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Four. JUNE 21, 1952 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA ©Ijf HullpfttT The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Incorporated " HUGH KINCHLEY, Editor 216-17 Southern Finance Building. Augusta, Ga. ‘ ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOB 1951-52 MARSHALL WELLBORN, Rome President MARTIN j. CALLAGHAN, K. S. G., Macon ... Honorary Vice-President HARVEY HILL, Atlanta Vice-President CHARLES C. CHESSER, Augusta Secretary J P. MEYER, Columbus . .. .. Treasurer HUGH KINCHLEY, K. S G., Augusta Executive Secretary MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta, Financial Secretary ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor VOL, XXXIII. JUNE 21, 1952 No. 6 Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post Office at Augusta, Georgia, under the Act of March 1879. accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided in paragraph 4, section 538, Postal Laws and Regulations as modified by paragraph 6. Member of N. G. W. C. News Service, Religious News Service, the Catholic Press Association of the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National Editorial Association. Published monthly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Rev erend Archbishop-Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta, and of the Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont. “Not Even God Can Win a Case” Umm ARE a religious people, whose institutions W presuppose a Supreme Being.” With these words the Supreme Court of the United States upheld last month, in a 6 to 3 de cision, New York State’s released time program for giving religious instruction to public school students. Commenting on that decision, II. I. Phillips, in -The New York World-Telegram and Sun said: "It seems to look as if not even God can win a case in the United States Supreme Court with out a dissenting opinion by three or four of its members.” More recently, the United States Supreme Court ruled that under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constiution, the State of New York does not have authority to ban the showing of the motion picture, “The Miracle,” on the grounds that it is sacrilegious. In this decision, by a 9 to 0 vote, the U. S. Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the New York State Supreme Court, and discarded its own ruling, made in 1915, that the showing of motion pictures was “a business pure and simply,” and therefore not entitled to Constitutional protection as an organ of public opinion, by ruling in “The Miracle” case: "We conclude that expression by means of motion pictures is included within the free speech and free press guaranty of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.” Justice Clark, who wrote the majority opinion, and Justice Frankfurter, who wrote a concurring opinion, agreed that “sacrilegious” was too vague a charge on which to base censorship of motion pictures, and that the Board of Regents of the State of New York had acted unconstitutionally when it banned “The Miracle” as sacrilegious, in February of last year. Commenting, editorially, on “The Miracle ’ decision, The Tablet, of Brooklyn, declared: “The United States Supreme Court now decides, unani mously, that it was unconstitutional to bar the picture, because, while sacrilegious might be a meaningful term to some religious-minded people, it actually had no meaning in law. This court’s opinions categorized ‘sacrilege’ as a subjective term. This fallacy may be excused in those who have no basically sound philosophical background, if the latter are to be at all consistent, they must also classify morality, right and wrong, loyalty to country, subversion and other terms as incapable of objective definition.” The Tablet said that the Court’s ruling seems to express the opinion that only Catholics know what a sacrilege is and that it is of little import ance to other Americans. The Catholic Standard and Times, of Phila delphia, in an editorial stated: "Much ado was made by the Court over the charge of ‘sacrilegious’ which was leveled against ‘The Miracle.’ In fact, that was the key to the rest of the decision. The gentlemen of the Court practically arrived at the unique conclusion—with which we cannot agree— that it is impossible to determine what is sacri- ligious and what is not. “The Supreme Court would not accept the definition of the New York Court of Appeals which included the provision requiring ‘That no religion, as that word is understood by the ordin ary reasonable person, shall be treated with Con tempt, mockery, scorn and ridicule.’ To us this seems like a common sense and altogether reason able interpretation of sacrilege, at least by indirec tion. The Supreme Court, however, ruled: ‘Under such a standard the most careful and tolerant censor would find it virtually impossible to avoid favor ing one religion over another, and he would be subject to an inevitable tendency to ban the ex pression of unpopular sentiments sacred to a re ligious minority.’ If this be the case, we wonder how the Supreme Court—in this same decision this week—thinks that censors can continue to bar what is ‘obscene.’ If censors cannot decide what is sacrilegious, how can they arrive at an objec tive stand on what is obscene? Opinions in this regard are bound to be just as confusing and as varied . . . The Supreme Court to the contrary notwithstanding, we still think that films such as ‘The Miracle’ do not deserve the protection of constitutional guarantees. They are an insult to religion and decency, and a gross violation of the rights of others.” Father Robert C. Hartnett, S. J., in an article in America, the National Catholic Weekly, wrote that “The Miracle” was labeled “a sacrilegious and blasphemous mockery of Christian religious truth” by the Legion of Decency. Father Hartnett’s comment was that Justice Frankfurter took “sacrilegious’ to be synonymous with what “implied offense to the deep convictions of members of different sects,” hut that hundreds of movies have offended the “deep convictions” of Twenty-Five Years in the Priesthood H IS Excellency the Most Reverend Francis E. Hyland, D. D., J. C. D., Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General of the Diocese of Savannah- Atlanta, was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1627, at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, in Philadelphia; by the late Most Reverend Michael J. Crane, D. D., then Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia. On Wednesday of last week, Bishop Hyland observed, quietly, the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination. It was Bishop Hyland’s wish that there would be no celebration of his Silver Sacerdotal Jubilee. Even though there was no public observance of Bishop Hyland’s jubilee day, in extending con gratulations to His Excellency on the completion of a quarter of a century of priestly service, it is due and fitting that his friends recall the day in June, twenty-five years ago, when a young man, imbued with Apostolic zeal, received the Sacra ment of Holy Orders and became a priest of God, and turn in retrospection to the years Horn 1927 to 1952, years of distinguished priestly and Epis copal service which hold a promise of even more resplendent service in the years which are to come. There is no vocation under heaven as exalted as that of the priesthood. The priest welcomes the blessed infant into the Church as the bap tismal font. He cleanses penitent souls of their sins. He brings the Bread of Angels to the chil dren of the Church in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. He blesses the union of those whom God joins together. He escorts the dying to the very threshold of eternity, brings consolation to the poor, the sick, the distressed, and counsel to all in days of prosperity and adversity. Above all, he has the mighty power of renewing daily on God’s alter the Sacrifice of the Cross for the benefit of the living and the dead. To this, with the plentitude of the priesthood in the Episcopacy, there came to Bishop Hyland with the duty of serving as shepherd of souls, the power of ordaining other priests and the power of consecrating other Bishops, so that the Apostolic Succession may continue. On December 21, 1949, Bishop Hyland was consecrated by the late Cardinal Dougherty, in the Cathedral at Philadelphia. A few weeks later, he came to Georgia, where he received a glad and enthusiastic welcome, a welcome that included a Resolution of Cordial Greeting adopted by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia. The priests, the Religious and the laity of Georgia appreciate their gpod fortune in the Holy Father’s appointment of Bishop Hyland to share with Archbishop O'Hara the task of administering the spiritual and temporal affairs of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. Bishop Hyland is a self-effacing Prelate, doing his work quietly and without ostentation, but al ways effectively. He is a man of clear vision, with the ability to see matters clearly and to analyze them with precision. He is a man of tre mendous efficiency, in the best sense of that abused term, and through all his efficiency there is his spirit of kindness, calmness and consideration. In extending felicitations to our beloved Aux iliary Bishop on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee in the priesthood, we wish for him in the future the same distinguished success which has charac terized his previous, efforts. May God preserve Bishop Hyland for many long and blessed years, as fruitful in well-doing as those which have made his quarter-century in the priesthood so notably exemplary. It is our prayer that God may spare Bishop Hyland for many decades of even mightier achieve ments for the Church in Georgia. Catholics, without their contending that such movies were “sacrilegious.” “Justice Frankfurter somehow assembled an unquestionably impressive array of definitions of ‘sacrilege’ from sources as varied as the Tbeodosian Code, St. Thomas’ Siimma. Rev. Thomas Slater, S. J.’s Manual of Moral Theology and thirty-four dic tionaries,” said Father Hartnett, who added that Mr. Frankfurter called “sacrilegious” a ‘Chameleon phrase.” “One gets the feeling, nevertheless, continued the article in America,” that the same colorful ex pression might equally well be applied to dozens of terms the Supreme Court habitually interprets and enforces: ‘liberty,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘reasonable,’ ‘clear and present danger,’ ‘interstate commerce,’ ‘political’ and so on endlessly.” Not all of the Catholic newspapers concur with the opinions of the editors of those from which the above quotations were taken. The In diana Catholic and Record, official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, although it con sidered the film “utterly blasphemous and offen sive to all Christians,” said that it nevertheless found it “hard to dispute” the Supreme Court’s position. Prior censorship by the state of all motion pictures, The Indiana Catholic and Record said, could become a dangerous weapon. “Religious minorities, which mean every individual denomina tion in our country, could conceivable find ‘prior restraint’ of motion pictures developing into a more serious danger to their welfare than the possibility of insult and offense to their religious sentiments inherent in a free motion picture industry. “For instance, a Protestant official who felt that a por trayal of convent life and Catholic practices of worship would be intolerably offensive to a large segment of the population might fee] called upon to ban such a Catholic slanted movie as ‘Come to the Stable'.” Whether or not the Supreme Court will allow any state to ban a picture because it may be sacri legious, and might later hesitate to allow any ban to be placed on a motion picture because it is ob scene, Catholics who have taken the pledge of the Legion of Deeenfty will continue to avoid mo tion pictures which are sacrilegious or obscene, and will remain away from theatres which exhibit such films as a matter of policy. While state and city officials may not ban the showing of motion pictures which give offense to many theatre patrons, as far as is known the Su preme Court will still permit inspection of pop corn to see that the pure food laws are not being violated. Jt is not unconstitutional. to protect the body, just uncohstitutional to. protect the souls and minds of our people Dixie Musings Efforts by certain persons to have a status of St. Franis Xavier Cabrini removed from a plot of city owned land in New Orleans were rebuffed by a decision of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, but the complaints who allege that the erection of the statue of the Amer ican Citizen Saint on public prop erty is a violation of “the prin ciple of sepaartion of Church and State” have announced that they will seek a ruling in the case from the U. S. Supreme Court. They will probably be dismayed to learn that Congress has adopted a resolution accepting from the State of Oregon a status of the Rev. Jason Lee, a pioneer Meth odist missionary in the old Ore gon Territory, for a place in the United States Capitol. Mr. Lee will be the sixth clergy man to be recognized by a statue in the United States Capitol. Rhode Island has honored Roger Williams, pioneer Baptist leader; Wisconsin, Father Jacques Mar quette; Pennsylvania, J. P. C. Mublenbery, Lutheran pastor and congressman, California, Father Junipero Serra, and Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister. Public school commencement ex ercises may be held in churches when no other buildings large enough are available, the New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled. Aj; the same time the court en joined the principal and a teacher at the Lindrith public school from teaching religion. This was on the basis of a complaint that they were responsible for dissemination of religious pamphlets in the school. This case was an outgrowth of the so-called Dixon case in which the New Mexico State Supreme Court barred the wearing of reli gious garb by members of religious orders teaching in the State’s pub lic schools. But while the Dixon case affected Catholic Sisters and Brothers then teaching in the schools (none are now), the Lind rith case affected non-Catholics. The Lindrith complaint was filed against the distribution of denominational literature in class rooms, and hold of baccalaureate services in the town Baptist church and commencement exercises in the Presbyterian church. It seems that a U. S. Supreme Court Justice can be wrong. Arthur Clinton, director of the New York public school attend ance, said Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson was wrong in a phase of his dissenting opinion in the New York release-time ease. The court’s majority opinion validated the program of releasing public school children for religious in structions. The Jackson opinion stated that the “greater effectiveness of this (released-time) system over volun tary attendance after school hours is due to the truant officers who, if the youngster fails to go to church schools, dogs him back to the public schoolroom.” Mr. Clinton said “this is not a fact.” He said the Board of Edu cation requires all personnel to “adopt a hands-off policy on the religious instruction issue.” He added that public schools are “ab solutely neutral” about the pro gram and that “our attendance officers make no check whatsoever on the absentees from the church training centers.” He added that the church schools report weekly to the public schools on pupils who were absent from religious classes, but the public schools merely file the reports. Elective Bible courses in public schools were urged in a petition presented to the Charleston Board of School Commissioners on be half of the United Council of Church Women, representing mem bers of thirty-three Protestant churches in the Carolina city’s area. The Rev. John Q. Beckwith, Episcopal minister who made the presentation for the council, said that religion would decline unless it was brought more into the edu cational system, which, he said, “is taking more and more of the chil dren’s time.” Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Haverty, of Atlanta, are returning home from a trip abroad. Sailing on the S. S. Caronia late in April, they cruised the Mediterranean, after stopping at Lisbon, and then visit ed England and Scandinavia. While touring Ireland, they enjoyed a motor trip with Archbishop Gerald P. O’Hara, Papal Nuncio to, Ire land. Some kind of a precedent was set when the State Board of Equalization in California receiv ed a request from a South San Francisco congregation for permis sion to establish a church within a hundred yards of a bar. The unusual request was made to insure that establishment of the church would not interfere with the operation of a bar in a nearby bowling alley owned by the same landlord who ,apparently, didn’t want to lease to the church if it planned to protest the proximity of the bar. Usually, the equalization board gets protests from religious groups against bars seeking to es tablish themselves too close to churches. The South San Francisco con gregation was told that the board had no jurisdiction over the loca tion of churches and that it already had enough trouble over the lo cation of bars. John M. Martin, who formerly was associated with the Massa chusetts Department of Correction and the United States Naval Pri son, Portsmonuth, N. H., has been appointed Director of the Gradu ate Curriculum in Correctional Administration at the University of Notre Dame. The Notre Dame Graduate Cur riculum in Correctional Adminis tration in the University’s Depart ment of Sociology was established in 1929. The Notre Dame Curri culum was the first such program in the United States to train col lege students for professional careers in penal institutions, pro bation and parole. A chaplain who gave up his fox hole to a wouned Marine, and braved withering enemy fire in a remarkable saga of bravery, has won two awards for his heroism. Lieutenant Commander Joseph D. McDonald, of the Navy Chap lain Corps, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroic achievement while serving as regi mental chaplain with a Marine in fantry battalion in Korea in April of last year, and has received a gold star in lieu of a second Bronze Star Medal for his service with Marine infantrymen last year. Or dained in 1939, Father McDonald, of Waukesha, W'is., is a priest of the Archdioeese of Milwaukee. Few first novels have been ac corded the press notices and re views which have been given to “Wise Blood,” written by Miss Mary Flannery O’Connor, of Mil- ledgeville. Newsweek devoted an entire page to its review, carrying both the picture of the author and the picture of her home, the state ly Cline residence in Milledgeville. The novel has a sociological theme and Augusta is it locale. Miss O’Connor is the daughter of Mrs. Regina Cline O’Connor, of Milledgeville, and the late Edward F. O’Connor, one-time Georgia State Commander of the Ameri can Legion. In 1945, when she was attending the Georgia State College for Women, in Milledgeville, Miss O’Connor was awarded a scholar ship in journalism at the Univer sity of Iowa. She was outstanding in her scholarship and in her student days had already gained considerable renown as an artist and cartoonist as well as a writer. United States Attorney General James P. McGranery received the annual merit award of the Tri- State Region of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America at its recent conference held in Allentown, Pa., in recog nition of “the practical wisdom, moral integrity and religious sensi bility which have enriched his serv ices to the country.” A young man of Chippewa In dian ancestry made hi$ final pro fession as a Benedictine monk at St. Meinrad’s Abbey in Indiana. He was Brother Jerome Croteau, who lived at St. Ann’s Indian Mis sion in North Dakota before en tering the monastery in 1947. According to Frank Rossiter, columnist for The Savannah Morn ing News, the public schools in Savannah, now making up their schedule for the 1952-53 school year, will probably substitute SL Patrick’s Day as a holiday instead of Easter Monday. The Catholic Press Association of the United States is holding its annual convention this week at the University of Notre Dame, which recalls that twenty-five years ago this month, the Press Association held its annual convention in Sa vannah II- B