Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 43, No. 4 SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1962
Published By The
Catholic Laymen's
Ass'n of Georgia
10c Per Copy — $3 A Year
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS A BISHOP - The Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh, who at 70, has
been a bishop half his life. (Catholic Exponent Photo)
Archbishop Hallinan At Bishop Reh’s Installation
Warns Of Forces Trying "To Defeat
Church By Dividing Her People”
CHARLESTON, S.C., (NC)
—A prelate here coupled a
caution against “certain for
ces” trying to “defeat the
Church by dividing her people’ ’
with a lament over the U.S.
Supreme Court ban of an of
ficial prayer in New York
State public schools.
“In the critical issues that
confront today our Church and
our nation, indeed our common
humanity, it is time for humble
prayer and Christian con
fidence,” Archbishop Paul J.
Hallinan of Atlanta asserted.
The Archbishop preached the
sermon at the enthronement of
the Most Rev. Francis Fred
erick Reh as the ninth Bishop
of Charleston in the Cathedral
of St. John the Baptist here.
Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York, en
throned the 51-year-old Bishop
who was consecrated in New
York City on June 29. Some
15 archbishops and bishops,
hundreds of clergy, Religious
and laity witnessed the solemn,
colorful ceremonies.
Highlight of the enthronement
ritual came when Bishop Reh
was escorted to his cathedral
throne and Cardinal Spellmna
presented him with thecrozier,
symbol of authority to govern
the 142-year-old Charleston
diocese. Following the en
thronement Bishop Reh offered
a Solemn Pontifical Mass.
Archbishop Hallinan chose as
his text a quotation from the
last sermon of the Most Rev.
John England, first Bishop of
Charleston, delivered in 1842—
“Be with your people, be of
them, win them to God—Guide,
govern and instruct them.”
The Charleston diocese today
has “developed beyond the
dreams of her first leader,”
Archbishop Hallinan said.
“Four dioceses now mark the
apoltolic map” that Bishop Eng
land “covered on foot and on
horseback,” he added.
Archbishop Hallinan, who
served as Bishop of Charleston
before he was named the first
Archbishop of Atlanta, paid a
warm tribute to the priests,
Religious and laity of Charles-
tion.
“Here is a laity, seasoned
and mature, already well-
versed in that responsible coop
eration with the clergy, called
for by our modern popes,” the
Archbishop said. “They work
with their bishops and priests
because they trust them.
our nation has been, and by
right ought to be, conscious
of its duties to God,” the Arch
bishop said.
“These Americans are as
aware of the delicacy of the
problem of religious plurali
sm as those who applaud the
new decision,” the Archbishop
continued. “They wish to pro
tect the rights of non-religi
ous minorities, but they are
equally concerned to protect
the rights of religious major
ities.
“They do not intend to per
mit the First Amendment of
the Constitution to be violated
by the official establishment
of a state-protected religion,
that of secular humanism,”
Archbishop Hallinan said.
“These Americans today ask
what else can be expected, if
this exclusion of so-called‘gov
ernment-written prayer’ is fol
lowed by other decisions—the
contents of which have already
been proposed by Justice
(William 0. ) Douglas—cast
ing out every vestige of re
ligion, ceremonial and patri
otic references to God, tax-
exemption of religious organi
zations, even the GI Bill of
Rights, from American public
(Continued on page 8)
PRAY FOR OUR
PRIESTLY DEAD
REV. H. J. HONECK
July 25, 1952
REV. MICHAEL T. REILLY
July 25, 1902
REV. THOMAS L. FINN
July 28, 1948
RT. REV. THOMAS
A. BECKER. D.D.
Sixth Bishop of Savannah
July 29, 1899
REV. JAMES MURPHY
July 29, 1877
REV. JAMES O’HARA
August 1, 1873
Oh God, Who didst give to
thy servants by their sacredotal
office, a share in the- priest
hood of the Apostles, grant,
we implore, that they may
also be one of their company
forever in heaven. Through
Christ Our Lord, Amen.
“There are, it is true,”
Archbishop Hallinan cautioned,
“certain forces in the South
as in the North which do not
understand this. In the face of
social changes and moral is
sues, these forces are trying
Most Rev. Francis J. Reh
Bishop of Charleston
to defeat the Church by divid
ing her people.
“Regardless of what you may
read,” he continued, “the Ca
tholic people of this diocese
are not torn by a divided loyal
ty, between their Church and
the past. They know what full
justice means--even more sig
nificantly, they know what full
courage can do.
“In 142 years they have been
tested too many times to think
of faltering now,” Archbishop
Hallinan continued. “They do
not walk with the partisans of
a discredited pattern of the
past. The movement of human
life is forward; the Catholic
people of the Diocese of Char
leston walk with the Church,
in that sureness and confidence
that are born of promises made
to the Church by Christ Him
self.”
Archbishop Hallinan told Bi
shop Reh, former rector of St.
Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers,
N.Y., the Charleston diocese
“is the beneficiary of a great
past and an even more pro
mising future.”
The majority of people of
South Carolina are non-Catho--
lics, but most Southerners love
the Bible, identify religion with
life and revere their churches,
Archbishop Hallinan said.
“The recent Supreme Court
decision has deeply disturbed
those Americans who hold that
Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh, D. D.
Thirty-five Years A Bishop
“He is an unusually young
man for the honor conferred
upon him, but as a man of
splendid traits and fine execu
tive ability, the choice is sure
to be a splendid one.”
An Atlanta Journal re
porter made that forecast
June 21, 1927, in the middle
of a story which caught the
fancy of the predominantly
Protestant South - the ap
pointment of Father Emmet
Michael Walsh as a Catholic
bishop.
A native Southerner - a Gero-
gia priest born in South Carolina
- had been appointed spititual
shepherd of the diocese in which
he was born. It was the signal
for daily newspapers in both
states to pull out all stops and
fill their news columns with
facts as well as predictions.
The facts gained new sig
nificance recently as Bishop
Walsh formally celebrated 35
years in the episcopacy. And
each year, many times over,
he has made the reporter’s
prediction come true.
THE STORY of the man who
at 35 became the youngest bish
op in the U. S. begins in Beau
fort, S. C., where he was born
March 6, 1892. He was the
eighth of 11 children of Wil-
helmina Jennerman Walsh, a
native New Yorker, and Thomas
F. Walsh, a Charleston-born
bookkeeper whose ancestors
came from County Clare, Ire
land.
The Walsh family was de
scribed in news stories as “one
of the most practical Catholic
families” of St. Peter Parish
there. As an infant, Bish
op Walsh was baptized there
by Bishop Henry Pinkney Nor
throp, fourth bishop of Char
leston, S. C.
There was no Catholic school
at St. Peters. Bishop Walsh at
tended catechism classes on
Sundays.
The family moved to Sav
annah, Ga. , when he was 14
years old, and he enrolled there
in Chatham Academy. After his
high school graduation in 1910,
he entered St. Bernard Semin
ary, Rochester, N. Y.
His scholarship in the semi
nary, recalled the Bulletin in
1927, was so outstanding that
Bishop Benjamin Keiley of Sav
annah “had hoped to send him
to Rome for the final years
of his theological studies. But
the World War in Europe made
it impossible.”
The same newspaper also
published a letter from one of
his former classmates, who
wrote of Bishop Walsh:
“His seminary life plainly
presaged the event which
the Diocese of Charleston is
happily celebrating at the pres
ent time. It does not seem so
long ago that we saw him on the
seminary campus, always af
fable, pleasant and a friend
to every man who wore the
cassock in that institution.
“He always was a serious
student without affectation and
a companion who was ever ready
to do favors to others regard
less of his own convenience or
comfort.”
The letter was from Francis
P. Keough, then assistant chan
cellor of the Hartford, Conn.,
Diocese, and later bishop
of Providence (1934-1937) and
archbishop of Baltimore from
1947 until his death last Dec. 8.
Archbishop Keough always
remained a close friend of Bish
op Walsh, and came here in
April 1959 to offer a Mass at
the dedication of St. Columba
Cathedral.
The St. Bernard ordination
class of 1916 was a rare one in
deed - five members later be
came bishops. The only other
prelate living is Bishop Walter
Foery of Syracuse.
Father Walsh was ordained
Jan. 15, 1916, by Bishop Keiley
in the Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist, Savannah, where he had
served the bishop as an altar
boy.
His first assignment was as
assistant at the Church of the
Immaculate Conception, mother
church of Georgia’s capital city
of Atlanta.
TEN MONTHS LATER - in
1917 - he became pastor of St.
Theresa Parish, Albany, Ga.,
* * * * *
The Most Rev. Emmet
M. Walsh, native of South
Carolina and former Geor
gia Priest, is marking his
35th anniversary as a Bish
op. Bishop Walsh, at 70,
has been a Bishop half his
life.
Celebrations marking the
event were held recently in
Youngstown, Ohio, the sec
ond See which the Bishop
has served as Ordinary.
The Prelate was Bishop of
Charleston from 1927 to
1949.
The Bulletin reprints
here the story of Bishop
Walsh’s life from The
Catholic Exponent, news
paper of the Diocese of
Youngstown.
* * * * *
and was placed in charge of the
southwest Georgia missions.
With one assistant, he minis
tered to about 1,000 Catholics
scattered over 16,000 square
miles, an area about twice the
size of Massachusetts. Every
week, he traveled hundreds of
miles to offer Mass and ad
minister the Sacraments.
His next assignment was in
1921 as pastor of St. Patrick
Parish, Savannah, where he
served for a year.
He returned to Immaculate
Conception, Atlanta, Dec. 31,
1922 - first as administrator and
later as pastor. He remained
there until his appointment by
Pope Pius XI as the sixth bish
op of the 107-year-old diocese
of Charleston, which embraces
all of South Carolina.
Unlike most priests elevated
to the episcopacy, he was never
a monsignor.
Newspapers in Charleston,
Savannah, and Atlanta extended
their congratulations. The Bull
etin observed that “Father
Walsh has earned a richly de
served reputation for his depth
of learning, capacity for work,
administrative ability, strong
yet kindly character, ripe
judgement and priestly zeal.”
The Albany Ga., Herald on
Sept. 14, 1927, noted:
“Few ministers who have
ever labored in Albany have
been more generally beloved
by the people, irrespective of
denominational lines, than this
still young man, who during his
ministry here about 10 years
ago, left on the community the
impress of his capacity, his
character and his conse
cration.”
When the day of the conse
cration arrived - Sept. 8, 1927
- more than 500 friends of Bish
op Walsh took a special train
from Charleston to Savannah.
Among the many visitors on
hand for the ceremony in St.
John Cathedral was a delegation
of Negro Catholics from Biship
Walsh’s home parish in Beau
fort, S. C.
In the packed cathedral, there
were four bishops, three abbots
and 100 priests from a dozen
states.
He was consecrated by Bishop
Michael J. Keyes, bishop of Sa
vannah from 1922 to 1935. Co-
consecrators were Bishop Pat
rick J. Barry of St. Augustine,
and Bishop William J. Hafey of
Raleigh.
Although Bishop Walsh’s fa
ther had died in 1920, his mother
saw the consecration. Receiving
congratulations afterward, she
comented:
“It was honor enough for me
to have him a priest.”
Bishop Walsh told a banquet
gathering afterward that he
could not “but feel fearful of
the responsibilities,” but that
he was “heartened that God will
give me the grace to bear the
burdens of the office,” He ad
ded:
“I go back with joy in my
heart to my native state to a
people I know and who know
me. I go regretfully, but not
unwillingly.”
A half-dozen speakers prais
ed the new bishop, and when he
was introduced, the Savannah
Morning News said he recieved
“an ovation which is given to
one to witness but a few times
in a lifetime.”
Bishop Walsh responded with
typical humility. He declared:
“I wish I were worthy of all
the kind and generous things
said about me today. While my
conscience tells me that
they are not true, I am happy
that they were said because
they indicated the friendship
of those who said them, and
the applause showed that al
though they were not true, you
wish they were.”
He offered his first ponti
fical Mass three days later in
St. Patrick Church, Savannah,
where he was once pastor.
After making the rounds of
all the parishes where he was
once assigned, Bishop Walsh
headed for Charleston for his
installation Sept. 22, 1927, in
the Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist.
When he arrived by train,
approximately 1,000 priests and
laymen met him at the ter
minal. About 100 cars were in
the procession that escorted
him to his new home. Traffic
on Broad St. in Charleston was
blocked, and thousands of people
lined the streets to wave to the
new bishop.
The people of the Charleston
diocese never lost their enthu
siasm for Bishop Walsh. In the
next 22 years, they gave him
their support as he built 25
churches and four hospitals.
IN 1929, he established vaca
tion schools in areas which had
no Catholic School. In the sum
mer, youngsters would gather
daily at specified centers for
five hours of religious instruc
tion for three weeks.
The next year, he expanded
the program by establishing
two vacation camps for young
sters who lived in rural areas.
Youngsters 7 to 18 spent three
weeks at the camps, and follow
ed a program which empha
sized religion classes and re
creation. In the first seven
years of this program, 1,500
youngsters from 63 villages
attended-some coming from as
far away as 250 miles.
The number of pupils in Cath
olic schools, meanwhile, rose
25 per cent from 1927 to 1937.
In 1935, he founded the Study
Club movement, designed to
interest adults - Catholics and
non-Catholics alike - in learn
ing more about the Faith. It
was immediately successful,
and within two years, 200 clubs
had a total enrollment of 2,000.
HE ALSO strengthened the
Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women, and succeeded in bring
ing the council’s national con
vention to Charleston, smallest
city ever to entertain such a
meeting.
It was a difficult diocese to
administer, because Catholics
composed only four per cent
of the population, and they lived
in a 30,000-square mile area. A
(Continued on page 8)
WITH HOLY FATHER - Bishop Walsh is pictured with Pope John during His “ad
Limina” visit in 1959.
Protestant Clergy,
Laity Laud Retreat
FAULKNER, Md., (NC) -
Eighteen Protestant clergy and
laymen had high praise for
a Catholic retreat they attended
at Loyola Retreat House here.
The “Retreat for Fellow
Christians” was conducted by
Father Gustave Weigel, S. J.,
professor of theology at Wood-
stock (Md.) College. It was
originally planned fo r Protes
tant laymen only, but 11 min
isters were accommodated be
cause of the large number of
Protestant clergy who ex
pressed the wish to attend a
retreat here August 13 to 15
for Christian clergymen.
One of the men taking part
in the recent retreat said: “A
retreat of this type will pro
vide the open-minded Protes
tant with a logical explanation
of those things concerning
Catholicism which he has felt
for centuries have been with
held intentionally from him.”
One minister remarked that
“such gatherings may eventu
ally enable us to discover our
true identity as brothers in
Christ.”
Another minister said that
Father Weigel “rooted the med
itations in that which is common
to all Christians - the Lord-
ship of Christ.”
Denominations represented
at the retreat included Meth
odists, Anglo-Catholics, Bap
tists, Lutherans and Episcopa
lians.
More than 60 Protestant
clergymen are expected to at
tend the retreat in August.
Father Weigel will be the re
treat master.
Both the laymen’s retreat and
the retreat for Christian clergy
are sponsored by the National
Catholic Laymen’s Retreat
Conference.
INDEX
MARRIAGES 2
LEGION OF DECENCY 3
EDITORIALS 4
DORIS ANSWERS YOUTH.. . . 4
OBITUARIES 2
BOOK REVIEWS 7
“Veep” Chides
Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, (NC) — Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson
burned a high, hard one across
against the “Nine Old Men”
here at a luncheon in connection
with the baseball All-Star
game.
Johnson was a principal spea
ker (July 9) at the luncheon.
A baseball fan, he noted the
plight of the Washington Sena
tors, mired in last place in
the American League. Johnson
said: “I am among those who
have prayed for the Washington
Senators--if the Supreme Court
doesn’t mind.”
Third Son In Chinese
Family To Be Priest
RABAUL, New Guinea, (NC) -
When the Rev. Albert Chan,
M.S.C., becomes a priest on
July 21 he will be the third
priest in a family of 14 that
also includes three nuns.
The two other priest-sons
of 82-year-old Chan Ai Chai,
Father Gabriel Chan, S.J., and
Father Luke Chan, are some
where in Red China. So is
one of the Nuns, Mother Eliza
beth Chan.
There are 700 Chinese Cath
olics in this former capital of
New Guinea. The first Chinese
convert was received into the
Church in 1902.