Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About The Columbia sentinel. (Harlem, Ga.) 1882-1924 | View Entire Issue (April 11, 1919)
4t lhe Catholic Bulletin” and the Veazey Law: Roman Priesthood Defying the State! In its issue of March 28, 1919, The Catholic Bulletin prints a piece on its front page entitled, ‘ ■“Convent Inspection Law Unconstitutional.” Under this headline The Bulletin gives its readers the following information: “The Georgia law authorizing grand w ' juries to inspect private schools, convents, monasteries, orphan asylums and other charitable institutions conducted by reli¬ gious communities has been declared un¬ constitutional by the Supreme Court of the State. The test case was brought by the Francisccan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Savannah. in charge of St. Francis Home at The Supreme Court, how¬ ever, upheld the decision of the Superior Court of the county fining Sister M. Feli¬ cia, superior of the institution, for con¬ tempt of court. The case arose in October, 1917, after Sister Felicia, in charge of the convent, refused to allow a grand jury committee to inspect, the institution, and then refused to obey an order from the court for such an inspection. At the trial the defense argued that the law did not apply to the convent and also argued that it was unconstitution¬ al on numerous grounds. The Supreme Court held the law is ' unconstitutional in all respects except in one section requiring a grand jury to re¬ turn a special presentment against the per¬ son in charge of an institution before it is inspected.’ But this section may be segre¬ gated jaw from the act without impairing the as a whole, the court added.” You will observe that the last paragraph is self-contradictory and unintelligible, but the gen¬ eral effect sought to be produced by The Bulletin was, that the Supreme Court of Georgia had de¬ molished the law which requires grand juries to semi-annually inspect private orphan asylums, sanitoriums, hospitals, Houses of the Good Shep¬ herd, and Convents. The statement of The Catholic Bulletin is the icxact reverse of the truth. The Court did not hold that .“the law is un¬ constitutional in all respects except in one section requiring a grand jury to return a special present¬ ment etc.” On the contrary, the Court held that all sec¬ tions of the law are constitutional, except that, one section. The Court held this one section-to be void, ba¬ -cause the title &f the act fails to specify that section. Thus one section went overboard on a teclini -calitf. But the Court held that the nullity of this one section did not affect the law as a whole; and there¬ fore Judge Peter Meld rim’s decision in the Super¬ ior Court, sustaining the law and fining the rebellious nun—-Sister Felicitas —was affirmed. If, in drafting the Veazy bill, its author had mentioned the Special Presentment in the caption of the act, the entire law would have stood. An amendment will cure the defect. Sister Felicitas—acting under orders from the notorious traitor, Bishop Ben Keiley—refused to respect the order of Judge Meldrim, to the effect that she should allow the committee of grand jury to perform its sworn duty by inspecting the con -vent. ~ Her defiance of Georgia law and the order of the judge brought upon her a fine for contempt of court. nof The payment of the fine should be allowed to end the matter: Bishop Keiley and Ms Sister Felicitas should be made to obey the law, just like. everybody else. If the laws of Georgia and other States are to be defied by the Roman Church, it is time the country at large learned the facts. No government can stand when a foreign potentate and his sworn subjects set up another .authority , within. Our people have been too heedless of this Roman menace to our Republic, our democratic principles, liberties and institutions. By the organic law of Rofne, no religious freedom can be tolerated, no secular education per¬ mitted, no freedom of the press exercised, no free¬ dom of speech indulged, no civil marriqge recog¬ nized, no self-government by the people allowed. That’s Rome’s fundamental law, and she en¬ forces it, wherever she can. She claims for the Pope a sovereignty , both temporal and spiritual. divine attribute of ( She claims for the Pope the infallibility. the Roman Church should be She claims that united with the State, and fhat the influence of the papal clergy should control the civil service. She claims that no soul can be saved unless it comes to the Pope: coming to Christ, only, is not sufficient. Sift claims the right to hold in perpetual cap¬ tivity boys and girls, young men and women, in some' moment of religious excitement, or who under the pressure of parental and priestly per¬ suasion, took vows of remain shut up in . and monasteries. That Rome’s convents, are cess-pools of and crime—and always have been—Catholic histore ians, prelates, Popes, Councils, and reformers vehemently attest. who enforced bachelorhood The very Pope established the priests, and convents THE COLUMBIA SENTINEL, HARLEM, GA. accessible to these unmarried priests, was forced to at length denounce the horrible vices and crimes' incident to the unnatural system ■which denies mar¬ riage to the priest and liberty to the nun. The laws of personal liberty are constantly' violated' by the Rouses of the Good Shepherd, the private orphanages, the private asylums, the Rom¬ ish monasteries, and the Romish convents. The only objectors to periodical State-super¬ vision , by visit and INSPECTION, are the priests of Rome! Shall they be a law unto themselves? Shall they exercise an authority which over¬ rides the law of the State? Shall any foreign or domestic church live within our realm, and yet defy the laws of th^ realm? Rome’s law is a foreign code: Rome’s church is a foreign church, governed by Italian priests residing in Italy: Rome’s priesthood are bound by terrible oaths which no friends of American ties could take: Rome’s ecclesiastics are the sworn enemies of religious freedom: Rome’s secret societ¬ ies are the deadly, unresting foes of Protestantism 5 of democracy, of true religion, and of popular en¬ lightenment. The Roman church stands for sacer¬ dotal despotism, for the espionage of the Inquisi¬ tion, for persecution which knows not mercy, for superstitions that should shame a Hindoo fakir, for the abject slavery of the lay mind—and the elevation of a shaven headed bigoted priest into a position higher than that of the angels. Between this foreign system of Rome and our American system, there is inevitable, implacable, ir reconcileable antagonism: which system shall pre¬ vail over the other? Prbtestantism was born in combat against Rome: Protestantism thrived on the aggressive combat: Protestantism ceased to fight Rome —and ceased to conquer. When Protestants change, they forget that Rome does not change. When Protestants forget the origin of the name and the reason why the Protest against Rome was made, they leave the field to Rome. With Rome aggressive, combative, encroaching —organizing new secret societies and covering the land with unanswered propaganda, what will be the natural result? With Protestantism forgetting the cause of its existence, and forgetting that the Roman leopard has no changed its spots, what will become of it? Dry rot in our churches, indifference among our laymen, \apathy among anti-Catholic societies— here’s your smooth surface for the rolling of Rome’s chariot wheels. v , Sister Felicia, or Felicitas, or whatever her name is, serves but to show in what direction blows the wind of Rome’s never-ending efforts to enforce against us her foreign law, which puts her Church above the State, and sets the limits of fur own independent sovereignty within the State. As to Eugene Debs . Having spoken what he honestly thought about this Administration, Eugene Debs has been prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to serve as a convict in a federal penitentiary, for a long term of years. It is hard to believe such a Kaiserized state of things. In this Union, there is no orator who overtops Eugene Debs. Ill this land of the free, there is no writer whose pen is more dynamic than his. In this blood-cemented Republic, ,no man’s . veins throbs with a pulse stronger in patriotism than that of Eugene Debs. He is a Socialist, and hence my political foe: he is a total stimnger to me, and hence pot my per¬ sonal friend: yet my heart goes out to him, in spontaneous fellowship, when I see him denied the oommonest rights of Man. Eugene Debs denounced us Populists in 1904, as “honest but stupid;” that being his'opin¬ ion, he had a right to express it, in Cooper Uniori hall, sdon after I had spoken there. Did I fall out with him for virtually calling me “stupid?” Not in the least. Did I want to send him into penal servitude for a difference in political opinion? God forbid! I admired the man, and conceded his right to call me stupid. What a glorious speaker he was! How well he wrote! Did he not go to jail, in the Chicago strike, when President Cleveland prostituted the omni¬ potence of the U. S. Postal Service to the immor¬ ality of the Pullman Palace Car Company? Yes, Eugene Debs had to go to jail—the most illustrious prisoner since the days of Daniel O’Connell, Alexander H. Stephens, and Jefferson Davi9. Heavens above! I’d rather go to jail with such men as Debs, O’Connell, Stephens, and Jeff Davis, than to gallivant in Europe with such a man as Woodrow Wilson. It is a burning shame that Debs was ever prosecuted: it will be a lasting infamy if he is ever garbed as a felon. God never made a braver, purer, truer man than Eugene Debs; and if such as he are to be buried alive, under epitaphs of infamy, while such turpid reptiles as Bernard Baruch and E. M. House ride the Universe, it is time to ask God how he can stand such enormities. ^ Victory, without a free field and a fair jpust, I despise. * “IS THERE A ROMAN CATHOLIC PERIL?” That was the title of a pamphlet Mr. Watson wrote several years ago, and which had a wide cir "ulation among the readers of The Jeffersonian. Facts were given that were then not so well known, but which were indisputable. Since the War, we have had these facts brought home to us in no light way, and the very attitude of the Roman Catholics themselves is what will make the knoAledgp even better known to the every-day citizen. The newspapers have been filled with the deeds of valor performed by Roman Catholic sol¬ diers. It would seem that none but Roman Catholic chaplains were ever near the fighting line, and none but they ever soothed the dying hours of our men who fell. The Roman Catholic nurse, in the garb of “Sis¬ ter,” did wondrous work, and no Protestant nurses seem to have accomplished anything much. I his, of course, has been in line with making the world Roman Catholic while the Democrats were so worthily aiding. It will not amaze any one to read the following, taken from a Roman Catholic paper, and which proves how absolutely sure the Roman Catholics are, of carrying their points in “making America ( atholic. I he paper from which this clipping is taken is “The National Catholic Register “Catholicism is, and always has been, a practical religion. There is no sin that it cannot forgive or absolve; there is no human soul so ignorant, lowly or degraded that cannot seek shelter and peace under its divinely protecting wings. It was founded on Jesus, (lie Son of God and Mary, upon tile eternal rock of truth; and Jesus was practical. He bestowed spiritual blessings upon every soul-weary sinner who came seeking the life eternal; He healed the sick and fed those who hungered. In founding His church He beseeehed His apostles to be practical, using whatever good thing the Father placed within their reach, be it political power, education, money or other material things. All things consecrated to the use.of the Holy Catholic Church. “It is God’s plan that the Holy Father of Rome should be the spiritual and tem¬ poral head of His kingdom on earth. It is * the same today as in the time of the first pope. The best way to accomplish this is through political power, through religious education and service. God has doubly blessed the Catholic Church of America by placing one of its most-faithful sons at the right hand of President Wilson. Next to the President, Hon. Joseph Tumulty, Knight of Columbus, thirty-third degree, wields the greatest political power of any man in America, and as a true Catholic he is exercising the great trust which God has given into his hands for the glory of the holy church. Through his tact and SPHERE is no likelihood of The Weekly Jeffersonian Watson’s Maga- 1 or zine resuming publication. They were barred from the U. S. mails two years ago. Mr. Watson’s editorials will appear only in The Columbia Sentinel. We cannot fill orders for back numbers. Price $2 per year. $1.50 in clubs of fi ve or more. Ei H. MILLER. Here and There in Harlem Mrs. J. B. Wall visited Augusta Saturday, . • • • • Mrs. S. N. Chapman visited Au¬ gusta Saturday. • • • • Miss Gladys Scruggs visited Thomson Sunday. • • 9 • Dr. J. L. Weeks visited Augusta one day last week. • • • • Dr. P. H. Phillips spent Satur¬ day in Augusta. • • • • Mrs. G. P. King,-Jr., spent a short while in Augusta Monday. • • • • Mrs. J. C. Scruggs visited Augus to Saturday. • • • • Friends of Mrs. Bynum, of Ala., will be glad to learn that she is very much improved in health. • • • • Mr. Beasley, one of the recently discharged boys, was in Harlem Friday. • • • • Mrs. Joe Qulllian has returned home after a pleasant visit to Rev. and Mrs. A. W. Quillian. • • * • Mr. Howard Lanier, of Macon, is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Lanier. • • • • Mrs. A. J- Sanders has returned to McCormick, after spending sever¬ al day* with Mrs. J. M. Holliman. • • • • Mr. J. M. Holliman of the Geor¬ gia Railroad, spent the week-end at home. zeal he has created a warm friendship be¬ tween the Catholic Church and President Wilson, together with the Democratic party. Other presidents have feared the power of the holy Church and have courted its support, politically, bv granting it childish favors, which deceived no one. But this is the first time in the history of the country- when the President and a great political party have openly sought an equal and honest alliance with the Cath¬ olic Church. And before seeking this poli¬ tical alliance, the President and his party have shown their good faith by works. Through the efforts of Hon. Joseph Tumulty, President Wilson has practically granted that education in the Philippines shall be under control of the Catholic ‘ Church; and that religious activity in the great American Army shall lie under the direction of the Knights of Columbus. This means the addition to the church of one million of the country’s best and brav¬ est. young men, or at least, their strong preference and sympathy for the Catho¬ lic Church. “All these things, and more, show that President Wilson and the Democratic party are sincere in their friendship for the Catholic Church. This is only as it should be, because the Democratic party is the one in which is found almost ninety per¬ cent of the Catholics. By an alliance be¬ tween the Catholic Church and the Demo¬ cratic party, the ideals of both will be. made secure by creating a dominant poli¬ tical organization. This may be proved by Actual figures. The country is normally Republican by about three million votes. There is not much doubt that the Catho¬ lic Church can give to the Democratic party two million more votes, especially with woman suffrage, because in their devotion to the cause, in their noble devo¬ tion to the Church, the women of the Catholic faith wil vote first for its interest. “The Catholics will soon have an op¬ portunity to prove their appreciation of President, Wilsons friendship, and at the same, time increase their political prestige and strength.” Further on the writer says: “Every Catholic must awake to his duty and stand by his church and President Wilson.” And there you have a clear statement, of just what the Roman Catholic church has accomplished by its perfect system of diplomacy. Mr. lumulty is acting President, in every sense of the word. Mr. Marshall, the man your votes elected as > ice 2 resident, doesn’t seem to be even a fimire head. Wlmt are you going to do about it? A. L. L. Uncle Ive Morgan was a “Sen¬ tinel caller one day last week. Miss Belle Huff of Atlanta spent the week end with her brother, W. C. Huff, in Harlem. Misses Rosa Lee Steed and Willie Mae Martin have returned fo their home, near Wasington, Ga., after a two weeks visit with Mrs. B. L. Flint. People are accustomed to talk of crimes as a terrible thing and say that the son has fallen dreadfully when he has not fallen at all. He was raised that way. Right here in this county, Borne fathers and moth ers are educating their children in the requirements of first Class devils. Of course they do not mean to do so but they are none the less. Boys are let run wild, aro let carouse on the streets until after midnight and are never put to work. It is as natural for the idle boy to go to the bad as it is for them to live. The influence is that way. In¬ stead of the pure God hallowed at¬ mosphere of home many boys are let breathe the unwholesome air of a crowd of smokers and listen to the oaths sworn more often than pray erB are offered at home. Parents are responsible for their boys and should surround them with attrac¬ tive home Influences. Train a boy to go in good company and he will go there; let him run wild and his as¬ sociates will be anything but good. mbs. g. l . reville Harlem Ga.—Mrs. G. L<® Reville died here this morning JH sofl ter an illness of some months. Mrs. Reville will be remembejB al throughout this part of this state formerly Miss Lam kin, and being widely connected and universally esteemed. Her death brings distress to many, many friends. Mr. Reville and one daughter, Mrs. Tracey, and one sister and brother survive the deceased._ Augusta Herald, A VULCANIZING. Guy T. Lansdell, Augusta’s leading vnlcahizer now has charge of the vulcanizing department of the Lewis-Auto Accessory Company where he will be glad to serve the autoists in and around Augusta. Retreading a Specialty. For the best In vulcanizing call on Guy T. Lans¬ dell at Lewis-Auto Accessory Com¬ pany, 511 Broad Street, Augusta, Ga.—“-Ad. FOR SALE t King Eight, Sport Roadster; good as new. Bargain for quick sale. J. P. M’CORD, Harlem, Ga. every dollar you put in bank Is another link In the Chain of Fortune—the strongest chain of all. When It's in the Bank you know It's Safe Twice every year this bank Increases the length of the chain by the addi¬ tion of another link in the shape pf Four Per Cent Interest AUGUSTA : : SAVINGS : : BANK Thirty-seven S27 Rroail Street Years of Faithful Service UNION SAVINGS BANK Depositor United States Court, North¬ eastern Division, Eighth District of Georgia Brand and Jnekaon Anga'tS, Ga.
