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FOUR
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEPTEMBER 27, 1947
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen's
Association of Georgia, Incorporated.
HUGH KINCHUEY, Editor
216-217 Southern Finance Building, Augusta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1946-1947
ESTES DOREMUS, Atlanta President
M. J. CALLAGHAN, Macon,
...Honorary Vice-President
FRED WIGGINS, Albany .......... Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM, Atlanta Secretary
HUGH GRADY, Savannah Treasurer
HUGH KINCHLEY, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
A M McAULIFFB, Augusta Auditor
VOL. XVIII SEPTEMBER 27, 1847 No, 9
Entered as second class matter June 15 1921 at the
Post Office at Augusta. Georgia, under the Act of March
S. 1879. accepted for mailing at special rate of postage
provided in paragraph 4. section 5S8. Postal Law* and
Regulations as modified hv paragraph 6
Member of N C. W C News Service. Religious News
Service, the Catholic Press Association of the United
States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published monthly by the Catholic Laymeo’t Association
of Georgia Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Rev
erend Bishops of Charleston and Savannah-Atianta. and
of the Right Reverend Abbot -Ordinary of Belmont.
Columbus Extends an Invitation
T HE thirty-second annual convention of the
Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia will
be held in Columbus, on the last Sunday in
October.
Catholics? of Georgia, clergy and laity, are ex
tended a cordial invitation to attend, and are as
sured that Columbus, a city long renowned for its
hospitality, is once more prepared to greet, its
visitors with a hearty and gracious welcome.
Ten years have passed since the Laymen’s As
sociation last assembled in convention in Columbus,
the war-time restrictions On travel, the fact that
that city was already being taxed to the utmost to
care for the many visitors that were attracted to
Columbus because of its being the site of Fort Ben-
ning, one of the largest Army posts in the country,
made any consideration of Columbus as a conven
tion city, out of the question until this year.
Recalling the 1 937 convention, and those of pre
vious years which have been held in Columbus, the
members of the Laymen’s Association are happy in
the prospect of another convention in that flourish
ing Georgia city.
While there Is, of course, no comparison of con
ditions in Georgia today with those which existed
at the time the Laymen’s Association came into
being, Georgia Catholics know that the need for
the Association and its work has not diminished. In
fact, it is apparent that now is the time when there
is a necessity to augment and expand the work of
the Association.
Recent months have served to bring into closer
perspective a definite and evident trend toward
a widespread campaign against the Church. The
agitation wbicli followed the decision of the Su
preme Court of the United States in the school bus
case from New Jersey, the continuing opposition in
some quarters to the presence of Myron Taylor at
the Vatican, as the personal representative of the
President of the United States, and the general
resurgence of anti-Catholie feeling that seems to
follow after every war are elements of a movement
that will sow seeds of dissention which could yield a
harvest of distrust and enmity.
Years ago, the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia accepted as its purpose the promotion of
better feeling among Georgians, irrespective of
creed. That is still the Association's objective, an
objective whicli will be brought nearer to full ac
complishment by a meeting of the Catholic laity o'
this stale which will arouse new enthusiasm for, and
greater support of pn effort which has been suc
cessful in tremendous measure over more than
thirty years.
A few clays ago, when His Holiness Pope Pius
XII delivered an address to tiie men of Italian
Catholic Action who were a part of a throng of
200,000 persons gathered in the square before St.
Peter’s in Rome, the Holy Father sent forth a
message which was not intended just for the Catho
lics of Italy. He sounded a call which Catholics all
over the world, and non-Catholics too, should heed.
“The time for reflection and planning is past,”
the Holy Father declared. “Now is the time for
action. Are you ready?”
The Catholic l aymen’s Association of Georgia
went into action thirty years ago, so it has in some
ways anticipated the call which comes from the
Holy See, but its effort must be intensified, and
every Catholic man and woman in Georgia is invited
to be in Columbus on the twenty-six of October to
join in fostering the expansion of the Laymen's As
sociation’s program of Catholic Action in Georgia.
I Beloved Educator Retires
F ROM Charleston comes the news that Monsignor
Joseph L. O’Brien, who founded Bishop Eng
land High School in that South Carolina city
thirty-two years ago, and who has served as its
rector since its foundation, has retired, and has
been named rector emeritus of the famous school.
When Moncigr.or O’Brien, a native of Avoca,
Pennsylvania, came to the Diocese of Charleston
in 1914, after completing his study for the priest
hood at Mount St. Mary’s College, in Emmitsburg,
Maryland, and at the University of Fribaurgh, in
Switzerland, as a newly ordained prie t, his schol
arship and executive ability were immediately
recognized by the late Most Reverend Wiiliarii ’JT.
Ruc’cH, then Bishop of Charleston and he was
eommi.'iioned by Bishop Russell to establish a .ilgh
school, for boys and pill?, in Charleston.
The next year, gathering a handful of students
about him. Monsignor O’Brien eendurted the first
classes of the school that was named in honor of
the illu' hious Bishop John England, the first Bishop
of Charleston
Through tii? years Bishop' England High School
has grown and nourished and its fame has spread
far beyond the limits of Charleston, even beyond
the boundary of South Carolina.
Bishop England High School stands today not
only as a living and worthy memorial to the first
great Bishop of Charleston, and to his successor
Bishop Bussell, who inspired it. and to the present
Bishop of Charleston, who has encouraged and pro
moted it, but it will bring honor to the name of
A Blessed, Fruitful Score of Years
T WENTY years ago, when His Holiness Pope Pius
XI designated Father Emmet M. Walsh, pastor
of the Immaculate Conception Church in At
lanta. as Bishop of the historic See of Charleston,
the Catholics of Georgia were proud that a priest
of the Diocese of .Savannah had been selected to be
the successor of a line of illustrious Prelates who
had left their impression on the Church, not only in
South Carolina, and the Southeast, but over the
nation.
There was the great Bishop John England, not
merely a national but a world figure in the pioneer
days of Catholicity in the United States. There was
the zealous Bishop Ignatius Reynolds who guided
the Diocese of Charleston in ante-bellum years.
There was the distinguished Bishop Patrick N.
Lynch, who represented the Southern Confederacy
at the courts of Europe in the stirring .days of the
War Between the States. There was the beloved
Bishop Henry Pinckney Northrop, in whose kind
ly personality were found abundantly the attributes
of all that was best in the South. Then, there was
the scholarly Bishop William T. Russell, for a gen
eration the outstanding clergyman of the nation’s
capital.
That Bishop Walsh has proven a worthy successor
to these eminent Prelates is plainly evident to any
one who is familiar with the magnificent progress
which has been made in the Diocese of Charleston
during the last two decades.
When Bishop Walsh was consecrated by Bishop
Michael J. Keyes, S. M., of Savannah, in Septem
ber, 1927, he was the youngest Bishop in the Ameri
can Hierarchy and one of the youngest Bishops in
the entire Catholic world.
Yet he brought with him to the Episcopacy a
depth of learning, exceptional administrative ability,
and a truly Apostolic zeal, when he returned to his
native South Carolina to become the Ordinary of
the Diocese which embraced that state.
The fruits of his learning, ability, zeal and inde
fatigable energy are apparent in the visible, physi
cal development of the Diocese of Charleston under
Bishop Walsh’s competent leadership, and can be
seen in the record of new churches built, new
schools established, new hospitals founded, and in
the evident advancement in every phase of religious
activity, though the far greater spiritual progress is
known only to God.
A comparison of statistics given in the Catholic
Directory for 1927, as compared with those given for
the Diocese of Charleston in 1947, is interesting.
Twenty years ago there were thirty-five Diocesan
priests and one Holy Ghost Father serving in the
Diocese of Charleston. In 1947 the Diocesan clergy
number fifty-two, and there are thirty-nine priests
of Religious Orders serving in the Diocese.
The Holy Ghost Fathers are still serving in the
Diocese of Charleston, but in addition Redemptorist
Fathers, Paulist Fathers, Oblates of Mary Immacu
late, Dominican Fathers, Franciscans, and priests of
the Congregation of the Oratory are now located in
South Carolina.
Twenty years ago the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy, the Ursuline Nuns, and the Oblate Sisters
of Pxovidence were the only Orders of women in
the Diocese. Today, conducting hospitals, teaching
in schools, and in charge of other institutions are
members of those three Orders anti Sisters of Our
Lady of Christian Doctrine, Dominican Sisters of
the Third Order of St. Dominic. Sisters of the Poor
of St. Francis. Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
Sister* of Charity of St. Augustine, and Sisters of
Hie Third Order of St. Francis from the St. Louis,
Philadelphia, and Peoria foundations.
There was hut one Catholic hospital in South
Carolina in 1927, today there are six. The Catho
lic population of the Diocese has increased from 10,-
000 to 14 220. Thirty-nine converts were received
into tlie Church in the Diocese of Charleston in
1927. Last year there were three hundred and
thirty-nine converts.
Bishop Walsh was a pioneer in the development
of Religious Vacation Schools and he successfully
inaugurated such schools and summer camps in
South Carolina.
In countless other ways Bishop Walsh has been
responsible for the advancement. of Catholicity in
South Carolina and as great as have been his ac
complishment in the blessed, fruitful score of years
since his consecration as Bishop of Charleston, hey
are ns mere shadows of coming events, for plans
! now being considered and projects now under way
are indications that the coming years will be even
more replete with achievements than the flourishing
decades since 1927.
Monsignor O’Brien through generations yet to come.
His name will be remembefed, along with that of
the h.'s'li school lie founded, in the homes of alumni j
and alumnae of the school, Catholic men and worn- I
cn who have had the benefit of Christian education
i of the highest order.
j Above all else, Bishop England High School is
! remarkable for the number of vocations to the
priesthood and the religious life that it has fostered
in its student?. Just now, the actual figures arc not at
our command, but the number of the graduates of
Bishop England High School who have entered reli
gion is exceptionally iarge.
Monsignor O'Brien has served well as pastor of
St. Patrick’s Church, in Charleston, and as Superin
tendent of Schools for the Diocesp of Charleston,
while directing the high school, and has found time
to gain renown as a speaker and as an author, his
“John England, Bishop of Charleston,” being his
best known work.
Monsignor O’Brien’s intellectual attainments, his
scholarship and his priestly character have gained
for him honorary degrees and the dignity of a Do
mestic Prelate.
His career of service to Bishop England High
School is one of which Monsignor O’Brien and his
host of friends may well be proud, for it is one that
lias been blessed with achievements that will be
yielding benefits for years and year's to come.
Bishop England High School is fortunate in hav
ing Monsignor John L. Manning, Chancellor of the
Diocese of Charleston, and former vice ; rertor of
the sehool, named to succeed Monsignor O’Brien as
its rector. .
One of the pioneer students at the school, a grad
uate of one of its earliest classes, Monsignor Man
ning lias served Bishop England High School as a
faculty member, as treasurer, as vice-rector and as
acting rector. He has joined with Monsignor
O'Brien in furthering present expansion and build
ing programs of the school
Like Monsignor O’Brien, Monsignor Manning is
distinguished for his scholarship, executive ability
and record of priestly service. He is well qualified
to carry oh a work of Catholic education to which he
has already made substantial contribution of his tal
ents and energy
Dixie Musings
It started out as just a dream. It
i had a dream-like ending—a trans-
| Atlantic phone call to the Vati-
! can. But all in all, it was quite ex-
i pensive.
j The other night 11-year-oid
Rita Bamford, a member of St.
Charles parish in North Holly
wood, California, dreamed that
she was singing in the Hollywood
Bowl with th Roman Singers un
der the direction of Monsignor Li-
cino Refice. The Roman Singers
are now making a concert tour of
the country, but the funny part
about the dream is that Rita can’t
sing a note. “But I sounded won
derful in my dream,” Rita com-
ner.ted later.
Next day—when she was awake
—she heard a radio broadcast by
the Roman Singers and thought
it was the most beautiful music
she had heard in her young life.
“I wanted to tell somebody
about it.” Rita said. “Mother was
out shopping, so I picked up the
telephone and asked to speak with
Pope Pius XII in Vatican City.”
Two hours later the long dis
tance operator rang the Bam
ford telephone.
‘ We are ready with your call to
Vatican City,” the operator re
ported.
“I’d like to speak with the Holy
Father,” Rita spoke up.
Told that His Holiness was not
in Vatican City (he was at his
summer residence at Castlegon-
dolfo), Rita said she would speak
with anyone at the Vatican.
Monsignor Walter S. Carroll,
Pittsburgh priest assigned to the
Papal Secretariate of State, came
on the line and Rita said:
“I just wondered if you’d tell
the Pope that I heard the Roman
Singers sing qn the radio, and I
think they are wonderful.”
Monsignor Carroll assured Rita
that he would convey her mes
sage to the Pope and the brief
trans-Atlantic telephone conversa
tion ended.
When Mrs. Frank Bamford re
turned home from her shopping
tour Rita told her about the “ex
citement.”
Rita’s mother was really excited
when she called the long distance
operator and learned that the
charge amounted to $35.60. How
ever, all's well that ends well and
the forgiving Mrs. Bamford has
promised that Rita will hear the
Roman Singers.
But Rita won’t be up there on
the stage with them.
Sister Mary Elaine, of the Sis
ters of Divine Providence, who
wove the strains of familiar Negro
spirituals into a “Mass in Honor of
Blessed Martin de Porres,” is now
at work studying Indian music and
hopes to complete a Mass based on
such a theme.
Sister Elaine is a member of the
faculty of Our Lady of the Lake
College, San Antonio, Texas. In
pursuing her studies in Indian
music, she has visited Sac and
Fox Indian settlements in Okla
homa. Sister Elaine is the author
of hundreds of composition-. Her
“Mass in Honor of Blessed Martin
c’ Porres” is used widely in many
parishes of the country, particu
larly Colored parishes. It was
heard at the midnight Mass at the
T nmaculater Conception Church in
Augusta last Christmas.
Savannah, where Bishop Emmet
M. Walsh of Charleston spent his
boyhood years, and some of his
years in the priesthood, was rep
resented at the Mass which Bishop
Walsh celebrated at the Cathedral
in Charleston in commemoration
of the twentieth anniversary of his
elevation to that See, by his sis
ter, Miss Ernestine Walsh, Mrs.
Joseph E. Kelly, Miss Marguerite
McEllin, Miss Mary Gearon and
Miss Kate Crumley, Hugh Grady
and Henry Heller.
The beginning of another school
year brings ino prominent posi
tion again the matter of bus trans
portation for pupils, and the this
recent expression by Congress
man Writer A. Lynch of New
York, seems pertinent enough to
be . uprated:
“When on a Sunday morning I
saw two policemen directing traf
fic in front of a Protestant church
in Washington, the thought did
not occur to me then, nor does it
register with me now with any
sense of sound thinking, that these
policeman, paid out of public
funds, in protecting the church
goers were violating oqr accepted
principle of Church and State in
that they were indirectly aiding
that particular church by protect
ing the congregation against traf
fic hazards. I can see little dis
tinction between that case and the
child who is protected from the
hazards of traffic and weather by
i eing transported to school in a
bus operated by public funds. As
a matter of fact, while certainly
not decrying the protection given
the churchgoers, in my opinion
the child, who must under the
state law attend school, either
public, parochial or private, is
more entitled to such protection
than the churchgoers who is not
compelled under state law to go
to church."
Friends of the Honorable
Charles Fahy, formerly of Rome, w
Georgia, who was the guest speak- ^
er at the convention of the Cath- '
oiic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, held in Macon, in 1942, will
be interested to know that Mr.
Fahy is now engaged in the gen
eral practice of law in Washington,
D. C., w'here he will be associated
with John A. Danaher and Rufus
G. Poole.
Mr. Fahy, former Solicitor Gen
eral of the United States, and As
sistant to the Attorney General,
aided in the prosecution of the war
criminals in Germany, and has
more recently been a legal ad
visor to the United States delega
tion to the United Nations Coun
cil.
Mr. Fahy is a brother of Ber
nard S. Fahy, K. S. S., of Rome,
former president of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
Who says that Ireland isn’t Ire
land any more?
Official Ireland is tired of lepre
chauns and other “wee people”
and it has no patience with Eng-^
lish-speaking persons who refer
to it as “Erie.” 1
“If you are speaking English or I
writing English,” a top Govern- I
ment Information official explain- J
ed, “will you please continue to f
use the English language when
you speak of this country. The
name is Ireland and the language
is Irish—unless you are writing
in our native tongue. Article 4 of
our Constitution states: 'The name
of the State is Eire, or, in the
English language, Ireland.’ ”
The same official deplores the
“romantic angle” from which, he
said, visiting journalists and other 1 * i
writers discuss Ireland, “as 1 hough
it were a land inhabited exclusive
ly by banshees and fairies and had
no reality at all.”
A leading editorial in the Irish
Press, which reflects government i
policy, was devoted to a denuncia- '
tion of some correspondents “who
have hardly set foot ofr Irish
ground before their imaginations
become sharpened to a point that
is positively harmful to them
selves and having decided that the
visions are genuine and nothing^
real except the unreal, they dash ^
off to their hotel bedrooms and
write it all down for their news
papers.”
Their readers, the editorial
continued, believe that Ireland is
“still a land of fairies and lepre
chauns. shillelaghs and lights; a
land where nobody seems to work
and where nobody keeps an ap
pointment; a land where the Celtic
twilight darkens cominonsense; a
sort of cloud-cuckoo-land set on
the rim of the ocean: a land where
the inevitable never happens and
the unexpected always happens.”
Novena Notes asks its readers:
“Did you know that in 1776 there
were only five cities in the United
States with a population of more
than 10.000. They were: New York
with only 33,000, Philadelphia with
28,500, Boston with 18,000, Char
leston with 16,000, and Baltimore
with 13,000?
Special religious music features
an album of selections which has
been recorded for the Victor Rec
ord Division of the Radio Corpora
tion of America by the Dujarie ad
Choir at the University of Notre ^
Dame.
The ehoir, under the direction
of Brothere Arnold Richert, C. S.
C., is composed of forty Brothers
of the Congregation of the Holy
Cross now studying at the Du
jarie Institute on the Notre Dame
campus.
The four twelve-inch records in
the album contain eight polyphon-
cic numbers by masters of the
sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turies, and are sung by the ehoir
of Masses in the Sacred Heart
Church of Notre Dame during the
year.
Included in the album are Vit-
toria’s “Ave Maria” and “O Vos
Omnes;” Gruender’s “Sanetus,”
from the “Missa eum Jubilo;” Vo
gel's “Sacendit Deus;” Redmondi'i
“Adoremus Te;” Grassi's “Lau-
date Dominum;” Groce’s "In
Monte Oliveti,” and Deis’s “Laet-
entur Coeli.” I H. K.