The Jeffersonian (Jefferson, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 8, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 1, 1951 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2
THE JEFFERSONIAN
APRIL, 1951
THE JEFFERSONIAN
REV. JOHN G. O'ROURKE. EDITOR
"THE HISTORIC CHURCH FOR AN HI8TORIC TO.WN"
Entered in the post office at Jefferson, Texas as adl.,** class of
mail matter January 24, 1649, under the act of March 3, 1879. The
subscription rate to THE JEFFERSONIAN, which is publish
monthly, Is two dollars per year. Address all communications to THE
JEFFERSONIAN, Box 705, Jefferson, Texas. Editor's phone, Marshall
5293.
The official or^an of the mission churches of the Immaculate Con-
ception of the Blessed Virgin at Jefferson and of Our Lady at Fatima
at Daingerfleld, THE JEFFERSONIAN is published with the ap-
probation of the Most Rev. Joseph P. Lynch, D. D.
Bishop of Dallas. Humbly it Intends to carry out the mandate of
Our Divine Lord: "Going, therefore, make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and oi
the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you." Its only purpose is to serve" The HISTORIC CHURCH of tin
Christian ages to whom the DIVINE FOUNDER spoke these words
of sacred promise: "Behold I am with YOU all days even 'Jnto thf
consummation of the world."
Reverently dedicating all its efforts to Mary, the Mother of Oui
Lord, THE JEFFERSONIAN asks her to use her motherly power to
help us achieve our objective, namely, bringing a knowledge of Christ
and the one, true Church He founded into the plney woods of Marlon,
Cass and Morris counties of the great Lone Star State of Texas.
2,000 YEAR mm
OF ROHAN PTHOUf
CHURCH IS MTFH
Shreveport, La.—The existence
of me Komffh Catholic Church
for nearly 2.000 years is casually
noted in the Associated Press
article appearing in The Times
here recently on tne occasion of
the 12th anniversary of the elec-
tion of Pope Pius XII. Noting
the record set by the present
Holy Father in the number of
people he has met, the article
states:
"He met more people than any
pontiff in the NEARLY 2,000
years of the Raman, Catholic
Church."
Calling Pope Pius the "Pope
of Peace" and "Pope of the
Assumption," the Associated
Press noted the joy and sorrow
nf his 12 years in the Chair of
Peter. Giving joy to the Church,
in 1946 Pius created 32 new
Cardinals — the largest number
In history — with selections
from? all 6 continents giving the
Church's 428,000,000 members
representation in the govern-
ment of the Church. Giving
sorrow to the Church, in the 12
years "of Pope Pius the Commun-
ists have maltreated 50,000,000
Catholics and put the first
Catholic Cardinal in 2,000 years
on trial for treason.
OLD JEFFERSON CONVERT PAINTED RECENTLY
SIGNS OF DEMOCRACY AT JEFFERSON
In the great spirit of Americanism the Founding Fathers of
iSm deh M that the 0pp°rtunity to serve in positions of
jsponsibility should never be barred to any American because o'
his race er his religion. Religion, they said, in this country should
never be a test of public office.
t At "l?" « Amerlcans have not lived up to their Constitution
n this respect Specifically in 1928, as all honest Americans know,
tne late Alfred E. Smith was not elected President of the United
States because his Catholic faith turned the overwhelmingly Pr=
iestant voters of the South against him. Southern Priotestants, mem
bers of Mr. Smith's Democratic Party, turned out to put the Southern
States in the Republican column for the first time in American
history. The reason was obviously Mr. Smith's Catholicism.
A world war with its close association 'between Catholic
and Protestant boys in the defense of their country has helped
tremendously to remove the misunderstandings based on Ignor-
ance. Many Americans hated Mr. Smith's Catholicism and allowed
religion to be a test of public office because they didn't know
Catholics and knew .next to nothing about the Catholic Church. The
war, terrible as it was, brought torth this good fruit: Protestant
boys from small towns 'began to know Catholics and hence to know
what the Catholic Church stood for. Prejudices began to melt. The
association was also good for Catholic boys, for they learned that
the hatred of Protestants for Mr." Smith's religion was in most
cases not malicious but caused simply by the lack of knowledge
about the Catholic Church in Protestant areas.
Signs of our times indicate that the new blood Injected
:nto American life by the young veterans of World War II has been
responsible for a great decrease In prejudice, both racial and reli-
gious, in the political arena.
Though THE JEFFERSO'NIAN does not feel that Jefferson,
Texas was ever a center of religious prejudice — there has always
been a well respected Catholic community here — still we cite as a
sign of our times a case of liberal democracy and genuine Ameri-
canism which recently took place within our borders.
The population of Jefferson is decidedly Protestant In rell-
flnus belief. Catholics an«l Jews form very small minorities. Yet
.1 spite of this our community recently witnessed a Catholic retir-
ing as president of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and a Jew
being elected to take his place. At the annual Cham'ber of Com-
merce banquet March 29 J. B. Zachry, turned the gavel of leadership
of our town's most important civic body over to Dave Flesh, a
Jew.
This absence of both religious and racial discrimination in
conferring public honor on outstanding citizens negatively we think
is a sign of our times that we Americans everywhere are not proud
that we have In the past made religion a test of office. Positively we
think that this honor conferred on religious and racial minorities is
iilco a sign of our times that the day is coming when Americans
everywhere will elect -menvlo public office strictly on the grounds
of the qualifications they present.
Jefferson, Texas can indeed be proud of itself that in its
public life and in ita selection of leader* it evidences the Meal of
democracy as written down by our Pounding Fathers lb tfcat great
OtciiBUt called tbe CoaetftuCton of the United State*.
The 67 year old convent at the light of Immaculate Conception Church In downtown Jefferson is
now sporting a "new look." Painters, under the direction of Miss Margaret Ramsay, recently gave
the one time Catholic parochial school a fresh coat of paint. The above photo was taken last Sept.
and shows storm damage to the church tower. The foundation of a once flourishing Catholic
school in* historic Jef-erson dates back to Nov. 16, 1871 when a Francis Beulando sold to the Sisters
of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul lots 7, 8, 9, Block 16 in the City of Jefferson. On this land the Sisters
—(same 'order operates St. Paul's Hospital, Dallas) established a cmvent school, calling it St.
Mary's. On Nov. 11, 1875 a meeting was called ty the Jefferson Jewish congregation to consider
uylng the propel ty from the Catholic Sisters. A committee, which included L. Goldberg, father-
n-law of Mrs. Mamie Goldberg, ^nd E. Eberstadt, Fr. of Miss Eva Eberstadt, represented the Jewish
eople in the transaction, and R. Ballauf acted as agent for the Sisters of Charity of Maryland. For
t consideration of $2,000 the Hebrew Sinai congregation purchased this land and the building which
still stands on it at the comer of Henderson and Market Streets opposite the Methodist minister's
home. Eight years later near or about the year 18 .3 the convent pictured above was built next to the
hurch and operated from 1883 to 1888 by the com riunity of nuns known as the Sisters of St. Agnes.
These Sisters, who had a boarding as well as day school, in 1889 were replaced by the Sisters of
Divine Providence from San Antonio. These Sisters kept the school in operation until 1895. The decline
o Jefferson after its refusal in 1873 to give Jay Gould land for his T & P shops made it necessary for
'he Sisters of Divine Providence to close the convent school. For the last 56 years it has not been
possible to reopen it. Once a city of 30,000 peop e when Dallas was a village, Jefferson is an historic
center of Catholicity in East Texas. Once a large parish, in 1910 her last resident priest moved
away% Today of its 3,000 citizens a'bout 100 are Catholic. A reminder of the past, St. Mary's Convent
still stands, being used now as an apartment ho se. Photo taken after storm damage..
DEVELOPEMENT FROM CATHOLICISM SHOWN
llifiiN OF MM PROTESTANT RELIGIONS
IS DOCUMENTED DY NOTED DAPTIST ORGAN
Santa Fe, N. M. — The origin
of many of the Protestant reli-
gions has been documented here
in an article published In the
March 22nd issue of THE NEW
MEXICAN BAPTIST, official
Baptist newspaper of New Mexi
co. The article reveals the his-
toric fact that the various Pro-
testant churches began as vis
ible bodies in protest against
the Catholic Church, directly or
indirectly. It shows the Catholic
Church as much older than all
the Protestant churches cited.
Data compiled by the Bapiist
organ on the origin of Protes-
tant churches follows:
Lutherans — split off from
the Catholics and organized by
Martin Luther in A. D. 1530.
Presbyterians — split off from
the Catholics in France, organiz
ed by John Calvin in A. D. 1535
Episcopalians — were organ-
ized by King Henry VIII, pulling
off the English people from the
Catholics, 1540.
Congregationalists — were or-
ganized by Robert Brown In A.
D. 1580.
Quakers — were organized by
George FOx in A. D. 1684.
Methodists — split off from
the Episcopalians and organized
by John Wesley, A. D. 1729.
Freewill Baptist* — organized
by Be Randall in 1789.
Campbellites — that call
themselves "The Christian
Church" and the "Church of
Christ," was organized by Alex
ander Campbell In A. D. 1827.
Mormons — many of them call
lug themselves "Latter Day
Saints" were organized by Joseph
Smith in 1830.
Hardshell Baptist — pulled off
of Missionary Baptist; organiz
ed by Daniel Park in A. D. 1832.
Seventh Day Adventists —
organized by William Miller In
A. D. 1831.
Jehovah Witnesses or Russell
ites, organized by "Pastor Rus
sell," A. D. 1884.
"Christian Science" — so call-
ed, organized by Mary Baker
Glover Patteison Eddy in \ D
1884. >
Nazarenes — organized in Lo«
Angeles by B. F. Breesep, "on
the first Sabbath of October"
A. D. 1895.
CHURCH WITH HISTORY
COMMENT: Encyclopedia Bri-
tannica on page 131, Vol. 13 says
that the Christian Church esta-
blished by Jesus Christ was
called by the title "Catholic
Church" by the early part of
the second century. Historians
state that in the year 313 the
violent persecutions against this
Church ceased with the eonver-
al B of the Rnperor Constantino,
who after becoming a Catholic
built the first St. Peter's Basi-
lica (it stood in Rome over 1200
years), gave the Popes a home
in which they lived 996 years
and built over the tomb of St.
Paul a Basilica which is still
standing after 1500 years. The
history b'ooks note that this
Church sent St. Patrick to Ire-
land and converted the whole of
Europe.
LEADER SAID ALL KNEW
CHURCH BY NAME CATHOLIC
So recognized was the Catholic
Church as the Church of Jesus
Christ that St. Augustine, recog-
nized even by Protestants as a
great leader 'of early Christian-
ity, wrote in the 400's: "The
Church is called Catholic by ail
her enemies, as well as by. her
own children. Heretics and
schismatics can call the Church
by no other name than Catholic,
for they would not be under-
stood, unless they used the
name by which the CHURCH IS
KNOWN TO THE WORLD." —
St. Augustine in "Concerning
True Religion."
Today's heretics are no differ-
ent from those of Augustine's
time. They too must use the
word Catholic in referring to
Our Lord's Church for it is the
name by which it has been f
kn'Jwn to the whole world for
the past ONE THOUSAND,
EIGHT HUNDRED AND FORTY
ONE YEARS.
MANY PROTESTANT8 THINK
THEY EXI8.TED ALSO
The adherents of each Protes-
tant sect cited above by the
i Continued OB page 3, Col. U
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O'Rourke, John G. The Jeffersonian (Jefferson, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 8, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 1, 1951, newspaper, April 1, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth293190/m1/2/?q=%22~1~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.