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FOUR
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 10, 1956.
Qtye iSnlbtm
Colonialism and Ourselves
THIS WORLD OF OURS
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor -
416 Eighth Street. Augusta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1955-1956
HOLST BEALL, Macon President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany „ Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta ] Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta V. P., Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus V. P., Activities
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
Vol. 37 Saturday, November 10, 1956 No. 12
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
and accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by para
graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association
of the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta, and the
Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
BISHOP’S HOUSE
222 East Harris Street
Savannah, Georgia
October 31, 1956
To the venerated clergy and religious and devoted laity
of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta.
Dearly beloved in Christ:
This is the last time that I will have the honor of address
ing you as Bishop of. Savannah-Atlanta. On July 2nd of this
year Our Holy Father graciously deigned to accede to my re
quest to divide the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta, creating the
new and separate Diocese of Atlanta.
The official canonical ceremony will take place in the Co-
Cathedral (soon to be called the Cathedral) of Christ the King
on the 8th of November. His Excellency, The Most Reverend
Apostolic Delegate in the United States, will officiate at this
ceremony and we in Georgia are deeply grateful to him for
lending the authority and prestige of his office to this im
portant event in the Catholic history of Georgia.
This is the time for me, as I look back over the last twenty
years, to express deepest gratitude to the priests, religious and
laity of the soon-to-be established Diocese of Atlanta, for the
magnificent cooperation that they have always given in what
ever pertained to the cause of Christ and to the good of souls.
It was not easy to come to the decision that was taken to
divide the immense territoi’y of Georgia into two dioceses, but
it was time that such a step be taken. As the number of par
ishes and missions throughout the State increased and as our
Catholic people grew in numbers it was becoming extremely
difficult for one bishop to give to so vast a territory all the
pastoral care and attention that the clergy and faithful de
served. Now with two dioceses instead of one, it will be
possible for the bishop in each case to bestow greater care
upon his parishes, missions, schools and institutions of various
kinds. This was the principal consideration that prompted the
division. One would like to wish that two separate dioceses
were created because of an immense increase in the; number
of Catholics in Georgia. Would that could be said! Nevertheless
it is a fact that in the past twenty-five years the Catholic
population of Georgia has grown steadily so that now it has
more than doubled during that time. It is interesting to note
that each half of the State, that will now comprise,; the Diocese
of Savannah and he Diocese of Atlanta respectively, has more
Catholics' than the entire State had twenty-five years ago.
The Most Reverend Francis E. Hyland, who has done
apostolic work as Auxiliary Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta during
the past six years, has been appointed by Our Holy Father as
Bishop of Atlanta. He will continue to labor with unabated
zeal and devotion in the diocese of which he will be the first
bishop and all of us wish him the fullest measure of success
and God’s choicest blessings as he assume his new duties. I
know that he will receive at all times that cooperation that
will make his work as bishop bear fruit for the spiritual wel
fare of the flock, that has been,, entrusted,to his pastoral care.
To the priests and people of the Diocese of Savannah I
address a special and devoted greeting. The original diocese
that for well-nigh one hundred years bore the honored name
Savannah, although now reduced in size, will continue to grow
and flourish as of yore and will always be able to glory in the
fact that it has had the honor of giving to the church a daugh
ter-diocese, the Diocese of Atlanta.
With affectionate best wishes and a blessing to all of you,
I remain,
Devotedly yours in Our Lord,
Archbishop-Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta.
Scarcely a week goes by that
Mr. Dulles is not challenged in
Paris, London or -somewhere in
the world for producing a new bit
of confusion on the matter of
colonialism.
If he calls
Goa a “pro-
vince,” -Mr.
Nehru is irritat
ed and charges
our Secretary of
State with sup
port Of archaic
and colonial-
minded Portug
al. If a state
ment on Algeria
and encouraging to France as Mr.
Pineau thinks it ought to be,
Paris goes sour and assumes that
the Americans are selling them
out.
If we say- anything about
Cyprus, we are mathematically
certain to offend either the
Greeks, the Cypriots or the
British—very probably all three.
The issue of colonialism has be
come so fantastically tricky that
almost anything that is said on
the subject becomes the fit ob
ject of the most extraordinary
distortion.
HOPELESS CONTRADICTION
The essential problem, it seems
to me, from our point of view- as
a nation, is relatively simple—so
simple, in fact, that there seems
to be no easy formula to cover it,
certainly no easy way to produce
answers that will satisfy Eu
ropeans, Africans, and Asiatics.
In its sheer simplicity, the
question can be stated somewhat
as follows: As long as we have
an alliance with the major Eu
ropean states still holding colo
nies or protectorates overseas,
and as long as we are committed
to the policy of favoring the
progressive independence or the
autonomy of subject peoples
'everywhere, we are going to find
ourselves the victims of a hope
less contradiction.
Suppose I put it on a practical
basis. To win favor in the Arab
world today, one must be vehem
ently and even violently anti-
colonialist, day in and day out, in
press conference after press con
ference. If things go wrong in
Syria and Jordan, the proper
things to do is to attribute the
trouble to French and British
colonial'rule in the mandate days,
and to the probable machinations
of these powers today. If some
thing happens in Burma that is
displeasing, the proper way to
react is to denounce Great Britain
for blunders in the old days.
This might conceivably win a
bit of good will from the Arabs;
it would certainly produce any
thing but that in Paris and Lon
don. If, on the other hand, our
Department of State suggests
moderation and gradualism for
the achievement of autonomy in
the non-self-governing territories,
we are then accused of playing
the imperialist game and of being
the stooges of Downing Street
and the Quai d’Orsay.
IMPOSSIBLE DILEMMA
The whole thing is complicated
by the fact that we are dealing
with countries that are our al
lies — very necessary allies. We
could, I suppose, go all out for
the integration of Goa with In
dia and mortally offend and prob
ably alienate Portugal. This might
lead to the kind, of coolness. that
would take Portugal out of NATO
and we might lose the present
naval and air concessions in the
Azores.
If we refuse to give France any
kind of encouragement in Algeria,
where the French feel strongly
they have a legitimate stake, We
can be sure that Paris is not go
ing to react in terms of warm
cordiality within the alliance
system. If we let the British, down
in Cyprus too much, London is
going to react in the same way.
And tomorrow it may be the
Belgian Congo or Portuguese or
Spanish Africa.
The dilemma is an impossible
one and, as things stand, there
seems to be no logical way out of,
it. The problem cannot be reduc
ed to black-and-white terms, or
simply saying that colonialism is
a monstrous thing and we are
against it no matter what Britain,
France, Belgium and Portugal
may think. It might very well be
that by imprudence we would
alienate the European allies on
whom we depend, and not make
any progress at all in winning the
good will of Africa and Asia.
Catholic Book Market Waxes
THE BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
A Catholic need not be more
than 50 years old to be able to
remember a time when a market
for Catholic books and publica
tions in the United States scarce
ly existed. Thirty or forty years
ago few Cath
olics bought
Catholic books
or subscribed to
Catholic maga
zines. General
p u blishers sel
dom thought it
worth the risk
to publish titles
of special ap
peal to Catholics. Catholic pub
lishing houses confined their lists
mainly to theological treatises,
hagilogy and manuals of devotion
of interest mainly to the clergy
and Religious. Catholic magazines
were few in number and their
circulations small.
But in the last three or four
decades a great change has taken
place. No longer can it be said
that Catholics do not buy and
read Catholic books.
There is today scarcely a gen
eral publisher who'. is not con
stantly on the lookout for one or
more Catholic books to add to his
spring and fall lists. And Catholic
publishing houses—more numer
ous than they were forty years
ago—have broadened their lists
to include books of interest to the
lay Catholic reader. At the same
time many new Catholic maga
zines have been founded and a
few of them have attained large
national circulations.
OUTLET FOR WRITERS
Forty years ago there were not
more than six to eight Catholic
publishing houses in this country,
centered in Park Row, N. Y., and
in St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Catholic books read a generation
ago usually bore the imprint of
such houses as Benziger, Kenedy,
Pustet, and Joseph F. Wagner of
New Yo^-k, Herder of St. Louis
and Peter Reilly of Philadelphia.
Today the Library of the Cath
olic University of America lists
72 publishing houses which pub
lish Catholic books and pamph
lets. Of these more than 50 per
cent are publishing only Catholic
works. And unlike the older hous
es, which specialized in spiritual
and devotional works, many of
the newcomers publish works of
interest to the lay reader.
A firm like Sheed. & Ward of
New York, which has attained a
prominent position in the field
of Catholic publishing, has af
forded an outlet for Catholic
writers of the first rank who, 40
years ago, would have not been
able to publish in the United
States. The belief of general pub
lisher's then was that the Catholic
book market was too small to
warrant risking the costs of pub 1
lication.
OUTPUT A
SUBSTANTIAL FIGURE
Other firms which now pub
lish broad lists for Catholic read
ers are Bruce of Milwaukee, New •
man of Westminster, Md., De
clan X. McMullen of New York,
Fides of Chicago, and Dujarie of
Notre Dame. The presses-of sev
eral Catholic Universities—Cath
olic University of America, Ford-
ham. Loyola, Duquesne and Notre
Dame—also have become prolific
publishers of books of special in
terest to the scholar.
The output of Catholic books
in this country has grown to a
substantial figure. According to
the Library of the Catholic Uni
versity of America, 354 titles, in
cluding a ' few reprints, flowed
from the presses in 1955.
Although most of these books
were published by Catholic pub
lishers, among those which hit
the book stores last year were
books bearing the imprint of 37
general publishers.' These includ
ed most of the well-knoWn pubj
lishing houses, such as Putnam;
Harper, Rinehart,- Dutton, Viking;
Lippincott, Scribner, Knopf,
Houghton-Mifflin, Holt, Random
House, Funk & Wagnalls.
PROFITABLE MARKET
Several of the larger publish
ing houses have found the mar
ket for Catholic books sufficiently
profitable to warrant the setting,
up of special divisions to handle
their Catholic titles. Longmans,
Green was one of the first to do
this. Recently Doubleday estab
lished a Catholic textbook di
vision. Catholic) .books form a
large percentage of the output of
Henry Regnery of Chicago, a
relative newcomer in the pub
lishing field.
Thomas Merton, the Trappist
monk—a writer whose works,
mostly on mysticism, general
publishers would have shied away
from 40 years ago—is one of
Harcourt, Brace’s most valued
authors.
Other publishers who make a
special effort to capture a share
of the .Catholic-reader market are
Macmillan; Farrar, Straus, Young;
McGraw-Hill; McKay, and Lip-
pincott.
PAPER-BACKS SELL
One of the most surprising
ventures in publishing specific
ally for Catholics is Image Book's
-handsomely-printed, low-priced.,
paper-backed reprints of Catholic
authors, issued by a ’ v sion of
Doubleday. Although th e books
have been on the mark t c nly two
or three, years, they 1:
old in-
to the hundreds of thousands. .
Eight or ren publis"
f other
paper-backed, low-pi
"iprints
also have included (
c titles
among their outpu i
the in-
troduction to his “£
:f Con-
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