The Aquinas 1932-02-26

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VOL. I, NO.9 ST. THOMAS COLLEGE, SCRANTON, PA., FEBRUARY 26, 1932
St" Thomas Dramaticians
to Present College
Play in April.
Thespians Of
College Will
Give Sun--Up
forum discussion will follow each lec,
ture. Various members of the club
will continue the series in the future,
The topics to be discussed will embrace
the ideals and history of the
various religious orders of men in the
United States. A special lecture will
be given on vocations to the secular
'priesthood at a later meeting.
The vocational guidance activities
of the club will be continued in the
next few weeks when Honesdale
Catholic high school, St. John's high
school, Pittston, and St. Thomas high
school, Scranton, will be visited.
Already various members of the
society have addressed the students
of several Catholic hi:."h schools.
" " : .'.
PLAY DIRECTOR
On Tuesday, February 23, the first
of a series of lectures under the aus'
pices of the Vocations Club was given
by Brother Augustine, the Moderator
of the Club. The topic was "The
Religious Life." Brother Augustine
explained the ideals and aims of the
religious life and told how it differed
from the secular priesthood. He dis'
cussed at length the qualifications
needed for the religious life and how
they might be developed. After the
lecture an open'forum discussion was
held in which the members stated
their views and difficulties.
It was decided that the lecture se'
ries will form part of the regular
weekly meetings and that an open
Plans Announced for
Annual Senior Retreat
Father Delaunay May Take
Charge of Contemplated
Program.. J
Plan to Reorganize
La Salle Auxiliary
In This Section
Program Next Tuesday
Dedicated to Memory
of George Washington
St. Thomas college will formally
celebrate the bicentennial of George
Washington's birth on next Tuesday
morning, March the first, with a
program of music and talk. The
affair will be held in the college
chapel.
Among the speakers scheduled to
address the gathering are: Mr.
Frank Liberty, of the senior class,
who will have for his subject,
"Washington, Exemplar of American
Youth"; and Mr. Joseph Haggerty,
Theatre'goers of Scranton and en'
The annual retreat for the mem'\. virons who have grown to look for-bers
of the senior class will be held ward to St. Thomas college amateur
on May 25, 26, and 27th. This will productions as a sort of welcome re-be
the last function of that body as lief from the monotonous run of
members of the St. Thomas student present day motion pictures, will
body and will take place before com' have their long vigilance rewarded
mencement exercises early in June. shortly when the Dramatic society of
In all probability the retreat will the college presents a three'act play,
be in charge of Rev. John N. B. De' ATTORNEY JOSEPH ENGLISH "Sun'Up," in the Academy Theatre,
launay, C. S. C., Ph.D., and J. C. D., - Scranton, during the month of April,
noted preacher and editor who was the exact date to be announced later.
scheduled to conduct the annual stu' Bishop O'Reilly Makes The production will be the first to
dents retreat last November, but sick, G"f f C h" be presented by the Purple and
ness prevented his coming here. Ito atec ISmS White players since 1928, the year
Father Delaunay is the editor,in'chief that Father Thomas Burke piloted
of the "Bengalese," the official mag' Latin Students of College Given "Charlie's Aunt" to laugh'provoking
~Zine of ~he Holy Cross Fa~hers and Texts Written Entirely in pinnacles.
IS ~l~o. wI?ely kno-:rn for hIS retreat . Roman Language. The play is being expertly directed
actlV1~Ie~ m t~e Middle West. jby Attorney Joseph English, whom
This IS the fIrst ye~r that the mem' Last week h Lt' d f S most of us remember as being the
ber_s -of.' t-h-e - gr.ad,u__a.t.mg .gro-' up hav. e Thomas colletgeewaerempsrteuseennttesd0W.Itth. principle speaker at a pep meet.mg.m
been gIven the opportumty.of .retlr- - C tl r -- th- h' -.,.< h' ·ft f the collecre auditorium just prior to
ing themselves from the whirl and B,ahlo IcThca ec CismsO''-Rt ~1-I-gI T-hO the annu~l grid classic with Canisius
. f d' . . . IS op omas. el y. e
exdcltemen
l
t 0 gra uahtmg alctIVltle~ ~o cathechisms which are written en' last fall. Attorney English, a St.
a equate y prepare t emse ves Splr1t, t' 1 . L t' . d d b Thomas alumnus is backed by a
11 f h · . l'f' Ire y In a In, are Inten e to e '
tuhae yworolrd t elr entrance mto 1 e m used'm supp1ementary work for wealth of . experience in his initial
. Catholic students. ve?ture WIth the local college men,
The book, "Cathechismus Catholi, bemg formerly professo~ of English
cus" is written by His Emminence ax:d dI~ecto~ of Drax:-xatlcs at CathCardinal
Peter Gasparri, with the oItc umverslty, Washmgton, D. C.
cooperation of other learned theolog' "Sun'Up" was first produced at
ians. The cathechism is divided into the Provincetown Theatre, New York
three parts: the first contains instruc' city, in 1923, and was proclaimed
Brother Gordian, Principal of the tions necessary for children about to by stage critics as one of the hit
St. Thomas high school is making an be admitted to Holy Communion; the shows of that season. It was writeffort
to revive the long,dormant St. second part contains instructions for ten by Lula Vollmer, an authoress
La Salle Auxiliary. The Auxiliary youths; and the last part contains an bearing a nation'wide reputation as
has not been functioning in this 10' explanation of Catholic doctrine for the creator of successful Broadway
cality for the past few years, but be' adults. The: entire work is well docu' stage presentations. The scene of the
cause of the importance of its pur' mentated and contains also, a num' play is laid in the mountains of westpose
plans for its revival have been ber of appendices and testimonies. ern North Carolina and the action
proposed. Brother Gordian has called The Latin students of the college deals with mountain life in the backseveral
meetings of friends and rela' wish to express their appreciation to woods of that region.
tives of the Christian Brothers and the Most Reverend Bishop for his The cast for the play was selected
these meetings have been well,at' Igift. by Attorney English from a group of
tended. Plans are being arranged for . . approximately forty candidates, and
future meetings and various social Iof the"Fresh~an class, who has se' if fa",:orable glimpses obtained of the
affairs. The proceeds of these af, lecte~, Washmgton, Youth ~nd Man' thespIans going through their early
fairs will be directed towards a fund Ihoo.d. Mr. J.ohn Dell Am~co of the rehearsals. can be taken as a criterion,
for the' education of student Chris' semor class WIll be' the chaIrman. (ContInued on Page 3, Col. 4)
. I -
tian Brothers. Any person desirous 1===============================
of obtaining further information
~bout future meetings or n:embers~ip Vocations Club Holds IS requested to commUnIcate WIth
Brother Gordian at the St. Thomas p. t L t M t·
high school. IrS ec ure ee lng
Debaters Will Open
Here Against Ursinus
Members 0 f Negative
Squad to Debate on
March Eighth.
Forging rapidly ahead, a rippling
stream of victories in their wake, the
St. Thomas negative varsity debaters
will meet the Forensic squad of Ursinus
in a "tournament of tongues"
in Scranton on the evening of Tues,
day, March eight, at eight,fifteen, on
the subject of capitalism,
Primed by their victory over Leb,
anon Valley college in Anneville, on
February nineteenth, and spurred on,
competitively, by the triumph of the
affirmative team over Canisius col,
lege in Buffalo, the negative men' are
both anxious to, and confident of,
defeating the skilled argumentators
of Ursinus college.
The subject of the debate is, Re,
solved, "That Capitalism, as a system
of Economic Organization, is Un'
sound in Principle." The Purple and
White "Ciceronians" must prove the
~btindness'of the principle 9f--capitalIsm.
The Ursinus debating society is
sending a team consisting of veteran
debaters who have, in the past two
years, been signally successful. They
are members of the Debating associa,
tion of Pennsylvania colleges.
The negative team received their
baptism under the fire of forensics in
their engagement with Lebanon Val,
ley college-which engagement mark,
ed their initial appearance as varsity
debaters.
The debaters comprising the St.
Thomas team are: Arnold I. Coplan,
a senior, captain of the team; Carl
HaarmeyeJ;"$ - senior; and Dominick
Motsay, a- sophomore. ,
The team is under the supervision
of Brother Emilian, Head of the Phil,
osophy Department, and is coached
by Professor Richard F. McNichols,
instructor of elocution at this insti,
tution.
The constructive speeches in the
next debate will be twelve, ten, and
ten minutes respectively; _the rebut,
tals are four, four, and six minutes
respectively.
inspected and approved by a com'
mittee of the college faculty which
visited them last week.
It is expected that the club house
will be placed at the disposal of the
student body shortly after -March
first. At that time the annual visit
of the committee representing the
Trustees of St. Thomas will be made
and their approval of the plan will
complete the negotiations for secur'
ing the club rooms. -.
The trustee's committee will. be
'comprised of the following: -Monsignor
Paul A. Kelly, Monsignor Pat'
rick]. Boland, Mr. E. J. Lynett and
Mr. William Shean.
Play Cast Selected By English
~>~ - ' ~
Stud~nts of
College Join
Confraternity
Plans for Future Work
Made; Press Club Organized.
College Plans To Enroll
Students In Catholic Club
The first meeting of the Archconfraternity
of the Divine Child, recently
reorganized at St. Thomas, was
held on Thursday, February, elev'
enth, in the assembly rooms of the
various classes. The purpose of the
meeting was to make plans for fu'
ture programs which the Confraternity
intend to carry out. The presidents
of. each class chapter presided,
One of the main things accomplished
at this meeting was the organ'
ization of the Press Club. The
function of this club is to distribute
Catholic magazines and literature to
various hospitals, welfare stations,
and reading rooms in the city and
neighboring towns. Many students
volunteered their services for thiswork.
The Confraternity of the Divine
Child was organized in 1905, when
the Brothers of the Christian Schools,
assembled in general chapter, voted
to establish in the chapel of their
community at Bethlehem, an associa'
tion of prayer in which the pupils of
the entire world would be enrolled
to ask the Holy Child Jesus to pro'
tect those children, who attending
Godless schools, are in danger of los'
ing their faith.
The organization soon spread all
over the world and in a very short
time it numbered fifty thousand
members. By a brief of June 17,
1908, His .Holiness, Pope Pius X,
granted several precious indulgences
to the members of this Archconfra'
ternity.
The functioning of the Confra'
ternity at St. Thomas is under the
di&:retion of the Students Spiritual
Council of which the officers are:
President, Thomas Hinton; vice'pres'
dent, Patrick Whelan; secretary,
Thomas Quinn; treasurer, John Caw'
ley. Other members of the Council
are Joseph Noone, Thomas Gavigan,
Michael Howard, Joseph Madden,
Joseph Haggerty, and Joseph Conway
of the college and Hugh McCabe,
(Continued on Page 5, Col. 5)
---_._----
As a result of negotiations which
have been carried on for the past
few weeks, plans are about complete
for the enrollment of the entire St.
Thomas' student body in the Cath,
olic Men and Boys q~b of Scranton.
All admission fees and other dues are
to be paid by the college.
The purpose of this movement by
the authorities is to provide some
suitable place of recreation where the
students may go during off periods
or after school hours. The recrea'
tion tooms of the club are located
less than a block from th~ college and
are modernly equipped with loung'
ing chairs, reading rooms, pool and
billiard tables, etc. The rooms were