-
knoll had undertaken a mission
in Northern Bolivia, as an article
in “The Field Afar” reminds us.
For a little more than a century
this country which derives its
name from its first President and
Liberator, Simon Bolivar, has been
an independent republic, yet when
it was settled by the Spanish over
four centuries ago, Bolivia was
already part of the fabulous Inca
Empire.
With Spanish colonization of the
New World came Christianity and
the southeastern part of the coun
try was a section of the famous
Jesuit Reduction of Paraguay
which had been established at the
suggestion of Aquaviva. In 1586
the Jesuits began their labor
among the Guarini missions be
tween 1610 and 1768. The northern
part of Bolivia was converted by
Jesuits from Lima. The Jesuits*
were regarded by the Indians as
their protectors against the greed
of some of the colonists, and
their work was so satisfactory that
even Voltaire had a word of praise
for it.
WHEN MANUEL QUEZON*
President of the Philippine Com
monwealth, arrived in Melbourne,
Australia, he was greed by Mon
signor Lyons, Vicar General, rep
resenting the Most Rev. baniel
Mannix, Archbishop of Melbounre.
Among those in President Quez
on’s suite was Father Ortiz, S. J,
an army chaplain.