Newspaper Page Text
JANUARY 22, 1944
THE BULLETIN OF TIIE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE
News Review of the Catholic World
American Franciscans
in Holy Land Greet
General Eisenhower
By Bro. Anthony Bruya, O. F. A,
(Radio, N.C.W.C. News Service)
.JERUSALEM, — It is now pos
sible to make public incidents con
nected with a visit paid to the
Holy Land by tlic American Army
commander, General Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
Gen. Eisenhower flew to Jeru
salem at the conclusion of the
Cairo Conference. On lus arri
val here he was met by the Very
Rev. Paschal Kinsel, O. F. M.,
President of Terra Sanc'ta College,
which is conducted by American
Franciscans.
Father Paschal escorted the
General on a tour of the Holy
Places, including the Holy Sepul
chre and Mount Calvary. At the
Tomb of the Saviour, General
Eisenhower met Brother Francis
Kreutzer, O. F. M., a native of
Kansas. Subsequently General
Eisenhower sent to Brother Fran
cis a large photograph of himself.
It bore this inscription preceding
the General’s autograph: “From a
Fellow Kansan.” The General
formerly resided in Kansas.
General Eisenhower and Father
Paschal also visited the Garden of
Gethsemane and the Mount of
Olives and then went to Bethle
hem. The General prayed in the
Nativity Grotto. He remarked at
Bethlehem, that his visit had serv
ed to remind him of his Sunday
chool days, when he received a
medal for knowledge of the Bible.
At the Nativity Grotto, General
Eisenhower met Brother Camillus
Liska, a fellow native of Texas.
The General also recalled that
often in his home town he had
paid visits on Sunday to a priest-
friend, a Monsignor Pastor, at the
latter’s home, discussing religious
matters.
Father Paschal had luncheon
with General Eisenhower, who ex
pressed gratitude for the privilege
of an ideal pilgrimage to the Holy
Shrines after the ardors of the
Cairo Conference.
THE FIFTH ARMY GOES TO MASS
Protestant Minister in
Canada Lauds Steadfast
Faith of Catholics
Father Robbins
New Provincial of
American Oblates
e of Caserta, near Naples, generals and privates turned out in force for the midnight
iristmas Eve, Pictured on that occasion, left to right, are: Lieutenant Colonel Art
to General Clark: Lieutenant General Mark Clark, Commander of the Allied Fifth
(By N.C.W.C. News Service)
OTTAWA.—The Canadian Press,
secular news agency, in a report
from Toronto said, in part:
“Rev. J. A. Mustard, veteran
Presbyterian minister - , in an ad
dress to the Toronto Presbytery
contrasted the Roman Catholic
Church with the Presbyterian and
praised the work of Roman Catho
lic hospitals.
“Look out your window early on
Sunday morning and you'll see the
Roman Catholics flocking to
church, but the Presbyterians are
still lying in bed, too lazy to get
up and go to worship."
“Mr. Mustard, who is hospital
visitor for the Presbytery, said
further that ‘you can preach all
the sermons you like about the
doctrinal errors of the Roman
Catholic Church but they don’t
amount to that (snapping his fin
gers) when the people look at the
work that the Roman Catholic
Church is doing for the sick. It’s
what you do that counts’.”
At the Palace
Mass held on Christmas
Sutherland, aide to Gem..— — - - - - , , .. T t <j
Army, who is a non-Catholic, and Major General Alfred M. Gruenther, Chief of Stafl of the U. b.
Fifth Army, distinguished Catholic officer from Nebraska—Acme photo. (N. C. W. C.t
Growth of Catholic Church in United States
Far Exceeds That of Any Other Denomination
Tabulation of Non-Catholic Agency Discloses
LOWELL, Mass.—The Very Rev.
William A. Robbins, O. M. I., has
been named Provincial of the First
American Province of the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate, it has been
announced here by the Very Rev.
James T. McDermott, O. M. I., re
tiring Provincial. The appointment
was made by the Very Rev. An-
thime Desnoyers, O. M. I., Vicar
General of the community, who
resides in Montreal.
Other appointments by the Vicar
General were announced as fol
lows: Father McDermott, First As
sistant Provincial; the Rev. Ed
ward Fox, Superior and pastor of
Sacred Heart Church, here, Sec
ond Assistant Provincial; the Rev.
Charles J. Costello, Superior of the
Oblate Scholasticate, Washington,
D. C., Third Assistant Provincial;
the Rev. John J. Donnelly, Super
ior and pastor of Immaculate Con
ception Church, here, Fourth As
sistant Provincial, and the Rev.
Andrew H. Kunz, of Holy Angels’
Church, Buffalo, N. Y., Provincial
Bursar.
The new Provincial was born in
Buffalo in 1897 and entered the
Preparatory Seminary of the Ob-
lales of Mary Immaculate there
in 1911. After completing his pre
paratory studies in Buffalo, Father
Robbins entered the Novitiate at
Tewksbury, .Mass., in 1915, and
one year later he entered the -Ob
late Scholasticate in Washington,
where lie completed his studies in
Philosophy and Theology and was
ordained in Baltimore on May 25,
1922.
After his Ordination, Father
Robbins’ first assignment was to
the Immaculate Conception
Church, there, where he assisted in
parochial work until 1929. From
1929 to 1933 he served as a preach
er of missions at Holy Angels’
Church, Buffalo.
From 1933 to 1935, while resi
dent at St, Benedict’s Church,
Seattle, he preached missions on
the Pacific Coast. In 1935 he was
appointed Superior and pastor at
St. Benedict’s Church, Seattle. He
was transferred to Holy Angels’
Church, Buffalo, in 1941, and in
1942 he was appointed Superior of
that Oblate Community and pastor
of the parish of Holy Angels, a post
which he held up to the time of his
appointment as Provincial.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK, — Statistics pre
sented in “Information Service,”
weekly publication of the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ
in America, revealing “Trends in
Church Membership between 1926
and 1941-42, “show that the growth
of the Catholic Church in the Uni-
led States in that period far ex
ceeded that of any otljer religious
group.
Figures given for the Catholic
Church show its memberhip in
1926 as 18,605,003 and in 1941-42
as 22,945,247, an increase of 4,-
340,244.
Figures given for the next larg
est group, the Baptist bodies, show
a total membership in 1926 of 8,-
303,187, and in 1941-42 a total of
11,170,662, an increase of 2,867,4/j.
The Baptist bodies include the
Northern Baptist Convention, the
Southern Baptist Convention, the
Negro Baptist Church, the Free
Will Baptists, the Primitive Bap
tists, the United American Free
Will Baptists and the American
Baptist Association. The member
ship of the Negro Baptist Church
in 1941-42 is given as 3,911,612.
Figures given for the second
largest of the non-Catholic groups,
the Methodist bodies7 show a total
membership in 1926 of 7,966,082
and in 1941-42 a total of 9,474,870
an increase of 1,508,788. The
Methodist bodies include the
Methodist Church, the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church and the Colored Metho
dist Episcopal Church. The total
membership of the three Colored
Methodist group in 1941-42 is
given as 1,560,979.
For the Lutheran bodies the fig
ures show a total membership in
1926 of 3,766,912 and in 1941-42 a
total of 4,814,806, an increase of
1,047,954. The Lutheran bodies in
clude the American Lutheran
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran
Augustana Synod of North Ameri
ca, the Evangelical Lutheran
Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other
States, the Evangelical Lutheran
Joint Synod of Wisconsin and
Other States, the Norwegian Lu
theran Church of America and the
United Lutheran Church of Ameri
ca.
For the Presbyterian bodies the
figures show a total membership
in 1926 of 2,534,582 and in 1941-
42 a total of 2,796,051, an in
crease of 261,469. The Presbyterian
bodies include the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A., the Presby
terian Church in the U. S., the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
and the United Presbyterian
Church.
The figures for the Protestant
Episcopal Church show a total
membership in 1926 of 1,859,086
and a total of 2,074,178 in 1941-42,
an increase of 215,092.
For Jewish congregations the
figures show a total membership
in 1926 of 4,081,242 and a total of
4,641,184 in 1936, an increase of
559,942.
Two other groups are listed with
a total-membership in excess of
one million in 1941-42. They are
the Disciples of Christ, with a
membership of 1,655,580, and the
Evangelical Church, with a mem
bership of 1,052,701.
The survey estimates the total
1941-1942 church membership in
the United States, on the basis of
reports from 256 religious bodies,
as 68,501,186, compared with a
total of 54,676,346 in 1926, an in
crease of 25.5 per cent in church
membership for the period, as
compared with an estimated 14.3
per cent increase in general popu
lation.
The study is based on compari
sons made between the data on
church membership reported in
the Federal Census of Religious
Bodies, 1926, and the latest com
pilation of the official reports of
church membership, comprising
mainly figures for the year 1941 or
.1942, published in the Yearbook
of American Church, 1943.
American Troops Attend
Christmas Services at
Grotto in Bethlehem
By Bro. Anthony Bruya, O. F. M„
Jerusalem Correspondent,
N.C.W.C. News Service
BETHLEHEM. —Bethlehem and
Jerusalem were festive as a thou
sand visiting American and numer
ous Allied troops “occupied” the
holy cities on Christmas Day.
The cities were lighted for the
first war-time Christmas; the
blackout being lifted Christmas
Eve.
For the first time, American
troopsqpredominated on the Christ
mas scene by their numbers and
activities.
A perfect autumn day witnessed
the entry of the Catholic Patriarch
into the ancient Basilica, where
the military khaki of the men in
uniform mingled with the eccles
iastical vesture of the religious
and the oriental garb of the
throngs. Several hundred Ameri
cans, guests of the Red Cross and
Terra Santa College, which the
Franciscan Fathers conduct, at
tended the Pontifical Midnight
Office and Mass and the proces
sion in the Nativity Grotto. An
additional, special Midnight Mass
was celebrated by Chaplain Carey
in the Grotto of the Holy Inno
cents, where a choir of 65 soldiers
sang familiar home carols. There
Catholic Pamphlets
Distributed to Every
Oklahoma City Home
(By N.C.W.C. News Service)
Oklahoma city..—one of the
first attempts in the United States
at a coverage ol a city with print
ed Catholic literature was made
here when 50,000 pamphlets were
delivered to Oklahoma City homes.
The 24-page pamphlet is entitled
“What You Should Know About
Catholics” and w'as w ritten and ar
ranged by Rev. John ,1. Walde, pas
tor of Corpus 'Christ! Church. The
experiment has the approval of
the Most Rev. Francis C. Kelley,
Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tul
sa, and details of the plan were dis
cussed at meetings of the city cler
gy.
It required three days for a dis
tributing agency to place the pam
phlets in every home. Catholic and
non-Catholic, in Oklahoma City.
The pamphlet, alter a short in
troduction, lists ten questions com
monly asked Catholics about their
Church. Among these are “Why
do Catholics obey the Pope?”
"Why don't priests marry?”, "Why
is the Catholic Church opposed to
Divorce?” All the questions are
answered in the text but direct an
swers to the ten questions are giv
en in the back of the book. The
text 'explains simply but briefly,
the Church itself, its purpose, au
thority, etc. Those who wish to
verify the statements in the book
let are furnished a list of refer
ences taken from Ihe King James
version of the Bible.
Directly in the back of the pam
phlet is printed a list of Oklahoma
City churches with the names and
phone numbers of pastors, togeth
er with a list of Catholic radio pro
grams, locally available.
A feature of the brochure is the
back cover which is the form of a
post card with prepaid postage ad
dressed to the Catholic Informa
tion Guild, 418 N. Robinson, Okla
homa City. On the reverse side of
the post card is printed checking
space for, first, those who wish
further information about the
Church, second, for those who wish
to take a correspondence course in
Catholic beliefs. A space is pro
vided for name, address and phone
number of the person interested.
The distribution of the pam
phlets to Oklahoma City homes
was timed with the beginning of
convert classes on January 17 and
18 at all city churches.
Non-Catholics who respond to
the pamphlet will be contacted
and invited to attend classes at
the nearest Catholic Church.
APPROXIMATELY A TON of
materials made available by the
Bishops’ War Emergency and Re
lief Committee of the National
Catholic Welfare Conference,
reached Americans who are mili
tary prisoners and civilian in
ternees in the Philippines in
time for Christmas. American Red
Cross headquarters revealed the
large^group of Christmas pack
ages Wl arranged to send to the
Orient aboard the exchange ship
Gripsholm when it went out to
pick up American repatriates on
the latest trip had been unloaded
at Manila. The packages were
transferred to a Japanese ship
under the supervision of the Inter
national Red Cross. The material
sent by the Bishops’ consisted
chiefly of new books, fiction and
non-fiction. Missals, prayerbooks
and Mass kits. The Red Cross sent
four nurses, a r cereal ion 1 work
er, and clothing, food, comfort
articles, including toys from the
Junior Red Cross.
were all-American radio broad
casts from the Nativity Grotto and
the Franciscan Church, as the
famed bells pealed “Gloria in Ex
celsis Deo.”
AT A CHINESE DINNER, spon
sored by the Most Rev. Paul Yu
Pin, Vicar Apostolic of Nanking,
China, held in Washington recent
ly, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Patrick J.
McCormick, Rector of the Catho
lic University ‘ of America, was a
guest of honor. Among those at
tending were Dr. Tao-Wing Wei,
Chinese Ambassador to the United
States: Dr. Alfred Sao-ke Sze. for
mer Chinese Ambassador and now
vice-president of Chinese Defense
Supplies, Liu Chieli, Chinese Min
ister: other diplomats, Government
officials and educators, including
members of the University faculty.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL PUPIL
for the third year in succession
has won the medal in the essay
contest conducted by Louisiana
Society of the United States
Daughters of 1812. This year's
winner. Jack Fritz, of the seventh
grade of Sacred Heart parochial
school. New Orleans, being pre
sented with the medal on the 120th
anniversary of the Battles of New
Orleans, January 8, for his essay
on “Andrew Jackson”. Among
the essays submitted by pupils of
public, private and parochial
schools in New Orleans, the best
five chosen in the process of
elimination were from pupils at
tending parochial schools.
THREE ITALIAN NUNS of the
Venerini community and a Red
Cross field director organized a
Christmas shopping service and
minimized the worries of many
men in the Fifth U. S. Army forces.
The nuns, already the good friends
of the Corps when they first got to
know one another at the time of
the Allied invasion of Italy, knew
just the right shops and where lin
ens, silks, jpwelry, cigarette cases,
toys and other gifts could be had
at the most reasonable prices. One
of the nuns. Sister Annette, is the
particular favorite of the U. S.
troops because she “speaks English
like an American,” which is not
surprising since she was born in
Rochelle Park, N. J., and went to
Italy just a few years ago to study
and teach.
MOST REV. BERNARD W.
GRIFFIN, Auxiliary Bishop of
Birmingham, has been named by
His Holiness Pope Pius XII to be
the new Archbishop of West
minister, succeeding the See left
vacant by the death of His
Eminence Arthur Cardinal Hins-
ley.