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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 22, 1347
Rock Hill Made a Center of
Catholic Life by Priests of
Congregation of the Oratory
(Special to The Bulletin)
ROCK HILL, S. C.—Rock Hill
stands today as the center of
Catholic Life for a large part of
South Carolina, yet only a few
years ago it saw the erection of
Its first modest chapel.
The Catholic Church has made
great progress in this section
since Father William Tobin, now
pastor of St. Anthony’s Church,
Florence, built the first Catholic
chapel here in 1920.
Since priests of the Congrega
tion of the Oratory came to the
Diocese of Charleston thirteen
years ago, and established the
Oratory of St. Philip Neri here,
other churches have been built,
Catholic hospitals were opened in
Rock Hill and York, an infant’s
home was established here, a Col
ored medical clinic began opera
tions,, while priests from the Ora
tory have been assigned parishes
in other parts of South Carolina.
From 1920 until 1934. the small
parish in Rock Hill was served by
secular priests of the Diocese of
Charleston, and Father P. A. Ryan
and Father Joseph Farrell, of the
Society of Jesus.
In 1934, while in New York,
Bishop Emmet M. Walsh of Char
leston met Father Paul Hatch, a
priest of the Congregation of the
Oratory, who was engaged in
preaching missions In New York.
He invited Father Paul to come to
South Carolina and investigate
the possibilities of the Rock Hill
territory. Father Paul celebrated
Mass at St. Anne’s Church here in
May, 1934, and the acceptance of
the territory by the Oratorian Fa
thers three months later made the
establishment of the Oratory of
St. Philip Neri a reality.
Father Ernest Musial, of the
Oratory of Leipsic. Germany, was
iri Rock Hill with Father Paul for
a year. Then he was recalled to
Berlin to establish an Oratory
there.
The Congregation of the Ora
tory, to which the priests now in
Rock Hill belong, was founded in
1573 by St. Philip Neri, and was
the congregation of which Cardi
nal Newman was a member.
St. Philip Neri made his insti
tution a unique one in many re
spects. It was his wish that all
income of the congregation be ex
pended in alleviating the suffer
ings of the sick in hospitals and
in the formation of Christian
character in youth.
It was to these two principles
that the Oratorian Fathers dedi
cated themselves and it was to
ward these two objectives (hat
they began t 0 labor in Rock Hill.
As the Oratorians began work
here the number of persons seek
ing guidance in the Church was
increased, and’ soon there was
evident a need for a larger
church, but other needs were
first given attention. The oppor
tunity to benefit the. community
by the stablishment of a hospital
was seen. It was learned that a
hospital founded by the late Dr.
W. W. Fennell, and then being
operated by Dr. W. B. Ward, could
be purchased.
Sisters of the Third Order of j
St. Francis, of the Peoria. Illinois. !
community, agreed to take over i
the operation of the hospital, and
within a year of the time they
came to Rock Hill the Oratorian
Fathers saw the hospital here un
der Catholic auspices.
Later they f were to sec the
erection of the Divine Saviour
Hospital, a few miles away, at
York, first a charge of the Sis
ters of Our Lady of Mercy, and
now conducted by the Sisters of
Charity of St. Augustine, who
also have Providence Hospital in
Columbia.
Meanwhile the Oratorians had
erected a building as their resi
dence for a school for boys.
The hospital in Rock Hill, nam
ed in honor of St. Philip, ‘he
founder of the Congregation of
the Oratory, rates as a sixty-bed
institution, though it has more
than sixty patients at most times.
It is operated by the Sisters, and
registered nurses. with Sister
Mary Liliosa as superintendent.
The scope of the hospital’s service
is not confined to the city of Rock
Hill alone, but it serves the sur
rounding area as well.
St. Benedict the Moor Colored
Clinic is al o operated by the
Franciscan Sisters, who have in
addition the charge of a home for
infants and *mall children in Rock
Hill.
As soon as the hospital was
functioning under the Sisters, the
Oratorians turned to their second
purpose, the education of youth.
They established Neri Institute at
the Oratory, in temporary quar-
Provost of Oratory
FATHER VINCENT
The Very Rev. Vincent G.
Scharff, of the Congregation of
the Oratory, who has headed the
Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Rock
Hill. South Carolina, as Provost,
since January, 1942.
ters. which the school soon out
grew.
Gifts from Miss Lillian dc Cor-
toni, who died in Rock Hill some
years ago, and Miss Mary O’Con
nell, of Fort Mill, enabled the
Oratorians to build Faber Hall,
which provided dormitory ac
commodations, classrooms, refec
tory and kitchen.
Due to the difficulty of opera
tion under war-time conditions,
and the fact that so many of the
students had enlisted in the
armed forces, it was found neces
sary to close the school, and the
building^ is now being used as a
residence for priests stationed at
the .Oratory and as a Catholic
community center and parish
hall.
A new church and a recreation
center for the Colored parish in
Rock Hill have been erected, and
with the aid of^the Catholic
Church Extension Society, mis
sion churches have been erected
in Chester and Fort Mill.
Through the generosity of a
Catholic woman in York, a dwell
ing there was offered to the Ora
torians for such use as they de
cided would serve the Church
best. It was originally converted
into a ten-room hospital to serve
the people of that section, and
Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy
from Charleston were placed in
charge. In 1941. when the new
hospital in York was dedicated,
(he original building was con
verted into a convent with a mis
sion chapel on the ground floor.
In 1942. Father Vincent G.
Scharff, Congr. Orat.. succeeded
Father Paul as Provost of the
Oratory and pastor of St. Anne’s
Church. He recently relinquished
his pastorate so that he could de
vote his time entirely to the
work of the Oratory and serve as
assistant director of Catholic
Charities of the Diocese of Char
leston.
Father John A. Haak, Congr.
Orat , is at the Oratory as direc
tor of the Neri Guild, and en
gaged in contact work.
Father Edward Chmely. Congr.
Orat., who is also doing contact
work, is treasurer of the Oratory,
while Father Theodore Cilwick
Congr. Orat.. is editor of “The
Carolina Oratorian." quarterly
publication of the Oratory.
Father Maurice Shean, Congr.
Orat., is Procurator at the Ora
tory. and is chaplain of the New
man Chib at Winthrop College
here. Father Maurice also is the
director of a Labor and Industry
Institute that has been accorded
splendid support by representa
tives of both industry and labor.
Father William Coyle. Congr.
Orat., is pastor of St. Anne’s
Church. Rock Hill, and the mis
sion churches at Fort Mill, Ches
ter and York. He has as-his as
sistants. Father Francis X. Win-
um. Congr. Orat. and Father
Christopher Barry. Congr. Orat.
Father Ed wait! V7.-.M, Congr.
Orat., is pastor of St. Mary’s
Church, the Colored parish in
Rock Hill, with Father James
Sharpies. Congr. Orat., as assist
ant pastor.
In addition to the parishes in
and around Rock Hill, priests of
the Congregation of the Oratory
are in charge of parishes in other
parts cf South Carolina.
Father E. Gerald Ernst, Congr.
Orat., is pastor, and Father Aloy-
slus Kazuaba,. Congr. Orat., assist-
U. S. Supreme Court
Renders Decision in
School Bus Case .
(Continued from Page 1)
great drives” which seek, in the
name of education, to narrow the
“complete division and civil au
thority which our forefathers
made.” One of these, it stated, is
to introduce religious education
and observances into the public
schools; the other, to obtain pub
lic funds in support of private re
ligious schools. Both of these
avenues were- closed by the Fed
eral Constitution, it stated, and
the Court in no way should open
them.
In a second dissent, written by
Justice Jackson and joined by
Justice Frankfurter, it is stated:
“Religious teaching cannot be a
private affair when the State
seeks tQ impose regulations which
infringe on it indirectly and a
public affair when it comes to
taxing citizens of one faith to aid
another, or those of no faith to aid
at all. If these principles seem
harsh in prohibiting aid to Cath
olic education, it must not be for
gotten that it is the same Consti
tution that alone asures Catholics
the right to maintain these
schools at all when predominant
PROTESTANT CHURCHMEN
from all parts of the State of
New York gathered in Albany last
month for their first legislative
seminar, and heard a plan under
which the state's Protestant
churches expect to keep the Legis
lature informed of the political
opinions of their, members.
ant pastor of St. Peter’s Church,
Beaufort, and in charge of its
missions, St. Anthony’s, Hardee-
ville; St. Anthony’s, Waiterboro;
St. James, Catholic Hill and St
Andrew’s, Prilchardville,
Fathe* John Nedley, Congr.
Orat., is pastor, and Father Hen
ry Tevlin is assistant pastor, of
St. William’s Church, near Ward,
and the Immaculate Conception
Church. Edgefield.
Father Joseph Richmond, Congr.
Orat., is serving as assistant pas-
of the Sacred Heart Church in
Charleston, and Father Ralph Ma
her, Congr. Orat.. recently assist
ant pastor of St. Mary’s-on-The-
Hill Church, Augusta, Ga„ will
return to the Oratory after a brief
vacation in New York.
Father Myles Morris, Congr.
Orat.. is chaplain at St. Philip’s
Hospital in Rock Hill.
The small congregation which
(he Congregation of the Oratory
found when it began its work in
Rock Hill has steadily increased
in its numbers, and the Catholic
population of the surrounding
area has. grown through the
years. With the coming of new
industrial plants t n Rock Hill a
further growth in Catholic popu
lation is expected.
Nearby Lancaster is also being
chosen as the site for new indus
trial plants, and there is the
prospect of a Catholic church
there in the not too distant fu
ture.
Truly, the labors of the Con
gregation of the Oratory have
brought forth fruit in South Car
olina, and the future holds prom
ise of an even more abundant
harves*
ORA TORY AT ROCK HILL—Members of the Congregation of the
Oratory, a congregation founded by St. Philip Neri in 1575, have been
serving in the Diocese of Charleston since 1934, when Father Ernest
Musial, Congr. Orat., was invited by Bishop Emmet M. Walsh of
Charleston to establish an Oratory in Rock Hill. In August of that year,
Father Ernest, with Father Paul Hatch, Congr. Orat., took up residence
in the rectory of St. Anne’s Church, and. the following year the , old
Wilson Home, on Charlotte Avenue was purchased, and the community
began to grow in the sixteen-room dwelling that was dedicated as
Newman Hall, of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
local sentiment would forbid
them.”
Mr, Jackson, stating that he
believes the Court is “unconsci
ously giving the clock’s hands a
backward turn," said that he
thought Church groups “which
have done so well without this
aid’’ might regret the breaking
down of the separation between
Church anud State, because “if
the State may aid these religious
s hools, it may therefore regulate
them. Many groups have sought
aid from tax funds only to find
that it carried political controls
with it.”
FRANK J. POTTS, of Detroit,
who served as a Lieutenant Com
mander in the Navy during the
war, has been appointed Executive
Secretary of the National Council
of Catholic Men. He is a graduate
of the University of Detroit, with
degrees in arts and law.
Parent-T eachers
Meet in Charleston
CHARLESTON, S. C. — At the
February meeting of the Parent-
Teacher Association of the Sacred
Heart School, Mrs. W. J. Kana-
paux, the president, gave a report
on the insiitute on leadership and
club work conducted by Miss Mar
garet Kelly, field secretary of th«
National Council of Catholic Wom
en at the recent meeting of the
Charleston Deanery Council of the
N C. C. W.
Members of the association were
asked to send articles of clothing
to the school for distribution
among the needy.
Mrs. William E. Flathmann was
appointed chairman of the educa
tion committee, and the attend
ance prize was awarded Mrs.
George McCrary.
plGO.S.PAT.OFF.
Bottling Company
Quality Beverages
Royal Crown Cola —
Nehi Flavors
Rock Hill, South Carolina
BEST BY TASTE TEST—R. C.
Best Wishes
«
{worn
HARRIS’
Gulf Service Station
Rock Hill, South Carolina