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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