Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men's Association
of Georgia
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. XXV No. 2 TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 19, 1944 .★★★ ISSUED MONTHLY—$2.00 a YEAR
BATAAN CHAPLAINS SHARE FATE OF WAR PRISONERS
McDonnell O'Keefe Vanderheiden Braun
Carberry O'Brien Curran Kennedy
That United States Army and Navy Chaplains, together with other
officers and enlisted men, were obliged to do hard labor at ftie Jap
anese prisoner of war camp at Davao, Mindanao Island, P. I., is
revealed in an official joint statement released by the U. S. War and
Navy Departments, based upon affidavits obtained from three men
who escaped torture and death from the Japanese there. A group of
American prisoners who surrendered at Bataan and Corregidor are
pictured above, with their captors. Of the 20 Catholic Chaplains,
reported in Japanese hands, 19 served with our Army and one, Chap
lain McManus, with the Navy. Several of them were cited for brav-
Father Zerfas, one of the chaplains pictured above, was at
ery. The Chaplains pictured are: Fathers Herman C. Baumann
(Diocese of Pittsburgh); Albert Braun, O. F M.; Richard E. Car-
berry (Portland, Oreg.); William T. Cummings, M. M.; John L. Cur
ran, O. P.; John E. Duffy (Toledo); John J, Dugan, S. J.; Hugh F.
Kennedy, S. J.; Joseph V. LaFleur (Lafayette); John J. McDonnell
(Brooklyn); Francis J. McManus (Cleveland); James W. O’Brien
(San Francisco), Eugene J. O’Keefe, S. J.; Stanley J. Reilly (San
Francisco), Thomas Scecina (Indianapolis); Henry B. Stober (Cov
ington): Albert’D. Talbot, S. S.; Joseph Vanderheiden, O. S. B.; John
A Wilson, C. PP. S.; Matthias E. Zerfas (Milwaukee. (N.C.W.C.
one time stationed at Fort Benning Ga.
Monsignor Fulton Sheen Answers
“Izvestia’s” Attack on the Vatican
Members of Hierarchy Denounce
Soviet Charges Against Vatican
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON. — The vicious
Soviet attack upon the Vatican,
launched in Moscow by Izvestia,
Communist government news
paper, is piece of a cunning pat
tern being woven by the Russians
and prepares one for two possible
developments—Russia's conclusion
of a separate peace witli Germany
after the overthrow of Hiller and
a campaign for the de-Christiani
zation of Europe—the Ri. Rev.
Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen of the
Catholic University of America
declared here.
Accusing the Vatican of being
“pro-Fascist” in its “foreign
policy,” the Izvestia article held
itself out as an indorsement of the
recent report by the Foreign
Policy Association of New York.
The Soviet newspaper ignored the
fact that the Foreign Policy Asso
ciation said: “The view that the
Pope is at heart a Fascist and
wishes to see the triumph of mod
ern dictatorships, while a long
sequence of superficial evidence
can be constructed to support it,
proves to be without foundation
in fact.” Izvestia declared that
the had “earned the contempt of
the Italian masses for supporting
Fascism.
In reply to this Soviet attack
upon the Vatican, Monsignor
Sheen issued the following state
ment:
“No country in the world has
' contributed as much to, Fascism
as Russia. For it was only through
the Soviets giving the Nazis the
green light in the pact of 1939
that the Nazis were able to extend
their form of Fascism all over Eu
rope.
Furthermore, Stalin has already
declared himself in favor of Fas
cism. In a telegram to Hitler he
said ‘our friendship is sealed with
blood.’ Molotov told Von Ribben-
trop ‘fascism is only a matter of
taste.’
“Russia’s condemnation of the
Vatican on the grounds of being
Fascist is quite excusable and par
donable. Russia is the only na
tion in the world outside of Ger
many that does not permit free
dom of the press and freedom ol
religion. It, therefore, never per
mitted to be circulated within its
borders any of the Vatican's state
ments condemning Fascism and
Nazism. Having never hegrd of
them through its rigorous censor
ship it can therefore be excused,
of being ignorant of them.
“Every other nation on the face
of the earth knows that the Vati
can condemned Fascism in an En
cyclical written in Italian, Nazism
in an Encyclical written in German
and Communism in an Encyclical
written in Latin. To the land
therefore that allows no infiltra
tion of religion we should apply
(Continued on Page Five)
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Employing stern language, mem
bers of the American Hierarchy
roundly denounced the reckless
attack made by the Russian news
paper, Izvestia, which accused the
Vatican of supporting Fascism,
and agreed generally that there
was a possible ulterior motive in
the latest sensation sprung by the
Soviet.
In an outspoken statement, the
Most Rev. Michael J. Curley, Arch
bishop of Baltimore and of Wash
ington, asserted the incident ap
peared to be a screen to cloak fu
ture moves of the Soviet govern
ment.
A number of members of the
Hierarchy noted that the Russian
newspaper’s story was^based on
portions of a report issued last
month by the Foreign Policy As
sociation of New York, dealing
with pro-Fascist accusations
against the Vatican, and they em
phasized that the Russian paper
did not mention the Foreign Policy
Association’s report had absolved
the Vatican of the charges
UNQUALIFIEDLY FALSE
In his statement, Archbishop
Curley branded the pro-Fascist
charge made against the Vatican
by the Russian newspaper as “A
lie.” He viewed the incident as a
move by the Soviets to create lack
of harmony among the Allied na
tions while Russia prepares to grab
eastern Poland and the Baltic
States “regardless of what the Bri
tish or American Governments
may think about it.”
Archbishop Curley stated: "Let
me be frank. The statement made
by the Russian paper Izvestia is
absolutely and unqualifiedly false.
It is in line with Pravda’s state
ment about British attempts to
make a separate peace and about
many other things in the past. The
purpose of the Russian press would
seem to be to create disunity and
lack of harmony not only among
the Allied nations but everywhere
the world over. In the meantime,
Russia is preparing to take eastern
Poland and the Baltic States re
gardless of what the British or
American Governments may think
about it.
“I am not at all surprised at Ihe
statement coming out of Russia.
We are going to have more of
them. Lying is part of their game
so let us be prepared for it. Pope
Pius XI condemned in the most
emphatic manner atheistic com
munism, nazism and fascism as
well as dictatorship in every form.
The public knows that. They have
read the repeated statements by
the present Holy Father, Pope
Pius XII, and they condemned
the whole philosophy of commun
ism, nazism and fascism and yet
in spite of all that Russia, with its
usual brash brazenness, tells the
world that Pope Pius XII is a
(Coninued on Page Three)
Bombing Attacks on
Papal Villa Bring
Death and Damage
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12—An
j announcement from Allied
Headquarters in Italy, broad
cast by radio in this country to
day, stated that the Germans
had installed themselves at the
J Papal Villa of Castelgandolfo
! and that the premises, tliere-
I fore, were subject to Allied
| bombing.
(Radio, N.C.W.C. News Service)
I VATICAN CITY, Feb. 12— It
i has now been verified here that
j Thursday morning’s bombing of
| (lie territory of the Papal Villa of
Castelgandolfo caused practically
J the total ruin of the adjoining and
communicating summer residence
of the Pontifical College of Pro
paganda Fide (Propagation of the
Faith). The total number of vic
tims still has not been ascertained,
I but by Friday morning 110 bodies,
! mostly of women and children, had
| been removed. It is believed the
j total dead will number several
hundred.
Many bodies are believed to
have been buried by the collapse
of the main building after it was
bombed. The number of workers
excavating the wreckage has been
greatly increased and the search
for additional victims has been
intensified.
The villa and adjacent property
of the Holy See had been opened
to reiugees who had been ordered
from their homes in surrounding
areas. Now, for evident reasons
of safety, His Holiness Pope Pius
XII has directed that 15,000 refu
gees be taken to a place that is
more secure.
Sixty Palatine Guards have been
assigned to the villa and are en
gaged in work of succor. All pos
sible assistance and relief has been
sent from the Vatican.
The bombed villa normally was
used as a summer residence for
students attending the Propagan
da College in Rome. To it had
been extended extraterritorial
rights.
Bulletins
The Bishops’ War Emergency
and Relief Committee will make
its fourth annual appeal this year
on Laetare Sunday, March 19, and
tlie funds x'aised will be used to
support the Chaplains’ Aid Asso
ciation, the Military Ordinariate,
services to American servicemen
overseas, religious groups provid
ing spiritual care in relocation
centers for interned aliens, and to
Montezuma Seminary, where Mexi
can candidates, for the priesthood
are educated, anti-religious laws
having closed the seminaries in
their native land.
Distressed victims of war in
Poland, China, Belgium, Malta,
Greece, Croatia and the Nether
lands and other war-torn coun
tries have been aided by the Holy
See with funds provided by the
Bishops’ Committee. The Vatican
Office of Information is partially
supported by the Bishops' Rplief
Fund.
His Excellency the Most Rev.
Gerald P. O’Hara, D.D., J.U.D.,
Bishop of Savannali-Atlanta, has
been invited to become a charter
member of the Southern Regional
Council, Inc., which has as its ob
jectives “the improvement of eco
nomic, civic and racial conditions
in the South, in an endeavor to
promote a great unity in the South
in all efforts toward regional and
racial development, to attain
through research and action pro
grams the ideals and practices of
equal opportunity for all peoples
in the region, to reduce racial ten
sion, the basis of racial tension,
racial misunderstanding, and
racial distrust: to develop inte
grate leadership in the. South on
new levels of regional develop
ments and fellowship: and to co
operate with local, State and Re
gional Agencies in all levels in ttw
attainment of the desired
lives.”