The bulletin (Augusta, Ga.) 1920-1957, September 17, 1955, Image 9

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SEPTEMBER 17, 1955. THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA NINJ5 “You Are Always Safe With Our Products" GLYRN ICE & COAL CO. 1507 GEORGE STREET — BRUNSWICK, GA. -— And — ST. SIMONS ISLAND BEST WISHES WAY, PETERS & HARRIS, Ine. General Insurance and Real Estate Norman A. Way, President — R. W. Peters, V.-President A. H. Harris, Jr„ Secretary 1516 UNION STREET BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA PHONES 2384, 2385 BEST WISHES FROM PALMER’S ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA. Istory Is Refu Episcopalian’s Attack On Church HONOLULU, Hawaii, (Radio, NC)—The testimony of history was offered here to refute an at tack made on the Catholic Church at an international Pro testant meeting here. .At the same time, the del egates were taken to task for of fering insult to a large propor tion of Hawaii’s population while they are guests in the islands. . An Episcopalian missionary bishop told the 58th general con vention of his church, in a wide ly publicized speech, which the delegates applauded, that the Catholic Church is “a religion of exploitation and superstition.” Bishop John J. Scanlan, Aux iliary of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, pointed out in prompt reply that “it ill becomes a Christian clergyman to attack' the teachings and the motives of that Church which is the mother of our Christian civilization.” He added that self-examination doc- trinally and historically by the Episcopalians of the Catholic Church might lead many along the path taken by such former Anglicans as John Henry Car dinal Newman. ! The Episcopalian attack was prominently carried in the daily press. It came from the Rt. Rev. Louis C. Melcher an Episcopa lian missionary bishop in Cen tral Brazil, and according to the daily paper was applauded by some 1,500 delegates come from all over the world. (Press reports quoted Bishop Melcher as calling upon the Episcopalians to increase their effort to convert the people of Latin America, where Catholic ism is strong. He was reported to have called the Catholic Church “a religion of exploita tion and superstition,” and to have said that it has failed to meet the mental, moral and spi ritual needs of humanity. He es timated that there are 25,000 Roman Catholic priests in Latin America to serve 150 million communicants, and that there are 50,000 priests for 35 million Catholics in the United States.) (Later, a second attack on the Catholic Church by an Episco The Barringer Hotels ling and Operating 1200 Modern Rooms ★ HOTEL COLUMBIA COLUMBIA, S. C. ★ HOTEL RiCHMOHB AUGUSTA, GA. ★ HOTEL WM. R. BARRiHl CHARLOTTE, N. C. palian bishop made its appear ance in a prepared speech dis tributed to reporters in advance of delivery. The speech was one the Rt. Rev. Egmont M. Kris- chke, Episcopalian Bishop of Southwestern Brazil, was to de liver before a foreign mission meeting. Just several hours in advance of scheduled delivery, the church’s public relations of fice announced that there would be several revisions in the pre pared text because of “an un fortunate choice of words which gave a false impression.” (The changes in the text delet ed all reference of the. Roman Catholic Church by name. One passage of the advance text said: “Latin American people have been nurtured in an extremely debased form of Christianity. They are religiously undernour ished.” This was changed to read simply “Latin peoples are relig iously undernourished.” (Another passage which at first said: “All Latin American nations have the great majority of their people scattered over immense rural areas where t h e Roman Church exploits their illiteracy and credulity in a most sordid way,” was changed to read “ . . . their illiteracy and credulitjr have been exploited in an appallin, way.”) Bishop Melcher said afterwards that he had not been misquoted in the news stories but that he was misinterpreted. He contended that his point was that the Cath- o 1 i c Church, undermanned in Latin America, has failed to car ry Christianity to the people there. Bishop Scanlan said in a state ment that Bishop Melcher’s charge was in “bad taste,” and he expressed regret that “the del egates should choose this occasion to offend the largest religious group in the Hawaiian Islands while they are the guests of the Hawaiian people.” The Catholic prelate offered as the “unchanging and unchange able” truths taught by the Cathol ic Church a virtual paraphrase of the Nicene Creed, and cited not able Papal Encyclicals. “Certainly no thinking person,” said Bishop Scanlan, “will refer to these teachings as superstition. These are teachings which have formed the basis of our civiliza tion—a civilization which has produced as its by-products. the highest achievements of man.” In refuting the charge of “ex ploitation,” Bishop Scanlan said that, “if to carry out the com mand to go and teach all nations is exploitation, then the Catholic Church does exploit, because for twenty centuries it has sent out its missionaries to every part of the earth to bring those teachings to those who did not possess them.” “That kind of exploitation was exemplified here in Hawaii by Father Damien,” Bishop Scanlan continued, “and it is exemplified by the hundreds and thousands of priests, Brothers and Sisters who left their homes and traveled to distant lands, moved by an ideal, not by hope of material gain.” That the Catholic Church’s work is not 100 per cent effective is due not to the lack of noble purpose among its missionaries, or to lack of truth in its teachings, Bishop Scanlan pointed oat, but rather to the obstacles of human frailty and ignorance with which they have to contend. Bishop Scanlan concluded by saying it “ill becomes” Bishop Melcher to term as superstition and exploitation “the beliefs and practices of that Church which lifted the world out of slavery and immorality, which alone for 1,500 years was the civilizing force in Europe, whose teachings today are accepted by 450 mil lion people, and which today y recognized as the chief spiritual bulwark against atheistic com munism.” Current Dividend 3 % Per Annum Savings Received by the lOih Earn. Dividends for Thai Month Trinity Federal Savings & Loan Association 3441 Stewart Ave. Hapeville FA. 1574 SAINT JOSEPH’S INFIRMARY SCHOOL OF NURSING ATLANTA, GEORGIA Approved by the Georgia State Board of Nurse Examin ers and the National Nursing Accrediting Services. CLASSES ADMITTED IN JUNE For Information apply to Director. School of Nursing ALPINE 4681 — EXTENSION 224 Located in the heart of downtown Atlanta. Convenient to business and entertainment. Delicious meals in the beautiful Miami Buffet.