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AUGUST 25, 1945 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA ONE—A St. Theresa’s Centennial of Parish Plans Celebration of First Mass Offered in Albany (Special to The Bulletin) ALBANY, Ga.—The Very Rev. Daniel J Bourke. V, F„ pastor of St. Theresa’s Church in Albany, and the members of his congrega tion are now making plans for th formal commemoration, sometime this fall, of the one hundredth an niversary of the first celebration of Mass in this locality. All details of the centennial celebration are not yet completed, His Excellency the Most Rev. Gerald P. O'Hara, D. D„ J. U. D„ Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta, will offer a Solemn Pontifical Mass on the last Sunday in October, at which His Excellency the Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh, D. D., Bishop of Charleston, and a for mer pastor of the parish in Albany and its missions, will be invited to deliver the sermon. The tentative program also in cludes a reception in the evening, and. as has been announced, the ■irlieth annual convention of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia will be held during the afternoon. It was a century ago tad the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was of fered for the first time in Albany —at the home of John Valentine Mock, one of the pioneer settlers of this community, and a friend of Col. Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany. ■ 1845, Georgia was still a part of that vast area which was includ ed in th: Diocese of Charleston, an 'ecclesiastical jurisdiction which at that time embraced not only South Carolin. and Georgia, but North Carolina and Florida as well. The priests who ministered to the members, of the Catholic Church, scattered over the South east in those distant days, had to travel a long distance to reach the Catholics living in Southwest Georgi... The trips were long and fatiguing, made on horseback, by stage-coach or by ox-cart, for railroads were few. It can be imagined that the Catholic colony in Albany, a cen tury ago, was filled with joy at the arrival of a missionary priest in their midst, and that he was probably escorted in a two-horse wagon to the log cabin in the woods, four miles from the village, where John Valentine Mock - had made his home. Part of the old home is still standing, just out side the present city limits of Al bany. a mile south of the Sylvester Road. In 1859, Col. Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany, gave his Cath olic friends a half-acre of land to be used as the site for a church. This plot of ground is that on Residence Avenue, where St. Theresa’s Church now stands. Encouraged by their Bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Barry, D. D., who had come to the Diocese of Savan nah, which had been founded in 1850, as its second Bishop, in 1857, the little congregation began to erect the present St. Theresa’s Church. Carpenters, brick masons and plasterers, members of the congre gation, gave their time and skill to the building of the church. The bricks used in its construction were made by hand, by slaves, on the plantation of Dr. Barbour, near Newton. t In 1860, the exterior walls of the building were completed, and the work of finishing the interior of the edifice was under way when word came that Georgia had se ceded from the Union, and the War Between the States had be gun. The young plasterer, Tom Churchill, laid down his t ,- owel and rode away to join Gen. Lee’s forces in Virginia, and to die in the batle of Malvern Hill. The church remained in its un finished condition until after the surrender at Appomatox, but It has been recorded that Bishop Au gustin Verot, S. S., D. D., the third Bishop of Savannah, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation in the church in 1860, and that the last survivor of those who were confirmed on that occasion was Mrs. John Mock, a most beloved and faithful member of St. The resa’s congregation until her death in 1934. From the memoirs of Bishop Verot it is learned that the church was being used as a hospital for wounded soldiers when he visited Albany toward the end of the War Between the States. During the stirring days of the ’60’s, and for some years after, the Catholic congregation in Al bany was served by priests from Macon, Atlanta and Brunswick. Among these were Father O’Neill, Father Bazin, Father Semmes, Father O’Reilly, Father Quinlan and others. The first resident pastor in Al bany was the Rev. Stephen J. Beytaugh. who was appointed by the Rt. Rev. William II. Gross, C SS. R., D. D.. Bishop of Savannah, in September, 1875. Fath -r Beytaugh died in October of the following year from yellow fever, conlracled while ministering to Mrs. Michael Monohan. who had just come to Albany from Sa vannah, where an epidemic was raging. It wa., while Father BetaUgh was pastor of St. Thresa’s that the St. Mary’s Singing Society was or ganizes for the purpose of giving the church a choir and to supply altar breads, altar wine and flow ers and candles for the sanctuary. The first officers of the society were Jchn Mock, president; Mrs. Dennis Brosnan, vice-president; Joseph Demont, secretary, and Mrs. John Mock, treasurer. The Singing Society later be came St. Theresa’s Altar Society, with Miss Elizabeth Meyer, ‘a granddaughter of John Valentine Mock, as one of its members. At a meeting of the Singing Society, Miss Meyer volunteered to make the altar breads. Irons were pur chased, and every week, for piore than sixty years. Miss Meyer bak ed the hosts which were used up on the altar at St. Theresa's Church and at the altars through out the Albany mission territory. In 1879, the Rev. P. H. McMa hon came to Albany as the second resident pastor, being succeeded two years later by the Rev. C. C. Prendergast. during wdiosc pas torate. in 1882. St. Theresa’s Church was formally dedicated by Bishop Gross. Upon the death of Father Pren dergast, in 1896, Albany and the far-flung missions of Southwest Georgia became a charge of the Jesuit Fathers who for some time had been established in Macon. In all of the years from about 1850 to 1896. Albany had been just a mission city, with Mass celebrat ed on not more than one Sunday a month but with the coming of Father Meriwether and Father Dane, of the Society of Jesus, the congregation in Albany was privi leged to have Mass on two Sundays of each month. In 1901, when the Rt. Rev. Ben jamin J. Keiley, D. D., Bishop of Savannah, appointed the Rev. John J. Power as patsor of St. Theresa’s, it was decided to build a rectory. For more than twenty years the priests attached to the church had made their home ut the residence of Mr. and Mrs. John Mock. Father Powers served only a few months, being succeeded as pastor by the Rev. Godfrey X. Schadcwell, a priest of scholarly habits, charming personality and apostolic zeal, lie remodeled the interior of the church, enlarged the rectory and extended the mis sion work throughout Southwest Georgia The Rev. C. M. Reich came as his assistant, and Mass was offered in. Albany on every Sunday and on nearly all. week days. In 1907 Father McMahon, who was then Vicar General of the Dio cese of Savannah, returned to Al bany as pastor of St. Theresa’s, remaining until the fall of 1909, when Father Reich was made pas tor, and the Rev. Henry A. Schol- liardt, now of Atlanta, was appoint ed his assistant. These eager young priests, with untiring zeal, devoted themselves to their work, and it was during their stay in Albany that St. Wil liam’s Church was built in Fitzger ald, and the Very Rev. Daniel J. McCarthy, now pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Rome, and the late father Harry Clark, who was later made a Monsignor, came to Albany to assist at St. Theresa’s, and on the missions. In 1911, Fa ther Richard Hamilton came to Albany as another assistant. On January 6, 1917, Father Em met M. Walsh, now Bishop of Charleston, succeeded Father Reich as pastor of St. Theresa’s Church, and under liis leadership the par ish awakened to an activity never before experienced. The Holy Name Society was reorganized; the Altar Society, formerly the Sing ing Society, was placed on a sound financial basis; Father Prendergast Council, No. 2,057, Knights of Co lumbus, was organized; an active branch of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia was estab lished, the parish Sunday School ther Walsh was ably assisted by the late Very Rev. Leo M. Keenan, who came to Albany as an assist ant, in January, 1917, and by Fa ther Leonard Van do Zon, who met his death in an automobile ac cident while en route to one of the mission stations. Added duty was imposed on Father Walsh and his co-workers with the outbreak of the World War in 1917, which brought ,o an already crowded schedule ot pastoral activity the necessity of ministering to the Catholic sol diers encamped at Americus. In 1918, the Service Hag of St. Theresa’s parish \V9s blessed by Bishop Keiley and its stars repre sented Gertrude Mock. Helen Blan chard. lohn Hall Brosnan, Ber nard Conaghan, Paul Keenan, James 11 Lynch Thomas Lynch, George Mock, F. M. Mulholland. O J. Neundorfer, Ray Pinkston, William Posey, Arthur Posey, James Romeo, M. J Reidy arid, Morton M..Wiggins, who served in : the natron's armed forces, and Lawrence McNicholas, who gave 1 his life in defense of his country. During Father Walsh’s pastorate the Church of the Immaculate Conception was built in Moultrie, but he was transferred to Savan nah, as pastor of St. Patrick’s Church there, before the church had been dedicated. Father Keenan, who had been at the Cathedral in Savannah, was returned to Albany as pastor of St. Theresa’s to succeed the then Father, the now Bishop Walsh. Father Keenan served as pastor for nv>re than nine successful years. Upon tile death, in 1926, of Fa ther John Bessemer, who was serv ing as assistant at St. Theresa’s, the Rev. Thomas A. Brennan came to Albany to replace him. During Father Keenan's term as pastor, through the generosity of the late Mrs. J. J. Lynch, of At lanta, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was erected in Valdosta, and dedicated by the Most Rev. Michpel J. Keyes, S. M., D. D., Bishop of Savannah, in November, 1927. After Father Keenan's transfer to Augusta to be pastor of St. Pat rick’s Church, Father Brennan was made pastor of Albany and its missions, in September, 1930, with the Rev. Thomas I. Sheehan, now of Decatur, and the Rev. Joseph Malloy and the Rev. Henry Ho- neck, now of Augusta, as his as sistants. One of Father Brennan’s first tasks was to renovate St. Theresa’s Church and enlarge the rectory. Later hi; built the beautiful Church of the Little Flower in Cordele and made improvements in six other churches on the Albany missions. The church in Cordele was also erected through the generosity of Mrs. J. J. Lynch, affectionately re membered as "The Mother of the Missions.” In 1936, St. Augustine’s Church in Thomasville, was made a sep arate parish by the Most Rev. Gerald P. O’Hara, D. D„ J. U. D„ who had recently been installed as Bishop of Savanna h. Father Sheehan, who had been one of the assistants in Albany, being 'made pastor of the new parish. In the same year, the Rev. James E. King was appointed as the first resident pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Valdosta. 1937 witnessed other divisions in the Albany mission territory. St. Paul's Church in Douglas, now a charge of the Oblate Fathers, was given Father John Mullins, as its first resident pastor, with Holy Family Church, Willacoochcc, St. Ann’s Church, Alapaha, and St. William’s Church Fitzgerald, as mission parishes of Douglas. There were further changes in 1942, St. Mary’s Church. Americus, and the Little Flower Church. Cor dele becoming charges of the Or der of Friars Minor, who had es tablished residence in Americus. In 1942, when Father Brennan was given a leave of absence on account of illness, the Rev. Thomas Finn, now of Atlanta, served as administrator of the parish until Father James E. King was appoint ed as pastor to succeed Father Brennan, wlib had become -pastor of St. Mary's-on-The-Ilill Church in Augusta. In March, 1943, the Very Rev. Joseph G. Cassidy came to Albany as pastor of St. Theresa’s, and plans for the erection of a new church, rectory, school and con vent were underway when he was moved to Atlanta to be rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King. Monsignor Cassidy was sue- Bishop of Charleston a Former Pastor of St. Theresa’s Albany ■ > \ ? , Albany Was Host to Convention in 1938 The Catholic population of Al bany was practically doubled when the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia held its twenty-third annual convention in that South west Georgia city in 1938. On that occasion the convention | opened with a Pontifical Mass, celebrated by the Most Rev. Ger ald P. O’Hara, D. D.. J U. D„ up on the altar of the motor chapel, Queen of the Apostles, which had in that year been put into service on the missions of Georgia. The large congregation which attend- 1 ed the Mass, gathered on the lawn of St. Thesesa’s Church, where the moto.r chapel had been parked. The Most Rev. Emmet M Walsh D. D., Bishop of Charleston, and a former president of St Theresa’s Church in Albany, was the conven tion speaker. Alfred M. Battey, of Augusta presided at the convention, and was reelected president of the As sociation. Other officers electeo at that convention were James J Haverty, K. S. G., Atlanta, honor ary president; Dr. J. Reid Broder ick, Savannah, first vice-president; John B. McCallum, Atlanta, secre tary; Thomas F. Walsh, Savannah treasurer; Richard Reid. Augusta executive secretary; Miss Cecil* Ferry, Augusta, financial secre tary; Alvin M. McAuliffe, Augusta auditor. State vice-presidents electeo were: T. H. McIIatton, Mrs. Loret ta Costa, Athens; R. E. McCor- development of the vast Southwest ,™ ck ' „ M j ss T ™ar y _ B ™*! nan - A J Georgia mission territory which o. K. M M BISHOP WALSII The Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh, D. D.. Bishop of Charleston, i. the most illustrious former pastor - f St. Theresa’s Church, Albany, Ga., and was one of the priests who made valuable contributions to the was served from Albany. Pastor in Albany was systematized and graded. Fa-ceeded, in April of this year, by the G., K. M., Miss Ida Ryan, Atlanta E. J. O’Connor, Miss Anna Rice Augusta; John B. Touhey, Mrs. J C. Stiles, Brunswick; Louis C Kunze, Mrs. H. C. Smith, Colurn bus; F. J. Brennan, Miss Clara Deimel, Fitzgerald; M. J. Callag han, Mrs. Edward A. Sheridan, Ma con; Mrs. E. J. Butler Cordele; R W. Hatcher Mrs. J. A. Horne, Mil- lodgeville; Bernard S. Fahy, Mrs. George Horton, Rome; Judge J: P. Houlihan, Mrs. J. P. McDonough, Savannah; George Poche, Mrs. F. W. Gilbert, Washington; E. M. Heagarty, Mrs. J. W. Cason, Way- cross. Appointed to the publications committee were: Richard Reid, Augusta; C. A. McCarthy. Savan nah; Evelyn Harris. Atlanta; Mrs. Joseph E. Kelly, Savannah; Miss Kate Murphy, Atlanta: R. Habe- night Casson, Mac6n, and John M. Harrison, Atlanta. The business sessions of the con vention were held in the Munici pal Auditorium, and between the morning and afternoon sessions a luncheon was served at the New Albany Hotel. On the evening previous to the convention, the Catholics of Albany were hosts to the visiting delegates at a recep tion. Officers of the Albany Branch in 1938 were: Fred Wiggins, pres ident; Mrs. R. E. McCormack, vice- president; Mrs. J. L. Bacon, sec retary-treasurer; J. L. Rau, George B. Mock, Garrett Fleming, R. E. McCormack. Ray Pinkston. Jo seph Loeb, N. F. Dugan, W. J. Rakcl, Miss Mary Brosnan, Mrs. Y. G. Hilsman, Mrs. L. E. Mock, Mrs. Darien Tompkins, Miss Mar garet Mock. Miss Jane McCart ney, Miss Catherine Fleming and Miss Stella Davis, directors. A NISEI CENTER for all Amerl- The Very Rev. Thomas A. Brcn- can-born Japanese regardless of nan, now of Savannah, was pastor religious belief has been opened in of St. Theresa's Church, at that Chicago by the Catholic Youth time, with the Rev. Michael Man- Organization. The Most Rev. ning, now of Thomasville, as his Bernard J. Shell, auxiliary bishop assistant, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who dedicated the center, pointed out, that Chicago now has more than | Mass of Thanksgiving 7,000 Japanese Americans, and f np Uj r t nr v/ fU/pr lanan that many of them are Catholics f0r VICI0I y UVd Japan although the great majority of them are not. FATHER BOURKE The Very Rev. Daniel J. Bourke, V. F., present pastor of St. The resa’s Church, Albany, Ga., is a native of Ireland, who came to the Dioces of Savannah following his ordinat'on in 1934. He has served as assistant at the Cathedral and at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah, at the Immaculate Con ception Church in Atlar n . and at St. Theresa’s in Albany. For some years he was administrator of St. Mary's-on-The-IIill parish in Au gusta. and was most recently pas tor of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah. Very Rev. Daniel J. Bourke, pas tor of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah, who came to Albany as pastor of St. Theresa’s Church and Vicar Forane of the Columbus Deanery. The Altar Society ot St. The resa’s Church, descended from the Singing Society of many years ago, is now functioning efficiently un der the leadership of Mrs. W. J. Rakel, .president, and Mrs. K. M. Russ, secretary-treasurer. There is a parish council of the Confratirnity of Christian Doc trine, with Mrs. Russ as president, and Mrs. M. M. Wiggins, secre tary. A Knights of Columbus Club, has been formed by K. of C.’s in Albany, and hopes are entertained for the restoration of the charter of Father Prendergast Council in the near future. at St. Theresa’s, Albany (Special to The Bulletin) ALBANY, Ga.—Marking the an nouncement of the surrender of Japan, a Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated at St. Theresa’s Church here by the Very Rev. Daniel J. Bourke, V. F., the pastor, on the morning of August 15, the Feast ol the Assumption. The Turner Field a capella choir, under the direction of the Rev. Valentine Roche, S. J., U. S. Army chaplain, sang during the Mass. Members of the Activities Com mittee of St. Theresa’s parish serv ed a barbecue dinner on the church grounds on August 15, serving more than four hundred guests Arrangements for the ’cue were made under the direction of Pelro Stephens, assisted by Fred Wig gins and J. J. Romeo, and the din ner was served by a committee of women of the parish, headed by Mrs William R#kel Sr