The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-03-23
LUCIAN LARAM KNIGHT AND
INTOLERANCE.

of the United daughters Vi the Ion
federacy invited the Ri. Rev. Ben]a
min J. Kelly, d. D., Bishop OF SaVan'
nah. who is q veteran OF the civil
War, to give the Memorial Day ao
dress before the Confederate organ
izations on April 26. When the Bishop
graciously accepted the invitation,
however, sixty Confederate veterans
OF Macon sent q protest to the Pres'
ident of the Macon Daughters of the
Confederacy and threatened to take
no part in the exercises unless
The invitation given the Cathollc
Bishop was revoked. But such an. act
of bigotry and discourtesy the ladies
promptly refused to commit, and this
stand, it has been gratifying TO see,
was endorsed by other chapters OF the
u. D. C. and supported by the repre-
sentatives papers of Georgia. The
Savannah Chapter for\ instance,
moved that 1T is intolerable to this
Chapter that man or woman should
be Disseminated against or affronted
on account of his or her religion,
and the Atlanta Constitution protest
ed: THE Women Are Right! An
outbreak of this kind is utter
" and absolutely contrary to the spirit
of our present-day institutions. The
Constitution then recommended to the
consideration of it's readers an admir-
able letter sent to the paper by a
Protestant correspondent who recalls
the names of the prominent Catholics
who served in, the South in war. He
writes:
Editor Constitution: Last week,
while in Washington, D. c., attend
ing the Inauguration of President
Wilson, I read with much interest,
and, l may add, with unqualified ap-
proval, your splendid editorial: The
Veterans Wrong-The Women Right.
1T is not often that l take issue
with veterans. My father was Con-
federate soldier. For more than TWEEN
ty-five years l have been addressing
Confederate camps on Memorial Day;
but it seems to me that, in their bit
ter crusade against Catholics, some
are going entirely out of their way for
ammunition when they invade the
sacred domain of a Lost Cause, for
which many devout Catholic shed
his blood.
1.-The protest of certain individuals
among the veterans of Macon against
the choice of Bishop Kelley of Savan-
nah, for Memorial Day orator, was i'll
advised. 1t did not represent the
rank and file of Lees immortal le-
gions. 1t did not represent major
ity sentiment of the Macon veterans
themselves, as subsequent events
have disclosed. In refusing to recall
an invitation so fittingly extended, the
ladies of Macon have honored them
selves and honored the truth of his
tory. To good judgment they have
added firmness in the right.
1.-THE attitude of the Macon Veter-
ans toward a brave comrade-in-arms
is to be regretted. Such a protest
would not have been countenanced by
Stonewall Jackson, in whose division
there was many brave Irish Catholic.
1t would have kindled no responsive
echo in the magnanimOus soul of Gen.
eral Lee. Both of these great COM
manders were Protestants, the former
a Presbyterian elder, the latter YES
tryman in the Episcopal church. But
neither of them ever applied the re-
ligious test to a Confederate soldier;
because neither of them was a bigot.
Bishop Kelley wore the gray uni
form. He shouldered his musket
when only boy and marched to the
front. There was not a better sol
Ter in Lees army. Today he is
loyal to his comrades-still true to
his colors. He is southern to the
core, a Virginian by birth and a
Georgian by adoption. But he hap
pens to be a Catholic, just as some
of us happen to be Professionals. Only
there is a difference-that whereas
most of us are obscure individuals,
scarcely known outside of our local
commu titles, and perhaps not too
we'll known in them, Bishop Kelley
is a noted prelate whose command
ing abilities have made him pre-
eminent as the official head of the
great Catholic Church in Georgia.
But why inject religious intoler-
ance and persecution into our solemn
feast day of memories, when the is
sues raised by such a discussion are
as foreign to the patriotic sentiments
of Memorial Day as the nebular n.y.
pothesis or the pOns asinorum.
in 1861, when President Davis
called for volunteers to defend the
South from invasion, did he reject
Catholics? Can we find proclama
ton in which he said: Only Protes
tants are needed to protect our help
less women and children?' In 1868
when Pickett led his immortal divi
sion up the bloody incline at Gettys
burg, did he say: Let Catholics
stand aside?
1T seems to me that the Macon
veterans, in accentuating the feuda
fires of the Protestant reformation
have ignored the events of a period
much more recent, and have showr
an indifference to matters much more
relevant. In the first place, they are
seemingly forgetful of the fact thai
one who has done more than al
others to put the confederate cause