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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JULY 31, 1954
31f* SulUfitt
Tfcf Official Orgnw «rf the Catholic U{n»M’<
A—ociation of Georgia Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER. Editor
416 Eighth St., Augusta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1953-1954
J. P. MEYER, Columbus President
MARTIN J. CALLAGHAN. K. S G.. Mtcm
E. M. HEAGARTY. Wayeroaa
Honorary Yice-President*
HARVY HILL, Atlanta
MRS L. E. MOCK, Albany
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta . .
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus
RAWSON HAVERTY, Atlanta
JOHN M. BRENNAN Savannah
WILLIAM Q. EGAN. Atlanta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta
Executive Secretary
MISS CECIL! FERRY Augusta. Financial Secretary
ALVIN M McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
.. Vice-Presidents
.. V. P., Publicity
V. P., Activities
V. P., Membership
Secretary
VOL. XXXV
JULY 31, 1954
No. 7
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A N INTERESTING article which dealt with the
position of Religion in Red Hungary was
filed recently by Judith Ljstowel, Corre
spondent for N. C. W. C. News Service.
In discussing the failure of the regime in its
anti-religion campaign, she relates a story concern
ing Matyas Rakosi, Ex-Premier.
The story goes like this: "Matyas Rakosi, the
communist leader, having died, reaches the pearly
gates where St. Peter welcomes him and tells him
to take his seat in Paradise.
'Rakosi has a look inside and then comes back
shaking his head. "There must be a mistake,” he
tells St. Peter. "I can’t be seated in a row above
Cardinal Midszenty.” But St. Peter smiles pleas
antly and replies,. "No, no, my son, that is quite
all right. You filled the churches of Hungary as
they have never been filled before.”
This story could well have a parallel in our
own country. There are many forces who are seek
ing to divide our nation, on religious grounds.
The primary target of these forces has been the
Catholic Church.
False claims and charges made against the
church, whether their distributors realize it or not,
in the long run hurt us very little, if in reality
thty do not aid us. These falsehoods serve only to
unite Catholics in defense of our beliefs. These
falsehoods serve only to instill doubt in their own
followers minds.
Whether Hungary knows it -or not, their Ex-
Premier has competition.
AND THE
LORD GOD
SAID . .
By
Rev. Eugene H. Maly
To The Youth of Georgia
M Y Dear Young Friends: , 1
This is a letter that I began in. Lourdes
several weeks ago and was unable to finish
till now because of many demands that were made
upon my time there. I Am completing it here in
Rome on the day of the canonization of St. Pius
X, in the shadow of the Basilica of St. Peter, where
the saintly Pius XII has just raised to the su
preme honors of the altar his illustrious prede
cessor, famed for his love for you. Departing from
a practice that had existed for centuries, St. Pius
X decreed that, for the greater protection of youth,
they were to be permitted to receive Holy Com
munion at a tender age and were to learn to keep
close to God throughout, life by frequent, even
daily Communion.
This is the first letter that I have ever ad
dressed exclusively to you, the youth of my dio
cese. You may well imagine, therefore, that it
must be something very important which impels
me to write it. Indeed it is a serious matter with
which this .letter is concerned. It is about voca
tions.
As you know, there are many, kinds of voca
tions. Most of you lire called to serve God. and
save your souls in the ranks of the laity. Pro
fessional or business careers beckon to you. You
have, already formulated your plans and dreams for
success and happiness. In the years that lie ahead,
it will be the vocation of most of. you tq work out
your salvation in the married state, which is in it
self, as the Church teaches, a noble vocation. By
Jiving in fear and love of God and by teaching,
through word and example, those who will be de
pendent upon you to keep His holy law, you will
obtain for yourself the fullest possible measure of
happiness in this world and above, all, merit in
God's good time a high place among the Saints in
Heaven.
But it is of vocations of another order that I
wish especially to write”: to you. I mean, of course,
vocations to the priesthood or to the religious life.
There is absolutely no doubt that this is the vo
cation to which God is calling some of you,—the
elite among you, the chosen ones. Those who
sense this divine call will surely respond to it with
a generosity that is characteristic of our Catholic
youth. Perhaps you may say that you are un
worthy of such a vocation. Nothing could be more
true. No one is worthy of so great a favor from
God. At the same time, Divine Providence has
ordained that men and women, in spite of human
failings and imperfections, should be called to en
gage in one way or another in the sublime work
of saving souls. We know that Peter. James, John,
and the others whom Our Lord called to be His
first priests had many human imperfections. The
Gospels are only too eloquent in this regard. And
yet Our Lord called them to His service and sent
them forth to convert the world. _ -
never permits Himself to be out-done in generosity.
Our Lord repays His servants a thousand times over
for any sacrifice they may make for His honor and
Glory and for the good of souls.
At the end of lives spent as priests or reli
gious, it will be an amazing consolation to .be able
to look back upon those lives and to releaze that
they have not been spent for the few members of
our immediate families, and much less for our own
individual interests, but for many thousands of
God’s people. The priest or religious in the course
of even a few years ministers' to thousands. Vfhis
multitude of souls whom the priest or religious Has
been instrumental in leading to God will be his
crown and glory in heaven.
But the life that is dedicated to God, in spite
of its difficulties is not all sacrifice. God in His
own divine way fills the hearts of His faithful
servants with unutterable joys that are unknown to
others. •
Among the intentions that our Holy Father has
in mind during this Marian Year and for which he
has'asked the entire Catholic world to pray, is the
increase of vocations to the priesthood and to
the religious life. Truly can we say with Our Lord:
“The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that he send forth laborers into his harvest.”
(Matthew 9:37-38). In Georgia thanks be to the
goodness and mercy of God, the Church is con
stantly growing. Unfortunately, there has not been
a corresponding increase in vocations to meet the
new needs that have arisen. I have enough con
fidence in you, my dear young people to be sure
that more than a few of you will be anxious to
dedicate your lives tq the good of souls in Georgia.
One 6f the most consoling features in the life of
the Church in our State is the constantly increas
ing numbers of converts to the Gathqlic Church.
The South in general is justly celebrated for the
large number of its converts. Such conversions
would be multiplied many times over if we had
more priests and religious.
Recently I spent eight days in Lourdes. Often
I knelt with thousands of others before the grotto
where Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette. There
I begged Our Lady to obtain for many of you the
grace of a vocation to the priesthood or to the reli
gious life. This intention was uppermost in my mind
the afternoon that I carried the Blessed Sacrament
in procession and blessed the sick with the Sacred
Host.
Remember, as I said above, if you heed the
divine vocation, Our Lord will fill ypuirt hearts with
a happiness to which no human delight, can even
remotely, compare. Again and again God grants to
His faithful priests and religious a foretaste of
Heaven.
It goes without saying that in so important a
matter fervent prayers for God’s guidance are es
sential. It is also necessary that you seek the coun
sel of those best qualified to advise you. Your pa
rents, your priests, and your teachers, because of
their affection for you and their experience and
knowledge of, the world and its difficulties, are in
an unrivaled position to. assist you. Perhaps there
may be some! relatives or friends who may be in
clined to dissuade you from becoming priests or
a religious. If you feel that God is calling you, let
no one deter you from fulfilling your divine voea-
A MAN OF GOD’S CHOICE [from that mount of revelation.
And the Lord said to him: j Welded into one by their religious
Take Josue, the son of Nun, a j ideals and by the forceful charac-
man in whom is the Spirit, and lor of Moses, they marched on to
put thy hand upon him. And he ! r
shall stand before Eleazar the
priest and all the multitude.
And thou shalt give him precepts
in the sight of alt, and part of
thy glory, that all the congrega
tion of the children of Israel
may hear him.—Num. 27, 18-30.
Primarily as a lawgiver the name
of Moses has been revered through
the ages. As a soldier that of Josue
has been known to students of his- ! south but had failed. Now they
fnvv.ir ,1 _ j e . • 1 . . r . ...
the Promised Land.
And now they were about to en
ter that land. But their difficulties
were not at an end. Indeed, in a
sense, they were only beginning.
Hitherto they had not had to wage
any battles for the land that they
wished to occupy. In the desert
there had been little opposition on
the part of armed forces. It is true,
they had tried once before to gain
the land of Chanaan from ; the
tory. Both were chosen by God for
a specific task. Both fulfilled those
tasks in a remarkably high degree.
It is interesting and instructive
to see how God makes use of His
creatures. And in the Old Testa
ment especially is this divine Pro-
were trying once again, this time
from the east. And this time they
must not fail.
From this it is evident that the
people needed a leader who was
not so much a lawgiver as a sol
dier, not so much a man of intel-
videnee made manif est. After their J lectual character as a man' of
long exile of some 400 years in I practical military prowess. And
the land of Egypt, the people of [now God chose Josue, son of Nun.
Israel were ready to begin that j Once again the fortunes of the
long journey back to the Land of j chosen people were invested in a
Promise. But they needed a lead- [ man of God’s choice. And once
er, one who would with real au- j again the pages of history would
thority direct them in the many j bear witness to that choice,
.difficulties that lay before them. I Despite his vaunted military
God had chosen Moses. By reason [talent, Josue was no stranger to
of his training in the court of the j the high religious ideals of his peo-
Pharaoh, and still more by reason | pie. He had been with Moses on
of his experiences in the desert of Mt. Sinai when the golden calf had
Sinai where he had spent some
time in exile, Moses was admirably
fitted for this position.
Exercising his natural qualities
been made. The personal attend
ant of Moses, he had experienced
more deeply than others the ef
fects of the divine revelation of
as a leader of men he gathered his, master. He had been in charge
those thousands of oppressed | of the first tent of meeting. Sure-
slaves together. He instilled m
them, even in those early years,
a surprisingly high spirit of unity.
And despite the almost insuperable
difficulties that lay before him. he
led them successfully to the Mount
of Sinai.
There, in the bleakness of the
ly such a mart could not forget that
it was by the right, Hand of God,
mote than by the foree of arms,
that Israel would work out its des
tiny.
At the command of God. Moses
laid his hand on the new leader to
symbolize the transference of pow-
mountain district. God made revel- j er. The great lawgiver Was further
atiqn to him. And through this re- j commanded to bestow upon Josue
velation Moses infused in these “part of his glory,” which meant
primitive nomads a concept of God | to declare publicly that this man
and of God's love for, them tlgat was now the authorized head of the
still stands today as a unique char- I “sons of Jacob.” A new phase was
aCteristic of Israel’s religion. With [ opening up .in the history of Israel,
the Ark of the Covenant as a j A new leader would be charged
symbol of God’s presence, these | with its success. The world would
people, under Moses, moved on | hear of Josue, son of Nun.
Lord ealled His first priests to leave all things to
follow Him and become “fishers of men” even unto
this day, Our Lord has never ceased to inspire
young men and women to leave all things and to
serve Him. At this moment God is calling some of
you to leave your homes and to abandon all
thoughts of a secular career in order to spend your
lives for Christ Our Lord Himself in the glorious
apostolate of laboring for the salvation of souls.
Take heed that you neglect not this divine call.
Remember the rich young man in the Gospel to
whom Our Lord addressed the invitation: “If thou
wilt be perfect, go. sell what thou hast and give to
the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
And come fpllow me.” That young man “went away
sad; for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:21-
22). It can happen today too that young people,
even though not gifted with “great possessions,”
are so drawn toward the pleasant and exiting thing?
of life, that they feel they cannot do without them.
They do not know as yet the full meaning of the
words, “My yoke is sweet and my burden light.”
(Matthew 11:30). They do not know with what un- j
speakable joy God fills the hearts of those who
give up all worldly things in order to serve Him as
priests and religious. They do not know that God !
words of Our Divine Master that those who leave
father and mother and brethren and ■ home and all
things that are dear to them, in order to follow
Him, “shall receive a hundredfold and shall pos
sess Life everlasting,” (Matthew 19:20).
May God the Holy Spirit be your inspiration,
and may Our Blessed Lady obtain for you the light
and guidance that you will need in making so im
portant a decision. And if you feel that God wants
you as priests or religious, say generously in the
words of the boy Samuel, “Here am I; for thou
didst call me.” (Kings 3:5).
With affectionate best wishes to you, the youth
of my diocese, who hold a special place in ray
heart, I remain, my dear young friends,
Yours very devotedly in Our Lord
WASHINGTON LETTER
By J. J. GILBERT » ^
*" ■ ‘ 5 ' : .v* 1 W■' 1 ur 1 MM.m
WASHINGTON, i— The proposal I matter of admitting new govern-
to admit Red China to membership ments to the Security Council as it
in the United Nations received one I does to admitting new countries,
of the hottest blastings anything j Some people thought it was not a
has received here in a long time. good point to raise too far in ad-
Within a space of a couple of vanee.
days Congressional leaders said Rut now the fight is out in the
they would lead a fight to with- open. The American people are
draw the United States from the ! stirred up over it.
UN if Red China is accepted; the [ There is reason to believe that
President vigorously asserted his this present, extremely high inter-
complete and unalterable opposi- | est stems from the recent White
tion to such membership, and the
Secretary of State declared we
would use our veto, if necessary,
to keep Red China out of the UN
Security Council.
There is a feeling here that the
House conferences between Presi
dent Eisenhower and Secretary of
Stkte Dulles on the one hand and
Great Britain’s Prime Minister
Churchill and Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden on the other. Not
Administration must have received too much was revealed about what
numerous and very strong repre- j went on in these conferences, but
sentations from all parts of the it was widely reported that the
country that Ameireans do not
want Red China in the UN. Presi
dent Eisenhower, in expressing his
personal opposition to membership
for the Peking regime, said he be
lieved 95 per cent of the people in
this country stood with him in the
matter.
As early as last March, Ambassa-
British participants tried to per
suade the President and Mr. Dulles
that Red China very probably
would be admitted to the UN this
Fall, and that this country should
not do anything precipitate, like
withdrawing from the UN, because
something "inevitable” happens.
That seems to have awakened
Archbishop
Bishop of Savannan-Atlanta.
dor Henry Cabot Lodge. Jr., U. S. j the United States in fine fashion,
representative in the UN Security The day Secretary Dulles said.
Council, said, in response to a ! again that we would see the veto,
question, that we would employ the [ if necessary, Soviet Russia failed
veto, if necessary, to keep the j in a bitter attempt to throw Na-
Chinese communist regime out of j tionalist China off the 12-mem-
the world or ganization. Some ob- I ber UN Trusteeship Council Rus-
servers thought that this Govern- j sia and India voted not to accept
menfmight let that statement suf- j the Nationalist Chinese creden-
fice for a while, because they felt tials, but nine countries voted to
it would not be “good poker” to
tip our hand too far in advance.
Moreover, there is some question
whether the veto will apply in this
case, because it involves not the
admission of a new country, but
the substitution of one regime for
another in a case where the coun
try itself is already admitted. Sec
retary Dulles says he thinks the
veto applies just as much in the
accept them. Great Britain ab
stained, because, its representative
said, she has recognized Red
China. He said, however, that hie
country would accept the Secretary
General’s report including Nation
alist China, after the vote. For the
first time in its history, the Coun
cil voted on the credentials «f
(Continued on Page Five)