C olmnbia11ism in Texas
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new loans were limited to one year, the rate of interest raised to five per cent, and, in addition to the parents, two other responsible co-signers were required. No student could borrow more than $200, except in extreme cases, but even then $800 was to be the limit. If the borrower was a member of the Knights of Columbus, he was required to carry at least Sr,ooo insurance in the Order. Since 1938 the Student Loan Fund has been in excellent condition; all loans have been promptly paid, and each year more deserving young men have been helped to obtain higher education and to become educated Catholic leaders in their respective communities. Texas C atl,olic F ou11dation. In their desire to help foster Catholic education in general, the Order created in 1928 the Texas Catholic Foundation. The charter of incorporation, which is dated May 7, declares the purposes of the Foundation to be "the support and assistance of institutions of higher learning in the State of Texas, conducted or to be hereafter established by religious organizations, societies, or Orders of the Roman Catholic Church," and adds that assistance to deserving Catholic students would also be given. For eighteen years the affairs of the Foundation were duly reported, but its progress was slow. Its growth an<l de,·elopment were seriously handicapped by the Student Loan Fund previously created in 1924, which seemed to absorb all of the appropria- tions vf the State Council for Catholic education. At the Waco Convention in May, 1948, the State Officers decided to dissolve the Texas Catholic Foundation and to concentrate their efforts on the Student Loan Fund. In announcing the decision reached, State Deputy Scoggins reported that the remaining total of the funds collected were being divided equally among two of the older Catholic institutions in the State, St. Mary's University ef San Antonio and St. Edward's University of Austin, each receiving a check for $4700. A Cltapel for the Texas Agriwltural and 11t/eclianical College. An- other project that has helped Catholic students preserve their faith, one of which the Knights of Columbus are rightly proud, is the building of a chapel at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, better known as Texas A. and M., located at College Station, near Bryan. At the Austin Convention in 1923, Delegate I. W. Warren, of the Bryan Council, moved by the sad plight of Catholic students at A. and M. College, asked that Father J. B. Gleissner, the pastor at Bryan, well known throughout Texas for his apostolic labors, explain to the assembled Knights existing conditions in the College. The kindly padre told how
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