Newspaper Page Text
Official:
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Savannah - Atlanta
PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Georgians Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. o i, No. 10. MONROE, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1956. 10c Per Copy — $3 a Year
Correspondence Between Archbishop O'Hara
And The Reverend Dick Houston Hall, Jr.
20th September 1956
Rev. Dick Hoston Hall, Jr.,
Pastor, First Baptist Church,
Decatur, Georgia.
Reverend and dear Dr.
You will recall the Pastoral
Letter that I addressed to my
flock in. Georgia in October of
last year on the eve of the Region
al Conference of Christian Doc
trine in Savannah. Although this
Letter was intended only for the
Catholics of the diocese of Sav-
annah-Atlanta, and although I
gave no copy of my Pastoral Let
ter to the newspapers, the press
referred to it on October 19th, and
used the very unhappy phrase
(that was not, I believe in my of
ficial Letter) that I had called
upon the Catholics of the South
“to educate non-Catholics.”
On October 19th 1955 you wrote
me a very courteous letter in re
ference to the report that appear
ed in the Atlanta Journal. You
asked me to answer a number of
questions, regarding certain doc
trines held_ by the Catholic
Church.
On November 28th 1955 -1 had
the pleasure of replying to your
kind letter and I enclosed the
answers to the questions that you
asked. I added some questions
that I felt I should ask you.
On December 12.th 1955 you
acknowledged the receipt of my.
letter and its enclosure and you
had the goodness to say that you
would prepare answers to my
questions and would write to me
as soon as possible.
Since then, T have been eager
ly awaiting your repR, but to
my knowledge, none has come so
far.
At the present time and keep
ing in mind the newspaper ar-
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The 41st
convention of the Catholic Lay
men’s Association of Georgia to
be held here Oct. 27 and 28th
promises to hold great interest
for Catholics.
The two day session will open
with registration Saturday the
27th at 5 p.m. All Laymen are
invited to be guests of the Col
umbus Branch at a buffet dinner
honoring all past local and state
presidents. This dinner will be
held from seven until nine Satur
day at the Knights of Columbus
Home. All past presidents are
urged to attend this dinner. As
many branches have incomplete
records over the years, it is the
wish of the Convention Commit
tee that all past local presidents
attending make themselves known
a t the Registration Desk upon ar
rival, so that they may be prop
erly recognized at the dinner.
After dinner a lively debate be
tide of October 19th that pub
lished the appointment of a com
mittee “to reply to Archbishop
Gerald P. O’Hara” and recalling
what you said in your kind letter
about the probability of my
answers appearing in. “all the
Baptist periodicals,” I feel that, in
justice to my people as well as to
myself I should publish your cour
teous letters of October 19th and
December 12th together with the
reply I sent you.
Let me say, as it were in paren
thesis, that the fact that you and
your Baptist colleagues chose the
Ministry as your career instead
of some other walk of life, is an
indication that you and they have
a spirit of dedication to the spiri
tual welfare of your people. I
venture to surmise that had you
and your colleagues in the Baptist
ministry been Catholics, most, if
not all of you, would have been
Catholic priests and would have
stood at Catholic altars celebrat
ing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
and would have preached from
Catholic pulpits. Doubtless not a
few of your relatives, in times
long ago, were Catholic priests,
their lives consecrated to the
sacred task of preaching the word
of God, of offering the Holy
Sacrifice, and of laboring in sea
son and out of season for the
spiritual welfare of their Cath
olic people.
It is not your fault that some
where in the distant past your
forebears left the Catholic Church
and went another way. Surely
you will not misunderstand me
when I say that with a heart full
of deepest Christian affection for
you and for all your brethren in
the Baptist ministry and for all
the people to whose spiritual wel-
tween a “Devils Advocate” and
a Catholic defending his faith is'
scheduled with the audience in
vited to participate.
The Sunday morning business
session will be streamlined and
promises a meeting agenda which
will be of great interest to every
delegate and member. Among the
items to come before this meeting
will be the presentation of de
tails of a new program for all
local branches.
The Sunday Luncheon meeting
will feature the noted Catholic
writer and publisher, , Frank
Sheed. Mr. Sheed is widely known
outside Church circles as a speak
er. He and his wife, the former
Mazie Ward, were among the
pioneers in the Catholic Evidence
Guild when it began its street
corner Apostoiate in London. As
a speaker, Mr. Sheed ranks among
the nations best.
Individual members are re
fare you have dedicated your
lives and for all my non-Catholic
friends and neighbors. I express
the ardent prayer that the day
will come when you and I and
they will be adoring God at the
same altar, all united in the sacr
ed bond of the Faith that made
your forefathers and mine one
in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
I am taking the liberty of send
ing you a couple of books in
which you will find short auto
biographies of non-Catholics who
found their way into the Catholic
Church, by the grace of God.
Please glance through two or
three of them. There you will
read the sentiments of gratitude
that came from their hearts in
the spiritual joy and consolation
that membership in the Catholic
Church brought to them. Here in
England, following the Canter
bury and York Convocations of the
summer of 1955 and the con
troversy about the Church of
South India, twenty-five Minis
ters of the Anglican Church were
received into the Catholic Church;
at the present moment three more
are about to follow in their foot
steps and the end is not in sight.
No one better than you knows the
story of St. Paul and what hap
pened to him on his way to
Damascus. He was breathing fii'e
and hatred against the first Chris
tians but^God struck him down
and St. Paul heard the plaintive
voice of Jesus saying to him:
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me.?” You know what happened
after that.
I am sure that not a day goes
by that you do not read a part of
his Letters or the history of his
life as it is described by St. Luke
in the Acts of the Apostles. The
quested to make their own Ho
tel reservations. Convention head
quarters will be at the Ralston
Hotel, The Waverly Hotel can
provide good accomodations
should the Ralston be filled. There
are also many fine motels in the
vicinity of Columbus.
Aside from hotel reservations,
kindly notify the Branch as to
the number of persons who will
attend the Saturday night dinner,
also the number who will attend
the Sunday banquet at 1 p.m.
Out of town visitors will be guests
of the Columbus Catholics at the
Saturday evening dinner. Tickets
for Sunday will be $3.00 per per
son.
Reservations may be made by
writing Miss Marjorie Zettler,
828 First Avenue, Columbus, Ga.,
or through the Augusta office of
the Association. As stated above,
hotel reservations must be made
directly with the hotel.
Catholic Church does not glory in
or boast . of conversions to Her
Communion but She welcomes,
like the Holy Mother that She
is, all those who, moved by the
spirit of God, found refuge in
Her arms. God knows we Cath
olics are not all Saints. Would
that we were! It is our fault if
we fall as far short of the ideal
that the Church holds always be
fore us. We realize how truly un
worthy we are of the blessings
and graces that are ours as mem
bers of the Catholic Church and
we wish that we corresponded
far better than we do with them.
Perhaps it wil interest you to
know, and I trust it will not be
out of place for me to mention it,
that every morning and every
evening as well as at Mass every
morning, I pray for those who live
within the boundaries of my dio
cese, not only my own Catholic
priests and people but also the
non-Catholics, because they too
are dear to me. I pray for the
intentions of all of you that God
may grant your every prayer,
whether it be for temporal things
or for those that pertain to. the
soul. Let me add that I beg the
Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother
of God the Son, Our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was
given to you and to me to be our
Mother at- the foot of the Cross
in the person of St. John, to in
tercede for you and I call upon
the blessed Apostles, Peter and
Paul and all the Saints in Heaven
to pray for you and all your
brethren just as I ask Our Lady
and the Saints to pray for me
and mine.
With kindest regards to you
and the members of the commit
tee who approved the letter that
you wrote to me on October 19th
1955 and with truly affectionate
best wishes to you and them and
the people unto whom you minis
ter, I remain, dear Dr. Hall,
Sincerely yours in Our Lord
GERALD P. O’HARA
Archbishop-Bishop of
Savannah. Apostolic
Delegate
October 19. 1955
Archbishop Gerald P. O’Hara,
Bishop of the Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta,
Savannah, Georgia.
Dear Bishop O’Hara:
The Atlanta Journal of October
17th quotes a letter from you
which was reported to have been
read in the Catholic Churches of
your Diocese on a recent Sunday.
You are so right in calling for
a “fair-minded study of the be
liefs of the church.” There are
many of the beliefs of your
church which we would like to.
understand better. So to begin
this “fair-minded study,” will you
please answer the followingt
questions: .
1. Is one . saved “by grace
through faith . . . and not of
works . . . “(Eph. 2:8) or does
one’s salvation depend upon a
satisfactory and continuing rela
tionship with the Catholic Church.
If you hold to the latter belief
will you give scriptural authority
and explain.
2. By what authority did the
Catholic Church abandon the
practice of immersion as the scrip
tural mode of baptism, and why
baptize others than those who can
receive and believe the gospel for
themselves?
3. In the light of the warning in
Revelation 22:19-20. which con
demns anyone who adds to or
takes away from divine revela
tion, will you please explain the
scriptural sources of the follow
ing doctrines held by the Catholic
Church:
(1) Purgatory
(2) Prayers for the dead
(3) Papal infallibility
(4) The Immaculate^Conception
(5) Prayers to Mary
(6) The Assumption of Mary
(7) Bowing down to statues in
worship
(8) Sale cf indulgences.
You are quoted as saying, “We
know the expression of heart
felt joy that has poured from
grateful souls that came to know
the Church as it really is and not
as it is so often described by those
who know it not.”
One wonders if the Roman
Catholic Church “as it really is,”
would not be found most per
fectly in those countries where
that church is the predominant
religion. Certainly in Italy, the
seat of this Church, one would
expect to find the Catholic
Church “as it really is.”
One wonders why, after so
many centuries with the Catholic
Church predominant, Italy has
been so very near to Communism
in recent years. One wonders why
the Church that claims to repre
sent the Jesus. Who is all com
passion, should ask the aid of the
State in suppressing religious
freedom in countries where the
Catholic Church’s influence is suf
ficient to accomplish this purpose.
For instance, why is there a
Government seal on the doors of
the Second Baptist Church in
Madrid, Spain, forbidding those
who worship the same Christ as
you do, to enter their place of
meeting? One must confess that
there is Very little “heart-felt
joy” in reading reports of persecu
tion of Protestants such as have
come from Columbia. Spain and
Italy in recent years.
All Christians should be eager
to find truth. Baptists, for whom
I trust I speak accurately, believe
that a soul created in the image
of God is competent:- by that
creation, to find the Will of God
and to commune ' directly with
God. We believe that where the
spirit of the Lord is there is liber
ty; that no one should be coerced
in matters of religion, or taxed for
the support of a religion in which
he does not participate nor be
lieve. We believe that Caesar’s is
one realm and the Church’s realm
is another, therefore, we believe
in absolute separation of _Church
and State.
We are very happy, sir. that you
have called for a “fair-minded
study of the beliefs of the (Cath
olic) Church.” We, therefore, as-
(Continued on Page 2)
To Honor Presidents; Sheed Speaker
Catholic Laymen's Convention
At Columbus October 27th, 28th