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DECEMBER 20, 1947
NINE
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE SPIRITUAL SUN
DEATH IN OMAHA
OF ARCHBISHOP RYAN
OMAHA, (N. C.)—The death of
Archbishop James Hugo Ryan of
Omaha, for whom Solemn Pon
tifical Mass of Requim was offer
ed here on November 28, at St.
Cecilia’s Cathedral, removed from
the American scene one of the
Church’s foremost leaders in the
fields of education and welfare
work.
Teacher, philosopher, author
Archbishop Ryan was revered by
persons in all walks of life, Catho
lics and non-Catholics alike. At
the request of the late President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Arch
bishop and Monsignor Maurice S.
Sheedy, of the Catholic Univer
sity of America, made a tour of
South America in the interests of
a closer cultural relationship of
the nations of the Western Hemis
phere.
Archbishop Ryan was born on
December 15, 1886, in Indianap-
olic. He attended Duquesne Uni
versity and made his study for the
priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s
Seminary of the West, Cincinnati;
the North American College, the
College of Propaganda and the
Roman Academy in Rome. A spe
cial dispensation from the Holy
See permited his ordination at the
age of twenty-two.
He began his career as an educa
tor as professor of psychology at
St. Mary-of-the-Woods College,
Terra Haute, Ind., later being
made president of the college. In
1922 he went to the Catholic
University of America, in Wash
ington, as professor of philosophy.
Archbishop Ryan long had been
identified prominently with the
work of the National Catholic Wel
fare Conference, serving as execu
tive secretary from 1920 until 1938.
He also served as executive secre-
We celebrate Christmas on the
25th of December, but the real
date of the Saviour’s birth is un
determined. Three hundred years
after His death, the Church estab
lished the date of the winter
solstice as the day to be celebrated.
According to the old Roman cal
endar, this was the 25th instead
of the 22nd of December.
At the time of the summer and
winter solstices the sun is at its
greatest declination and seems to
pause before returning to its
course. The ancients spoke of the
tary of the N. C. W. C. Department
of Education. In recent years he
was a member of the N. C. W. C.
Administrative Board and Chair
man of the Department of Educa
tion. He was re-named to that post
during the recent meeting of the
Bishops and the Administrative
Board in Washington.
The Archbishop was noted for
his straight-from-the-shoulder pro
nouncements. As early as 1938, he
spoke his mind against the dangers
of Adolf Hitler and his followers
and expressed wonderment “how
human nature could sink to such
low levels of sadistic barbarism.
In 1940, the Archbishop foresaw
the danger of war and called upon
the nation "to prepare itself for its
destiny.”
While serving as rector of the
Catholic University, the Prelate
was selected by the Holy See in
1935 to become Bishop of Omaha.
He was the guest of honor at a
public reception before his de
parture from the Nation’s - Capital
and his work was lauded in a mes
sage from President Roosevelt.
When the Omaha Diocese was
elevated to an ArchepisCopal See
in 1945, Bishop Ryan was selected
to serve as its first Archbishop.
winter solstice, as the sun started
on its way to spring and a new
beginning of life in. nature, as the
“rebirth” of the sun and cele-
.brated it as a religious event.
Abbe Chauve-Bertrand, an out
standing French scholar interested
in calendar reform, recently called
attention to the fact that at the
lime *of the winter solstice the
sun is in the zodiacal sign virgo,
Ihe virgin, and that "the ‘new’ sun
appears as if it were borne in the
arms of the celestial ’virgin’.”
That this fact should prove a fit
ting illustration of the birth in
the manger, seems to the Abbe a
sufficient reason tor the Church’s
having chosen this date as Christ
mas. ,
Other dates had been sugggest-
ed. For example, in 243 A. D., a
Latin tract was issued claiming
March 28 as the day of the
Nativity because “spring had be
gun, the world was new, the
equinox prevailed, the moon was
full.” Moreover, in that year this
date fell on Wednesday and it was
on Wednesday of the first week
that the sun and nr.oon had been
created, and was not Jesus “the
Sun of Righteousness’’?
But as Abbe Chauve-Bertrand
expresses it, in celebrating Christ
mas at the time of the winter
solstice, we proceed “from the
zodiacal virgin to the manger of
the Infant, from the astronomical
sun Ip tl.e spiritual Sun of Right
eousness.”
A PETITION urging His Holi-
nerr Pope Pius XII to make an
early dogmatic definition of the
doctrine of the Assumption of the
Blessed Mother was adopted at
the meeting of the executime
board of the Marian Fed
eration of the United States at the
Vocational School
Auxiliary to Give
Christmas Party
SAVANNAH, Ga.—-The Auxi
liary of St. Thomas Vocational
School will entertain the boys at
the school with a Christmas party
on December 21, and the follow
ing committees have been ap
pointed hy Mrs. Joseph P. Folliard,
president of the auxiliary, to han
dle various details of the event;
Christmas tree and decorations
committee, Miss Kate Latham,
chairman; Miss Alice Hillis; gifts
and wrappings, Mrs. J. S. Lloyd,
chairman, Mrs. E. L. Goodman;
refreshments, Mrs. Peter Roe
Nugent, chairman; Mrs. James
Calvitte, Mrs. A. R. Paul, Mrs. J.
Harold Mulhcrin, Mrs. Martin Rob
erts, Miss Thelma Mergin, Mrs. J.
A. Battle, Sr., Mrs. Joseph E. Kelly.
Jr., Mrs. Walter Crawford, Mrs.
H. B. Heller, Jr., Mrs. Dorothy
Capes; chaperones, Mrs. J. F.
Ranitz, Mrs. Herbert A. McKenzie,
Mrsi J. J. McGrath, Mrs. Charles
Moore, Mrs. R. J. Roukas.
Mrs. Joseph E Kelly, with the
assistance of Brother Owen
Gleason, C S V., and the boys
at the school will present a pro
gram of music and Christmas
carols.
THREE CATHOLIC PRELATES
—His Eminence Bernard Cardi
nal Griffin, Archbishop of West
minster, and the Archbishops of
Liverpool and of St. Andrews and
Edinburgh—ha've been given com
missions by the British Admiralty
as representatives of the many
Catholic officers and men in tire
Royal Navy.
National Shrine of the Immacu
late Conception in Washington.
Christmas
»
and a
Happy
New Year!
AUGUSTA — ATLANTA — MACON
COLUMBIA
Port Wentworth
Parish Council
Holds Meeting
PORT WENTWORTH, Ga.—The
November meeting of Our Lady
of Lourdes Parish Council of
Catholic Women was held at the
rectory, with Father Daniel J. Mc
Carthy, the pastor, opening the
meeting with prayer.
After the reading of the minutes
of the previous meeting and the
report of the treasurer, a num
ber of matters of interest were
discussed.
A novel idea was introduced by
Mrs. Joseph Ocampo, president of
the council, who passed among
the members all literature which
had be.en received by her. The
members were asked to read the
pamphlets and to return them with
their comments.
A nominating committee was ap
pointed to prepare a slate of offi
cers of the council to be presented
at the meeting, scheduled for Jan
uary 19, when the annual elec
tion will be held.
Mrs. Harold Mulherin, presi
dent of the Savannah Deanery
Council; Miss Helen Roe Nugent,
immediate past president of the
Diocesan Council; Mrs. Edna
McDonough and Mrs Joseph K.
Kelly attended the meeting.
Meetings of the three study
clubs of the council are being held
regularly, one group meeting each
week at the home of one of the
members. Members were request
ed to bring their Bibles to the
meetings, as Father McCarthy is
delivering a series of instructions
on the Holy Scriptures.
Mrs. Charles Mangiere will be
hostess to the members and their
husbands at a buffet supper to
be given at her home during the
holiday season.
'The Family Theatre*
Radio Program Wins
Popularity Poll
CLEVELAND — (NO—A radio
program that advertises nothing
but family prayer won top honors
in an annual popularity poll con
ducted by the Cleveland Plain
Dealer, secular daily The honors
went to the Family Theater pro
gram, founded and directed by the
Rev. Patrick Peyton, C. S. C., and
heard Thursday evenings over the
Mutual Broadcasting System. The
program was also chosen as the
best dramatic production 'on the
air. it was announced.
Robert S. Stephan, the Plain
Dealer’s radio editor, who con
ducted the poll, declared that the
program was voted the most pop
ular and best dramatic show by
“a substantial lead”. Half of the
votes in the 1947 poll came from
outside the City of Cleveland and
two per cent from outside the
State of Ohio, Mr. Stephan said
The Family Theater Is a pro
gram to which top Hollywood stars
donate their talents in a weekly
broadcast popularizing the slogan;
“The family that prays together
stays together.” The hklf-hour
program is carried by almost 370
MBS stations and is rcBroadcast
across the world by the U. S. Arm
ed. Service Network
K. of C. Council at
Spring Hill College
Confers First Degree
(By WILLIAM D. LENZ, JR.)
SPRING HILL, Ala. — Father
Michael Kenny Council, No. 3038,
Knights of Columbus, at Spring
Hill College, initiated thirty-eight
candidates in the first degree at a
ceremonial held on November 30
at the K. of C. Home in Mobile.
The class, which was the second
to be initiated from the famous
Jesuit college, was known as the
George M. Murray Class, in honor
of a student at Spring Hill who is
leaving shortly' to begin his study
for the priesthood. The first class
was named in honor of Father
Arthur A. Colkin. S. J.. Dean of
Men at the college, and chaplain
of the council.
Grand Knight Joseph M.
Powers, of Charleston, S- C., pre
sided during the ceremonial, and
the class included students from
twelve states, Mexico and Puerto
Rico.
The K. of C. council at Spring
Hill College was organized last
year and has been most active
since its institution. It now has
about one hundred members,
about twenty of whom are fourth
degree knights. Members of the
four degree, in full regalia,
served as a guard of honor at the
recent Requiem Mass offered for
Ihe deceased members of the facul
ty and alumni. - -»