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Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
VOL. XX. No. 2
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 25, 1939
ISSUED MONTHLY—$2.00 A YEAR
Notes on the Church in Wilmington, N. C.
FATHER McDEVITTE
NOW IN WILMINGTON
North Carolina Priest Has
Had Fruitful Career
St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Wilmington
St. Mary’s Cathedral, Wilmington, N. C.
(Special To The Bulletin)
WILMINGTON, N. C.— The Rev.
Bernard McDevitte, administrator of
St- Mary’s Pro-Cathedral here dur
ing the illness of Father James
Manley, is one of the most widely
known priests of the Diocese of
Raleigh; few had the wide exper
ience that has been his in every part
of the widespread Diocese which
runs from the Atlantic to Tennessee,
and which is bordered also by Vir
ginia, West Virginia, South Carolina,
and Georgia.'
Bom in Donegal in Ireland, Father
McDevitte came to the United States
while quite young, and was educat
ed in Asheville and at Belmont Ab
bey, where he made his studies in
the classics, philosophy and theology.
Ordained in 1923 by the late Bishop
Haid. Abbot-Ordinary of Belmont
and Vicar-Apostolic of North Caro
lina. his first appointment was to
St. Mary’s in Wilmington, where he
remained from 1923 to 1926. .
Appointed pastor at Waynesville,
one of the highest points in North
Carolina, he acquired property for
the parish church and rectory,
lignidating the debt in six years.
He followed his service there with
two years at West Asheville, where
he was pastor of St. Joan of Arc
Church, then going to Rocky Mount,
where he was pastor for four years.
His energetic labor in these posts
finally broke his health, and he re
tired from parish work, but assisted
the Diocese during that period by
appearances and collections in large
churches in the North. He then re
turned to active work in the Diocese
as pastor at Spruce Pine, where he
remained until he came to Wilming
ton when sickness required Father
Manley to give up his duties tem
porarily.
Father McDevitte in addition to
being known from one end of the
Diocese to the other counts all those
who know him as his friends. His
enthusiastic zeal and friendly per
sonality make him universally pop
ular, and he is particularly beloved
in Wilmington where he started his
priestly career thirteen years ago.
N. CAROLINA MARKS
BOY SCOUT SUNDAY
(Special to The Bulletin)
SOUTHERN PINES, N. C.—Catholic
Boy Scout Troops in Nortn Carolina,
of whom the Rev. Thomas A. Wil
liams is Diocesan chaplain, observed
Boy Scout Sunday February 14 by re
ceiving Holy Communion and reciting
the Act of Consecration to Our Lady
at the Mass or, where there were
evening services, at such services.
The Act of Consecration to Our Lady
by the Boy Scouts is approvedby the
Most Rev. Michael J. Curley, D. D.,
Archbishop of Baltimore, and by the
Bishops' Committee on Catholic
Scouting for Public Recitation in all
churches.
Five Countries Send
Students to Belmont
Fourteen States Represent
ed in Abbey College
Student Body
(Special to The Bulletin)
BELMONT, N. C. — Fourteen states
and four foreign countries are repre
sented in this year’s enrollment at
Belmont Abbey College, the records of
Registrar David J. Gomey show.
North Carolina is represented by 97
students, with Georgia second with 12.
Vjrginia has nine, Ohio eight, West
Virgina and South Carolina seven,
New York and Pennsylvania five,
Florida four, Massachusetts three,
New Jersey two, and New Hampshire,
Michigan. Kentucky and the-District
of Columbia one each. Six students
are from Cuba, three from Guam, and
one from Panama and from Egypt.
Augusta, Ga., leads the cities outside
North Carolina, with nine; Norfolk,
Va., has six, Columbia, S. C., and Bel-
lalre. Ohio, five; Wheeling, W. Va.,
four, and Framingham, Mass., Rich
mond. Va., and Jacksonville, Fla.,
three.
Whiteville, N. C., Mission’s
Church First Some Members
of Congregation Ever Saw
Sixteen Catholics Who Atte nded First Mass There Had
Been Baptized and Received Holy Communion in
Private Homes—Never B efore in Catholic Church
(Special To The Bulletin)
WHITEVILLE, N. C.— From the
days of Cardinal Gibbons, Wilming
ton has been the center of a great
mission territory, and although the
expansiveness of the territory is
only a fraction as great now as even
a generation ago, nevertheless it em
braces a portion of North Carolina
greater than many Dioceses. One of
these missions is Whiteville. which
in itself is the center of mission ac
tivity at such distant points as Lake
Waccamaw, Hallsboro, Clarkton,
Chaobourn, Evergreen, Cerro Gordo,
Fair Bluff, Hills and Tabor City.
The mission and section is under
the care of the Rev. Francis J. How
ard of St. Mary’s Church, Wilming
ton; among the forty thousand per
sons resident in the section there
are only fifty Catholics. Until re
cently Father Howard brought them
Mass by offering the Divine Sacri
fice in private homes; the last time
he said Mass in a private home in
Whiteville, a sewing machine served
as an altar.
But no longer is Mass said in pri
vate homes here; recently under the
direction of Father Howard, the sub
stantial Chapel of the Sacred Heart
was completed, and Bishop Eugene J.
McGuinness of Raleigh dedicated it
late in the fall. It is of brick con
struction. seats one hundred and
twenty-five persons, has a scacristy
large enough to serve as quarters for
the priest while he is on the mis
sions. It cost $4,300 exclusive of
furnishings. Extension Society con
tributing $2,000- The Catholics of
the city and section contributed
liberally considering their means,
but a large debt still remains for a
parish of that size.
To appreciate what the church
means to the few scattered Catho
lics of the Whiteville section, one
must consider that Wilminghton,
from which it is served, is fifty miles
away and that while Mass has been
said in this city and in the com
munities named for nearly fifty
years, the Mass on the occasion of
the dedication of the church was
only the second ever said there on
a Sunday; previously it was only
on an occasional week-day that Mass
could be brought to the people- Of
the fifty persons present when the
first Mass was said, twenty-six re
ceived Holy Communion; sixteen of
these had never been inside a Cath
olic Church before, although faith
ful and devout Catholics. They had
been baptized and received their first
Holy Communion in private homes,
and had been attending Mass and
receiving Holy Communion in pri
vate-homes since. . _
The parish had no Happier soul on
the day of the dedication of the
chapel than a devoted widow at
whose home priests have been say
ing Mass for forty-seven years; at
times in the early days sometimes
several years would elapse between
visits of priests, because of the
difficulties common then. Since
the advent of better roads and auto
mobiles, Mass has been said in her
home regularly once a month. But
she never ceased praying and work
ing for a church, especially since her
non-Catholic negihbors would ask
why, if hers was the true Church, it
had no edifice in Whiteville. More
than half the members of the congre
gation are her children and grand
children.
FATHER HOLLAND IS
ST. THOMAS PASTOR
In Charge of Parish for
Colored Catholics of City
FATHER HOLLAND, pastor of
the colored parish, is a member of
the Society of St. Joseph or Joseph-
ite Fathers, devoted to the work for
the colored. The parish is one of
the pioneer parishes for the colored
in the South, and the church St.
Mary’s formerly Cardinal Gibbons’
Cathedral, was appropriately given
to the work for the colored when the
new St. Mary’s was erected. The
memory of Cardinal Gibbons hangs
like a halo over the parish, remind
ing the parishoners and others of
the Cardinal’s interest in the work
for the colored people even in the
pioneer days in which he had so
many crushing problems.
THE FRANCISCAN Sisters of
Baltimore conduct the parish school
for the colored, which now has over
200 pupils. The school started with
a handfull of pupils, and it was ex
ercised among the colored children
and the colored population of Wil
mington a blessed influence which
cannot be overestimated.
BISHOP B. J. SHEIL, of Chicago,
has been made ‘'admiral of the flag
ship fleet” in the American Airlines
in recognition of his work when the
Catholic Youth Organization and his
promotion of aviation activity among
the youth of Chicago. The Rev. Peter
D. Meegan, secretary for Bishop
Sheil„ received a like honor.
MISSION IN CHARGE
OF REV. F. J. HOWARD
Veteran of World War, He
Was Formerly in Business
in Milwaukee
FATHER HOWARD, in charge of
the Whiteville mission territory,
which he serves from Wilmington,
where he is located at St. Mary’s
Pro-Cathedral, left a promising
business career to devote his life to
the service of the altar. A native
of Grand -Rapids, Mich., as a boy he
served Mass for two priests who were
to reach great heights in the Ameri
can Church, Bishop Michael J-
Gallagher of Detroit, who died in
recent years, and Bishop Joseph
Schrembs of Cleveland, formerly
Bishop of Toledo. After graduating
from school he entered business in
Milwaukee, becoming widely known
in the floor contracting line, partic
ularly in Wisconsin and Northern
Michigan.
At the outbreak of the war, Father
Howard interrupted his business
career to enlist, serving in Texas; he
then returned to his business, re
maining until he felt the call to the
altar. He spent a year at the Pau-
list Novitiate in New Jersey, and
followed it with study at St. Bene
dict’s in Kansas, Mount St. Mary’s
Seminary and the Catholic Univer
sity of America, being ordained in
1936 at Mt. St. Mary's in Maryland
by Bishop John M. McNamara. Aux
iliary Bishop of Baltimore. He has
been located in Wilmington and on
its missions since his ordination, and
has endeared himself to the people
of the city and missions by his self-
sacrificing zeal. He was one of ten
children; he had the sorrow of los
ing his mother by death July 11 of
last year, and officiated at her fun
eral Mass in Grand Rapids; his six
brothers were pallbearers- Father
Howard's father is still living in the
family home, a farm near Grand
Rapids, at the age of 82.
CHARLOTTE PROGRESS
WILL BE RECORDED
IN MARCH BULLETIN
Charlotte. N. C., where the Rev.
Maurice McDonnell, O. S. B., is pas
tor. is to have a new church, near
ODonoghue School, the parish school
of St. Peter's Church. Mercy Hospital,
which Is conducted by the Sisters of
Mercy and which has been enlarged
several times since Its founding, is
again expanding. The next issue of
The Bulletin will emphasize these and
other indications of Catholic progress
in Charlotte, one of the mose progres
sive cities of the South.
REV. JAMES MANLEY
PASTOR OF HISTORIC
ST. MARY'S PARISH
Monsignor Dennen Pastor
Emeritus—Father Holland
Pastor of Church for Col
ored Catholics
ST. MARY’S parish, Wilmington,
is one of the most historic parishes
in the South; it was here that the
then Bishop James Gibbons resided
when in 1868 he came to North
Carolina as Vicar-Apostolic, to start
the career in the Episcopacy which
was to bring him to the College of
Cardinals and to the threshold of the
Papacy itself.
REV. JAMES MANLEY is pastor
of St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral, one of
the finest edifices in the State, irres
pective of denomination Father
Manley, whose achievements have
been previously recorded in The
Bulletin, was an assistant in Ashe
ville in the early days of the War,
volunteered for service with the per
mission of the then Bishop Haid,
and saw service at the front in
France where he participated in sev
eral major engagements, receiving
injuries which resulted in his dis
charge. He still bears the marks of
his heroic service. He is one of the
few priests in the country to be
elected commander of an American
Legion Post and delegate to a na
tional convention.
Father Manley is at the present
time ill in the hospital but is report
ed greatly improved and it is antici
pated he will be able to return to
his duties soon. None of his inter
ests outside his priestly duties give
him more pleasure or are more ef
fective than his work with the boys
and young men, in whom he had a
particular interest. He equipped a
gymnasium at the Knights of Co
lumbus with the cooperation of
members of the Council, and here
he instructed the boys and young
men in the rudiments of the manly
art. He was a leading factor in the
organization of the “Golden Gloves”
tournament, and Father Manley's
boys, a number of whom are not
Catholics, have given splendid ac
counts of themselves in tournaments
in distant cities.
MSGR. CHRIS DENNEN. pastor
emeritus of St. Mary's built the
great St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral
Church, which last year marked its
silver jubilee. Located in one of
the finest sections of the city, yet
not far from the business section,
the church was designed by the
famed architect Augustine Gustav-
ino, who designed St. Lawrence’s
Church at Asheville, and who was
brought to North Carolina by the
Vanderbilts to design and supervise
the construction of Biltmore near
Asheville. In recognition of his
services as vicar-general of the
Diocese, the then Father Dennen
was made a Monsignor in 1923 at the
request of Bishop Haid. Archbishop
Curley as administrator of the
Diocese after its creation following
the death of Bishop Haid renewed
Monsignor Dennen’s appointment as
Vicar-General, and he served in that
capacity also after the coming of
Bishop Hafey and until his retire
ment from active work.
CARDINAL GIBBONS resided at
St. Thomas’ Church during his resi
dence in North Carolina as Vicar-
Apostolic: it was at St. Thomas’
Church, then the Cathedral, that he
wrote most of the famous work.
“The Faith of Our Fathers.” The
cornerstone of the church was laid
May 28, 1846, by Bishop Reynolds,
shortly after the death of the great
Bishop England, who passed to his
reward in 1842. Dr. P. N. Lvnch,
later Bishop of Charleston, deliver
ing the rermon. St. Thomas’ Church
is now the parish church of the col
ored Catholics of the city, with the
Rev. Timothy Holland, S. S. J., as
pastor.
THE SISTERS OF MERCY con
duct the parish school which shares
the glories of the history of the par
ish; it is one of the oldest Catholic
schools in the Southeast. From St.
Mary’s parish school have gone out
over a period extending through
generations a stream of Christian-
minded and Christian-hearted young
people who as men and women have
had a profound influence for good
(Continued on Three-AJ -