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JULY 25. 1942
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
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News Review of the Catholic "World
“WORDS OF TRUTH”—
NEW CONFRATERNITY
MANUAL—PUBLISHED
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON — With “The
Words of Truth’’ now available,
the Mystical Body of Christ Series
of religion textbooks by the Rev.
Leon A. McNeill and Madeline
Aaron of Wichita, Kans., has been
completed, it was announced by
the Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine.
“The Words of Truth,” third
book in the series, is based on the
Creed and is designed for children
in Confraternity classes — both
school-year religious instruction
classes and religious vacation
school. It is a development of
the revised Baltimore Catechism,
No. 2. presented in the language
of the child and enriched with
study assignments and text exer
cises. Father McNeill is Chairman
of the Elementary Manual Com
mittee of the Confraternity.
HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS
XII, fully recovered from his re
cent illness and appearing in ex
cellent health, descended from his
apartment in the Vatican after
Vespers on the eve of the Feast
of SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles,
to pay his customary visit to the
Vatican Basilica. Accompanied
only by a few Monsignori and
Papal Chamberlains, the Holy
Father knelt in prayer, first at the
Altar of the Sacrament and then at
the Papal Altar, where he said
the Rosary.
A MOTION urging that steps
be taken to advance the cause of
beautification of Jeanne Mance,
foundress of the present Hotel
Dieu hospital in Montreal, was
given enthusiastic support at a
special congress of the Catholic
Hospital Association of the United
States and Canada held in con
nection with the 300th anniversary
of the Hotel Dieu. When the
motion was introduced, the Rt.
Rev. Msgr. Philippe Perrier, Vicar
General of the Archdiocese, de
clared that James Mance com
bined all the qualities of Florence
Nightingale and James d’Arc.
THE SACRED PENITENTIARY
has extended to the Most Rev.
Francis J. Spellman, Military Vicar,
the power of blessing and erect
ing the Way of the Cross, either
personally or through others, at
taching the usual indulgences. It
is stated specifically that this per
mission may be granted for mili
tary chapels used by Catholics and
non-Catholics alike.
A LARGE NUMBER of medals
and rosaries were blessed by the
Rev. Joseph Hallissey, C. SS. R.,
of St. Mary’s Church, Annapolis,
Md., at the request of a non-Cath-
olic chaplain. A body of sailors
from a naval vessel was in town
and attended Mass at St. Mary’s
Church. Following the Mass one
of the sailors called on Father Hal
lissey to have the medals and
rosaries blessed. He said the
Protestant chaplain aboard his
ship had asked him to take care
of the blessing so that the chaplain
might distribute the articles to the
Catholic seamen.
GERMAN FORCES occupying
Holland are finding it increasing
ly difficult to make Dutch Catho
lics conform to their ideas, Dr.
Piet Kasteel, newly-appointed
Governor of the Dutch West Indies
Isle of Curacao, disclosed when
interviewed in New York. “The
resistance of Catholics under the
leadership of their Archbishop and
their Bishops is extremely strong”,
the Governor said. “The Hierarchy
has forbidden all Catholics to join
any Nazi organization, under pain
of exclusion from, the Sacraments.
All collaboration with the Nazis
has been refused and no one has
yielded”.
TWO MISSION CHURCHES,
both formerly Protestant places of
worship, were dedicated by the
Most Rev. Philip G. Seller, iBshop
of Monterey-Fresno. The two
churches will serve the Mexican
population in Merced, Cal.
iN MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS OF LIDICE
In memory of the town and the inhabitants of Lidice, Czecho-Slovakia, destroyed by Nazis, June 10,
1942, Mass is celebrated in the former Illinois village of Stern Park Gardens, renamed for the razed
Czech village. The Rt. Rev. Abbot Procopius Neuzil, O. S. B., of Lisle, 111., is pictured officiating at an
outdoor altar before the dedicatory services were held. <NC-Acme photo)
NON-CATHOLIC AUTHOR DEFENDS
HIS CRITICISM OF PROTESTANT
MISSIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA
Priest, Convert Tells
of Incident That Led
Him Into the Church
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Objections
to his statement that Protestant
missionary activity in South Am
erica is “a work of pure destruc
tion” are answered by John Ers-
kine., prominent non-Catholic au
thor and scholar, in an article in
the current issue of the Catholic
Digest.
Mr. Erskine made his statement
in an article which he wrote for
a national magazine last fall after
returning from a visit to Argentina
and Uruguay.
Stating that his object had been
to study all obstacles to interna
tional good will, but that comments
elicited by the article had all cen
tered on the missionary activity
of Protestants, Mr. Erskine writes:
“I am convinced that the mission
ary question needs full and frank
and immediate discussion.”
One retired missionary wrote in
protest. Mr. Erskine states, that
the purpose of the Protestant mis
sions is not to attack Catholicism
as such but to preach the Gospel.
This, the protest continued, Cath
olicism had evidently failed to do,
since in lands where it had long
exerted its influence, evil and mis
ery persisted.
“The argument,” writes Mr.
Erskine, “is absurd and easily
answered, but it has been advanced
before, and by missionaries who
were not Protestant. If you don’t
like the religion of a country, it’s
entirely to easy to lay on it the
blame of that country’s social or
economic shortcomings.”
“Furthermore,” he continued,
“it’s a dangerous matter to esti
mate the truth of a religion by the
plumbing in the homes of its wor
shipers. If the plumbing is in
adequate or unhygienic, it shoud
be improved, but no intelligent
person would try to establish a
connection between plumbing and
religion.
“The sanitary arrangements in
Assissi when St. Francis lived there
were probably as bad as they
could be. If we now know, as we
think. the proper • safeguards
against, disease, we must accept
the responsibility of that know
ledge. If the Protestant mis
sionaries to South America occu
pied themselves simply as sales
men of the modern bathroom. 1
should see in their efforts a bene
fit to society as well as a stimulus
to the manufacturer of bath tubs
and water closets. But to argue
even by implication that those who
possess and use such conveniences
have therefore a better religion
than St. Francis, is an idiocy too
painful to dwell on.
“Moreover, South America is
not the only part of the world in
which underprivileged communi
ties can be found—communities,
that is, which may be rich in reli
gious faith, in legend, in poetry,
in artistic and cultural tradition,
yet unprovided with modern
plumbing.”
Stating that his understanding
of Christ’s command is that we
should carry the truth to those
who have not already heard of it,
Mr. Erskine adds: “The missionary
activity of Protestants or of Cath
olics in those parts of the world
which do not yet know the Chris
tian philosophy, I admire, but the
Gospel has already been preached
in South America, and very well
preached indeed ”
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK—John Erskine’s
most recent observations on the
harm done by Protestant mission
ary activity in South America ap
pear in the latest issue of America,
Jesuit national weekly, through
special arrangement with the Cath
olic Digest.
DAMAGE TO RELIGIOUS
EDIFICES IN AIR RAID
ON CANTERBURY DISCLOSED
(By George Barnard)
(Cable, Nv C. W. C. News Service)
LONDON—It is now permissible
to disclose the amount of damage
done to Catholic buildings in the
Nazi reprisal raid on Canterbury.
The structure of the Church of
St. Thomas of Canterbury is in
tact, although surrounding houses
are in ruins.
The oldest church in England.
St. Martin’s, mentioned in the
writings of the Venerable Bede,
was slightly damaged.
The pre-Reformation Church of
St. George was swept by fire
caused by incendiary bombs.
The Cathedral was shaken, the
chief damage done being to the
modern library.
St. Dunstan’s. which reputedly
enshrines the head of St. Thomas
More, was not damaged.
GEORGE ACHATES GRIPJ'N-
BERG, Finland’s first Minister to
to the Holy See. arrived in Rome
on July 9, and arrangements are
being made for his early presenta
tion of credentials.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
CLEVELAND — Entering upon
his twenty-sixth years as pastor of
Blessed Sacrament Church here,
the Rt. Rev. Stephen W. Wilson,
a former Episcopalian minister
who became a Catholic some 40
years ago, revealed how an oc
casion when he was mistaken for
a priest led him to think and
study about the Catholic Church
and in effect initiated his long
journey to the Catholic priest
hood.
Late in the last century, ?.Ion-
signor Wilson said, in the confu
sion of a railroad station platform,
a man hurrying to board the train
Mpnsignor Wilson, then a minis
ter, had just left, jostled him and
called back, “Say a Mass far my
invention, will you. Father?” As
the train pulled out. the young
minister found he had ;a $o bill
in his hand.
“I felt that I had accidentally
acquired a deep responsibility,"
Monsignor Wilson said. He told
how he had taken the stipend to
the nearest Catholic parish and
recounted the event to the pastor.
The pastor agreed to say the Mass,
and then “asked with deep mean
ing, ‘young man. why don’t you
say the Mass yourself?’ ”
Older men were continually ad
dressing him as “young man,”
Monsignor Wilson said, and pre-
| dieting that he would finally come
| to Catholicism. “I finally did
i come into the Church because of
: an accumulation of just such items
as those.” he said.
Monsignor Wilson’s father.
! Henry Wilson, was batized with
; him by the late Monsignor Thomas
i X'. Mahon, pastor of St. Thomas
Acquinas Church, and his motner
l was received into the Church later
' in Baltimore while her son was
I studying for the Catholic priest-
: hood at St. Mary's Seminary there.
: To illustrate his discovery of
happiness in the Church, Mottsig-
nor Wilson told a story about his
: mother. “One day while she was
| under instruction in Baltimore she
I told me that she was going to hear
I about indulgences and that she had
i some pretty stiff questions to ask
the priest,’ he said.
“So the next clay when I called
on her I asked how her instructions
set with her. ‘Oh,! she said. ‘I’ve
been so busy ever since the priest
left yesterday trying to gain in
dulgences to help Those poor peo
ple who gave me such horrible
notions about indulgences.' ’*
Australians Pay High
Tribute to Faith ot
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
BRISBANE. Australia—(Delay
ed).—“Australian priests who have
come into 1 contact with Catholics
in the American Army are im
pressed by the candid manner in
which they approach them, by
their knowledge of their faith and
their devotion to the Mass and the
Sacramentas.”
This statement was made in an
editorial in the Catholic Leader,
official organ of the Archdiocese
of Brisbane. The tribute was in
dorsed at gathering in Mel
bourne by the Rev. Bernard Stew
art, senior chaplain to the Austral
ian Army in Victoria, who said he
was “deeply impressed with the
manly faith of the American Cath
olic troops ”
“Australian Catholics arc proud
of the American men,” he said.
“America is a land of freedom,
and the American troops have
brought to this country the spirit
of their great country. Throughout
America there is a grand Catholic
spirit, and Catholic institutions
flourish everywhere.’
A practical and inspiring
method of observing Mother's
Day was chosen by members of a
United States Army unit in Mel
bourne, when they attended Mass
and received Communion in a
body, Later a communion break
fast was held, arranged by women
of the Catholic Welfare Organiza
tion ,a body which undertakes so
cial welfare work for members of
the fighting forces. The principal
speaker was a United States Army
chaplain.
Chaplains with troops from the
United States played a prominent
part in the annual observance of
Anzae Day this year. Catholics,
as usual, observed the day with
Masses and Holy Communion for
the fallen. Solemn Requiem
Masses were celebrated in every
Cathedral ar.d in the principal
churches of the larger cities.
In Brisbane the Solemn
Requiem Masses were celebrated
in every Cathedral and in the
principal churches of the largec
cities.
In Brisbane, the Solemn Req
uiem Mass at St. Joseph's Cath
edral was celebrated by the Sen
ior Chaplain to the United State?
forces, Father Anselm Keefe, O.
Praem. The sermon of the occa
sion was given by another Ameri
can chaplain, Father Joseph Bog-
gins, S. J.
At Melbourne! the Solemn
Requiem Mass in St. Patrick's
Cathedral was celebrated by Fath
er H. .1. Barr, another United
States Army chaplain.
Father Barr, who was pastor of
St. Marv’s-on-The-Hill Church,
Augusta, Georgia, held a commis
sion as a first lieutenant in the
Chaplain's Reserve Corps of the
United States Army when he was
called to active duty more than a
year ago. He served as chjplain
at the Savannah Airbase before
going overseas.
The Rev. Joseph Boggins. S. J.,
"ho delivered the sermon at the
Anzac Day Mass at the Cathedral
in Brisbane, was stationed for
some months in Augusta as an
army chaplain at the Daniel Field
Airbase.
VERY REV. MATHIAS FAUST,
O. F. M„ of the Church of St.
Francis Assisi in New York, for
Provincial of the Franciscan Pro
vince of the Holy Name of Jesus,
has been named American Dele
gate General of the Franciscan
Order, with ail the authority ol
the Minister General, the Most
Rev. Leonardo Maria Bello, O. F
M.. whose headquarters are in
Rome. The appointment gives the
Minister General jurisdiction over
all the Franciscan Provinces in
North and Central America, and
in adjacent territory, including
Cuba and Puerto Rico.