Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
nlUlin
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. XXIX, No. 7
TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, JULY 24, 4948
ISSUED MONTHLY—$3.00 A YEAR
Officers of St. Mary’s Home
! Secular Dress for Sisters
| Teaching in Public Schools
Authorized in North Dakota
BISHOP O’HARA
President
His Excellency the Most Rever
end Gerald P. O’Hara, D. D„ J.
U. D., Bishop of Savannali-Atlan-
ta. now serving as Regent of the
Apostolic Nunciature in Bucha
rest, Rumania, holds the office of
president of the Female Orphan
Benevolent Society, under the
auspices of which St. Mary's
Home, in Savannah, is conducted
by the Sisters of Mc'rcy.
One of Bishop O’Hara's first
projects upon coming to Georgia
thirteen years ago, was to plan
and carry into reality the build
ing of the present St. Mary’s
Home on Victory Drive.
Bishop O’Hara shows his contin
ued interest in St. Mary’s Home by
heading the association under
whose patronage it is operated.
JOHN YV. GLEASON, K. S. G.
Vice-President-Treasurer
Active for many years in the
interest of St. Mary’s Home, Sa
vannah. Mr. Gleason has once
again been elected vice-president
and treasurer of the Female Or
phan Benevolent Society.
Mr. Gleason, now retired, was
prominently engaged in the cot
ton business in Savannah for
more than half a century. Some
years ago he was honored by Hi4
Holiness Pope Pius XI with
Knighthood in the Order of St.
Gregory the Great.
Mrs. Gleason, who was Miss
Lillian McGovern, of Columbus, is
hardly less active on behalf of
St. Mary’s Home than Mr. Glea
son, who is an almost daily visitor
at the home, and always enthusi
astic in its sendee.
MONSIGNOR McNAMARA
Secretary
The Right Reverend Monsignor
T. James McNamara, rector of
the Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist in Savannah, has been re
elected secretary of the Female
Orphan Benevolent Society, under
whose auspices St. Mary’s Home
for orphan girls is conducted by
the Sisters of Mercy.
Assisting the president and oth
er officers of the society in di
recting the affairs of St. Mary’s
Home is an Advisory Board, which
includes E. George Butler, Wil
liam .1. Bremer, John M. Bren
nan, Dr. William B. Crawford,
Hugh II. Grady, Walter B. Mur
phy, M. C. McCarthy, James H.
McKenna, Peter Roe Nugent,
Charles F. Powers, William H.
Sexton and Elton E. Wright.
BISMARCK. N. D.—(NO—Au
thorized to wear secular dress lo
meet the requirements of state
law, it is expected that some
seventy-five Catholic nuns will
continue lo teach in a number of
of rural public schools of North
Dakota despite recent passage of
the “anti-garb” measures design
ed to eliminaite them from these
schools.
A joint statement by Bishop
Vincent J. Ryan of Bismarck and
Auxiliary Bishop Leo F. Dwors-
chak of Fargo, read in the Cath
edral of the Holy Spirit here and
ip the Cathedral of St. Mary’s,
Fargo, authorizes the Sisters to
wear secular dress so that they
may continue teaching in those
areas where otherwise school
would have to be closed and where
school districts and people find it
“necessary and desirable” to re
tain them.
The anti-garb measure, sponsor
ed by a group of Protestants,
clergymen mainly, was placed be
fore the electorate on June 29
and carried by a plurality of only
about (i to 5. although Protestants
in the state outnumber Catholics
more than 4 lo 1. The Sisters have
been teaching in largely Catholic
communities where their employ
ment was the unanimous wish of
school boards and parents.
Bishop Ryan said the proposal
(o have the nuns wear secular
dress is not new, having been car
ried out in Canada and Mexico un
der circumstances similar lo those
now existing in North Dakota.
The statement of Bishop Ryan
and Bishop Dworsehak follows:
“The so-called anti-garb meas
ure, recently voted on in the state
of North Dakota, prohibits the
wearing of a religious garb in any
public school by a teacher while
engaged in the performance of his
or her duty as a teacher in such
school.
“Some of the sponsors solicited
support for this measure upon tire
claim that it would keep Catholic
Sisters from teaching.
“We are informed by competent
authority that no law can, under
the protection of our Constitution,
discriminate against any teacher
on tiie acount of religious member
ship or belief.
"The withdrawal of the Sisters
would close some public schools
ir. North Dakota. An emergency
exists in many districts in this
State because of a shortage of
teachers. Although the Sisters
are needed elsewhere, in view of
the emergency, the Sisters will ar
range lo use during school hours a
respectable secular dress which in
nowise indicates the fact that the
teacher is a member of or an ad-
iierenL of any religious order or
denomination.
“Consequently we announce that
in such school districts where the
people and the school boards find
it necessary and desirable to re
tain the services of the Sisters,
(he Sisters will continue lo teach
attired in a manner that is in
strict compliance with the'law.”
Catholic Population of
United States Given as
26,075,697 By Directory
Bulletins
HIS EMINENCE Dennis Cardi
nal Dougherty, Archbishop of
Philadelphia, opened the Denio-
(N. C. W C. News Service)
NEW YORK — The Catholic
population of tile United States,
Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands
numbered 26,075,697 as of January
1, 1948, according to The Official
Catholic Directory for 1948, which
lias just been issued here by P. J.
Kenedy & Sons, publishers. This
represents an increase of 807,524
over that of last year.
The 23 U. S. archdioceses show
ed increases totaling 316,182, the
Directory statistics disclose, while
the 101 dioceses recorded gains of
491,342. Thirteen Secs reported
no changes in their Catholic pop
ulation, five showed slight decreas
es, while substantial gains were
recorded in the remaining 106.
Archdioceses with Catholic pop
ulation of more than 1,000,000 are
Chicago with 1.755,868; Boston, 1,-
242,503; New York, 1,183,417, and
Philadelphia, 1, 011,064. Brook
lyn continues as the diocese with
the largest Catholic population,
1,153,467, with Pittsburgh in sec
ond place with 760,687, the Direc
tory reports.
Tile new Directory records many
changes during the year, design
ed to strengthen the administra
tive forces of the Church to meet
present needs. Among these were
the appointnment of a new Arch
bishop, the" elevation of two Bish
ops to the rank of Archbishnop
and the appointments of 25 new
Bishops to serve within conti
nental United States, representing
the largest increase in member
ship of the Catholic Hierarchy for
any comparable peifbd in the
Church history in the country, the
Directory states.
Among tluj Hierarchy the Di
rectory lists four Cardinals, 21
Archbishops and 153 Bishops.
Among the noteworthy events of
the last year recorded in the Di
rectory are: The erection of the
Archdiocese of Washington, com
prising the District of Columbia
and five adjacent Maryland coun
ties; erection of the new Diocese
of Austin, which includes 28 coun
ties and parts of two others in Tex
as; change of the name of the Dio
cese of Leavenworth to the Dio
cese of Kansas City in Kansas; ap
pointment of Archbishop J. Fran
cis McIntyre, former Coadjutor of
New York, to be Archbishop of Los
Angeles; elevation of Bishop Ger
ald T. Bergan of Des Moines to be
Archhishop of Omaha; elevation of
Bishop Francis P. Keough of Prov
idence to be Archbishop of Balti
more, and the elevation of Msgr.
Patrick J. O'Boyle of New York
to Archbishop of Washington.
As of January 1. the Directory
reports, only one See in the nation
was vacant and tliat was filled by
the appointment of the Rev. Rus
sell J. McVinney, rector of the
Seminary of Our Lady of Provi
dence, as Bishop of Providence.
The Directory, first issue of
which was published in 1822, de
spite extensive consolidation, re
quires 58 more pages than the
1947 issue. It tabulates for easy
comparison 7,564 statistics in 61
categories, in uniform entries for
every diocese. The data covering
the United States. Alaska and Ha
waiian Islands totals 1,376 pages,
while 184 additional pages are de
voted to Canada and Newfound
land, a summary of Ireland, the
British Isles, Australia and New
Zealand. Names, addresses and
statistics have been revised from
cover to cover, the Directory re
ports.
Comparisons indicate an in
crease of 1,277 in the number of
clergy, bringing the total of
priest to an all-time high in the
United States of 41,747. Profess
ed Religious include 7,335 Broth
ers, an increase of 337 and 141, '83
Sisters, an increase of 520. The
Directory lists the full-time teach
ing staff's of all educational insti
tutions under Catholic auspices as
101,944, which includes 6,779
priests, 3,445 Brothers, 372 schol
astics, 79,952 nuns and 11,396 lay
teachers, an increase of 4,168
full-time teachers in a year. The
Directory also notes tliat 61,131
nuns are engaged in work other
than teaching.
As a result-of more exact defi
nitions in compiling statistics, the
new Directory reports a record
total of 14,905 Catholic parishes
in the United States, Alaska and
Hawaii. This includes 14,015 par-
(Cominued on Page Fifteen'
cratie National Convention with
prayer that its purposes might
“spring from no earthly source,”
but with the quest for God’s glory
and of “our beloved country’s
welfare.”
IIIS HOLINESS Pope Pius XII
expressed liis regrets at “the scar
city of results” from the efforts
employed since the entl of the
war to achieve true peace, as he
received the credentials of Ecua
dor’s new Ambassador to the Holy
See, Manuel Larrea Rlbadeniera.
DELEGATES to the Indiana
State Pharmaceutical Association
convention adopted a resolution
which pledged tlicir cooperation
with police, religious and other
agencies in eliminating the dis
play and sale not only of objec
tionable “comic” books, but also
of indecent and salacious maga
zines and novels.
American Priest to Be
Secretary to Padre Pio,
Italian Stigmatic Priest
HUNTINGTON, Ind.—(NC)—An
American priest has been named
to serve as personal secretary to
Padre Pio, internationally famed
stigmatic Capuchin priest, who is
at the mountain monastery in San
Giovanni Capuchin Rolondo, Italy
The secretary will be Father Dom
inic Meyer,, O. F. M., Cap., a na
tive of Milwaukee, who now is sta
tioned at St. Felix Friary here.
The appointment was announced
by the Most Rev. F. Clement Neu-
bauer, O. F. M., Cap., Father Gen
eral of St. Joseph Province of the
Capuchins in the United States.
During the war, thousands of
American Cl's as well as thousands
of soldiers from other Allied forc
es visitetd the stlgamtist, and
spread his fame to all parts of the
world.
Father Meyer’s duties it was
explained, generally will be the
expediting and handling of the
mounting mail which is received
by Padre Pio.
Senator Russell, of Georgia,
Differs With Supreme Court’s
Ruling in Public School Case
(By Religious News Service)
ATHENS, CJa. — Senator Richard
B. Russell lashed out here at the
ruling of the United States Su
preme Court that religion cannot
be taught in public schools.
He spoke at an all-day gathering
of repreesntative.s of Christian
churches from all over Georgia,
who met to break ground for the
first unit of the Christian College.
The College is to be located one
block from the campus of the Uni
versity of Georgia, and ministe
rial students will do academic
work at the University.
“We often differ on the applica
tion of fundamental principles,”
Senator Russell declared. "The
first article of the so-called Bill of
Rights stales; ‘Congress shall make
no law respecting the establish
ment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof.
“A recent decision of the Su-
Cort holds that this amendment
prohibits any religious instruction
whatsoever in public schools, even
where such a program is main
tained without cost to the stale on
a voluntary basis and is given
only to those children whose par
ents specifically request in writ
ing. I do not believe that the First
Amendment justifies the Supreme
Court forbidding any form of re
ligious discussions in tax-supoprt-
ed schools.
“A reading of the decision
would lead to the conclusion that
the ban imposed by the Supreme
Court extends to a recitation of
the Lord’? prayer in a school, and
would forbid any form of teaching
which even recognizes the exist
ence of God. There is a serious
question as to whether under this
decision it is constitutional for
school children to sing Christmas
•carols at school plays in school
buildings.
“As an ardent adherent of the
fundamental principle of separa
tion of Church and State, I think
(lie Supreme Court has gone too
far in this opinion. I think the de
cision circumscribes Hie free exer
cise of religion which is guaran
teed by the Constitution. The tim
ing of the decision is especially
unfortunate, as it comes when Hie
Communistic philosophy is ad
vancing to the very antithesis of
religion in every part of the earth.
The decision needs clarification,
for it cunnol stand."
Senator Russell/ has been en
dorsed for Vice President by the
Georgia State Democratic Conven
tion.
Some of Their Best
Friends Are Catholics
(By Religious News Service)
FARGO, N. D.—Hailing the re
sults of a referendum prohibiting
Catholic nuns from teaching in
North Dakota’s public schools, the
Rev. C. A. Armstrong, chairman of
the Committee lor Separation of
Church and State, which spear
headed the anti-garb campaign,
stressed the committee’s good will
towards Catholics.
“We have nothing against Cath
olics or Catholic nuns,” Armstrong
declared. “All we endeavored to do
in this campaign was to take the
garb of the Catholic nuns out of
tiie public schools.”
“I admire Hie Sisters and the
work they are doing,” lie added.
“The only thing we arc trying lo
do is - prevent the wearing of the
garb in the public schools where
it predisposes the mind of Hie
child towaixl the Roman Catholic
Church.”
Publishing House to
Cater Especially to
Inquiring Non-Catholics
PONTIAC. Mich. — (NC) — The
production of books and pamph
lets on Catholic subjects written
from the viewpoint of the inquir
ing non-Cathollc is the aim of a
new publishing center established
bore by the Convert Makers of
America.
First major CMOA publication
is tin: 20-page “A Simple Explana
tion of Hie Catholic Mass for Non-
Catholic Visitors,” written by “A
Convert YVho Remembers Needing
One.” The author is a widower
who has entered a Benedictine
monastery to study for the priest
hood.