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DECEMBER, 22, 1945
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINE r
Two Overseas Veterans
Assigned as Chaplains
at Fort Jackson, S, C.
(Special to The Bulletin)
FORT JACKSON, S. C. — The
assignment of two Catholic chap
lains to the station Complement
at Fort Jackson, one of whom
served at the post in the early
years of the' war, was announced
this week by the office of the
post chapllain. Both veterans of
overseas service, they are Chap
lain (Capt.) Cosmas Girard and
Chaplain (Capt.) John J. Diehl,
who was assigned as hospital
Catholic chaplain at Fort Jackson
from October 1942 until June
1943.
Chaplain Girard has been as
signed to the First Battalion, Sec
ond Regiment, Army Service
Forces personnel replacement
depot, with his office in Chapel
No. 7. Chaplain Diehl will serve
as chaplain of the Fourth Regi
ment, ASF PRD and 791st Mili
tary Police battanion. His office
is located in Chapel No. 5.
Chaplain Diehl entered the
chaplain’s corps in 1942, went
overseas in November 1943 and
fo t approximately two years
served in England and France.
Ilis principal assignment was
with the Seine Sector of Head
quarters in Paris, France, where
lie was chaplain for all outfits to
which no regular chaplain was as
signed. In that capacity Chaplain
Diehl administered to four large
and 15 small units.
He later was assigned to the
221st General Hospital, a unit
earmarked for redeployment to
the Pacific. On V-J day the chap
lain with his unit were at Mar
seilles, France, awaiting deploy
ment. Their orders were changed,
however, and the outfit return
ed to the States. The hospital la
ter was inactivated at Camp Si-
bert, Ala., and Chaplain Diehl
subsequently was assigned to
Fort Jackson.
A native of Middletown, N. Y.,
Chaplain Diehl, a Jesuit, was en
gaged in school work in New
York prior to entering the army.
Immediately preceding his entry
into the chaplain’s corps he was
prefect of Xavier Military High
School in New York City, an in
stitution which will be 100 years
old in 1947. At Xavier he also was
in charge of the school’s cadet
regiment. Prior to that he taught
at schools at Brooklyn and Jer
sey City.
Chaplain Girard spent 13
months in England as chaplain of
hospital units, which served
troops from ground and air fojccs
units. The principal part of Hie
time, however, he was with a
hospital which served men from
the first Division of the Eighth
Air Force.
Prior to entering the chaplain’s
corps in September, 1943, Chap
lain Girard was instructor of so
cial science at the Franciscans
House'tff Study atCroghan, N. Y.,
and at the same lime assistant
pastor of the St. Stephens parish.
Chaplain Girard’s home town is
Somerville, Massachusetts.
Catholic Women’s Club
in Charleston Sponsors
Benefit Turkey Supper
(Special to The Bulletin)
CHARLESTON, S. C.—Approx
imately 2,000 guests were served
a turkey supper at the Cathedral
Hall on Queen Street on the eve
nings of December 5 and 6, the
proceeds from which were given
to the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy.
The hall was gaily decorated in
the holiday theme for the occa
sion and there was music during
the evening by Wiclunann’s or
chestra.
The benefit supper was spon
sored by the members of the
Catholic Women’s Club, with Mrs.
Roy Meyers as general chairman
of the committee in charge. Mrs.
James F. Furlong served 5s her
assistant, and members of the
club who acted as hostesses were:
Mrs. John Slicedy, Mrs. Edwin C.
Owens, Mrs. Waller F. Murphy,
Mrs. Lawrence J. Keenan. Mrs.
Louie Garno, Mrs. Charles J. Geil-
fuss, Mrs. Jennings Cauthen, Mrs.
Frank Thompson, Mrs. Jack Wal
ton and Mrs. Arthur Case.
Assisting in serving the guests
were: Misses Dorothy Sullivan,
Ann Magaralian, Mary Dean, Rose
Marie Kelly, Sadie O’Brien, Mar
garet Burns, Mary Louise Moran,
Madeline Mosimann, Eunice
Kearney, Ann Riley, Emily Riley,
Kathryn Riddock, May de Vineau,
Margaret Cade, Frances Knisley,
Helen Elserhardt, La Claire Green
and Maybelle Meitzler
ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH, FLORENCE—Erected during the time
(hat the late Right Rev. Msgr. Charles DuBois Wood, P. A., was pas
tor, St. Anthony’s Church, Florence, South Carolina, is one of the most
imposing churches of the Diocese of Charleston. The present pastor
is the Rev. William A. Tobin.
The Dean Family of Charleston
Subject of Article in NCCS Paper
Sad, Yet Blessed Christmas in Germany
Bv DR. MAX JORDAN
(Written for N. C. W. C. Christinas Supplement)
(Special to The Bulletin)
CHARLF.STON, S. C.—In a
recent issue of “The Patriot ”,
publication of the NCCS in
Charleston, the editor, Marius
Risley, contributed the follow
ing article, which was an inter
view with Mrs. John J. Dean,
Sr., mother of the Rev. Sydney
F Dean, assistant pastor of St.
Mary’s Church, Greenville:
Chalmers Street, as ’most every
one knows, is one of the most
time-honored of many such
Charleston streets. Running only
two blocks long, between State
and Meeting Street, and crossing
Church Street, the venerable curbs
and cobblestones of Chalmers
Street front such Carolina shrines
as the old Slave Market, Wash
ington Park, Robert Mills’ Fire
proof Building, the old Confed
erate Home, the pre-Rcvolutionary
Pink House Tavern, end now the
currcntly-famous orchid house of
Josephine Pinckney. At its Meet
ing Street terminus, Chalmers
Street frames the pure Ionic por
tico of Hibernian Hall, but No. 4
Chalmers Street, at the State
Street end, has its own claim for
the title of “little Hibernian’’ for
here, throughout four generations,
have lived ilie Bakers and Deans
of Counties Mayo, Galawav and
Waterford ancestry. This is an
interview with Mrs. John J. Dean,
Sr., the mother of two service
men and the grandmother of an
other.
The present Dean home was
built after the 1886 earthquake to
replace the original house razed
by that upheaval. It was the last
of three houses built at State and
Chalmers streets by the Baker
family. Anges Robinson Baker
was born at No. 4 Chalmers Street
and continued to live there after
her marriage to John Joseph Dean.
Monsignor P. L. Duffy, of happy
memory, married he couple in
1898 in the old Queen Street, pro-
Cathcdral, now Cathedral Hall.
The first of the Dean children
was Sydney Francis wtio became
a priest, one of the first oidained
by the then newly-consecrated
Bishop Walsh. For 16 years Father
Dean has assisted Monsignor
Gwynn at Greenville.
Elizabeth Dean, the eldest
daughter, married James Sauls.
The expatriates now make their
home in Chicago with their two
children, Donald and Jean. Agnes
Dean also married a South Caro
linian, Tudor Farmer, whose con
firmation name, James, lionors the"
man who received him into the
Church, Father May. The Fram
ers’ eldest child, James Tudor, is
a Marine. Two other children,
Baring and Agnes, live with their
parents in Miami.
John Joseph, Jr., 39, is the older
of Mrs. Dean’s two sons in uni
form. Sergeant Dean is now on
his way home after three years of
army service. The next eldest
child. Eleanor, is Mrs. Abe Shivar,
who lives in Charleston with her
three children, Russell, Mary and
Agnes. The sixth child, Mary
Dean, is employed at C. D.
Franke’s and is chairman of USO
junior hostesses at the Port USO
Club. Raymond Dean died at
thuee years of age, and Sgt.
David Dean, USA, now with Army
Ordnance, at Wepdover, Utah, is
the youngest of the Dean family.
“Thanks be tq. God we' are all
alive and well at this war’s end,”-
declared Mrs. Dean. “Perhaps
the childen will all be home for
our Golden Wedding Anniversary
in a few years.’’
Mrs. Dean, in good health at
72. retired some ten years ago
after seventeen years spent with
the U. S. Light Ship Service. He
keeps delightfully busy with a
number of chores and hobbies
around their ten-room house and
garden.
The Deans are fiercely proud of
Charleston and of their own gen
erous participation in its way of
life. “I’ve seven good children
and one in heaven," Mrs. Dean
told her interviewer, “and 1 still
can’t understand why the Lord
gave me such happiness as to
have a son a priest."
And so we left Mrs. Dean, con
vinced that life there is as re
freshing as a cup of brisk Irish
tea.
SPANISH PROTESTANT
MINISTER IS RECEIVED
INTO CATHOLIC CHURCH
MADRID — (RNS) — Dr. Emilio
Jacqucmart. former Protestant
pastor in Madrid, has been re
ceived into the Catholic Church at
the monastery of the Augustinian
Friars in Burgos.
Dr. Jacqucmart is fa. native of
Alsace and studied in the Univer
sities of Marbugo,-Tubingen and
Oxford: Speaking fourteen lan
guages,’ he has been professor of
rcligiou- history at Frankfurt
University and has taught also at
other famous German universities.
Dr. Jacquemart is described
here as a personal friend of Pope
Pius XII, whom he met when the
Pontiff was Papal Nuncio in
Munich. He is 39 years old.
Germans, tiiis year, will observe
the saddest, grimmest and yetr,
perhaps, the most blessed Christ
mas in many years.
This is the land where some of
the most popular Christmas cus
toms, known the world over, had
their origin: The Christmas tree,
symbol of everlasting life. St.
Nicholas, the Saint intimately as-
s eiated with the tradition of gift
giving. The Christkindl conception
of the Infant Jesus, which so often
was distorted into a merely senti
mental notion of the Christ Child.
The Nazis did not succeed in de
stroying all the touching folklore
that stems from Wcihnachten.
“the holy night,” in the minds and
hearts of the people. Substituting
winter solstice celebrations and
Yule fires for the sacred mys
teries of Christianity they had
thought to gain new adherents for
their neo-pagan ideas. But the
people could not be deceived very
long. Children wanted their
Christmas i.ees and their cribs,
and grown-ups kept flocking to
their churches in larger numbers
than ever to celebrate in rever
ence the coming of the Lord.
After the war began, of course,
there were no more Midnight
Masses. Blackouts made it impos
sible even to hold ordinary eve
ning services during the year, ex
cept at the height of the summer
season. Candles, too, were rare
and trimmings for trees meager,
not to speak of rationing which
eliminated all fancy cakes and
ginger-breads. Shopping, loo, was
limited to bare essentials, and
Christmas wrappings were beyond
reach of the average mortal.
Not even the radio could be de
pended upon. The Nazi tyrants
had ruled oul~all broadcasts deal
ing with Christian subjects. The
average German had to rely pret
ty much upon himself to foster
that Christmas spirit which warms
the heart and nourishes the soul.
We can well appreciate their
trials and tribulations when they
tell us, now, how they spent the
holidays during the terrible war
years. They almost forgot that it
was the season of peace to men
of good will when aerial bombs
were bursting over their heads
and, instead of gathering around
Christmas trees, they had to rush
to air-raid shelters; while ack-ack
guns were simulating an inferno
that would blot out every carol
and the soft tone of every organ.
At. last, it is all over, this will
be the first peace-time Christmas
for the German people in seven
years. Once more they will have
Midnight Masses; but in most
places the black-outs will remain,
not on account of air-raid s but
simply because now electric cur
rent is scarce. In the churches
it will be icily cold for there is no
filer to be had; a nd on most altars
just one. rather than two candles
will burn, for economy's sake.
Whether the traditional Tannen-
baiini, or Christmas tree, will re
surge in its old glory is a question
most German families cannot an
swer as yet. Right now most of
them are busily engaged in gather
ing as much wood as they can,
just to keep their cooking stoves
functioning. Few will be in a mood
to trim a tree that might serve to
warm the body in the freezing
temperature of apartments where
windowpanes are shattered and
rain comes through the roof. Gifts,
too, will be hard to gel; there is
nothing to buy, most stores are de
stroyed, and food rations are too
skimpy to be wasted on pastry or
confectionery.
Yet, is will be a blessed Christ
mas for the rank and file of the
German people. They will be
thankful to be freed of the tyrants
who oppressed them so long. They
will breathe more easily this year
and won’t have to fear death-deal
ing raids from the sky while sing
ing “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
No matter how serious the prob
lems they must face in this critical
period of transition from war to
peace, they now know that peace
is in sight, and that their loved
ones who are still prisoners of
war, far away from home, will re
turn in a visible future. They can
all begin to think of rebuilding
their country after so many years
full of destruction and chaos.
German Catholics view this
prospect in the light of their faith.
That is why to them, and to their
fellow-Christians, this Christmas
will be a blessed one in spite of
their present suffering. They were
persecuted, but they had the as
surance all along that the enemies
of the Church would not prevail ”
The persecutors have been
thrown into the abyss of a total ’
defeat while the Church emerges
unscathed, ns she has always done
throughout the centuries, and al
ways will to the end of time.
That, is why in Germany this
year, Christmas will be more joy
ous than ever for all believers.
The mighty have fallen, and the
children of light have won. Christ
mas is the feast of that light which
emerges in the midst of a seeming
ly impenetrable darkness. The
candles on the Christmas trees
symbolize this. The darkness of
mid-winter is pierced by the glad
tidings that once again the Lord
has come Whose is the victory
for ever and ever.
BOOK WEEK OBSERVED
AT GOLDSBORO SCHOOL
(Special to The BuUcltiii)
GOLDSBORO, N. C. — The
weeks between November 4 and
17 were very busy ones for the
pupils at St. -Mary’s School in
Goldsboro, as’ the children en
gaged in many activities*in ob
servance of Catholic Book Week
and Education Week.
The first week was devoted to
completing of Book Week and
Education Week projects and the
decoration of the classrooms.
During Ihe second , week flit-
children presented a series of
plays, which included a drama
tization of Mother Goose rhymes
by the kindergarten; choral
speech ‘numbers and a playlet,
"A Trip to Storyland,” by the
primary department; “The Un
happy Princess, by the interme
diate grades, and a play, “United
Through Books," by pupils in the
upper grades.
The Rev. Lawrence Newman,
pastor of St. Mary's Church,
closed the program with an ad
dress to the children, commend
ing them, and their teachers,
Sisters, Servants of the Immacu
late Heart of Mary, for the fine
work which had been done in
eonection with the observances.
After the programs, guests
were invited to visit the class
rooms wlnu'e the work of the
children was on exhibition. An
interesting activity of Book Week
was the format opening of the
school library, one that is mod
ern and accredited.
BISHOP JOHANNES GUN-
NARSON. Vicar Apostolic of Ice
land, has been appointed an aux
iliary chaplain for the U. S.
Army. He is the first native-born
Catholic Bishop in Iceland since
1550.
ST. ANNE’S CHURCH, FLORENCE—Pictured above at the time of
its dedication in October, 1941, is St. Anne's Church, of the Colored
parish in Florence, South Carolina. It is a charge of the Oblates Fath
ers with the Rev. George Croft, O. M. I., as pastor.