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TWELVE
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 27. 104?,
Pastor of St. Mary’s Greenville
The Right Reverend Monsignor Andrew Keene Gwynn, V. F., who
is completing his forty-second year as pastor of St. Mary’s Church,
Greenville. South Carolina. Born in Baltimore. Monsignor Gwynn has
been a resident of the Piedmont Section of South Carolina since
boyhood. He was educated at Wofford College, All Hallows College.
Durlin. Ireland, Mount St. Mary”s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Mary
land. and was ordained by the late Bishop Henry Pinckney Northop,
of Charleston, on July 25, 1895. Not only is Monsignor Gwynn lov
ed by his own parishoners and the Catholics of South Carolina, but
in. and far beyond, the confines of his parish, he holds the respect and
admiration of a host of non-Catholic friends.
Financing Rebellion
Against the Law of Qod
By THE REV. JOSEPH J. SCHAGEMANN, C.SS.R.
Architecture Students at
Giemson College Hear
Talk by Father Michael
(Special to The Bulletin 1
CLEMSON, S. C. — The Rev.
Michael Melnerney, O. S. B. Noted
priest-architect of Belmont Abbey.
Belmont, N. C., delivered an il
lustrated lecture on eccelsiastical
architecture to the architectural
class of Professor G. E. Hoffman j
at Clemson College on February 8. j
Father Michael, recognized as
one of the foremost authorities on
this type of architecture in the
United States, designed and super
vised the construction of hundreds
of structures, ranging from small
schools and rectories to some of
the finest hospitals and handsom
est churches in the South and in
parts of the North.
Among the churches for which
Father Michael executed the plan
is St. Andrew's Church in Clem
son. a charge of the Paulist Fath
ers with the Rev. Maurice Fitz
gerald. C. S. P., as pastor. He
drew the plans for St. Francis
Hospital in Greenville, Providence
Hospital in Columbia, the Divine
Saviour Hospital at York, the addi
tion to St. Francis Xavier Infirm-
armv in Charleston, and for many
other buildings In South Carolina,
including St. Paul’s Church,
Spartanburg.
Father Michael pointed out the
great architectural discoveries of
the middle ages, the Gothic arch!
and the flying buttress, which en
abled builders to go to great
heights and create vast spaces
while reducing the size of piers
and columns. His lecture covered
the period from the time of St.
Benedict to the 16th century, and
emphasized the marvelous archi
tectural of the 13th century when
Religion was the passion of the
age, as industry is the fashion of
today.
‘’Gothic architecture is known in
history as Benedictine art.” said
Father Michael. “It arose entirely
out of Christian ideals and aspira
tion, executed by.the monks from
thousands of monasteries, who
were architects, artists, craftsmen
and workmen. It was fostered and
and developed during a period of
1,000 years from the 6th to the 16th
century, under the administration
of Benedictine Popes, 6,000 Bene
dictine Archbishops and 15,000
Benedictine Bishops, to such an ex
tent that the 13th century has been
called the greatest of centuries,
when practically all civilezed peo
ples were Christians of one faith,
when there was less poverty, less
crime, and when religion was the
ruling passion. When the art of
joyous living found expression in
the flowering of all of the arts and
found its highest expression in the
production of those glorious Ca
thedrals of the Middle Ages, ex
emplified everywhere in Europe,
and especially in France. England
and in Spain.
“Here was assembled in one
building practically all of the arts
as external expression of interior
devotion. The longs and aspirations
of the faithful souls seeking their
Creator. The late Ralph Adams
Cram, in one of his books, has
stated that a Solemn Pontifical
Mass in one of the glorious medi
eval Cathedrals is the highest pos
sible conception of the artistic,
wherein all of the arts combined
in one glorious ensemble in grow
ing glory to the Creator of all
tilings. Not only the building, with
its height, its might and depth, but
the perfect work of stained-glass
workers, of sculptors in stone and
in wood, paintings and mosaics,
the intricate work of the silver and
goldsmith, the priestly vestments
of silk and linen in handwrought
■needlework, but also the living,
moving drama of the ceremony,
with the liturgical persons and the
audience in rapt devotion—there
is oratory and rectoric. there is
the poetry and rythm of the plain
chant, and the solemn crescendo
of organ tone, and from the belt
tower, goes forth to the world of
men that God is in His holy temple.
“Such an ensemble of arts at
the same time in one place for
such a high and holy purpose,
should accomplish the end of all
true art. the raising of the mind
and heart above and away from the
sordid things of life and bring us
new to our Creator."
Greenville P.-T. A.
an Active Group
GREENVILLE. S. C.—The Par-
enP-Teacher Association of St.
Mary's School, despite its small
membership, has been most ac
tive during the past year in school,
parish and war work, under the
capable direction of Mrs. William
A. Healey.
In May, a First Holy Commun
ion breakfast was served the
children of the parish. June
brought prizes for honor gradu
ates. and a breakfast for members
of the .graduating class. In the
Fall, a Hallowe’en party was giv
en, and on Armistice Day, the
Association sponsored a success
ful bridge party.
One of the outstanding enter
tainments of the season was the
Christmas play, presented by
pupils of the school, under the
direction of the Sisters. Mothers
helped in designing and making
costumes. Last week a circus was
presented. affording recreation
and providing a means of raising
funds.
The meetings of the Association
are featured by the reading of
articles concerning the Catholic
training of children, and these
readings have proven both inter
esting and instructive.
The Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy joined with the mothers of
their pupils in a First Aid and an
Advanced First Aid course con
ducted at the school by the Red
Cross.
Members of St. Mary’s P.-T. A.,
together with other Catholie
groups, help at the Red Cross
headquarters making surgical
dressing each week, and knit
sweaters, socks and scarves, as
well as doing miscellaneous sew
ing. The Association members
have cooperated in salvage drives,
and have sold War Bonds and
Stamps in conjunction with the
Greenville Council of Catholic
Women. The - Parent-Teacher
Association has also worked with
the recreational committee of St.
Mary’s parish, under the auspices
of the National Catholic Commun
ity Service, in entertaining ser
vice men in their homes, arrang
ing dances, spaghetti suppers and
Sunday breakfasts.
Student Activity at
St. Genevieve’s
(Special to The Bulletin)
ASHEVILLE, N. C. — The last
week of January brought to a close
the scholastic year's first half at
St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines. Febru
ary 1 was tbe beginning of the sec
ond semester, and also the date on
which semester honor rolls and the
College Dean’s List were announc
ed. The most important curricular
change will be the adoption in the
college department of eight-week
marks and tests to replace six-week
ones.
On January 28, interested stu
dents and faculty members were
invited to Asheville College to hear
a lecture by Di. Wilhelm Solz-
bacher. Dr. Solzbacher, a graduate
of the University of Cologne, and
a former leader of the German
Catholic Youth Movement, has been
deprived of German citizenship by
the Nazi government. His topic:
“Youth of Europe Today and To
morrow,” was of great interest and
timeliness, and he was well quali
fied by training and experience to
discuss it.
School social events of recent
weeks have included: Friday night
movies, of which the most enjoy
able were “Magnificent Dope” and
“Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage
Patch”; the annual Book Parade on
the school’s celebration of its pa
tron, St. Genevieve, January 19;
a French Bingo Party of the Acad
emy French Club on February 5;
a Freshman Student Activity
Period on Lincoln February 12;
and the Valentine Tea Dance of
the high school students on Febru
ary 13. The last, which opened
with the Procession and Corona
tion of the King and Queen of
Hearts accompanied by their royal
attendants, was a very festive oc
casion celebrated with contests,
pantomines of great lovers, and
dancing before His Cordial Majes
ty.
On the evening of the following
day, February 14, began the stu
dents’ Annual Retreat, conducted
this year by Father Raymond An-
able, S. J., of Fordham University.
Witli classwork suspended until
the eighteenth, the members of the
junior college, academy, and eighth
grade, spent three days in recol
lection suid prayer.
A metropolitan daily which re
commended contraception edit
orially a few years ago reported
recently that a check of 550,000
was presented to the president of
an organization planning to make
contraception part of the health
programs of all the States. The
writer stated: “The gift was the
largest single contribution ever
received by the organization.’’
We are told that the man
agers of 175 war plants which em
ploy great numbers of women plan
to include advice on “planned par
enthood” in their general health
programs. The national director
of the organization explained fur
ther that “planned parenthood”
would not be presented to the
workers as an isolated service but
would be included in the broad
health services which many indus
tries were planning. The prom
inence given the meeting of the
propagandists by the secular press
every year advertises their false
arguments before these can be
refuted in the correspondence
column. The Catholic Press wel
comes advance information of their
plans.
DOES THE END
JUSTIFY THE MEANS?
The Catholic Church has always
condemned this doctrine. The
condemnation is repeated when the
Church brands artificial birth con
trol as gravely sinful and declares
that no reason, however grave, can-
justify the evil practice. But the
advocates of contraception espouse
this false principle when they as
sert that poverty or danger to
life justifies violation of the na
tural law. St. Thomas teaches that
the natural law is the ordinance
of God, known by the light of na
tural reason, as commanding the
observance of the natural order
and forbidding its disturbance.
The leader of the birth control
movement, however, is quoted as
writing in the Birth Control Re
view in 1917: “No law is too sa
cred to be broken.”
On October 27. 1941. “TIME”,
commented on the announcement
made at the celebration of the
25th anniversary of the opening of
the first birth control clinic, that
“there are now more than 620
contraceptive centers, and that
“77 per cent of U. S. citizens fav
ored the teaching of contraception
through government health clin
ics,” The writer continued: “Be
cause of this success, the birth con
trollers have recharted their
course, turned fertilitarian. Wor
ried by the long-trend fall of the
birth rate, they dropped their
old cry of ‘limited’ families. In
stead, they urged U. S. parents to
have as many babies as they can
afford, to ‘space’ them two years
apart.” The advocates of contra
ception, therefore, now urge re
course to sinful means to bring
about what is the ordinary course
of nature, namely, a Child about
every two years.
The donor of $50,000 is re
ported to have declared: “It is my
conviction that once planned par
enthood is made part of our pub
lic health and welfare services,
more healthy children will be born
to maintain the kind of peace for
which we are fighting,” But we
are fighting for a peace which
the world cannot give. Can a na
tion hope for God-given peace
while sponsoring rebellion against
the law of God, for Whom the
States receives its power? St.
Paul teaches: “There is no power
but from God.”
FINANCING
Thousands of dollars have been
squandered since 1916 to prevent
parenthood. Writing in St. An
thony’s Messenger a few years
ago, Marie O'Dea said. “The ad
vocates of contraception prate
much of the sad drain on the poor
man’s income, yet they lift not a
finger to fight for a just living
wage . . . They spend millions of
dollars spreading the gospel of
birth control, when that money
would provide a living for healthy
American families.” The poor raise
large families because they enjoy
the companionship of their own
flesh and blood. Their home is
their club. They do not go to
parties at which the conversation
very oftea turns to a discussion of
the most effective method of frus
trating the plans of the Creator.
PROPAGANDA OF TRUTH
An article in “PARENTS” maga
zine stated a few months ago:
“The birth control fight, as a
fight, is almost over . . . More
than 800 clinics or referral serv
ices are operating under the law
today in forty-six states . . .
more than 3,000 private physicians
throughout the country . . . are
willing to give this information
to those who are not eligible for
clinic services because of family
income.” As this national menace
.is growing worse every day, we
ask: Will Catholic Action meet
the challenge by its cultural apos-
tolate of true doctrine? Will the
charity of Catholic Action aid
those who courageously shoulder
the economic burden of Christian
family life, so that parenthood may
be promoted instead of being pre
vented? Recommending contra
ception, the writer in “PARENTS"
declared: “Men and women want
children—and they seem to want
them all the more when coupled
with this desire is the will to pro
vide for them properly . . . Case re
ports confirm the reality of the
maternal instinct: When the fin
ancial condition of the family im
proves, more children are wel
come.” Hence, by helping fami
lies to improve their financial con
dition we will promote parenthood
by preventing contraception.
Miss Helen Wasil
Enters Convent at
Danville, Virginia
(Special to The Bulletin)
DANVILLE, Va. — Miss Helen
Wasil, of Jackson Heights, Long
Island, N. Y., has been received into
the Society of Christ Our King
at the Motherhouse of the Order in
Danville, th^ ceremony taking
place in the convent chapel, Feb
ruary 2, following the community
Mass, with the Rev. John J. Mc-
Keon, pastor of Sacred Heart
Church, officiating.-
Miss Wasil was formerly active
in Sadality work in her home par
ish of St. Joan of Arc. Jackson
Heights, and in catechetical work
in Manhattan. As a volunteer work
er, she served in two centers with
the Religious of the Cenacle, which
have charge of the Christian Doc
trine classes in St. Paul’s and Holy
Rosary parishes in New York City.
As a religious. Miss Wasil will be
known as Sister Felicity, and on
the completion of her novitiate
will be assigned to the work oE
Doctrinal Instruction for which she
has been well prepared by the Re
ligious of the Cenacle on River
side Drive in New York.
The Society of Christ the King
was founded in Greenville. N. C.,
in June 1931. Members of the So
ciety are drawn from nine states
and one foreign country. The So
ciety is devoted to extending the
reign of Christ on earth through
the reconstruction of the social
order in Christ. The Sisters work
mainly with those who have no
church affiliations and instruction
in Religion is a particular and all
embracing phase of their work. Be
sides a school and catechetical cen
ters conducted in Danville, the
Sisters conduct a farm Life School
in the country. Children from four
to fourteen are admitted to this
school for day classes. Parents and
older children attend evening class
es where principles of self-help
and community cooperation are
learned and discussed.
CITADEL NEWMAN CLUB
SPONSORS RETREAT
CHARLESTON, S. C., — The
Newman Club of Citadel sponsor
ed a spiritual retreat from Feb
ruary 7 to 10, in connection with
the annual observance of Reli-
lious Emphasis Week. The pro
gram included a brief sermon by
the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph L.
O’Brien, pastor of St. Patrick's
Church and rector of Bishop Eng
land High School, at services which
were held in the Citadel chapel
each evening. Monsignor O’Brien,
also celebrated Mass in the chapel
during the retreat, and officiated
in Benediction each evening.