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FOUR THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMENS ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA AUGUST 30, 1952 (She Sttllefitt The Official Organ of tj^e Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Incorporated ; The Christian Century Prints OME weeks ago, on its editorial page, The Pilot official organ of the Archdiocese of Boston, reported on a survey which it had made of an Dixie Musings HUGH KINCHLEY, Editor 216-17 Southern Finance Building, Augusta, Ga. ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1951-52 MARSHALL WELLBORN Rome President MARTIN a. 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 CECILS FERRY Augusta, Financial Secretary ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta . Auditor VOL. XXXIII. AUGUST -30, 1952 No. 8 Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post Office at Augusta, Georgia, under the Act of March 1, 1879 accepteo for mailing at special rate of postage providec in paragraph 4, section 538, Postal Laws and Regulations as modified by paragraph 6 Member of N. C- W C News Service, Religious News Service, the Catholic Press Association of the United Stat js, -he 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. '‘Russia Will Be Converted” index Which The Christian Century, an undenomina tional Protestant weekly review, published in Chi cago, presents twice a year to its readers. The index of matters treated in The Christian Century, which was under study, cpvered the period between January and June of this year. The Pilot declares that the first shock its read ers will receive is the discovery that in the time covered by the index there had been more refer ences to Catholicism in The Christian Century than to Protestantism, and The Pilot goes on to state: “The Bible surely, we must think, will have many references—there are actually only half as many listing as for the Vatican. The subject of Prayer has only seven titles, the, subject of Politics has twenty-eight. The Congress of the United States is referred to thirty-two times, Foreign Policy has thirty-four references and Church and State tops all with eighty titles. At the same time, there is no listing at all for such subjects as Sacra ments, Redemption, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Grace and such matters which might be considered as in teresting to a Christian journal of information.” As The Pilot contends, what conclusions may be Four Jewish youths perhaps have done more than anyone else to make a hymn dedicated to the Blessed Mother more widely known throughout the country. They are the Ames Brothers— Ed, Vic, Gene and Joe—a quar tet popular on stage, radio and television, who have recorded “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue” for Coral-Decca records. Sale of the records is brisk and may sur pass the .Brothers best-seller “Un decided” record. 1 “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue” is a poem written by Maiy Dixon Thayer. It frequently has been re cited over the radio by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Auxiliary Bishop of New York and National Direc tor of the Society for the Pro pagation of the Faith. Father Fred Nelson, a convert, assistant pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, Mandan, N. B., whose hobby is picking out tunes on the piano, set the poem to music. Father Nelson said he had “writ ten lots of songs but they never amounted to much.” He sent his HERE has come to The Bulletin for review a very remarkable book. It is titled “Russia Will Be Converted,” its author is John M. Haffert, and it is published by the Ave Maria Institute, Wash ington, New Jersey, with the Imprimatur of the Most Reverend George W. Ahr, D.-EL', Bishop of Trenton. drawn from ah index of this kind will be necessarily vague and require testing against other statistics and trends. One Conclusion which may be drawn is that the readers of The Christian Century must be having their interest in the Catholic Church aroused. Many The author, John Mathias Haffias, is a Catholic layman of New Jersey. He is the editor of Soul, a religious publication, and his writings include “Mary In Her Scapular Promise,” “From A Morn ing Prayer,” “A Letter from Lisieux,” and “The Peacemaker.” He was privileged, in 1946, to spend several hours with the only living visionary of the Fatima apparitions, Lucia Santos, who at the time of the interview was Sister Lucia of the Order of St. Dorothy. Under the name of Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, she became a Carmelite Nun in May, 1946. As its title would suggest, the book, which is profusely illustrated, tells the story of the appa ritions at Fatima and discusses the promises made by Our Lady Of Fatima to Lucia Santos, Jacinto Marto and Francisco Marto, the three Portuguese children. Chapter I begins with these words: ■ “In 1926 there was a strange coup d’etat in Portugal. While several thousand people knelt in a town near Lis bon, handful of devout men marched to the national assembly in Lisbon and demanded the resignation of the allegedly Leninist dictatorship. Not a drop of blood was shed. The atheistic gov ernment resigned and a new republic was born in the world, a republic which came unscathed through World War II, is now a member of the North At lantic Pact, and which is one of the few creditor nations of the world.” This book retails two events which took place on May 13, 1917, which by a coincidence was the date of the consecration as Archibishop of Mon- ^ignbr Eugenio Paeelli, now gloriously reigning as His Holiness Pope Pius XII. The first recorded Bolshevik terrorism in Rus sia directed by Lenin took place at noon on May 13, 1917, It was an attack on a Moscow church ■where a woman named Maria Alevandrova was teuchiug catechism to a! group of children. This was at the very hour, on the very day, of the first apparition of Fatima. Other apparitions followed at Fatima. Dur ing one of them, Our Lady of Fatima, speaking in prophecy, told the three children: “You see hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the World the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If -they do what I will ’tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end. -But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break but in "the reign of 'Pope’ Pius XI. When you will see a strange light illu minating the night you will know that it is a sign which God gives you that he is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. “To forestall this I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the first’ Saturdays. * ■ ■ - ' ■•■ - “If they heed niy request; Russia will be con certed, and there •will be peace. If not, She shall spread her errors throughout 5 the world, promoting wars and-persecutions of the Church, the good crill fee martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, carious nations Will be annilhilated. But in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, she ■will be converted, and ah era of peace will be con-' ceded to ‘humanity.’ The writer of “Russia Will Be Converted” states that <in its pages it is his purpose above all to make j the reader believe in Fatima. “Therefore,” he j writes, we are not Writing; here of the devotions of Fatima in any detail. It is our purpose above all ! to make the reader believe . . . that there is hope ' for what many of us may have begun to believe * was impossible: The conversion of Russia and) universal peace. We want the reader to feel that not only did God send His Mother at Fatima to I indicate a solution to this greatest crisis in world | history, but that the solution is workable and work ! ■Ing. We want each reader to feel, after turning the i last page, that he or she might be the very one who might add the last bit of weight to the' scale be tween good and evil,; between atheism and fideltv to God.” ,. In a radio address on October 17, 1942, on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the last of the apparitions at Fatima, His Holiness Pope Pius , XII consecrated the Church and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and although not men- of these readers may be influenced to begin on their own an investigation into the teachings of the Church and such investigations have brought many people to a profession of the Faith of Their Fathers. tioning Russia by name, made reference to that country. Last month; cm the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles to the Slavs, His Holiness Pope Pius XII addressed an Apostolic Letter to all j the peoples of Russia, calling for the strengthening [of Christian Faith and revealing that he has con i’ secrated them in a special way to the Immaculate ; Heart of Mary. While not making any distinct mention of the ap paritions at Fatima, the Holy Father did recall that “just as many years ago We consecrated the entire j world to the immaculate Heart of the Virgin Moth er of God,“(that occasion being the silver jubilee | of the apparitions at Fatima) “so now, in a most | special way, we dedicate and consecrate all the peo- j pies of ’ Russia to that same Immaculate Heart, in | confident assurance that through the most power- | ful protection of Virgin Mary there may at the | earliest moment be happily realized the hopes and | desires which We, together with you and all those \ of upright intention, have for the attainment of true ■ peace, of fraternal concord and of rightful liberty for all.” . The Holy Father reminded, too,, that it was known that there was constructed in the Kremlin itself,, a church—“today unfortunately no longer being used for Divine worship - dedicated to Our Lady assumed into Heaven; and this is a ipost clear testimony of the affectionate devotion which your forebears and you have for the beloved Mother of God.” , Mr, Haffert, in his book, wrote: “Today, Rus sia is ia Saul of Tarsus. Many in Russia and the Third International hate and persecute Christianity . . . Onee< again, lightning’ is going to strike from the sky: and militant athefists will fall into the dust, blindedf.momentarily to their false ideas, and in that moment of blind light, they will hear the words: ‘Why peseeutest thou Me?’ , “And they will rise. They will go to the ends Of their International ... turning’ the perfection of their world brganization and following into a highway to Christianity.” / Mr: Haffert states that he asked Sister Lucia, when he talked to her in 1946, if she thought there would be another war.' The Nun, the only living one of the three children that saw the visions at Fatima, answered: “I think the next thing that will happen will be that the Holy Father and all the Bishops’ will unite to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” When asked if she thought the conversion ■of Russia and peace would follow, Sister Lucia’s re ply was that that Was what Our Lady had promised. She did not venture to say when it would happen, but that’“it will happen when a sufficient number are fulfilling the requests”. * ’ ' Here in Georgia, in Brunswick, ■where many of the ihembeES of St; Francis Xaxier parish are Of Portuguese“ancestry, devotion to Our Lady of Fatima Was introduced long before it was known in other"'parts’Of this Cburitry. ' To, the Diocese of .Savannah-Atlanta. within the last twelve mpnths. have pome Bishop . Fulton J. Sheen, through whom a number of those high in j communist circles have been , brought t Onto the Catholic Church; Father Patrick Peyton, pleading for the’ recitation of the Rosary, the form of prayer that Our Lady of Fatima recommended, and Father James Keller, of the Christophers, saying that each of uS can change the world py Lbecoming Christ-bearers. ■ * These three, like the book “Russia Will Be Converted,” give us a good idea of how Our Lady of Fatima will bring the peoples of Russia to the Faith. We can believe, with confidence, that what the Blessed Virgin Mother of God has promised can be accomplished through her intercession with her Divine Son. All of us who want to. can speed the fulfill- rnent of - the promise that Russia will be converted id peace conceded 1 to humanity, if we: will: offer acts of reperation and pray for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. , May every reader of The Bulletin become one of those who by prayer and sacrifice is making that j sufficient number nearer to achievement. ! i music for the poem to publishers in Portland, Oregon, who made a record of the song by a boy so prano, which met with limited success. Father Nelson said he first i heard the Ames Brothers record ing of his hymn on the ralio. He commented: “1 think they do a beautiful job of it. It is a reverent song and should be done with feeling. It’s not the swingy type and I hope anyone who plays it remembers that.” The Ames Brothers were born and raised in Malden, Mass., a suburb of Boston. They have been | singing as a quartet since their ! grammar school days and were j prize-winners in many amateur j contests in the Boston area. They have appeared on a number of television and radio shows and on the stage. Usually, they conclude | their act with a. serious number, sometimes a spiritual. Now, they often use the "Lovely Lady” num ber for their closing. Representative John W. McCor mack of Massachusetts was credit ed with “a stroke of genius” when he called for the singing of “The Lord’s Prayer” to soothe frayed nerves toward the end of a mara thon session of the Democratic National Convention. - Joe Parham, editor of The Macoii News, in reporting the i ncident, described it as “the greatest mo-* ! ment of- the Convention,” and in { writing about it for his newspaper had this to say: “Tempers were shortj”’ voices hoarse arid bodies weary . . . On the floor a death-grip struggle was going on between the liberal Ke- fauvef-Harrtmari coalition and the conservative Stephenson-Russell combination . . A woman had fainted and been carried ; away weeping . : A fight had' broken out bet ween opposing partisans .... Greed and prejudice and thwarted ambition and arrogance had 1 shown {their ugly faces. I “Inspiration must have Struck Rep. John McCormack; who w^s, presiding. He rapped-the gavel and called for silence. 'These; delibera;, t ions are vital to the republic and divine guidance is needed,’ he said. Then he asked those of the vast throng to bow their heads while the Lord's Prayer was sung. “The lights were dimmed and an Augusta,' Ga.. Negro : named Arthur Lee Simpkins, 1 b’egah to sing: 'Our Father Who Art in Heaven . . ’ A hush descended; on the hall. The people 1 stood up as the beautiful * barttone Voice. soared to every corner 1 of the am phitheatre 1 : V . M •• ' "The song finally ended'and the lights came on but -hearts had been' cleansed • and” inner motives examined 1 and integrity reassert ed in the time of the singing of the • Lord's Prayer.” ’ > William Joseph Bruckneri'young son of Captain and Mrs. William Paul Bruckner, 'formerly of 1 the parish of the Co-Cathedral of Christ the’King in Atlanta, recent ly received; his First Holy Cone, munion in the Basilica of St: Pe ter’s in Rome, Captain Bruckner, who is in the Army Ordnance Corps, has been stationed at Leghorn, Italy, since March. “Joey,” as his young son is known to relatives and; friends, re ceived Communion in a small chap el ot St. Peter s, together with oth er children of U. S,. Army person nel. Commemorating the occasion, "Joey” has a beautiful card,, in-, scribed with a prayer, and testify ing that he received bis First Com munion on May 18, 1952, at St. Pe ter’s, Vatican City. “Joey’s” grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Julius Bruckner, of Atlan ta, and Mr. and Mrs. William J. Sei bert, of St. Petersburg, Fla. His Holiness Pope Pius XII wit nessed an impromptu display of basketball technique when the Har lem Globetrotters, famed Negro team from the United States, called to pay their respects to the Pon tiff at his summer residence, Cas- telgandolfo. The Pope received the Negro players in the Sala Clementine and was presented with a new basket ball signed by all of the members of the squad. He told them be bad heard much about them and said he was Curious about the game of bas ketball, which he hid never Seen. The squad immediately volun teered to put on an exhibition. The fact that the audience chamber had no court or baskets did not ham per them in passing and dribbling the autographed ball to one an other and giving other examples of their extraordinary skill, “These young men are certainly very clever,'” His Holiness told their coach, Abe Saperstein. Remains of what is believed to be the mission church of St, Louis, used by the Canadian Jesuit martyrs, Saint Jean de Brebeuf and Saint Gabriel Lalemant, have been uncovered by archaeologists at the martyrs’ shrine near Mid land, in the Province of Ontario. Among the items found were part of a crucifix, arrowheads and rosary beads. The excavations were conducted by the Western Ontario School of Indian Archaeology. The site -is thought to be that of the Huron village of St. Louis in which the two Jesuits labored. The Iro quois razed the village after cap turing it in a battle with the Hurons, seized the two priests and after subjecting them to torture, burnt them at the stake. The North American Martyrs were canonized in 1930. Church and State have honored the memory of two priests and three Brothers of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who were tor tured and executed in the garden of the Oblate novitiate near Fon tainebleau, France, on July 24, 1944. A gestapo informer had pre viously denounced them as having knowledge of the hiding place of ammunition for the, French under ground resistance to the Nazi in vaders. At the place of their execution a memorial has been erected in the form of an, altar where Mass, was offered by the Carmelite Father Louis .of the Trinity, who before he entered the religious life was Admiral Thierry d’Ar- genlieu and chief of staff of the French Navy. Among those at tending the Mass were many Ob lates who witnessed the shocking events eight years ago. ; Archbishop ’ Frederic C. Lamy of Sens and Bishop Georges De- bray of Meaux attended the Cere mony,- together with Georges Bidauit, leader of the' French re sistant movement _ during the .war, and a number of high government officials. The altar, topped by a tall stone cross, is built against a wall bear ing the names of the five, victims and the inscription: “Greater love than this no one has. that one lay down his life for his friends.” A hundred” persons in 30 states and Canada haVC been prize win ners in S' $100;000 nation wide es say contest Sponsored by 1 the Christophers. Cbntest entries " consisted’ of true stories illustrating “Wha‘t 1 one person can do”—with God’A help —to change the world for the better. According to Father James J. Keller, M. M., founder, and di rector of the Christopher move ment, thousands of entries! were rgceived, from every section of the country arid from persons of every race, creed and, color,, Because of the outstanding na ture of each of the prize-winning essays, the judges voted to split the $10,000 cash prize equally, and each winner will receive a $100 prize. Among the winners were Mrs. John W. Dunn, of Charleston. S. C., and Mrs. Douglas Grant, of Waynesville, N:; C. Mrs. Grant was the guest speaker at the conven tion of the Catholic Laymen’s As sociation of Georgia held in Ma- co nin 1949. B. K.