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AUGUST 30, 1952
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINETEEN
Papal Knight
JUDGE HOULIHAN
The Honorable James P. Houli
han, one of Savannah’s outstand
ing Catholic laymen, who was
honored by His Holiness Pope Pius
XII with Knighthood in the Order
of St. Gregory the Great. Judge
Houlihan, chairman of the Chat
ham County Commissioners, is a
veteran member of Savannah
Council, Knights of Columbus.
Congratulations la Cur Lady of the Assumption School
CALVERT IRON WORKS. INC
1195 Victory Drive, S. W.
Atlanta, Georgia
King Plow Company
*.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
BELK-GALLANT COMPANY
Decatur's Largest and Best Department Stare
Dry Goods, Clothing, Shoes, Ready-to-Wear
Hosiery, Floor Coverings'. ..Yrwhtks, Bogs amd Furniture
V 'i'„ t . ' T S' 4 ,. is*. ’
E. B. Burnham, Manager
Decatur, Georgia
Westinghouse and G. E. Fans installed In
Christ The King Co-Cathedral Were Installed By
WILSON APPLIANCE COMPANY
Charles F. Templejnon, Manager
3051 Peachtree Rood (Buckheod) Atlanta, Georgia
STAFF WRITER MARGARET SHANNON’S
ARTICLE EH ATLANTA JOURNAL TELLS OF
MONSIGHOR KIRK'S VATICAN ASSIGNMENT
Dodd Distributing Company
Wholesalers of
THt ftEEK THAT
MARC MILWAUKEE FAMOUS
ATLANTA, Ga, — Margaret
Shannon, staff writer for The
Atlanta Journal - Constitution,
who is now touring Europe, and
who recently reported on an in
terview with the Most Reverend
Gerald !’. O’Hara, Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta and
Apostolic Nunciature to Ireland,
has since written from Madrid,
Spain, about the work the Mon
signor John C. Kirk, of the Dio
cese of Savannah-Atlanta, is do-,
ing in Europe for the Vatican
on behalf of Romanian refugees.
Miss Shannon’s article, which
was illustrated with a photo
graph of Monsignor Kirk, reads
as follows:
310 Peters Street
Atlanta, Georgia
If Russia invades Western Eu
rope, Spain may be a refuge for
persecuted people, and a Georgian
is helping plan for such an even
tuality.
He is also working toward the
glorious day when “his” Iron Cur
tain country will be free from
Communist domination and he and
his now scattered parishioners can
take Christianity back there.
Monsignor John C. Kirk, of
Athens, Ga., was expelled from
Romania two years ago this month
by the Communist satellite gov
ernment along with Archbishop
Gerald O’Hara of the Savannah-
Atlanta diocese of ,the Roman
Catholic Church.
He came to Spain a year ago
on a three-fold assignment when
the Vatican appointed him as pres
ident of the Romanian Catholic
Mission to co-ordinate Catholic
activity throughout Europe for all
Romanian refugees.
There arb no Romanian bishops
in exile. AH have been imprison
ed since the Communists outlawed
the church four years ago It is
not known how many are dead how,
Monsignor Kirk said.
So this youngish, balding pre
late, onetime secretary to retired
Atlanta postmaster Lon Living
ston, became the head of a group
of 30 priests and 30,000 refugees
whose church even used the By
zantine rite instead of the Latin
rite.
Now this Georgian refers to
Romania as “our” country and to
himself and his flock as “we.” He
has thus identified himself as one
of them.
Spain was chosen as headquart
ers for the mission because of what
Monsignor Kirk described as “the
co-operation and good iwill of the
Spanish government in giving
refuge to persecuted peoples from
behind-the-Iron Curtain countries.
Madrid is his home, but be
spends most of the time travel
ing; visiting Romanian mission
centers in France, Germany, Aus
tria, Italy, England and Trieste,
,, It takes linguistic dexterity on
top of other talents. He uses
French and Romanian r mainly in
conversation, his official cprre-
spondence, is in Italian and he
liyes ip Spain.
(. The first aspect of his .assign
nit ni is tp administer to the sp irit-
.ual .and material needs of the Ro
manian refugees. In Trieste, for
example, two priests aid Roman
ians who have escaped via Yugo
slavia. Most of them have been
jailed in Yugoslavia and are in
terned again in Triete. This vain
search for freedom has led some
to suicide. All live in privation,
.Monsignor Kirk said.
. .Tuberculosis is an alarming
problem in Austria among Ro
manian refugees. So is housing.
Some live in eaves. In Italy the
jjefugees. include 4.000 in concen
tration damps, and five priests of
'the ' Kirk mission travel among
.them.. . ,,'!,.
The' refugees j» Spain are'most
ly , intellectuals—students,. profes
sors, 'doctors, lawyers, tdrrner dip
lomats/They can seldom carry on
their profession and have to scratch
around for a living. . . /
Another aim of the mission is
to have a nucleus of church
people knd priests prepared for
the time they can go back to their
homeland and take their church
with them.
“That is going to be a crucial
time.” Monsignor Kirk said. We
must realize that the people in
Romania and other satellites are
being indoctrinated with Com
munism and the youngsters will
know'liltle else W«. Jnust be ready
to go in quickly to re-establish
Christianity yybOn Romania is free
again.”
Spain geographical position—
farthest European country from
the Iron Curtain—is also a factor
in its possible use as a* refuge
in case of a Russian invasion of
Western Europe. The work along
this line is the third aspect of
Monsignor Kirk’s assignment here.
The prelate has met Spain’s con
troversial ruler, Franco, and found
him a man who speaks softly and
objectively.
“Spain hates Communism,” Mon
signor Kirk said. “I think Ameri
cans often forget that Spain has
suffered under Communism,” (Rus
sia aided the losing side in the
1936-39 Spanish Civil War.)
Monsignor Kirk’s career has tak
en quite a different turn from
the way it started out. As a young
man out of school he worked for
the government and was at one
time Mr. Livingston’s secretary.
He entered the priesthood at 25,
and after eight years of study and
preparation came back to Georgia,
expecting to spend his life as a
missionary in his native state.
But he became Archbishop
O’Hara’s secretary and went with
him to Romania. After their ex
pulsion he was in the United
States a while before receiving his
present assignment—(The Atlanta
Journal).
TAX DIGEST OF
FULTON COUNTY
SETS NEW RECORD
ATLANTA, Ga. — State and
County 1952 ad valorem tax digest
■for Fulton County, just completed,
shows a total of $457,317,025.00
in net taxable properties in the
whole of Fulton County. Tar Re
ceiver Jason A. Tuggle said this di
gest set an all-time record high by
showing $28,183,750.00 over the
former record holding 1949 digest,
Mr. Tuggle said that this great,
gain was even more than anticipat
ed in the 1952 budget and the gain
of $31,439,140.00 will net an actual
gain in taxes for the County’s .gen
eral fund alone of $440,000.00 over
last year.
Due to recent State legislation,
the Tax Receiver’s office and the
Tax Collector’s office will be
abolished and merged into a new
ly created Tax Commissioner’s
Office as of January 1, 1953. Ac
cording to other proposed legisla
tion the Tax Commissioner will
absorb all like tax services now
being rendered by the City of At
lanta, such as receiving, calculat
ing, billing and collecting of City
Taxes. This will be a decided ad
vantage to the taxpayer, as the
Tax Commissioner’s Office of Ful
ton County will be a “One Shop
Tax Service Station,”, thereby sav
ing time and trouble to the public
and should add efficiency and
economy for the governments.
The new Tax Commissioner will
be T. Earl Suttles, present Tax
Collector; and tinder the new laws,
the present Tax Receiver, Jason
A. Tuggle, will be Chief Assistant
Tax Commissioner.
Mr. TugglC stated: “In 1953 we
will be in our hew location, first
floor of the new Administration
Annex to the Court House, 165
Central Avenue, S. W.. and will
welcome our friends and taxpayers
who will ,be privileged to file with
us their City tax returns as well
as the regular State and County
returns and Homestead Ex
emptions. We will endeavor to be
ready to' render this greatly ex
panded Service “quickly and 'ef
ficiently.” '
Vacation Religious
Classes Conducted at
Walhalla, Fair Play
WALHALLA. S. C, — Summer
vacation, religious, ^chopl was .cdp-
duetpd at St. Francis’ Church,
Walhalla, and St. Ann’s Church, in
Fairplay, by two Ursuline Nuns
from Columbia. SiXter'M. Francelle
and Sister M. Ignatius. About fifty
children received‘religious instruc
tion during the period.
The session closed with several
of the children receiving their first
Holy Communion at St. Ann's
Church, Fairplay, at a Mass cele
brated by Father Robert Murphy,
C. S. P., pastor of St. Andrew
Church, Clemson. and superior of
the Paulsit Fathers' missions in
South Carolina. Music- for the
Mass was by the Junior Legion of
Mary of St. Francis Church and
the teen-agers’ choir of SI. Alin’s
Church.
First communicants were Shir
ley Ann Outz, Mary Martin, An
drew Lyons, William Demore, Du
rant Bruce, Douglas Hornick.