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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.