Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
Christmas Edition
"To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed"
Vol. XXVIII No. 12 FORTY PAGES AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 20, 1947
ISSUED MONTHLY—*2.00 A YEAR
Come Htt Ite Hborc JNrn
“And Thou, Bethlehem
Bulletins
THE PLACE OF THE MANGER
By NORMAN SCHLICHTER
(Written for N. C. W. C. Christmas Supplement)
In this new view of Bethlehem, (above) the artist has marked by a
cross the location of the Basilica of the Nativity, between the two
belfries, (Catholic one at the left).-It is the bells of the Catholic
Church here which are heard around the world on the radio at
Christmas. The lower level of the Grotto of the Nativity (below)
contains the recess (X) which long held the Manger, the wooden
pieces of which are now in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome 1
The natural rock is covered with marble slabs, lighted by lamps and
adorned with paintings of the Adoration of the Shepherds. It is in
exclusive Catholic possession. Copyrighted photos by Albina Bros.
Jerusalem. (NCWC)
%
Four Million Catholics Served in
U .S. Armed Forces in World War II
1 live in Pennsylvania, not far
from a town with the Bible name
of Ephrata.
This fact keeps the prophetic
verse of Micheas steadily in my
mind. I never need Christmas to
recall it to me:
And thou. Bethlehem Ephrata,
art a little one among the thou
sands of Juda: out of thee shall
He come forth unto me that Is
W> be the ruler in Israel: and
His going forth is from the be
ginning, from the days of
eternity.
And because He did come forth
out of Bethlehem, this little one
among the thousands of Juda has
become the geographical eenler of
the world's Christmas thought.
"Christ was born in Bethlehem!’’
is sung and chanted from pole to
pole.
Bethlehem, now connected by a
bus line with Jerusalem six miles
to the north, and having a modern
electric-light system, is still strict
ly a rural community. It has no
industrial establishments as yet.
However, many of its 7,000 people
are skilled hand craftsmen noted
for their proficiency in carving
with the simplest of tools, and for
making brooches, pendants, neck
laces, inlaid crucifixes and snow-
white rosaries mounted with pure
silver. Christmas visitors have a
wonderful assortment of such
articles to choose from. During
the war years, and even now, sol
diers from many lands are the
principal visitors.
Bethlehem’s name, ‘‘House of
Bread,” is most appropriate. The
town lies just a little Off the high
way to Hebron, surrounded Tjy
fertile valleys covered with wheat
and barley fields. There are also
groves of olive and almond trees
and neatly cultivated vineyards.
The people of Bethlehem are a
peaceful, quiet, friendly folk. They
have always been great travelers
and were the first of Palestinians
to come to the shores of North and
South America. Starting as small
peddlers, many of them became
prominent merchants in South
American cities. The people gen
erally are of fair complexion and
blue-eyed. This is attributed to
intermarriage with the natives by
Crusaders when they captured
Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Shepherds still keep watch over
their flocks roundabout Bethle
hem, much as they did in Bible
times, a fact that adds an ancient
touch to the Christmas celebra
tions of today.
Widely reverenced down the
centuries as marking the birth
place of the Saviour, tire Church
of the Nativity is the world’s cen
ter of interest each Christmas sea
son. Also known as the Church
of St. Mary, it was built over
the cave identified by tradition
as the stable with the sacred man
ger. A silver star in the floor
of the building is believed to mark
the exact spot where Christ was
bom.
Probably the oldest Christian
church in the world—mention, of
it has been found as early as 334
A. D.—this fact alone would make
it a great Christian shrine.
The special Christmas mecca for
Catholics is the Chapel of St.
Catherine which forms the left
wing of the Nativity Church. The
Franciscan Fathers are in charge
of the chapel. Fra. Camillo, an
American, has been on hand
during the war years and since
then to greeet American soldiers
HIS EMINENCE Pierre Cardi
nal Petit de Julleville, Archbishop
of Rouen, French hero in both
World Wars and one of the seven
French members of the Sacred
Co-liege, has died at the age of 71.
With his death, the number of
Cardinals has been reduced to
sixty-one.
A LOURDES ROSARY, whose
beads are carved from rock near
the famed grotto of the French
shrine, was sent to Princess Eliz
abeth as a wedding gift by chil
dren of St. Mary and St. Joseph
parish, Bcdalc, Yorkshire, „ Eng
land. The Princess thanked the
children in a letter.
PATTI TRAPP. 17-year-ol stu
dent at St. Joseph’s Academy in
St. Louis, became the grand
award winner in the third ’Teen
Board essay contest sponsored by
EXTENSION, Catholic magazine
published in Chicago.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH op
erates 1,049 hospitals in the
United States, staffed by 22,000
Sisters and Brothers and by 160,-
000 professional and non-profes
sional lay workers. No less than
40,000 physicians work in them.
who come there to participate in
Christmas worship or as visitors.
With the political struggle for
control of Palestine raging bitter
ly at the present time, Bethlehem
will probably be more prominent
in the Christian mind of the world
this Christmas than ever before.
For those who love the Christ-
Child, spending a Christmas at
Bethlehem, is an experience tran
scending every previous Christmas
experience, and one to be un
matched by any subsequent Christ
mas elsewhere.
WASHINGTON. — (NC) — Ap
proximately 4,000,000 of the some
17,000,000 men and women who
formed the armed forces of Ihe
United States of America in
World War II were Catholics. This
ratio, which is considerably higher
than the number of Catholics in
the total U. S. population, has
been substantiated in statistics
compiled here by the National
Catholic Community Service.
The NCCS total is based upon
only 65 per cent returns from the
country's Archdioceses and Dio
ceses, but represents the most
complete figures available at this
time. It would indicate that Cath
olics, who are about one-sixth of
the total U. S. population, sup
plied better than one-fiftli of our
soldiers, sailors, marines and
coastguardsmen.
Other facts which stand out in
the survey, which covers the pe
riod from September, 1940, to
March, 1947:
Forty Dioceses, which repre
sent 46.7 per cent of the Catholic
population in the United States,
reported 27,322 persons killed or
missing in action, a mortality rate
of 28 per thousand Catholic men
and women in the armed forces,
A study of the number of Cath
olic members of the WAC,
WAVES and SPARS, showed Ihe
ratio of Catholic women to Cath
olic men in the Armed forces is
slighly higher in the 44 Dioceses
reporting this breakdown than the
ratio of women to men in the to
tal armed forces. Twenty-five out
of every 1,000 Catholic service
personnel were women, compared
to the general ratio of 20 service
women to 1,000 service personnel.
FORMATION of the National
Catholic Resettlement Council to
promote a program lor the recep
tion and settlement of displaced
persons in this country has been
announced in New York following
a meeting of representatives of
various national Catholic organiza
tions.
THE POSSIBILITY of having
a children’s Mass in the after
noon in the schools of tomorrow
was discussed by Father Gerald
Ellard, S. J., of St. Mary’s Col
lege, St. Mary’s, Kansas, at the
annual educational conference of
the Sisters of Lorctto held in
El Paso, Texas.