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JULY 31, 1943
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIFTEEN
WITH OTHER EDITORS
BOMBS FALL ON ROME
Two short weeks ago, President
Roosevelt assured the Holy Father
that “churches and religious in
stitutions will, to the extent that
it is within 'our power, be spared
the devastations of war in the
neutral status of Vatican City do
mains throughout Italy will be
respected.”
It is now obvious that the mes
sage of the President was sent to
His Holiness in anticipation of the
bombing of military objectives one
week later. The news of that
bombing sent a chill through the
souls of hundreds of millions of
Catholics and of countless non-
Catholics throughout the world.
But the indignation of the Fas
cists and the Nazis over the danger
to Rome’s religious and cultural
edifices and monuments leaves us
cold. They are primarily respon
sible for the bombing of Rome,
and for the prior danger of having
all Christian civilization topple on
our heads.
Was it necessary to bomb Rome?
Was it advantageous? The Anglican
Bishop of Litchfield in Englanck
did not think so. Last month he
told his clergy at a Diocesan Con
ference: “I hold strongly to the
view that to bomb Roije would be
a crime against civilization and a
betrayal of the very things for
which we are fighting. Moreover,
in my view, any military advantage
we might gain thereby would be
more than offset by the moral
damage to our cause in the eyes of
the world.”
That was also our thought, our
conviction. But the responsible
public authorities of this nation
and of the nations allied with us
have decided otherwise. That is
their right; they conceived it to be
their duty. We respect their sin
cerity. We can only hope and pray
that our cause, the cause of free
dom and justice, will not suffer
moral damage to the extent that
the Bishop of Litchfield feared.
We say that it was the legal
right of the Allied Forces, includ
ing our own, to bomb Rome. Mili
tary objectives are of course mili
tary objectives in Rome as well as
elsewhere. But the difficulty, the
impossibility of bombing them in
the Eternal City and sparing sacred
edifices is illustrated by the great
damage reported to have been
done to the historic Church of San
Lorenzo. Such incidents certainly
would be multiplied by further air
raids, despite the best intentions
of our own and other Allied gov
ernments.
The sparing of the Vatican and
Vatican territory from violation is
not a courtesy extended to the
Holy See; it is a right guaranteed
by international law, the right of
all neutral territories, the same
right as that of Portugal, Sweden
and Switzerland. The United
States is bound by our traditional
American fidelity to recognition of
the moral obligation of internation
al agreements to set an example
in its respect for such rights.
The Capital of Christendom
Every capital of the European
nations engaged in the war had
been bombed except Rome. Tech
nically, Rome is not the Vatican,
but practically it is difficult and
even impossible to distinguish be
tween them. And Rome itself is not
merely the capital of Italy. It is
the capital of Christendom and of
Christian culture and civilization.
As such, it belongs not only to
Italy but to every Catholic, every
Christian, every religious-minded
person anywhere under the blue
canopy of heaven.
Eight years less than fifteen
centuries ago. Attila, king and
general of the Huns, swept through
Asia and Europe, leaving in his
path a record of destruction and
death unsurpassed in all history.
As he turned toward Rome Pope
Leo pleaded with him to spare the
city. Attila, the barbarian, relent
ed and agreed.
Fifteen hundred additional years
of Christian culture and civilza-
tion make Rome infinitely more
hallowed. Those at the gates of
Rome today are not Attilas, but
Christian leaders, battling for the
survival of Christian principles.
We have a right to hope, there
fore, and to expect that there will
be no more bombing of Rome.
Fascist Italy is certainly, inevit
ably, doomed to defeat, and any
military advantage which might be
gained by further bombing would,
as the Bishop of Litchfield main
tained. be more than overcome
by other considerations. Or, as
our own Archbishop of Detroit
says: “A stray bomb released by
mistake over Rome may do moral
harm to our cause that far out
weighs the military value of the
most accurate destruction of enemy
supplies.”
—(The Catholic News)
NCCW Diocesan Council
Board Meets ni Macon
MACON, Ga.—Promotion of the
campaign to sell AVAR Stamps for
the benefit of the National Catho
lic School of Social Service was
the principal business taken up at
the board meeting of the Savan-
nah-Atlanta Diocesan Council of
the National Council of Catholic
Women held here on July 8.
Mrs. Grover Heyser, of Atlanta,
is chairman of the campaign com
mittee of the Diocesan Council,
which has been asked to raise
$5,000 of the $250,000 which has
been set as the nation-wide goal.
It was decided to add to the
standing committees a committee
on Legislation, - which would be
headed by a member of the At
lanta Deanery Council.
A very comprehensive letter ex
plaining the Equal Rights Amend
ment, which the N. C. C. W. is
opposing, was read by Miss Helen
Nugent, secretary.
The president's 'message, issued
each month, will in future be sent
to all affiliated organizations in
the Diocesan Council.
Messages of regret were received
from the Most Rev. Gerald P.
O’Hara, Bishop of Savanhah-At-
lanta, and the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jo
seph E. Moylan, spiritual director
of the Diocesan Council, on their
inability to attend the meeting.
Interesting reports were heard
from the Deanery presidents, each
stressing the splendid war work
being done. Included was the re
port of Mrs. John Lyons, Jr., of
Savannah, which showed that with
in the preceding six weeks, 3,325
surgical dressings had been de
livered to the Red Cross.
Mrs. William J. McAlpin, of At
lanta, presided for the first time
since her election at the conven
tion held in Atlanta in May.
Fifteen members attended the
meeting and a luncheon at the
Lanier Hotel.
Members of the board in attend
ance included Mrs. William J. Mc
Alpin, Mrs. John Leamy, Mrs
Frank M. White, Mrs. Leo Sulli
van, Mrs. Grover Heyser, Atlanta;
Mrs. John Lyons, Jr., Miss Helen
Nugent, Miss Kate Latham, Mrs
J. P. Folliard Savannah: Mrs. Gar
rett Fleming, Columbus; Miss
Mary Brosnan, Albany; Miss Anita
Cassidy, Mrs. W. J. O’Shaughnes-
sey, Mrs. Floyd Harris, Macon;
Mrs. Joseph L. Herman. Miss Anna
Rice, Mrs. M. C. Roberts, Augusta,
with Mrs. John McCreary, presi
dent of St. Joseph’s parish council
in Macon, who was a special guest.
Evidence Guild Speakers in
Western North Carolina
Three students of Rosary College for Girls, River Forest, Illinois,
who are members of the Catholic Evidence Guild, with two Sisters from
the faculty of the college, have been conducting a series of open-air
explanations of Catholic doctrine and practices in the vast mission area
of St. John’s parish, Waynesville, North Carolina The young women
who are bringing the message of the Catholic Church to Western North
Carolina, at the invitation of the Rev. Ambrose Rohrbacker, of Waynes
ville, are, right to left, Miss Lucille Burke, of Oak Park, 111., Miss
Mary Constance Woods, of St. Louis,' and Miss Betty Ryan, of Chicago.
Evidence Guild Speakers Tour
North Carolina Mission Area
100,000 fWWtow Tteeded
To Save Georgia’s Crops
M<
LORE than 100,000 men and
women, boys and girls, are urgent
ly needed to help Georgia farmers
harvest their 1943 crops. Unless
this help is forthcoming, a part of
our vital food production for this
year will be lost.
Our farms are actually short up
wards of 100,000 workers. That
many able-bodied young men have
gone away to the armed forces and
the war pi aifff, and there have
been few replacements for them.
The shortage of farm workers va
ries from 15 to 30 per cent over
the slate.
^faunal j4cnea$c ‘Planted
In spite of this manpower short
age, Georgia farmers have man
aged, by dint of back-breaking
work, to plant normal acreages.
They have kept the fields, culti
vated. They managed to harvest
most of the early fruits and vege
tables. They got along somehow
with what help they had available:
The biggest job—the harvesting
of the main crops — lies ahead.
It cannot all be done with the
labor still left on the farms. Our
Georgia food production now.
needs the help of volunteers. We
may be able to harvest all of our
food if enough of us put in spare
time work.
*Voluntee~~ tyeun.
If you live in town and have any
free time at all, your help is need
ed. Boys and girls, business men
and housewives, are urged to of
fer their services. If you were
brought up on the farm or have
had any farm experience, you will
be especially useful.
Register at once with your
County Agent. He’s the man re
sponsible for the manpower pro
gram. Tell him YOU are willing
to help save our priceless food
supply.
This advertisement published by the Agricultural
Division of the Georgia Power Company, cooperating
with the Georgia Agricultural Extension Service
WAYNESVILLE, N. C. — The
Catholic Evidence Guild of Rosary
College, River Forest, 111., is again
conducting a street preaching tour
this summer in St. John’s Mission,
Waynesville, N. C. St. John’s Mis
sion is located in an area of 25,000
square miles with a million popu
lation, which until recently had no
Catholic church, although there
were 3,000 non-Catholic churches
in the same area.
Nine years ago Rosary College
organized classes for Catholic
Evidence Training. Tours have
been conducted for nine summers
in Oklahoma and during the last
two summers also in St. John’s
Mission in North Carolina. The
girls are trained for this work by
their religion teacher, the Rt. Rev,
Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand, S. T.
D., who is also Rector of St. Mary
of the Lake Theological Seminary,
Mundelein, 111.
Accompanied by two Dominican
Sisters, faculty members of Rosary
College, Sister M. Aurelia, Ph. D.,
and Sister M. William, B. E., the
college girls who are speaking in
North Carolina this summer are
Lucille Burke, Betty Ryan and
Mary Constance Woods.
Lucille Burke, of Oak Park, 111.,
just graduated from Rosary Col
lege, majored in English and plans
to teach English next year in the
Chicago Area. She was president
of her class during all four years
at college.
Betty Ryan, of Chicago, senior
at Rosary College, is prefect of
the College Evidence Guild for
next year. Upon her graduation
from college she plans to go into
the diplomatic service.
Mary Constance Woods, of St.
Louis, Mo., junior at Rosary Col
lege, is majoring in chemistry and
mathematics. She plans to be a
chemist, specializing in plastics.
Wide awake and cheerful, all
three girls like to read, play tennis
and swim. They are all-i'ound
young women with wide interests
and hobbies.
Each night during their street
preaching tour, lasting one week
in each town, the girls address
their audience from the rear plat
form of a station wagon on the
busiest corner of Main Street. They
use a public address system. Their
nightly audiences average well
over a hundred people. The ad
dresses are broadcast over the
nearby radio station, WMNC, at
Asheville, N. C.
Talks are given on the Church,
the Divinity of Christ, Purgatory,
the Bible, Prayer. Heaven, the
Priesthood, the Religious Life, the
Blessed Virgin, Confession, the
Life of Christ. A question box is
conducted. Questions are received
and the answers, after being check
ed by the local priest, are given
by the girls the following night.
Rosary College, in suburban
River Forest, ten miles from the
heart of Chicago, is a Catholic
college for women, conducted by
the Dominican Sisters of Sinsin-
awa, Wis. The college has an A
rating and is recognized by all
standardizing authorities.
The girl preachers are the pick
of six hundred students enrolled at
Rosary College. The girls are sel
ected for their eloquence and de
votion to the cause of Catholic
Action.
Dedication Services
Are Broadcast From
Cedartown Church
(Special to The Bulletin)
CEDARTOWN, Ga. — On Sun
day, July 11, a half-hour program
was broadcasted over Station
WGAA here. The occasion was the
unveiling and dedication of a
statue of the Blessed Virgin and
a statue of St. Bernadette.
The statue of Our Lady was
donated to the church by S. J.
Sherlock, Patrick Sherlock,
Michael Sherlock, John J. Sherlock
Patrick Carroll, James Carroll,
Thomas Reiley, and the statue of
St. Bernadette was donated by J.
P. Gilmore, Jr., of Rockmart.
The Rev. Leo Zeibarth, S. M.,
of Marist College. Atlanta, acted as
announcer, an,d the sermon on Our
Blessed Lady and St. Bernadette
was delivered by the Rev. James
McCann, C. SS. R., pastor of St.
Bernadette’s.
Hymns were sung during the
dedication and Benediction of the
Blessed Sacrament, which follow
ed, by the choir of St. Mary’s
Church. Rome, under the direction
of Karl Selter, with Miss Alice
Corbitt as soloist, and Miss Jane
Fahy, organist.
£==
TIIE ALABAMA STATE SEN
ATE has voted ar indefinite post
ponement of a bill which would
provide for the legalization of ster
ilizing the feeble-minded and per
sons who suffer from certain here
ditary forms of insanity.
HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS
XII recently granted anaudience to
the British Minister to the Vatican,
Sir Francis D’Arcy Godolphin Os
borne. "The British envoy had
just returned to Vatican City from
England where he was knighted by
King George VI.
Bishop Walsh on Program
at Dedication of New
US0 Club in Charleston
(Special to The Bulletin)
CHARLESTON, S. C.—Charles
ton’s newest recreation center for
service men, operated by the
United Service Organization, was
open on June 27 for the men sta
tioned at the port of embarka
tion.
The new club is located in the
building formerly occupied by'the
Berkeley Jungles night club, on
the Yeaman’s Hall road near
North Charleston.
Rear Admiral Jures James, com
mandant of the Charleston Navy
Yard and the Sixth Naval District,
made the principal address at the
dedication ceremony, stressing the
value of the USO clubs as recrea
tional centers for the men and
women of the armed forces.
J. Albert Von Dohlen was chair
man of the program and acted as
master of ceremonies. Colonel
John E. Earle, special service offi
cer for the port of embarkation,
represented Brigadier General
James T. Duke, commanding offi
cer of the port, who was unable
to be present.
Milton A. Pearlstine spoke for
the USO Council of Charleston,
and music was rurnished by the
port of embarkation band, with
Miss Alice Moran as soloist.
His Excellency the Most Rev.
Emmet M. Walsh, D. D.. Bishop
of Charleston, delivered the in
vocation. and spoke on the .co
operation of the six groups which
made up the United Service Or
ganizations, and emphasized the
importance of religion in the lives
of the soldiers. Lieut. Col. Henry
N. Blanchard, chaplain of the port
of embarkation, pronounced th«
benediction. _ .