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JULY 30, 19#
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
ELEVEN
Children of Dalton Area Enjoy
Attractions of Camp St. Gerard
(Special to The Bulletin)
FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga —The
second camping session at Camp
St. Gerard, which opened on July
5, found some sixty children reg
istered as campers. These children,
between the ages of five and fif
teen years, come from the sur
rounding area in Georgia and Ten
nessee, including Chattanooga,
Knoxville, Dalton, Elijay, Macon,
Cedartown, Cartersville, Blue
Ridge and Rossville.
Religious instruction is stressed
during this two week period, the
young campers’ day, beginning
with attendance at Mass, includ
ing classes conducted by the
School Sisters of Notre Dame from
Dalton.
A full recreational program af
fords opportunity for swimming,
baseball, volleyball, softball, ten
nis, and other sports.
Father Joseph Driscoll, C.SS.R.,
pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, Dal
ton, and superior of the Redemp-
torist Fathers’ Missions in North
west Georgia, is director of the
camp, and Father Gilbert McCor
mack, C. SS.R., is director of the
counselors.
Miss Catherine Steiner, of Chat
tanooga, Is head counselor for the
girls with Misses Adele Baker, Ag
nes Jean Crowe, Mary Lynne Stei
ner, Therese Anne Chamberlain,
Marilyn Ellis, of Chattanooga,
Anita Kioebge, of New Smyrna,
Fla., and Jane Carens and Barbara
Barry, of Boston, assisting.
John Kenny and Donald Carron,
from the seminary of the Mary-
• knoll Missioners in New York,
head the boys’ counselors, with
Bennett Johnson, Joe Lombarso,
Herbert Haile, Buddy Stack, from
Chattanooga, and John Wilbanks,
from Dalton, assisting.
The only admission fee required
at the camp is written permission
from parents or guardian and a
health certificate from a physician.
Any pastor of any church, and
professional man, business man,
civic club member or welfare
worker was invited to recommend
children to go to Camp St. Gerard,
regardless of the child’s religious
affiliation.
Camp St. Gerard is entirely free
for all deserving children who
could not otherwise finance such
a vacation. Last year the club was
operated on the generous contri
butions of funds and food from
various civic, fraternal and chari
table organizations in Dalton and
through contributions from indi
viduals in Dalton and other parts
of tlie State and country.
Dr. John Venable, at the Health
Center in Dalton, volunteered his
services as medical examiner for
prospective campers.
Letters from children attending
the camp, describing the wonder
ful time they are having have been
published in Dalton newspapers.
The youngsters are most enthusi
astic in their praise of the menus
in the camp dining hall, and the
snacks, watermelon cuttings, and
picnics on the side.
At the invitation of Joe Engel,
owner of the Chattanooga “Look
outs,” the campers enjoyed a visit
to Engel Stadium where they wit
nessed a double-header between
the Chattanooga and Mobile
Southern League baseball teams.
Ruby Williams, who operates the
refreshment concession at the sta
dium, treated the campers to “hot
dogs” nad cold drinks.
Under the direction of Miss
Carens, one of the counselors, a
stunt and tumbling show was
staged in the school auditorium,
and the City High School Band
from Chattanooga visited the
camp to give a concert.
A motion picture party at the
Oglethorpe Theatre was followed
by a dinner at which the members
of St. Gerard’s Altar Society were
hostesses. A variety show was giv
en by pupils of Miss Jones’ Danc
ing School, Chattanooga, with
“Uncle Joe”, who conducts the
Mickie Mouse program for Radio
Station WAPO in Chattanooga, as
an added attraction.
Eighteen of the campers have re
ceived Red Cross Certificates in
the Water Safety program, Shar-
lotte McBrayer, ten years old, re
ceiving the first certificate.
A water carnival with every
one at the camp taking part, fea
tured a water ballet and exhibi
tions of fancy diving and novelty
swimming races.
K S h H ° W CA . MP , ST - GERARD—Counselors at Camp St. Gerjrd, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia,
fn , a !\ Swimming ? how ’ for the eighty-odd campers and several hundred spectators
JJLolJZ™ °h'u h0rpe , swimming pool. The show included competitive swimming and diving for
(Photo by j ’ B h C d u e i" ) f,0m thC Dalton area ’ and a wnter ballet Presented by the counselors —
Catholics Not Contending for
Federal Aid to Catholic Schools,
But Are Asking Aid for All Children
J. C. Lewis Motor Co.
INCORPORATED
SALES and SERVICE
Oglethorpe Avenue and Barnard Street
Savannah, Georgia
/ Enjoy the Best—
Drink Double Fresh
GOLD LABEL COFFEE
Service!
Savings.
Variety!
Value!
By J. J. GILBERT
WASHINGTON. — (NC) — De
bate on Federal aid to education
legislation now pending in Con
gress has stirred such interest that
mail has been pouring into the
Senate and House Office Buildings,
here by the truckload. This de
velopment has prodded many peo
ple to some sober thought on the
subject, and not a few have come
to realize that, up until now, they
have not appreciated “what it’s all
about.” For propaganda, propon
ents of some of the more ob
jectionable measures being consid
ered have tried to over-simplify
the problem by making it appear
that the legislation is being block
ed by selfish interests. They have
accused Catholics of opposing Fed
eral aid, unless Catholic schools
can get some of the money the
Federal Government hands out.
But, when observers look steadi
ly at this argument it soon becomes
transparent. Catholic spokesmen
have not blocked Federal aid, but
rather have argued for it, simply
contending that when aid is given
to school children it should be
given to all school children. More
over, the relatively little money
which would be allocated to chil
dren in Catholic schools (not to the
schools, mind you), does not seem
to be enough to tempt Catholics or
anyone else for that matter) to as
sume the additional tax burden
that would be entailed. Legislation
which Catholic spokesmen have
indorsed would give not more than
one percent of the money, allocat
ed to services for children in
Catholic schools.
Catholic protests, it is beginning
to be appreciated, grow out of a
justifiable feeling of pride and
patriotism. They regard their
schools and their children as the
equal of any schools and any chil
dren in America. They resent legis
lation which considers their
parochial and secondary schools as
mere apprendages on the educa
tional system of the country, and
which ascribes to their children a
sort of “second class citizenship.’’
Developments on local levels have
on occasion given justification for
this apprehension among Catholics.
Now they are fearful of its con
firmation on a national scale.
It is of great importance to bear
in mind that what Catholics have
contended for is not aid for Catho
lic schools, but aid for children at
tending Catholic schools. They
have said that if bus transporta
tion, lunches and similar personal
services are to be given to school
children, they ought to be given to
all school children, not just to
those in taxsupported public
schools.
Put this contention alongside the
well — established principle that
parents in the United States have
the right to send their children to
schools of their choosing, and the
argument becomes crystal clear. If
the services are being given to
school children, and the children
have as much right to be in one
school as in another, how can you
withhold these personal services
from one child because he attends
another school?
This gives rise to a further
source of apprehension on the part
of those who have opposed some
of the Federal aid measures now
before Congress. If this discrimina
tion against children because they
attend non-tax supported schools
is written into law, does this not
seem to infringe upon the principle
that parents can send their chil
dren to schools of their own
choosing? It certainly handicaps a
child because his parents pick one
school rather than another. What
is there to prevent an extension of
this infringement, and the ultimate
extenstion of the right of parents
so well established in the Oregon
School Case decision of the Su
preme Court?
New Hampshire's First
Catholic Parish Founded
By Convert-Minister
/
WEST CLAREMONT, N. H.—
(NC) — An Episcopalian minister,
whose wife and subsequently their
five children became Catholics
and members of religious com
munities along with him, founded
what is believed to be the first
Catholic church in New Hamp
shire, it was recalled here at the
125th anniversary of Old St. Mary’s
Church.
The Rev. Virgil H. Barber, S. J.,
founded the church and, also in the
1820s, a school called Claremont
Catholic Seminary which closed iri
1830 but is regarded as the first
Catholic school for boys in New
England. The school was attended
by Protestants and Catholics alike.
Father Barber, the son of an
Episcopalian clergyman, became
Interested in the Catholic faith
shortly after taking a rectorship at
Fairfield, N. Y. His interest was
a result of his father’s own lean
ing toward Catholicism. Eventual
ly Father Barber’s mother, sister
and a niece also became Catholics.
After their consent to separation
in 1817, the former minister’s wife
joined the Sisters of the Visitation.
Later their four daughters also
became nuns and their son a
J esuit.
When Bishop Benedict Fenwick,
S. J., of the New York Diocese
Visited Claremont in 1826 he found
a small brick church, built through
the efforts of Father Barber, with
a Catholic congregation of about
j.50, nearly all converts. There
were 35 students at the academy.
Bishop Fenwick conferred Con
firmation on a class of 21, the first
such class at the church.
In 1827 Father Barber was trans-
Reid McNamara, From
Savannah, Promoted
By Seairight Corp.
(Special to The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Reid McNa
mara, formerly of Savannah, has
been appointed general sales man
ager of Seairight Company, Inc.,
nationally known concern which
manufactures and distributes paper
containers and milk bottle closures.
He has been Seairight district
'manager in the Chicago area.
The promotion of Mr. McNamara
tp his new position is news of cor
dial interest in Savannah, his home
city. A son of Mrs. P. James Mc
Namara and the late Alderman
McNamara, he is a brother of
Monsignor T. James McNamara,
rector of the Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist here and of Sister Mary
Redempta, R. S. M„ of Baltimore.
After attending Benedictine Mil
itary School here and Georgetown
University, Mr. McNamara was
secretary of several ftirm co-opera
tive organizations in Savannah and
a supervisor of the Georgia State
Milk Control Board when he join
ed the Seairight sales organization
as representative in the mid-South.
During the war, Mr. McNamara
was given a leave of absence by
the Seairight company so that he
could serve with the War Produc
tion Board. His appointment as dis
trict sales manager in Chicago
came at the completion of his work
with the government agency in
Washington in 1945.
In addition to being Seairight
district manager for the Central
States territory, Mr. McNamara
was in charge of the Sealright’s
Chicago headquarters office. As
general sales manager he will be
stationed at Fulton, N. Y„ where
the corporation’s main plant and
general headquarters are located.
Mr. and Mrs. McNamara and
their daughter, Miss Mary McNa
mara, and son, J. Reid McNamara,
II, have been making their home at
Evanston, 111. Mrs. McNamara is
the former Mise Agnes O’Brien, of
Savannah.
AN AUDIENCE with His Holi
ness Pope Pius XII several weeks
ago was described as “one of the
most memorable of human expe
riences” by Richard Reid, editor
of The Catholic News, New York.
It was the second Papal audlenoe
for Mr. Reid, who in 1933. when
he was editor of The Bulletin, was
also received by His Holiness Pope
Pius XI.
ferred from Claremont by his Or
der, and later taught at George
town University. After his depar
ture, the church was for many
years without a pastor. During this
period the congregation met each
Sunday at the home of Capt. Belle
Chase, for a weekly review ot
Catholic doctrine