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SEPTEMBER 28, 1940
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THIRTEEN
BEYOND OKEFENOKEE
By the Reverend Frederick V. Gilbert, O. M. I.
Immaculate Conception Church
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Augusta, ejected In 1912,
serves the colored Catholics of the city. The Rev. George Laugel, S, M. A.,
is the pastor, with the Rev. Michael Moylan, S. M. A., assistant. Attached
to the church is a parish school, with the Franciscan Sisters in charge. The
Sisters also conduct the Franciscan Home for colored children.
Immaculate Conception Church
Serves Augusta’s Colored Catholics
Across the Okefenokee Swamp—
forty miles from Douglas—is the vil
lage of Lakeland, Georgia- There is
not a Catholic in the town—but more
than a hundred enthusiastic Negroes
are receiving instructions weekly at
this newest Oblate Colored Mission.
What is being done there is vividly
described by one of the Oblate
Fathers of Mary Immaculate attached
to St. Paul's Church, Douglas, from
which that section of the South
Georgia Missions is served.
So you have never been beyond
Okefenokee?
We ourselves have never been be
yond Okefenokee. (“We ourselves”
included Father Gerald Kenealy and
Father Joseph Bollard).
We have never met the man who
wrote “Chloe”, but we are half in
clined to suspect that the “dismal
swamp land" through which he roam
ed must have been Okefenokee. For
those of you up there in t-.e North
who are used to such luxuries as the
Southern Boulevard, the Lincoln
Highway, and the Newburyport Turn
pike. it will be difficult to imagine
what kind of trip it takes to get to
the other side of Okefenokee. Our
headlights are picking the way down
a narrow, twisting road of mud and
ruts. Off the road you will see
no signs of life, no houses, not even
a light.
The cold damp air seeping into the
car tells you that out there in the
world are the great, desolate, brood
ing swamp-lands of the Okefenoo—
mud. water, brambles, and the heavy,
dark odors of rotting vegetation.
Forty miles of this! And you drive
forty miles without passing a single
car. If you ever want to know what
the word loneliness means, try driving
down this road in Georgia. But then,
it is really worth it all because we
started out. if you recall, to get to
the other side of- Okefenokee.
Here we are, at last, rollong into
Lakeland- What in the wide world
has brought us all the way down to
Lakeland? If you want to know the
reason, you would have to go all
the way to Thomasville and ask
Father Joseph Cassidy. But that
would only be a long detour, so, here
is the story in a few words.
For the past several weeks. Father
Cassidy had been visiting a large
group of colored people here in Lake
land. He had shown them moving
pictures and explained the Catholic
Church. When he saw how interested
these colored people were, he wanted
to begin regular instructions at once.
Howevei, since he had been assign
ed to a distant parish in Thomasville
this was impossible.
Bishop O'Hara then asked Father
Provincial if it would be possible
for me Oblate Fathers of Douglas to
take over the regular instruction of
these people. Father Provincial took
this opportunity of fulfilling the motto
of our Congregation. “He hath sent
me* to evangelize the poor”. And
that, briefly, is why we wanted to
get to the other side of Okefenokee.
After that forty-mile drive, Lake
land is a welcome sight- On the
outskirts of the little village we can
see a large, rickety building. This
is the old school house. The people
are gathered there waiting to see
their new priests.
Though we have never before step
ped into that old school house in
Lakeland, we feel nevertheless that
we have come home to friends who
have been waiting long for us. At
first there is a buzz of excitement
running through the large crowd,
which changes suddenly to a respect
ful silence when we enter. For a
second or two all we can hear is the
loud, cheerful crackling of burning
wood in the stoves.
Then, after many “helloes” and
hand-shakes, we are ready to get
down to work.
At eight o’clock the meeting gets
underway with a prayer. Father
Kenealy raises his voice to intone the
hymn “Come Holy Ghost”-
These colored folks have never
heard the hymn before; they have
never had a LaSalle hymnal; but
in a few seconds they are not only
following the melody but are har
monizing as well. Father Kenealy,
who always wanted to direct a choir,
has visions in that brief moment of
Gaberis' four part Mass to the Im
maculate Conception, No. 8. Well,
perhaps . . . perhaps-
You would be surprised to learn
that they sat there, one hundred d
four of them, as quiet and eager as
children. There in the first row are
fifteen boys, eyes glistening with de
light- following every gesture of the
preacher. And over there, sitting
by the fire, wrapped in their
shawls, are two dignified women, both
of them over seventy. In the middle
of the hall are the young men and
women attentively listening to this
“new religion”. They have never seen
an Oblate Cross before. And so,
from time to time, their eyes are
running from the speaker’s face to the
crucifix-
Sitting down there in the crowd are
twe members of the school committee.
Bern of them belong to the Baptist
Church, but both are vitally interest
ed in these instructions. While we
are speaking, a blind man who is all
cf eighty, is led into the hall by a
younger man.
We talk to them for an hour, taking
half hour turns. After the sermons
they ask many questions.
This is, by far, the most heartening
mission field in this vast, territory.
Even though we have been giving
these instructions for only a month
or so, the people have found a way
into our hearts. And we know at
least one case where the feelings are
mutual. “I want to tell yuh. Ah
’preciates all you is doin’ for us
folks”, said one old man to us.
There is. of course, one big dis
advantage to a spot like Lakeland.
Like so much of the work among
our colored people in the South,
there is very little in it to attract
the attention of those who could help-
We have no stories about the old
burning gnats of far-off India to
tell you; we have no thrilling pic
tures with the distinctive foreign
touch of, let us say, sand dunes, tom
toms. or native war dances; no chop
sticks, javelins, huskies, igloos or
kayaks. We doubt if we could- dig
up a leaky rowboat for your pleasure.
All we have is plenty of plain, poor.
L/able Georgians darkies, stranded
on the other side of Okefenokee.
Some students whom I taught when
I was in Buffalo have adopted this
mission as their field for social ser
vice aid, and have sent one hundred
Baltimore Catechisms- These were
distributed to the Lakeland people
and were received with much eager-
nes. If we only hau a hundred
more! We know at least a hundred
poor souls down here who would
be only too glad to get them.
One of the boys gave us an in
sight into their love for “new
religion” when we went to visit his
mother, an old colored woman who
has fourteen children. While speak
ing to her we saw the lad steal
into the oil-lighted room, and lift
the corner of the bed mattress. He
hid his catechism there. One catech
ism among fourteen younsgters is a
very precious book-
The Most Reverend Gerald P.
O'Hara. Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta.
whom we quote from the 1940 publi
cation of "Our Negro and Indian
Missions", said. “The Oblates of Mary
Immaculate have made a founda
tion in this diocese, and it is their
desire to do work for the Negroes.
Of course we are confronted with
the old difficulty of lack of means
to finance new projects. The fields
are white for the harvest; if we only
had the laborers to send into the
vineyard and the means to support
them, glorious chapters could be writ
ten in the work for the Negroes of
this religion.”
Those few words of the Bishop are
a complete description of the con
ditions of our Southern Missions.
However, we still like to dream. You
cannot blame us for that. Some day
we hope to see a church in Lakeland.
We know that these good colored
people would gladly put this build
ing up with their own hands.
In the meantime, however, it is
pleasantly strange to think that in
a short while these humble Geor
gian folks will begin to know all
our fine old Catholic traditions. With
God’s blessing on our work, and
with the help of all your prayers,
we shall see the other side of
Okefenokee grow into a thriving
Catholic community.
Over thirty years ago the Rev- Eu
gene Peter and the Rev. A. J. Laube,
of the Society of African Missions
came to establish a parish for the
colored Catholics of the city-
Before the parish was formed the
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception had erected an orphanage
and school on Twelfth Street, which
now has several hundred pupils.
Mass was first said for the mem
bers of Augusta's colored parish in
the old Macbeth Hall, on the ground
floor of which a school was opened.
The cornerstone of the present sub
stantial Church of the Immaculate
Conception was laid in May, 1913, and
the church and rectory was dedicated
in December of that year.
After the World War, when Camp
Hancock was abandoned, Father
Laube secured one of the Knights of
Columbus buildings, and re—erected
it as a parish hall.
Father Laube served as pastor of
the church for twenty-five years leav
ing some years ago to return to
France, where he could be near his
mother, who was then ninety years
old and in failing health. ,/hile in
France he acted as chaplain at a
seminary operated by the Society of
African Missions. He is how sta-
Value of Native
Japanese Clergy
Appears in Crisis
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK. — In view of recent
news from Japan concerning restric
tions of foreign-bom missionaries, a
comment by the Society for the Prop
agation of the Faith, the national of
fices of which are here, takes on par
ticular interest.
Noting the Church’s wisdom in al
ways recognizing the national charac
teristics of the various peoples, a re
lease of the Society for this week
adds:
“Thus we find the Apostles and
early Fathers of the Church installing
as soon as possible, a Hierarchy and
clergy indigenous to. the lands they
evangelized, and this plan has con
tinued through the centuries.
“With present day restrictions in
Japan the various Protestant de
nominations who have not adopted
the same policy are confronted with
many difficulties. By contrast we
find that the Holy See has fostered
and maintained a native clergy in
Nippon. The Metropolitan of the
Empire and the Bishop of Nagasaki
are Japanese; every parish in the
Archdiocese of Tokyo has been en
trusted to native priests. While the
Episcopal Church, which is now un
der fire, has expended $23,000,000 for
mission work in Japan, Catholicism
has built the edifice of her Chris
tianity upon the solid training of a
native clergy.”
Negro Methodist
Gives Tithes to
Catholic Missions
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y — For the
past fifteen years the national office
of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith has been the regular re
cipient of an offering which consti
tutes one-tenth of the weekly income
of a Methodist Negro in Arkansas.
That income must be small since the
regular remittances vary from $1.50
to $2.50, but they never fail to come
and have totaled well over $700.
They made possible the foundation
of a scholarship for the complete
education of one seminarian to the
pries'thood and created the nucleus
for another similar foundation.
“I want the Lord to be known and
loved everywhere,” is the simple rea
son expressed for this generosity.
MME. SIGRED UNDSET, who
arrived in San Francisco after
escaping from her Nazi-dominated
homeland by way of Vladivostok, will
lecture in this country under Catholic
auspices. The famed Nobel Prize
novelist, a convert, was forced to flee
Norway after she had frequently
urged her fellow-citizens to resist the
recent Grman invasion,in which she
lost her eldest son.
tioned at St- Augustine’s Missic.i in
East St. Louis.
When Father .Peter and Father
Lauoe came to Augusta they found
a mere handful of colored Catholics
ui the city. Since that time the
parish has grown and now numbers
in the hundreds as it passes into its
second generation. During his years
of service to the parish Father Laube
officiated at more than a thousand
baptisms, practically all of those
baptized being converts of the chil
dren of converts.
Edgar L. Matthews, a member of
the parish heads the Colored Catholic
Laymen’s League of the Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta, which during the
past summer sponsored the first re
treat for colored laymen held in the
Diocese. The retreat was held at
Bethlehem Rural Center, near
Augusta, and some thirty-odd retreat-
ants, from Augusta. Savannah, Macon
and Atlanta attended.
The Rev. George Laugel, S. M. A-,
the present pastor of the Immaculate
Conception Church, succeeded Father
Laube, and for the past year has had
the Rev. John Corcoran. S. M. A.,
as his assistant. Father Corcoran has
recently returned o Ireland, and the
Rev. Patrick Moylan. S- M. A., is
now assisting Father Laugel.
New Biography of
St. Peter Claver
Highly Praised
Father Joseph Husslein, S. J., dean
of the School of Social Service at St.
Louis University, describes “Street
of the Half-Moon”, a biography of
St. Peter Claver, by Mabel Farnum.
as a desire to serve, without har
angue or propaganda the Negro
cause.
The volume, which is the latest
work of an author who has gained
distinction in practically all forms of
literary endeavor, is published by
the Bruce Publishing Company of
Milwaukee, and is the story of the
Spanish nobleman who became a Jes
uit, and an apostle of the Negro
slaves.
JAPANESE MILITARY OFFICI
ALS, in addition to assigning Buddist
priests to go to China, have appointed
some thirty Christian chaplians for
service with the Japanese troops
there.
Retreat for Colored
Catholic Women
Held in Augusta
' r
AUGUSTA, Ga.— Thirty-two: col
ored Catholic women were in at
tendance at a retreat held at Bethle
hem Rural Community Center, near
here, from August 29 to September
1. with the Reverend James A.
Greely, S. J.. of the Sacred Heart
Church, as retreat-master.
Twenty-three of the retreatants
were from the Immaculate Concept-^
ion parish in Augusta, six were from
Savannah, and three were from At
lanta.
Arrangements for the retreat were
made by Edgar Matthews, president
of the Colored Catholic Laymen of
Georgia, and with the cooperation of
the Rev. George Laugel, pastor of the
Immaculate Conception Church, and
the Franciscan Sisters.
Aged Colored Convert
Dies in New York
(Bv N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK. — A Requiem Mass
was sung at St. Charles Borromeo
Church. Harlenv for Annie Warren
Jones, 107-year-old convert.
Affectionately known to the neigh
bors as “Mama” Jones, she was born
a slave in 1833 near Somerville. Tenn.
She spent most of her life in the
South and witnessed tlie great
changes of the Civil War. She had
been a Catholic less than a year.
On Thanksgiving Day last year she
came to New York to live with her
youngest daughter. Always a deeply
religious woman, she became inter
ested in the Catholic Church and took
instructions from the Rev. Lawrence
Cahill of the New York Apostolate
to the Colored, in her basement kit
chen and was baptized.
Asked what she thought of her
First Communion, she replied:
“All my life (over 100 years! I've
been planning to leave you all and
go to Heaven: but today yoy brought
it down to me.”
“Mama’s” Confirmation will never
die in the minds of her fellow con
verts and parishioners. She was the
last of 596 confirmed that day. and
was unable on her crutch to go up to
tl e Most Rev. Stephen J. Donahue.
Auxiliary Bishop of New York, on
the predella. The Bishop arose im
mediately and went down to “Mama”
standing between the altar gates and
confirmed her there.
In the brief period of her mem
bership in the Catholic Church.
“Mama” Jones was responsible for
many converts.
DID YOU KNOW . . .
100 Years have elapsed since the
death of the Rev. Demetrius Augus
tine Gallitzin, scion of a noble Rus
sian family who became "the Apostle
of the Alleghenies”. The house in
which Father Gallitzin lived is now
occupied by The Rev. M. J. Nolan,
Diocesan Director of The Society for
the Propagation of the Faith in the
Diocese of Altoona.
DID YOU KNOW THAT. . .
On August 15. 1790, John Carroll,
cousin of one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, was
consecrated in England as “Bishop of
the United States”. The feast of the
Assumption, 1940 therefore represent*!
ed the 150th anniversary of the estab
lishment of the Roman Catholic Hier
archy in the United States.
DIO YOU KNOW THAT . . .
In the early settlement days in
California, the missions built by the
padres served as inns for travellers
who journeyed throuah that coun
try. There were about 20 of them
each situated a day's journey .ap
proximately 30 miles) from each
other.
GEPFERT DRUG COMPANY
PHONE 2—8831
1231 12TH (MARBURY) St. AUGUSTA, GA.
Best Wishes
BLOUNT’S
FUNERAL HOME
AUGUSTA GEORGIA
DIAL 2—638S OPEN DAY AND NIGHT
DENT’S UNDERTAKING ESTABLISHMENT
MRS. JULIA DENT BAILEY, Prop.
UNDERTAKERS AND EMBLALMERS
AMBULANCE SERVICE
930 D’ANTIGNAC STREET AUGUSTA, GA.
Best Wishes
HORNSRY-McCOY REALTY CO.
INSURANCE-RENTS—LOANS
DIAL 2—4104 1132 TWELFTH ST.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
DIAL 2—8401
w.
H. MAYS UNDERTAKING
ESTABLISHMENT
1221 NINTH STREET
AUGUSTA
GEORGIA