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NOVEMBER 27, 1937
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC DAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE-A
Evidence of Progress in Diocese of Raleigh
VICAR-APOSTOLIC
O
BISHOP HA ID
BISHOP HAID NOTED
FIGURE IN CHURCH
Official Catholic Directory
Statistics Reveal Growth
The progress of the Church in the Diocese of Raleigh dur
ing the twelve years of the episcopate of His Excellency,
Bishop Hafey, the first Ordinary of the See, as indicated by
statistics from the 1926 and 1937 editions of the Official
Catholic Directory:
1926
Priests, Diocesan 23
Religious
Total til,,,,,,,,,
Resident pastors
Churches
Sisters ..
Clerical students
Parochial Schools
White pupils
Colored pupils
Children under Catholic care
Hospital patients
Converts
Catholic population 6,193
The significance of this progress is enhanced by the fact that
in 1925, the 'Vicariate-Apostolic of North Carolina had more
children under Catholic care, in proportion to its population,
than most other Dioceses in the Union, and its record in other
directions was equally admirable.
8
31
21
61
84
12
8
493
342
1,173
4,045
65
1937
53
26
79
52
91
179
18
24
1,339
1,070
2,950
6,155
212
10,191
Vicar-Apostolic Pioneer Ven
erable Leader of Benedic
tines in North Carolina
The Most Rev. Leo Haid, O.S.B.,
D.D., first Abbot of Belmont, was vi
car-apostolic of North Carolina previ
ous to the creation of the Diocese of
Raleigh, and was Bishop Hafey's pre
decessor as North Carolina’s member
of the American Hierarchy. Bishop
Haid came to North Carolina with the
little band of Benedictines over a half
century ago; he was their first prior
and later their first Abbot, a post he
retained atfer being made vicar-apos
tolic.’ The beginnings were humble;
Catholics were few and scattered. But
Bishop Haid, with the aid of his zeal
ous Benedictines and of the Diocesan
clergy, rendered service which in self-
sacrifice and in fruitfulness was not
surpassed, considering the conditions,
anywhere in the South in those pio
neer days.
When the Diocese of Raleigh was
created, although Bishop Hafey found
only a few more than six thousand
Catholics, he found a well organized
See, a devoted people and a zealous
clergy, and on these foundations he
proceeded to build the Diocese of Ra
leigh, with the results depicted else
where in this issue. The Benedictines
are still active in the Diocese, in the
parishes at Charlotte, Greeflsboro, Sal
isbury, Winston-Salem.
In recognition of the labors of the
sons of St. Benedict in North Carolina,
before the death of Bishop Haid the
Holy Father created the Diocese of the
Abbey Nullius, the only one of its kind
in the United States, under the juris
diction of the Abbot of Belmont, who
has the rank of an Abbot-Ordinary,
and as such is a member of the Amer
ican Hierarchy. The territory of the
Abbey Nullius is not included in the
Diocese of Raleigh; the Abbey Nullius
Diocese has counties, and in it are lo
cated Belmont Abbey and College. Sa
cred Heart Academy and Junior Col
lege and St. Leo School. The Rt. Rev.
Vincent Taylor, O.S.B., D.D., for near
ly a quarter of a century pastor of St.
Benedict's Church, Greensboro, N. C..
is Abbot-Ordinary, was blessed by
Archbishop Curley after his election
following the death of Bishop Haid;
this ceremony took place March 19,
1925, shortly before the nomination of
Bishop Hafey as the first Ordinary of
the first See of Raleigh.
Priests in Diocese Increase
From 31 to 79 in 12 Years
34 Ordained for Diocese in That Period — Seven Re
ligions Orders of Men and Five of Women Have Been
Brought to Diocese by Bishop Hafey
0
1
rv
ADMINISTRATOR
0
1
MONSIGNOR FREEMAN
MONSIGNOR FREEMAN
NOW ADMINISTRATOR
Bishop Hafey Pays Touching
Tribute to His Chancellor
and Vicar-General
The priests of the Diocese of Raleigh have increased in number from
31 when Bishop Hafey came in 1925 to 79 now; 34 priests have been ordained
for the Diocese during the episcopate of Bishop Hafey, more than the en
tire number laboring in the Diocese a little more than a decade ago. Those
ordained for the Diocesan clergy since the consecration of Bishop Hafey
follow:
1927
Rev. Peter M. Denges St. Mary's Church, Goldsboro
Rev. Phillip J. OMara Immaculate Conception Church, Hendersonville
1929
Rev. Cornelius E. Murphy North Carolina Apostolate, Nazareth
Rev. Peter McNerny ..Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. Rocky Mount
' Rev. Francis A. Scheurich Sacred Heart Church, Dunn
1930
Rev. Eugene P. Carroll, R. I. P.
Rev. John A. Beshel North Carolina Apostolate. Nazareth
Rev. Howard V. Lane St. John the Evangelist Church. Waynesville
Rev. Arthur J. Racette St. Joan of Arc, West Asheville
Rev. Patrick N. Gallagher Catholic Orphanage Nazareth
1931
Rev. Richard E. Barrett Holy Trinity Church, Kinston
Rev. Edward T. Gilbert St. Agnes’ Church, Washington
Rev. John B. Murphy St. Catherine’s Church, Tarboro
Rev. Dennis A. Lynch St. Genevieve of the Pines. Asheville
Rev. Louis C. Ruth Lady of Perpetual Help, Kinston
1932
Rev. Edward L. Gross St. Ann's Church Edenton
1933
Rev. Millard F. Neale St. Leo Hospital. Greensboro
Rev. Michael A. Carey St. Elizabeth’s Church, Elizabeth City
Rev.. John F. Roueche Blessed Sacrament Church, Burlington
Rev. Thomas A. Williams St. Anthony’s Church, Southern Pines
Rev. Wm. J. Kuder St. Benedict’s Church Greensboro
1934
Rev. James A. Cowan Our Lady of the Annunciation, Albermarle
Rev. Francis J. Gorham St. John the Baptist. Roanoake Rapids
Rev. Michael J. Begley St. Edward's Church. High Point
Rev. Hugh Dolan St. Theresa's Church. Wilson
Rev. Herbert A. Harkins Holy Angels Church Mount Airy
1935
Rev. J. Lenox Federal St. Margaret Mary, Swannanoa
Rev. Thomas F. Carney St. Egbert s Church. Morehead City
Rev. Robert J. MacMillan North Carolina Apostolate, Nazareth
1936
Rev. Wm. Pearson Our Lady of the Poor Souls. Whortonsville
Rev. James Noonan . St. Peter’s Church, Greenville
Rev. Francis Howard St. Mary's Church, Wilmington
1937
Rev. John A. Brown Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh
Rev. Stephen Sullivan Notre Dame Academy. Southern Pines
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. A. R. Freeman.
LL D., chancellor of the Diocese and
vicar-general under Bishop Hafey, is
the administrator of the Diocese
pending the consecration and instal
lation of Bishop McGuinness. Arch
bishop Curley, of Baltimore, was the
administrator after the death of
Bishop Haid and before the conse
cration and installation of .Bishop
Hafey.
Monsignor Freeman is a native of
Goldsboro, N. Cr, a member of a
family long prominent in the history
of the state. He. was pastor at Golds
boro when Bishop Hafey named him
rector of the Cathedral and chancel
lor in succession to the late beloved
Rt. Rev. Thomas P. Griffin, and
when the Rt.' Rev. Chris Dennen re
signed as vicar-general, Bishop
Hafey appointed the then Father
Freeman to succeed him.
At the request of Bishop Hafey,
the Holy Father elevated Father
Freeman to the Papan Household,
with the title of Rt. Rev. Monsignor,
and his alma mater, Mt. St. Mary’s
Seminary, Emmitsburg. Md., has
conferred on him the honorary de
gree of Doctor of Laws.
Monsignor Freeman presided at the
farewell dinner to Bishop Hafey and
also at the final reception, and on
both occasions Bishop Hafey paid the
Monsignor a heartfelt tribute as a
priest and as a man. Living in the
same household with Monsignor
Freeman has been one of the great
joys of his years in North Carolina.
Bishop Hafey said, and he asserted
that in the Monsignor may be found
the finest blend of the Catholic
priest and the Southern gentleman.
PIONEERS ARE STILL
WORKING IN DIOCESE
Time Has Dealt Gently With
Nearly All Diocesan Priests
of Decade Ago
Nearly all the Diocesan clergy la
boring in the Diocese of Raleigh
when Bishop Hafey came in 1925 are
still laboring in North Carolina, al
though death and age has removed
some distinguished names from the
list.
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Christopher Dennen,
vicar general under Bishop Haid and
Bishop Hafey, has retired from that
office and as pastor of St. Mary's
Pro-Cathedral in Wilmington, and is
living at St. Mary's. Monsignor
Freeman .then pastor at Goldsboro,
rector of the Cathedral at Raleigh,
and chancellor of the Diocese, suc
ceeding Monsignor Dennen in that
capacity and the late Rt Rev Msgr.
Thomas P. Griffin as rector and
chancellor. The Diocese's third mem
ber of the Papal Household, the Rt.
Rev. Msgr. P. J. Doherty, one of the
oldest priests in the United States
is living- in retirement at Elizabeth
City, where he was when Bishop
Hafey came to. North Carolina. The
Rev. George Woods, then superin
tendent of the Orphanage at Naza
reth, has also retired.
Father Michael Irwin, then pastor
at Newton Grove, is now pastor at
Newbern; Father William F. O'Brien
is still pastor at Durham and Father
William J. Dillon at Pinehurst,
Southern Pines, his former, parish,
with Pinehurst as a mission, now be
ing a parish in its own right. Father
Louis J. Bour, then as now, was pas
tor of St. Lawrence Church, Ashe
ville.
Other members of the Diocesan
clergy who were laboring in the Di
ocese when Bishop Hafey came in
clude Father Charles J. Gable,
then |of New Bern; Father Francis J.
McCourt, pastor at Hamlet, then as
sistant at St. Mary’s, Wilmington;
Father Edward A. Rigney, then of
Asheville, now of Hendersonville;
Father Aloysius C. Adler, now pas
tor at Mt. Airy; Father John P. Man-
ley, then at Goldsboro, now pastor
at Nazareth and superintendent of
the Orphans’ Home; Father James F.
Gallagher, pastor at Rocky Mount,
then of >. Dunn; Father George
A. Watkins, of Sanford, then pastor
at Fayetteville; Father James A.
Manley, pastor of St. Mary's Pro-
Cathedral, Wilmington, then pastor
at Hendersonville, and Father Paul
A. Termer and Father Bernard J.
McDwitt, then of Hamlet and Way
nesville, respectively, now absent on
sick leave.
DR. MARY ELIZABETH WALSH
of the Catholic University of Amer
ica, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thom
as F. Walsh of Savannah, and a
niece of Bishop Walsh of Charleston,
is writing a series of articles on ‘‘The
New Poor’’ in Pax, the national Cath
olic monthly published in New Jer
sey.
N. Carolina Bids Godspeed
to First Bishop of Raleigh
RETREAT MOVEMENT
The lay retreat movement has
m3de great progress in the Diocese
of Raleigh since its inauguration in
the episcopate of Bishop Hafey; His
Excellency's efforts have been the
major factor in its success. Bishop
Hafey has himself conducted retreats
for laymen at Belmont Abbey, and
for the women of, the Dioecese; this
year’s retreat for men was conducted
fcw the Rev. R. J. MacMillan of the
North Carolina Apostolate and that
for women by the Rev. Leo Doet-
terl, pastor of St. Paul's Church,
Henderson, N. C. U is probable that
Bowhere in the United States are
there more retreatants in proportion
fo the number of Catholics than in
the Diocese of Raleigh. The Knights
of Columbus and the Catholic Daugh
ters of America have been active in
&e promotion of the retreats.
When Bishop Hafey came to the
diocese there were two religious or
ders or societies in the See, the Bene
dictine Fathers, who have been la
boring for over a half-century in
the Old North State, and the Jose-
phites, who have rendered valiant
services for the evangelism of the
colored people.
Now the orders of societies of men
include the Jesuit Fathers at Revere,
the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at
Fayetteville, and the Passionist
Fathers at Newbern, Washington.
Greensboro and Greenville, the Re-
demptorist Fathers at Newton Grove,
the Franciscan Friars Minor at Le
noir and in the colored parish at
Asheville, the Dominican Fathers at
Raleigh and the Franciscan Minor
Conventuals at St. Helena.
Twelve years ago there were in the
Diocese three orders of women, the
Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of
Christian Education and the Daugh
ters of Charity of St. Vincent de
Paul; they are still laboring glori
ously and in addition there are the
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary at Raleigh, Newbern.
Goldsboro and Washington, the Sis
ters of Providence at Wilson, Bur
lington and Fayetteville, the Sisters
of the Third Order of St. Francis at
iSt. Helena, the Franciscan Sisters ofj
Syracuse at Asheville, and the Notre
Dame Sisters at Southern Pines. The
Sisters of Mery are still at Nazareth.
Charlotte, Asheville, Wilmington and
Salisbury; the Sisters of Christian
Education at Asheville and also at
Hendersonville, and the Daughters of
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at
Greensboro.
In responding to the tributes paid
to him for his achivements in North
Carolina. Bishop Hafey drew a
touching parallel between a little
boy carrying a load with his father
and an individual or collection of
individuals doing God’s work. The
father always carries the major part
of the load, the Bishop said, and
when anything is accomplished, it is
God Who carries most of the load,
and to Whom is due the credit for
anything that is accomplished.
Bishop Hafey at the luncheon re
ferred to Father Mark Moslein, C.
P., the venerable Passionist mis
sionary, who is approaching the dia
mond jubilee of his ordination; he
expressed the hope that Father Mos
lem's ambitions for his Washington
mission for the colored will be real
ized in the near future.
(Continued From Page One-A)
low him in his new field of labor,
Mr. Berry said.
Richard Reid, editor of The Bulle
tin, Augusta. Ga., referred particu
larly to Bishop Hafey's interpreta
tion of the South to the North, and
asserted that in his opinion no man
since Henry Grady had done as much
to increase understanding and good
will between the North and the
South as His Excellency, while at
the same time he was making the
Church better, more respected and
more beloved by the non-Catholies
of North Carolina and deeply and
extending the spiritual life to* the
Catholics of the Diocese.
I lisher and his son, .Jonathan Daniels,
editor editorially regretting his de
parture, said that “those in North
Carolina who honored him were
vastly more numerous than the
members of his comparatively small
flock of his big diocese. They see
him go to his larger sphere with re
gret and with the hope that though
his labors may be largely in the big
diocese of Scranton, he will not for
get the diosece in which he first was
a Bishop and the first Bishop of
which he was.”
Bishop Hafey, in his response, said
that the credit for anything done be
longs first to God and then to the
zeal of the priests and religious, to
the faith" and co-operation of the
people of the Diocese, and to the
generous assistance also of the
friends of the Diocese elsewhere. It
is his conviction, the Bishop said,
that the United States will prosper
in proportion to the assistance of its
sons and daughters to the extension
of the kingdom of Christ on earth,
and this conviction gave him courage
in his efforts in the North for the
Church in the South.
In his twelve years in North Caro
lina he has received nothing but
courtesy, co-operation. friendship,
assistance, he said, and he expressed
the hope that there would rise up
some day a novelist with the power
to show the people of the South that
the things they hold most dear, the
things closest to their hearts, are
found in their fulness in the Catho
lic Church.
The Raleigh News and Observer,
of which Josephus Daniels is pub-
The Raleigh Times, after recording
some of the achievements of Bishop
Hafey. continued: “In residence at
the Church of the Sacred Heart and
in the pulpit he won the complete
respect and sympathy of the com
munity in which he has been a force
for religion, good will, peace and tol
erance. His appointment brought to
the brilliant work of the Diocese a
brilliant scholar, preacher and teach
er. a corrfpetitent executive in a dif
ficult post, and a tireless worker for
good. To say that the departure of
such a man is a loss to Raleigh and
to the state is to be trite but exact.
But his service has set for his suc
cessor a path it has smoothed for
even greater progress in accomplish
ment, instruction, guidance and well
doing.”
The editor of The Raleigh State in
an open letter to Bishop Hafey. pub
lished in Tire State, also cites the
fruits of Bishop Hafey’s labors, and
says that, important as these things
are, the editor is most interested “j»
the fine spirit of co-operation «#•
Catholics and non-Catholics which
has characterized your services n*
our midst. This is something t»
which aU of ue «t% po«u with
pride.” .