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SEVEN
MARCH 31, 1934
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
ish History Started Sixty Years Ago
FIRST CHURCH ONCE
GEORGIA LAW SCHOOL
St. Joseph’s Church and Rectory, Athens
FATHER KING ATHENS
PASTOR EIGHT YEARS
Parish Was Mission Until
1910. Father Clark First,
Father King Second Pastor
New Gainesville Church Indi
cation of Mission’s Progress
Under His Direction
In 1873, when the South was bat
tling to recover from the effects of
the War Between the States, the
Most Rev. William H. Gross, C.SS.R.,
D.D., Bishop of Savannah, later
rchbishop of Oregon City, laid the
first foundations of the present St.
Joseph's parish in Athens by visit
ing the city, purchasing a wooden
structure, and celebrating Mass for
the few Catholics then residing there.
The building Bishop Gross bought
is of great historic interest. It was
the original law school of the Uni
versity of Georgia; in this building
the Supreme Court of Georgia held
its first session. Before Bishop Gross
bought it, it was used as a public
school. Bishop Gross intended to es
tablish an orphanage in Athens, but
the orphanage was established at
Washington, Ga., instead.
. From 1873, Athens was attended by
priests from Washington, Sharon, At
lanta and Augusta. Records give the
names of Father Michael Reiley, 1873;
Father James O’Brien, the founder
of the Washington orphanage, 1874;
Father Joseph Heidencamp, S. J.. a
pioneer of the Augusta Jesuit par
ish, 1876: Father Thomas O’Hara,
1878; Father Charles Wightman, 1880-
81; Father Thomas A. McConville,
1881-85; Father A. J. Semmes, 1886-93.
The Marist Fathers in Atlanta appear
to have been in charge from 1893
to 1910.
Among the Sharon priests who at
tended the Athens mission, the name
of Father Bernard Doyle is particu
larly treasured; he was drowned
while on a sick call, and a young
Irishman, Mr. Monoghan, who was
with him. also lost his life. They
were buried in Sharon in 1879.
Among Bishop Gross’s converts
were Col. and Mrs. Albert Lamar.
Other widely known persons enter
ed the Church. But removals to oth-.
er cities prevented the growth of the
parish. The Colemans moved to At
lanta. the Laffertys. of which fami
ly the Rev. Sr. M. Genevieve, su
perior of Sacred Heart Convent and
School, Atlanta, is a member, to Ma
con, the Meadowcrofts to Augusta,
and others to other cities.
In July. 1910. the Rev. H. F. Clark,
now pastor of St. Anthony’s Church,
Atlanta, was named first resident
pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, Ath
ens. by the Most Rev. Benjamin-J.
Keiley, D. D., then Bishop of Savan
nah. Three years later. November
17, 1913, the present beautiful church
was finished by Father Clark. The
year following, December 5, 1914, the
splendid and commodious rectory was
completed. The small and strug
gling congregation not being able to
finance the erection of the church
and rectory, Father Clark succeed
ed in putting them up by interesting
friends of his in the North, especial
ly in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh,
his boyhood home.
Under Father Clark’s inspiring ef
forts, Catholicity flourished in Ath
ens as never before, and when he
was appointed pastor of St. Anthony's
Church in Atlanta and left, January
2, 1896. to assume his new post, he
left behind him a splendid parish
plant, one of the finest to be found
anywhere in a parish of its size, and
a Catholic spirit comparable to the
physical appearance of the parish.
■ Father Clark’s successor, the Rev.
James E. King, the second pastor of
■ St. Joseph’s Church and the Athens
missions, is now in his ninth year as
pastor. An account of his fine rec-
' ord of achievement is found else
where in this issue.
St. Michael’s Church, Gainesville, Ga.
On the Northeast Georgia Missions, the Rev. James E. King', Pastor
The Rev. James E. King, pastor of
St. Joseph’s Church and the North
east Georgia Missions, has the dis
tinction of being pastor of one of
the largest organized parishes to be
found anywhere, a distinction which
brings a heavy load of responsibilities.
The Catholic Missionary Society of
Georgia estimates that the Northeast
Georgia Missions include in their ter
ritory about 15,000 square miles, twice
the size of Massachusetts, and ex
tending from the Alabama to the
South Carolina lines, across north-
central Georgia. Until recently Fath
er King, like his predecessor, served
this vast territory alone. Now he has
tire assistance of the Rev. Nicholas
Quinlan
4 Masses in Four Cities Said
by 2 Priests Sunday Schedule
Athens and Griffin Now Have Mass Every Sunday, Al
though It Requires Long Trips Between Masses
A new era in the history of the
Church in Athens opened recently
when the Rev. James E. King, pastor,
announced that hereafter there will
be Mass at St. Joseph's Church every
Sunday instead of every second Sun
day, the previous arrangement.
Until recently it was impossible to
have Mass at Athens except on alter
nate Sundays because of the great
expanse of territory on the Athens
missions, extending from West Point,
Ga., on the Alabama line across the
central and northeast section of the
state to South Carolina, including
about twenty missions. From Athens
to LyGrange and West Point is in the
neighborhood of 150 miles toward the
southv/est; to Griffin is about one
hundred miles over the most direct
route, with the most practicable route
an indirect one. Father King and his
predecessor, Father Clark, served this
vast territory alone.
Recently, however, the Most Rev.
Michael J. Keyes, D. D., Bishop of
Savannah, has managed to arrange
to assign the Rev. Nicholas Quinlan to
assist Father King at Athens, thus
making a Mass in the University City
every Sunday possible.
There is a Mass at St. Joseph’s
Church, Athens, every Sunday at
eight. On the first and third Sundays
there is a second Mass at ten. Tne
week-day Mass is at 7:30-
MASS EVERY SUNDAY
AT GRIFFIN ALSO
The new arrangement has made it
possible to have a Mass every Sunday
at Sacred Heart Church, Griffin,
also; the Mass each Sunday is at 10:30.
LaGRANGE has Mass on the sec
ond, fourth and fifth Sundays at 7:30.
GAINESVILLE’S Sunday Masses
are on the second, fourth and fifth
Sundays at eleven.
Masses are said on the mission sta
tions sprinkled from Alabama to
South Carolina on week-days.
This schedule requires long trips
through the country by the priests
between Masses and while fasting, in
good weather and bad, and over
muddy or dusty roads as well as
over paved boulevards. From La-
Grange to Griffin is perhaps over
sixty-five miles, and this trip must
be made on the second, fourth and
fifth Sunday in order to have Mass
there at 10:3G, after the Mass at La-
The erection of St. Michael’s Chapel
at GairaesviJlc on the Northeast Geor
gia Missions, by the Rev. James E.
King, pastor, is one of the latest in
dications of Catholic progress in this
mission territory and in the Diocese
of Savannah. The Most Rev. Michael
J. Keyes, D. D., Bishop of Savan
nah, dedicated the chapel April 3C
of last year. The chapel, designed by
the Rev. Michael Mclnerney, O. S. B.,
of Belmont Abbey, N. C., is shown
above; at the right is an interior view
cf the church. The chopek while
small, has all the dignity of a great
cathedral, and its construction of
Stone Mountain granite makes it as
permanen. An aliar of pink Georgia
marble, stained glass windows, Sta
tions of the Cross which are colored
oleographs set in niches and o.ret
comparable appointments make the
interior as devotional as the exterior
is substantial and graceful. Adjoin
ing the chapel is the pries.’s quarters.
Gainesville has no resident pastor; it
is served from Athens. ....
Fr. Clarkson to Give
Retreat at Augusta
Father King is a native of Troy.
N. Y.. and was educated there and at
St. Bernard’s Seminary. Rochester, N.
Y„ where he made his courses in
philosophy and theology. Coming to
Georgia in the early days of the
episcopate of Bishop Keyes, he was
first assigned to the Cathedral of St.
John the Baptist. Savannah, and then
was named administrator of St. An
thony’s Church. Atlanta, after the re-
Rev. O. N. Jackson,
since deceased.
Eight years ago Father King was
appointed castor a* Athens. He found
a substantial parish plant there, one
of the finest to be found anywher _■
in a parish of its size. On this ma
terial foundation he has increased th 1
spiritual super-s'ructure, as indicated
by stories of parish activity elsewhere
in this issue.
Other places in the missions were
not as fortunate as Athens. Gaines
ville had r.o church; it has one now.
Griffin had a church; now it has a
church with splendid adjoining prop
erty.
In other parts of the vast mission
territory Failier King similarly car
ried on from the point where Father
Clark left off when he went to At
lanta as pastor of St. Anthony’s
Church.
The most important development in
the Northeast Georgia Missions has
been the increased facilities for Mass
for-the people—every Sunday notv at
Athens and Griffin, and more fre
quently elsewhere. For “it is the
Mass that counts’’ even more than
the material development of the
church property of a territory, al
though material development is often
the reflection of spiritual progress.
Father King comes of a reliigous
family. His brother, the Rev. Christo
pher King, is one of the most widely
known nastors of the Diocese of
Albany, N. Y. Father King also lias
a sister who is a Sister of St. Jo
seph in his native Diocese of Albany.
Father King carried on the family
tradition by volunteering for the mis
sions of Georgia.
AUGUSTA, Ga.—The Rev. F. J.
Clarkson, S. J., pastor of St. Joseph’s
Church. Macon, will conduct the re
treat for the students of Mt. St.
Joseph’s Academy, starting Thurs
day evening, April 5 at eight p. m.,
and, ending Sunday afternoon. The
retreat is open not only to the stu
dents of Mt. St. Joseph’s but to> any
women interested in making the re
treat with the girls of the school.
Grange at 7:30 while the priest who
says Mass at Athens at eight is going
across the mountains to afford the
Catholics at Gainesville and its sur
rounding territory an opportunity of
assisting at Mass at 11.
This is but an indication of the
sacrifices that priests on the missions
are making throughout Georgia and
the South as well as elsewhere in the
nation. The missionary era is still
with us in the United Stales.
Provincial of Jesuit
Fathers in Georgia
Father Walsh Also Visits
Houses of Order in Florida
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Very Rev.
Joseph M. Walsh, S.J.. provincial of
the Jesuit Fathers in the South, who.
is on an official tour of the houses of
the order in the Southeast, was a
guest of the Rev. J. B. Franckhauser,
S.J.. pastor of Sacred Heart Church
and the Jesuit Fathers here last
week. Father Walsh, who previously
visited tlie Jesuit Fathers of Florida,
was accompanied by the Rev. J. J. Mc
Carthy, S.J. From Augusta Father
Walsh and Father McCarthy went to
Macon where they were the guests
of the Rev. F. J. Clarkson, SJ., pastor
of St. Joseph’s Church.