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Published by the
Catholic Lay
men's Association
of Georgia
"To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed"
Vol. XXX. No. 6. THIRTY-TWO PAGES AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, JUNE 25, 1949
ISSUED MONTHLY—$3.00 A YEAR
[ Protest From Catholic School Leaders
f On House Subcommittee's Approval of
i Barden Bill lor Federal Aid to Schools
AT K. OF C. CONVENTION IN ATLANTA—Pictured above at
the banquet held in the dining room of the Sacred Heart School in
Atlanta, on the occasion for the forty-seventh annual convention
of the Georgia State Council, Knights of Columbus, are, left
to right: William J. Guste, K. S. G., of New Orleans, member of
Supreme Board of Directors of the K. C., who spoke at the morn
ing session of the convention and at the banquet; J. P. Price, of
. Augusta, who was re-elected as State Deputy, and Monsignor
Joseph E. Moylan, Vicar General of the Diocese of Savannah-
Atlanta, who delivered an inspiring address at the banquet.—
(Photo by Anthony J. Troncone.
John Patrick Price, of Augusta,
Re-Elected as State Deputy of
Georgia State Council, K. of C.
WASHINGTON. — (NC) — The
House education subcommittee’s
approval of the Barden Bill for
Federal school aid, which is re
markable for its thoroughness in
ruling out help to parochial school
.children, has generated a quick
and vehement response from Cath
olic leaders.
“It is the worst of all the bills
considered by the committee. It
is unjust, discriminatory and waste
ful of Federal money. The com
mittee’s approavl of it is an insult
to Catholics, Negroes, labor and
all other groups sincerely interest
ed in the improvement of Ameri
can. education,’.’ declared Father
William E. McManus, assistant di
rector of the Education Depart
ment, National Catholic Welfare
Conference, who recently pleaded
with the House group for a fair
compromise on the Federal aid
question.
The executive secretary of the
National Council of Catholic Wom
en, Miss Ruth Craven, in a state-
. ment sent to the subcommittee,
termed it a "discriminatory bill in
every sense:” She also made the
point that it “does not have a re
deeming feature ol considering the
country’s economic interest.
The Barden Bill, accompanied
by its approval from the subcom
mittee headed by the bill’s spon
sor, Representative Graham A.
Barden of North Carolina, now
goes to the 25-member House Edu
cation and Labor Committee. The
chairman of this group is Rep
resentative John Leslnski of Michi
gan.
In analyzing the Barden meas
ure, the Catholic authorities put
forward these facts:
Though the bill has been profes
sedly designed to insure the least
possible Federal interference with
education, it amounts to a Federal
decree to the States that the only
education which merits public sup
port is public school education. Its
title is the “Public School Assist
ance Act of 1949.” Even in those
States which provide some help to
nonpublic school children, the bill
stipulates that all of the Federal
aid must go to the public schools.
To make this certain, the meas
ure carries a detailed “Judicial
Review” section which giv.es a tax
payer the right to go into Federal
courts on one count; if he believes
that some of the money is being
spent for school children other
than those in public schools.
Further, the Barden Bill pro
vides that its $300,000,000 aid shall
be spent for “current expendi
tures” in the public schools, and
then specifies a unique liimtation:
expenditures for transportation are
• not to be considered “current ex
penditures.” Thus bus service for
Catholic school children, which
might slip into the Federal aid pro
gram because the school affiliation
of bus passengers does not always
appear in expense ledgers, is
'strictly ruled out. Health services
are similarly kept out.
On the other hand, the North
Carolina Congressman’s measure
follows the “no Federal interfer
ence with the States” pattern with
regard to aid to Negro students.
Most other Federal aid bills con
tain a provision that "separate” or
Negro school shall receive the
gr- same amount of aid within a State
as the white schools, but this safe
guard is lacking in the Barden
Bill.
The bill, despite its highly re
strictive outlook on aid to nonpub
lic school children, still counts
these children in its allocation
formula. All children from 6 to 17
years of age are considered in de
termining the amount of aid to a
particular State.
Finally, it is a “pork-barrel”
measure giving the wealthier
States at least $5 per child regard
less of need. Under this formula.
$100,000,000 of Feedral money, it
is estimated, will be distributed
outside the areas of real necessity.
In her statement to Mr. Barden’s
committee, Miss Crave,. stated that
her organization, representing 6,-
U 000,000 American women, had
reached the conclusion that Fed
eral help should be given to the
needy States, but to all school
children in those States.
She stated: “We ask respectful
ly: Since when has the public
school become the only school in
the U. S.? We hope that we have
not yet forgotten that in this coun
try we respect the natural right of
parents to send their child to the
school of their choice.”
“It has come as a shock that in
almost every Federal aid bill there
has been either a devious or a
spelled-out discrimination against
the children attending parochial
schools even receiving the mini
mum of Federal aid assistance in
such minimum services as trans
portation, textbooks, health ser
vices. And what an effrontery to
the parents of children attending
parochial schools it is in that set
tling upon the amount of funds a
State would receive from the Fed
eral government for aid to educa
tion, all school children in a State
would be counted but in the dis
tribution of these monies the chil
dren attending parochial schools
would be left out.”
Her comment on the Barden Bill
was that “every possible discrimi
natory feature that could be in
cluded in a Federal aid to educa
tion measure 1 ’ has been inserted
into it. “It is a bill for the public
school; not a bill for the American
child,” she said.
Miss Craven pointed out: “It
does not confine aid to the needy
States. Under it all States, rich or
poor, can dip into the big pocket-
book of the U .S. Treasury.
“Our economic strength, our
moral independence,” she de
clared, “depends on a number of
pocketbooks: the individual’s, the
community’s, the country’s and the
State’s. If we are always dipping
Into the one pocketbook we will
soon come to the sorrowful realiza
tion that all the other pocketbooks
are empty. That big pocketbook is
kept filled only by what comes
from all other pocketbooks. There
fore, Federal aid to education
should be given only to the needy
States. Any other extension of Fed
eral aid would be an unjustifiable
and wasteful expenditure of Fed
eral funds.”
HOLY SEE PROCLAIMS
CANONIZATION OF
SAINT GUISEPPA
By REV. JOSEPH J. SULLIVAN
(Radio, N.C.W.C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY. —In the tenth
canonization ceremony of his ponti
ficate His Holiness Pope Pius XII
raised Maria Giuseppa Rossello
to the'dignity of the altars in the
presence of 15,000 people, includ
ing a distant relative of the Saint
and a man whose cure was one
of the miracles leading to her can
onization. The new Saint is found
ress of the Daughters of Our Lady
of Mercy.
Twelve Cardinals participated in
the ceremony. His Eminence An
tonio. Cardinal Caggiano, Bishop of
Rosario, Argentina, now in Rome
for his ad limina visit, officiated
as deacon at the Mass, and His
Eminence Clemente Cardinal Mi-
cara, Prefect of the Sacred Con
gregation of Rites, as procurator of
the cause. Other Cardinals present
were: Their Eminences Nicola
Cardinal Canali, President of the
Pontifical Commission for the gov
ernment of Vatican City, and
Giovanni Cardinal Mercati, Vati
can librarian and archivist, who
assisted the Holy Father as Cardi
nal deacons, and Luigi Cardinal
Lavitrano, Alessandro Cardinal
Verde, Eugene Cardinal Tisserant,
Federico, Cardinal Tedeschini,
Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi,
Giuseppe Cardinal Pizzardo, Bene
detto Cardinal Aloisi Masella and
Adeodato Cardinal Piazza.
Among the 40 Bishops at the
canonization were Bishops Mark
K. Carroll of Wichita, Marlin J.
O’Connor, rector of the North
American College in Rome, and
Agostino Barrere of Tucuman,
Argentina. Also present was the
Rev. George G. Higgins, Assistant
Director of the Social Action De-
(Special to The Bulletin)
ATLANTA, Ga. —• At the forty-
seventh annual convention of the
Georgia State Council, Knights of
Columbus, held here on May 29,
John Patrick Price, of Augusta,
was re-elected state deputy.
Other officers elected were Sal
vador Spano, Columbus, state sec
retary; Manuel Boa, Brunswick,
state treasurer; John M. Brennan,
Sa/annah, state advocate; Thomas
J. Griffin, Atlanta, state warden,
and Father Robert T. Bryant, S. J.,
Macon, state chaplain. John J. Mc
Creary, of Macon, continues as past
state deputy.
Charles C. Chesser, of Augusta,
was named as alternate to the state
deputy as delegate^to the Supreme
Council'convention, and Thomas J.
Gilmore, of Atlanta, was chosen as
alternate to the past state deputy.
The nominating committee in
cluded Veslus J. Ryan, Savannah;
Robert J. Hinson, Macon; Paul R.
Hayes, Augusta, Edward Parker,
Brunswick; Salvador Spano, Co
lumbus, and William G. Coyle, At
lanta.
The morning session of the con
vention, which followed a • Mass
celebrated at the Sacred Heart
Church by Monsignor Joseph E.
Moylan, Vicar General of the Dio
cese of Savannah-Atlanta, was
highlighted by an address by Wil
liam J. Guste, K. S. G., of New
Orleans, a member of the Supreme
Board of Directors of the K. of C.
State Deputy Price presided at
the morning and afternoon ses
sions, which were attended by John
J. McCreary, of Macon, past state
deputy; Salvador Spano. of Colum
bus, state secretary; Robert J. Hin
son, Macon, state treasurer; John
M. Brennan, Savannah, state ad
vocate, Edward Lott, Brunswick,
state warden, and Father Henry A.
partment. National Catholic Wel
fare Conference, who was earlier
received in audience by the Holy
Father.
The Saint’s distant relative was
Ettore Armonino Rossello, who
came from Montevideo, Uruguay,
for the ceremony. The man cured
through St. Giuseppa’s intercession
was Pietro Molinari who comes
from near the Saint’s home at
Albissola on the Italian Riviera.
He was miraculously cured on No
vember 6, 1938, the day of the
Saint’s beatification, while near
death from meningoencephalitis, a
brain ailment resulting from
wounds in the first World War
combined with a later head in
jury.
As a girl St. Giuseppa was re
fused admittance to one religious
community and lived to found an
other in 1837. By the time of her
death in 1880 she had established
68 schools, asylums and hospitals
to care for the bodies and souls
of men. Today her Daughters of
Our Lady of Mercy number some
3,000 members working in 263 in
stitutions, of which 167 are in
Italy, 86 in Latin America and 10
in the United States
Schonhardt, of Atlanta, state chap
lain, with representatives of all of
the subordinate councils in Geor
gia, and the district deputies, Hen
ry J. Taylor, Atlanta, Edward P.
Daly, Savannah, and William Pfaff,
Columbus.
Past State Deputy Coleman
Dempsey, of Augusta, Past State
Deputy William J. McAlpin, of At
lanta, and Past State Deputy
Thomas J. Gilmore, of Atlanta,
were present at the convention.
Reports of the activity of their
councils during the year were sub
mitted by the grand knights, Paul
R. Hayes, Augusta; Vestus Ryan,
Savannah; Edward Parker, Bruns
wick, William G. Coyle, Atlanta,
and for Grand Knight Robert J.
Hinson, of Macon, by N. J. Ca-
merio, deputy grand knight.
The three district deputies for
Georgia, Henry J. Taylor, Atlanta,
Edward P. Daly, Savannah, and
William Pfaff, Columbus, served as
the credentials, and*John J. Mc
Creary, William Pfaff and Henry J.
Taylor as an auditing committee.
A number of resolutions were
presented for adoption by a com
mittee which included Charles C.
Chesser, Augusta; Carlo Desposito,
Savannah; William Fortson, Co
lumbus; Thomas J. Gilmore, At
lanta; Charles C. McCarron, Ma
con, and J. C. Stiles, Brunswick.
Among the resolutions adopted
was one which recommended that
the Georgia delegation to the Su
preme Council convention support
the nomination of Past State Dep
uty William J. McAlpin, of Atlanta,
for election to the Supreme Board
of Directors.
The convention voted to send a
message of good wishes to Bishop
Gerald P. O’Hara of Savannah-At
lanta, who is presently serving as
Regent of the Apostolic Nunciature
in Romania, and voted a contri
bution to the work of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
The convention headquarters
were at the Atlantan Hotel, where
the delegates registered with a
committee which included Thomas
J. Gilmore, George Flynt, Thomas
J. O’Keefe and Joseph Koziola.
On the evening previous to the
convention, the- visiting delegates
and their wives were entertained
at a reception and dance at the K.
of C. Home by members of Atlanta
Council, No. 660. Luncheon was
served at the K. of C. club during
a recess between the morning and
afternoon sessions of the conven
tion for the delegates, while the
wives of the delegates were guests
of the Women’s Auxiliary of Atlan
ta Council at a luncheon at the
East Lako Country club.
The convention banquet was
held in the dining room of the
Sacred Heart School, and was fea
tured by an address by Monstgnor
Moylan. Supreme Director Guste
also spoke briefly, and the words
of welcome from Grand Knight
William G. Coyle of Atlanta Coun
cil, were responded to by State
Deputy Price. The invocation was
offered by Father Schonhardt.
Cardinal Spellman
Terms Barden Bill
Menace to Democracy
NEW YORK.—The Barden bill
providing $300,000,000 in Federal
aid to education but barring non
public schools from benefits, "is not
only unjust to Catholic children”
but a. “menace to American democ
racy itself,” His Eminence Francis
Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of
New York, told 15,000 persons at
Fordham University at the 15th an
nual Eucharistic rally of the Bronx
Nocturnal Adoration Society.
Catholics do not question the
rightful place of the public tax-sup
ported schools in American democ
racy,” Cardinal Spellman declared,
“but schools under religious con
trol also exist by right and not by
privilege or toleration. The Catho
lic school is an American school,
equal in rights with the public
schools, because our theory of dem
ocratic government protects the
unalienable rights of the human
person to freedom of religion and
freedom of education, freedom
which assures to every American
the privilege of religious education
for himself and his chlidren!
“We Americans must not stand
idly by,” he continued, “and watch
our government spend three hun
dred million dollars according to
legislation that would be unjust
and discriminatory against millions
of' our nation’s children. A vote
for the Barden bill is a vote against
parental rights, against constitu
tional rights, against American edu
cation as a whole, against Ameri
ca herself!
“Fearlessly, forcefully, we must
unite to demand equal rights for
all America’s children, and in jus
tice we must oppose unequivocally
any bill that fails to guarantee at
least non-religious textbooks, bus
rides and health services for all
the children of all Americans.”
"Seven Story Mountain"
Author Ordained as
Trappist Priest
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (NC) —
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk,
famed author of “The Seven Story
Mountain,” was ordained to the
priesthood at the Abbey of Our
Lady of Gethsemani near Bards-
town, Ky., May 26.
The Sacrament of Holy Orders
was conferred on Thomas Merton,
now Father Louis, O. C. S. O., ancl
on another monk, Father Aman-
dus, by Archbishop John A.
Floersh, of Louisville.
Several of the author’s old
friends, some of whom figured
prominently in his best selling au
tobiography, were on hand to wit
ness the ordination ceremony.
Among them were Robert Lax, a
Jewish associate who has also em
braced the Catholic Faith, Edward
Rice, Merton’s godfather; Scy-
mouh Freedgood, also a Jew, and
Professor “Dan” Walsh of Colum
bia University.
His ordination marks the ful
fillment of a long cherished desire
and the attainment of a goal that
once seemed to him impossible. In
the “Mountain,” whose sales havfe
now reached the 191,000 mark he
describes his long spiritual trek
from an empty, groping childhood
through a pleasure filled disap
pointing’ youth, into the joys of
the Catholic Church.
As a Catholic he yearned for
the priesthood and prayed for it,
but was once rebuffed so firmly
that he almost relinquished the
desire altogether. His prayers
were answered when Archbishop
Florersh intoned over him the
preface, the essential words of
which begin: “Bestow, we beseech
Thee, Father Almighty, upon this
Thy servant the dignity of the
priesthood.”
Thomas Merton, entered Geth
semani Abbey in December 1941
and made his solemn vows as a
Trappist in 1946, thereby dedicat
ing himself to a life of contempla
tion and penance.
Under obedience to the Abbot
he wrote his now famous autobio
graphy and more recently another
work dealing with the life of
prayer and called it “Seeds of
Contemplation.”
Both the “Mountain” and “Seeds
of Contemplation” are now on the
best seller list"