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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