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THE BULLETIN OE THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 24, 1945
Editor of Atlanta Constitution
Received in Private Audience
by His Holiness Pope Pius Xll
(Special to The Bulletin)
ATLANTA, Ga.—Ralph Mc
Gill, Editor of THE ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, now on a
world tour in the interest of a
free post-war press, visited
Rome early this month, and
during his stay in the Eternal
City, with two other mem
bers of the committee from
the American Society of News
paper Editors, was received in
a private audience by His Holi
ness Pope Pius XII.
The newspapermen, Wilbur
Forrest, Assistant Editor of THE
NEW YORK HERALD-TRI
BUNE; Dean Carl W. Ackerman
of the Columbia University
School of Journalism, and Mr.
McGill, were received by Ihe^
Holy Father in his library. Ac
companying the editors to the
audience were Myron C. Taylor,
President Roosevelts’ personal
representative to the Vatican,
and the Very Rev. Monsignor
Joseph F. McGeough, a priest of
the Archdiocese of New York
attached to the Papal Secre
tariate of State. The audience
lasted nearly half an hour.
Mr. McGill describes the in
spiring personality of the Holy
Father, and gives his impres
sions of the military panorama
which lie witnessed when lie at
tended a Papal audience for sol
diers of many nations, in the
following dispatch wlvicii was
sent by radio to THE CONSTI
TUTION:
ROME, Italy, Feb. 7.—(Via Ra
dio)—In Rome one may stand on
the great steps that ascend to
the awe-inspiring architectural
masterpiece which is St. Peter's
and see them coming about noon
each day.
The clump of their heavy boots
resounds over the cobblestones of
the great area within the embrac
ing columns. Soldiers of all na
tions come e aeh day for the audi
ence with Pope Pius XII, that
gentle inspiring man who is the
earthly spiritual leader of the
Catholic Church.
Those who, come make up an
unforgettable picture. They are of
all faiths. One may see the Scot-
* tish Highlander in kilts; men of
the English Guards Regiments;
Indian and Negro troops from the
islands and dominions of the Brit
ish Empire; Russians, French
troops and Americans.
Their uniforms make up a pic
ture. So do their faces. Many go
out of curiosity. Most go out of a
deep desire to see the head of
their church. But, however one
goes, one leaves with an inspira
tion and a realization that one has
seen a deeply spiritual man and a
great man. Once, when there
were more troops in the area, as
many as 10,000 came eacli day.
Now the number is about 2,000.
They come in past the Swiss
Guards, staring at the great stair
ways, the many statues, the rich
ly uniformed attendants. They
gather in a great room not far
from the famed Sistine Chapel.
Some of them have already been
to see it with its magnificent
paintings by Michelangelo. Many
have seen too, the rooms of
Raphael and the rdassive yet deli
cate beauty of St. Peter’s Cathe
dral.
In the large room, which was
standing when an eccentric nam
ed Columbus was preparing to
prove that the world was round
and that a short route might be
found to India, the men gather
and wait. Protestants, Catholics,
agnostics, men of many faiths,
they sit and stand before the pavil
ion where the Pope will come.
One may hear there many lan
guages, the burr of the Scottish
thistle, the drawl of Georgia, the
twang of Texas, the sharp New
England accents, the rapid flow
of French, the dramatic, theatri
cal Italian, the soft accents of In
dia, the hurried words of huge
black men from Colonial France,
all are there. Their uniforms make
up the most curious, heavy sort
of pattern, splashed with the col
or of their ribbons and insignia.
Before them pace the Swiss
Guards, their medieval costumes
and pikes adding a touch of the
past.
There is a stir just before 12:30.
A sudden standing and craning of
necks, a silence, and then the
Pope enters.
Before witnessing this daily au
dience with the Allied troops, the
committee from the American
Society of Newspaper Editors
had had a private audience with
Pius XII. The sweetness and the
gentleness of the man were ob
vious as one sat talking with him.
One could see, too, how the great
weight of sorrow and of work had
left its imprint upon him. The
very great spiritual quality of him
Visits Vatican
RALPH McGILL
was a real, inspiring factor.
I was eager to see, later, if this
quality would be so obvious in a
great room before a thousand or
so men of all faiths. It was. He
talked to them in various lan
guages. He asks God's blessing
and protection for them. He
shakes hands. He bestows his
blessing on religious medals, most
of them the Medal of St. Christo
pher.
A small, almost frail man, he
fills the great room and the
hearts of all present with his tre
mendous sincerity and’ spiritual
ity.
He speaks seven langauges. He
had talked with us in our private
audience in English. He talked
with the men in at least four or
five languages. When he was gone
the men went out silently, almost
reverently. They had had an ex
perience none would forget.
For me there was, in the pri
vate audience, the pleasure of
telling him that Bishop Gerald
P. O'Hara, of the Atlanta-Savan-
nah diocese, and asked me to ex
tend his respects. When I told him
his face lighted and he said:: "He
is a good bishop. Convey back to
him my prayers and good wishes.”
Later I saw Monsignor Joseph
McGeough, who used to be at
Savannah. Ga., and met the Rev.
Frank Brennan, who was a class
mate of Bishop O’Hara.
There are many stories among
our soldiers about these audiences
for soldiers. Probably the best one
concerns the country boy who had
agreed to go with his friends to
one of the audiences for troops.
He was asked by other friends to
go somewhere else and replied: “1
can’t. I promised to go see Mr.
Pope, who is seeing us guys today.
He must be an American civilian
and I haven’t seen one in two
years.”
WITH OTHER EDITORS
ADMIRAL FROM SOUTH CAROLINA DECORATED—Vice-Admiral
Patrick N. L. Bellinger, U. S. Navy, a native of Chcraw, S. C., (right)
is pictured as he received the Distinguished Service Medal from Ad
miral James H. Ingram, U. S. Navy, commander-in-chief of the At
lantic Fleet, at a ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Air Base—(Official
U. S. Navy Photo—Courtesy The Columbia State).
DAY OF RECOLLECTION
FOR COLORED WOMEN
HELD IN AUGUSTA
AUGUSTA, Ga.—The Rev. John
Kappel, C. SS. R.. of the Redcmp-
torist Fathers’ Colored Mission in
Aiken, S. C., conducted a Day of
Recollection for thirty-five color
ed women, members of the Imma
culate Conception parish here,
and some of their non-Catholic
friends, at the Immaculate Con
ception convent on January 28.
The services which included
Mass, instructions, conferences,
meditations, recitation of the ros
ary, and stations of the cross, con
tinued through the day, with an
intermission for lunch, which was
served at the convent of the Fran
ciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception.
Present in the sanctuary of the
convent chapel, where Benediction
was given at the close of the day
by Father Kappel, were the V-uy
Rev. James.A. Brennan., V. F., the
Rev. Angel Pengson ana the Rev
James .1. Campbell, of St. Marys’-
on-thc-Hill Church, and the Rev.
George Laugel, S. M. A., and the
Rev. Joseph Wernert. S. M.
A., of the Immaculate Conception
Church.
ANOTHER 'REBORN CHURCH'
John D. Rockefeller’s address at
the dinner of the Protestant Coun
cil of the City of New York last
week is a thought-provoking ex
ample of the very difficulties and
evils that he seeks to avoid.
Mr. Rockefeller is disturbed be
cause he believes that while
“Christianity has not failed,
churches may have failed.” His
solution is “a reborn church. It
would be the Church of the Living
God. Its terms of admission
would be the love of God, as He is
revealed in Christ in His Living
Spirit, and the vital translation
of that love into a Christian life.”
This reborn church “would pro
nounce ordinance, ritual, creed,
all non-essential for admission in
to the Kingdom of his Church. A
life, not a creed, would bd the
test.”
Four centuries ago leaders who
did not distinguish between the
Church and nominal Christians
who rejected the teachings and
commands of Christ in their daily
lives sought to establish a “rebprn
church.” Today that “reborn
church’ ’is split into hundreds of
sects, in the midst of millions of
persons with no religious affilia
tions.
Four centuries ago the found
ers of Protestanism denounced the
Catholic Church for what they
said was placing too great empha
sis on good works; faith and faith
alone was their passport to salva
tion. Mr. Rockefeller’s demand
for “a life, not a creed,” as the
test of the “newborn church” is
a complete reversal of the original
Protestant position.
The basic fallacy of Mr. Rocke
fellers’ remedy is found in his sup
port of his plea for the subordina
tion of “ordinance, ritual and
creed” by his assertion that Christ
“did not make baptism a condition
of church membership.” What did
He mean, then, when He said:
“Unless a man be born again of
water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the Kingdom of God'.’”
(John 111, ’.)
All religious-minded persons ir
respective of creed must sympa
thize with Mr. Rockefeller’s deep
concern over the millions of per
sons only nominally Christian in
a country overwhelmingly Chris-
tain, and they can have only re
spect for his sincerity in seeking
and propoffing a remedy.
But Mr. Rockefeller seems to
have had his attention directed to
the fact that the one Church which
is insistent on “ordinance, ritual,
creed,” is the only one which has
cjfisted and flourished in all ages,
teaches all nations, and has never
been a greater influence among so
many hundreds of millions than
today, despite the temporary re
surgence of the forces of evil in
the form of totalitarianism.
- The Catholic Church believes
that creed is all important be
cause one’s life depends upon
one’s record. It is Hitlers’ creed.
Hitler's dogma, that the individual
is nothing, that the state is every
thing, and we therefore have
Nazism, war and the greatest del
uge of blood the world has ever
known. It is Mr. Rockefeller’s
creed. Mr. Rockefeller’s dogma,
that man is made in the image
and likeness of God. and that lie
must love his neighbor as himself
for the love of God; we therefore
have him regarding himself as
the steward of his wealth and
using it in great works of educa
tion and charity.
There is only one way to es
tablish Christian unity, and that is
for those who have been cut off
from the center of unity to return
to it. And the center of unity is
the Church against which Christ
promised that the gates of hell
shall not prevail, the Church He
has preserved through every crisis
in history from Peter to Pius XIi.
—(Catholic NcwsJ.qf
“NO ROOM FOR THEM *
IN CONYERS”
The Conyers News, in a front
page editorial, this week takes a
courageous and commondables
stand against an organization
which, calling Conyers its head
quarters, has been mailing anti-
Jcwish and anti-Negro literature
out all over the state.
"The city of Conyers has no
room for such an organization,”
declares The News, “and the repu
table citizens of this city are high
ly indigant over such an organi
zation calling Conyers its head
quarters. There arc many crack
pot organizations forming all over
the country these times but sober
mfcn und women fight shy of them.
Wc are fighting a war to insure
tolerance in all things. This does
not mean equality among races
but it does mean that each race
shall be allowed to exist in its own
way and be protected by the laws
of this democratic nation. There
in no room in.the new world which
we are fighting to establish for
crack-pot organizations and cer
tainly the citizens of this fine city
do not desire unfavorable public
ity due to any organization of such
character establishing headquar
ters here. If this organization is
trying to promote disunity among
the people of this nation, they
should move their headquarters
somewhere else. There is no room
for them in Conyers.
This is a sentiment which will
be echoed throughout Georgia and
the nation. The News is to be con
gratulated for its vigilance and
fearlessness in the matter. (The
Atlanta Constitution).
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCE
No one seems to be getting ex
cited over the possible implica
tions of the assemblage of Ortho
dox bishops in Moscow last week.
The fact that officials of that
church in this country attended
has caused no comment. We can
not help thinking of the ever-re
curring charge that Catholics’ al-
legicnce to their Church and to
the Holy Father renders impos
sible true allegiance to their coun
try. Plainly there is nothing po
litical in Catholics’ fealty to the
Pope; his authority over them is
spiritual; he does not dictate their
civil allegiance or interfere with
it. But this is not true in the case
of the Orthodox Church and the
Soviet Union. In December, 1943,
Archbishop Theophilos, primate of
the Russian Orthodox Church in
North America, said that the So
viet Union had demanded of the
Orthodox communicants every
where that they be loyal to the
Soviet Union. “We of the church
in North America,” he stated,
"cannot ... accept loyalty to
the Russian government because
wc arc citizens of Canada or the
United States.”
Moreover, it was interesting to
read the account of the Moscow
meeting's proceedings, as reported
in The New York Times. This ac
count contained numerous ex
cerpts from various addresses.
The name of God did not occul
once in these quotations; the name
of Stalin occurred repeatedly.
That alone gives some idea of
how non-political the meeting was.
Again, the principal speaker was
the Soviet government’s chief bu
reaucrat for religious affairs. He
did more than greet the bishops;
he laid down a line for them. It
is as if Mussolini or Farinacci had
adressed the College of Cardinals
when in 1939, it met to elect a new
Pope. Had anything of the sort
happened .the resultant indigna
tion would have been world-wide
and extremely hot. Why then,
given the circumstances, is this
Moscow session so generally ignor
ed as devoid of political conse
quences? (Catholic Transcript).
NEW PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH
MAILED FREE UPON REQUEST
Copies of a new Daily Prayer to Saint Joseph, approved bv
the Most Rev. Bartholomew J. Eustace, Bishop of Camden, wilt
be mailed without charge to all readers of The Bulletin who
write to Charles A. Bittighofer, 110 Atlantic Avenue. Atlantic
City, N. J„ and enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope, with
their request.
Prayer leaflets will be gladly mailed directly to members of
the Armed Forces for friends and relatives who also enclose for
each name a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
NOVENA CLOSES AT
SAVANNAH CATHEDRAL
SAVANNAH. Ga.—The novena
to our Lady of Lourdes, conduct
ed by the Rev. Peter Quinn, S. M.,
of the Marist Misison Band, Wash
ington. D. C., at the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist, closed on
February 11.
During the Novena, prayers ;
were offered for the welfare of.
those in the armed forces and for
peace and victory.
A relic of St. Bernadette was
venerated each evening at the
close of the devotion. While in
Rome shortly after the Beatifica
tion of St. Bernadette Soubirous,
Father Quinn received the relic
from the Very Rev. J. Griinal, S.
M., promoter of her Cause for
Canonization.
A. H. STIENING
Walnut 7520 77 Peachtree Street
ATLANTA. GA.
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