JULY 9, 1955. THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA FIVE YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS Mrs. Gollahon Wins Nine By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN . (University of Noire Dame). holy Catholic The good example of a devout Catholic is the best, testimonial for the faith and the strongest inducement to churchless people to enter the fold. Action speaks louder than words and. an upright life is more convinc ing than any argument. Few are the Catholic bands or who can the example of a devout and spouse. Mi’s. Gladys Gollahon of St. Agnes parish in Cincinnati had to wait a long time for the fruits of her prayer ana example to appear, but they finally did. Now, through God’s grace and the intercession of Our Lady, she can count nine souls whom she helped to lead into the fold. “George and I,” Mrs. Gollahon told me, “were married on Sep tember 4, 1926. We were blessed with two daughters and a son and they have all been, carefully reared in the Catholic faith. When George was a young man he taught Sunday school, but later he lost interest and hadn’t attended any church for years. “I didn’t argue religion with him, but I prayed for him and hoped that the example of the children and of myself would show the wonderful help which a Catholic gets from the practice of his faith. “I have a special devotion to Our Lady and in the fall of 1949, I tried to express that love by composing the words and music for a song of prayer to Our Lady of Fatima. Things happened fast after that. The song took on, and out of a clear sky my husband said he would like to take in structions. “Though this was what I had been hoping and praying for, I could scarcely believe my ears. It seemed as though Our Lady- stepped in to do what I hadn’t been able to do.” “Did you bring George to a priest?” “Yes. I brought him to Fath er Roland Flinn who gave him instructions one evening a week for several months. In May, 1951, he was received into the fold. In the following September we celebrated our 25th Wedding An niversary and you can’t imagine how happy our family was on that day. At last we were really united—all of us kneeling to gether at the Communion rail. “Now George says that it is a joy for him just to walk into a Catholic church because he can feel the presence of God.” “You rightly give the credit,” I remarked, “to Our Lord and to _ii. f&linf Ike? 4el like ! BACKDROP- (Continued from. Page Four) of seconds before the judgment seat of God.” “Prayer is the one and only force by which man will ever re ceive the inspiration, the courage and the strength to enable him to direct nuclear forces toward a better and more abundant life,” Mr. Murray said. He held that human prudence is not enough, even with the good will of every person on earth—much more we need Divine Guidance. “We pray or we perish,” he warned in a line that should be emblazoned in the minds of men everywhere. THE CHRISTIAN MOOD Thomas Murray’s answer to nuclear power is not a mood of fear or of futility or fatalism which sees world conflict on a full atomic scale as inevitable. None of these, is the Christian mood, he argues. And he sees the final significance of the release of atomic energy in the fact that “it is a God-given means for. the moral education of mankind.” Hubert Snider Services At Atlanta ATLANTA, Ga.—Funeral serv ices for Mrs. Hubert M. Snider were held June 23 at the Cathe dral of Christ the King, Msgr. Jo seph G. Cassidy officiating. Survivors are the grandchil dren, Mr. and Mrs. Hubert M. Snider, Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Millard, Mrs. H. G. Walker, Mrs. R. A. Wethington, Mr. and Mrs. P. H. Donnelly. •• • *3 n c\ RC is best by taste-test^ too I Our Lady for the grace of con version; but it was your prayers, your example and your fostering the devotion to Our Lady of Fa tima that earned that grace. Have you been able to help any others?” “A- young pianist, Wallace Deering', became interested .in my song, ‘Our Lady of Fatima’, and asked me many questions about our devotion to the Blessed Mother. I answered them and soon found he was ready for a course of instruction in our holy fait)). I got him in touch with Father Donald A. Tenoever at St. Louis parish, and he later receiv ed Wally into the Church. Ge orge and I are his- godparents and knelt at Wally’s side when he made his First Holy Commu nion.” “Splendid! Were you able to help any others?” “Tommy Huffire attended a Catholic school with my young sters for a year. The spiritual training he received during that year made a deep and lastiiig im pression upon him. Later, when he had children of his own, he wanted to send them to Cath olic school. I took him to see Fath er Harold Thorburn at St. Paul’s and Father arranged everything nicely and became interested in the family. Now Tommy, his Wife and five children are all Catholics and George and I have the honor of being their godpar ents.” “That means then,” I observed, “that you have helped to lead nine souls into the Church. Your prayers, good example and^ your devotion to Our Lady channeled the grace of faith to those souls. You were especially wise and prudent in making a contact for all these; with a priest. That’s the way to see that truth seekers ar rive safely at their goal. You’ve set, Mrs. Gollahon, an inspiring- example for all of us.” Readers who know of any lay person who has helped to win two or more converts are kindly requested to send the name and address of such a person to Fath er John A. O’Brien, Notre Dame, Ind. The bad manners exhibited by Americans w h o go treking abroad becomes an increasingly serious problem. It would seem that the very precepts of com mon courtesy, “please” and “thank-you” are left at the gang plank. I have seen violations which have made me shudder. I realize, too, that the violators would not act that way at home. What happens to the American tourist then when he hits foreign soil? A friend of mine, a leading- radio personality in Ireland, has- been visiting several foreign countries, where in her own ^vords she has been “dining with ruling royalty, retired postmen, tourist leaders and tram drivers wives.” As a result, she wrote tensely this directive: “If you love your country, you’ll try to get two six letter words includ ed in its vocabulary. One is ‘please’ and the other is ‘thanks’. All Europe is commenting on the bad manners or rather rudness of your fellow countrymen both young and old. You are making gnemies where you might easily have made friends—so do get the parents and the teachers on the job. Along with getting a passport and a vaccination to go abroad, I would suggest they incorporate an Emily Post course as a re quired preliminary. I find that the heart of the matter in all probability lies in the American visitor’s indifference. He thinks Europe and Europeans are way behind the times. They feel that, once on foreign soil, all the text books are thrown away and any thing goes. The one goal for most Americans is to let those Europeans know that in America everything is bigger, better, fast er, louder, and more expensive. They pound tables for service, they order such foreign items as ice cream sodas, hamburgers and hot dogs; they demand ice water, whistle for waiters and taxis alike and dress in loud, un suitable clothing. We hear all too much about this type of tour ist and all too little about the ones who conduct themselves as ladies and gentlemen, guests of another country. A large portion of American unpopularity abroad, I wager, can be traced to the tourist traf fic, even more than the diplo matic and political policies of the moment. The average Eu ropean, I found, was more than anxious to like us. He is un familiar with the international jargon and is very apt to judge this country of ours on the tour ist ambassador. Politness is a universal precept and Europeans; have every right to expect it, ' To my friend’s scorching in dictment, I can only say that we Americans do not operate like that at home. In defense, I have a news report which reads: “If you. have any doubts as to the courtesy of the American peo ple as a whole, ponder this: The use of only two polite words costs the nation $15,000,000 year ly writes Bernard Kline. It is estimated that amount is spent for the inclusion of please and thank you in telegrams. That these two words are so highly regarded as to merit in annual' expenditure should be inspira tion to all of us to be more liber al in -our oral use of them.” Let’s . take them with us when we go visiting our friends across the sea! L Hawkes Co, OPTICIANS 83 Whitehall Street, S. W. ATLANTA 3, GEORGIA. 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