Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men's Association
of Georgia
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed"
Vol. XXIX No. 2 THIRTY-TWO PAGES AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 28, 1948 ★ ★ ISSUED MONTHLY—$3.00 A YEAR
Former Lutheran College at
Batesburg Being Converted
Into Good Shepherd Convent
ESTABLISH NEW FOUNDATION IN BATESBURG—Pictured above at a Departure Ceremony in
Baltimore, prior to leaving for Batesburg, South Carolina, are the Sisters of Our Lady of Char
ity of the Good Shepherd who have established a new foundation of that Order, St. Euphrasis
training School for Girls, on the property which was formerly a Lutheran College in Batesburg.
Sealed, left to right, are Sister Mary of St. Francis Regis, Mother Mary of the Divine Heart,
Suuerioress ot the new community; Sister Mary of St. Clare. Assistant Superioress. Standing,
left to right. Sister Mary of the Heart of Mary, Sister Mary of St. Magdalene of Jesus and Sister
Mary of St. Lucy.—(Photograph by Segall-Majestic—Courtesy of The Catholic Review).
Bulletins
THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY of
the first appearance of the Blessed
Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette
Soubirous was observed on Feb
ruary 11 at Lourdes with pilgrims
from all over France attending.
The principal Mass was offered by
Archbishop Virgil Begum of Auch,
with His Eminence Jule Cardinal
Saliege, Archbishop of Toulouse,
presiding. In a sermon in the
course of the jubilee the Coadjutor
Archbishop of Toulouse stated that
more than a hundred million
pilgrims have visited the world
famous shrine since the apear-
ance of the Blessed Virgin to St.
Bernadette ninety years ago.
Position of N. C. W. C. on Federal Aid to
School Set Forth in Letter to Newspaper
A LARGE NUMBER of non-
Catliollcs attended the Solemn
Mass at which His Eminence Em
manuel Cardinal Suhard, Arch
bishop of Paris, presided and
preached the sermon in the Cath
edral of Notre Dame, closing the
week of prayer for Christian unity
observed in the French capital.
Following the Mass a group of
Protestant pastors and members
of the Russian Orthodox Church
went to the sacristy and thanked
Cardinal Suhard for his works of
charity.
SISTER MARY LOUISE, head
of the English department at
Webster College, conducted by
the Sisters of Loretto, in Web
ster Groves, Mo., lectured to the
students at Christ the King
School in Atlanta recently, on the
subject of “Vocational Guidance.”
Sister Louise is a member of the
National Council of English Teach
ers and a member of the national
committee of Radio and Educa
tion. Her latest book, “Over a
Bent World,” is one of the most
popular volumes on the shelves
of the library of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
A JUKE-BOX DANCE at the
famous leper colony on Molokai
netted $100 for the March, of
Dimes fund, it was reported to the
Maryknoll Sisters’ Motherhouse in
Maryknoll, N. Y
WASHINGTON — (NC) — The
position of the Department of
Education of the National Catho
lic Welfare Conference on the
question of Federal aid to educa
tion was set forth by Msgr, Fred
erick G. Hochwalt, director of the
department, in a letter to the edi
tor of the Washington Post print
ed in that newspaper on February
14.
Monsignor Hochwalt’s letter
follows:
“In this letter of February 1,
Mr. C. S. Longacre asks ‘Does
the National Catholic Welfare
Conference mean to tell us that it
no longer fears Federal control of
public education just because par
ochial schools are included in the
benefits to be derived from these
appropriations? The answer is no.
The policy of the Department of
Education, NCWC, always has
been and is now (1) opposition to
Federal control of education, and
(2) opposition to legislative pro
hibitions against Federal aid to
nonpublic schools.
“On the general question of
Federal aid there was a change
of policy. For many years the
NCWC did oppose Federal aid for
public and nonpublic schools on
the grounds that such aid involved
too great a risk of Federal con
trol of education. Later, however,
in light of evidence gathered by
President Roosevelt’s Advisory
Committee on Education, which
indicated that without Federal
assistance some States could not
finance a defensible system of
schools, the department of Educa
tion, NCWC, changed its position
and recommended Federal aid for
needy States. This recommenda
tion was made on the premise that
the need for Federal aid in the
poorer States, particularly those
in the South, outweighed the risk
of Federal control.
“The Department of Education
was not alone in making this
change. A United States Senator,
now an outstanding proponent of
Federal aid legislation, once shar
ed the NCWC’s views on Federal
subsidies to education. Apparent- (
ly his reasons for changing were
as legitimate as those of the
NCWC. |
| “In a second letter (February 8) |
Mr. Longacre warns about the
i ‘dangerous implications’ for any |
private college or university which
i accepts Federal aid. The warning
j is well taken. May I suggest, how-
I ever, that Mr. Longacre review
rthe position of Dr. Martin Mc-
j Guire, (Dr. Martin R. P. Mc
Guire, Dean of the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences of
the Catholic University), and my-
1 self as expressed in our statement
, of dissent filed with the Presi
dent’s Commission on Higher Ed
ucation.
I “There it is said that the wis-
■ dom of accepting or rejecting
! Federal funds is a matter to be
; decided not by the Government
| but by the colleges and univer-
’ sities themselves. We had no in
tention to recommend that the I
I Federal Government compel pri- j
| vate institutions to accept Fed- |
eral funds. To do so would be as
dangerous to educational freedom
as Mr. Longacre’s proposal that j
the Federal Government refuse to J
' support private institutions sim-
I ply because they arc not under
. the immediate control of State or
local governments.”
FROM ALL PARTS of the
world, letters which are to be can
celled at the St. Patrick, Mo., post
office on St. Patrick’s Day and
sent back to all parts of the world
decorated with the shamrock
stamp of emerald green, are flood
ing daily to Father Francis O’Duig-
nan, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church
in the Missouri town named in
honor of Ireland’s Patron Saint.
ANCIENT ROME of the third
and fourth centuries after Christ
is being reproduced in a new Ital
ian film version of Cardinal Wise
man’s novel, “Fabiola.” Michele
Morgan, French actress, has been
cast in the role of the Christian
heroine.
(Special to The Bulletin)
BATESBURG, S. C.—The ar
rival in Batesburg of Sister Mary
of St. John Eudes, Pronvineial
of the Sisters of Our Lady of
Charity of the Good Shepherd,
and six other Good Shepherd
Sisters, on January 26, marked
one of the initial steps in the
establishment here of St. Euphra
sia Training School for Girls, a
new foundation which the Sisters
of the Good Shepherd are bring
ing to the Diocese of Charles
ton.
Two Sisters of the Good Shep
herd from each of the three con
vents of the Order in the Balti
more Province, the House of the
Good Shepherd for White Girls,
in Baltimore, the House of the
Good Shepherd for Colored Girls,
in Baltimore, and the House of
the Good Shepherd, in Washing
ton, D. C., will compose the com
munity for the new establishment
in Batesburg.
Mother Mary of the Divine
Heart will be the Superioress;
Sister Mary of St. Clare, Assis-
ant Superioress, of the new com
munity, with Sister Mary of St.
Francis Regis, Sister Mary of the
Heart of Mary, Sister Mary of
St. Magdalene of Jesus, and Sis
ter Mary of St. Lucy, will form
the new foundation here.
The property acquired by the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd
consists of about 170 acres of
landscaped ground, orchards and
farm land, and the plant includes
a three-story dormitory building,
a two-story administration build
ing, a superintendent's residence,
a four-room school building,
tenant houses, a garage, a dairy,
barns and other farm buildings.
The property was originally
known as Summerland College, a
Lutheran school for girls, which
was # clo-ed some years ago when
Newberry College, at Newberry,
S. C., was made a co-educational
institution. Since that lime, the
property has been operated as
the Weslervelt Home, for the chil
dren of Lutheran foreign mis
sionaries.
For the present, the Sisters will
use the Administration Building,
which is now being remodeled and
improved by the Southeastern
Construction Company, of Char
lotte, N. C-, according to plans
executed by Father Michael Mc-
Inerney, O. S. B., priest-architect
of Belmont Abbey.
Upon arriving in Batesburg, the
Sisters found a large crew of
carpenters, plumbers, plasterers,
painters, electricians and other
' workers busily engaged in com
pletely overhauling the Adminis
tration Building, which will be
divided into a convent for the Sis
ters and quarters for some twenty-
five girls, the number that can
be accommodated at the train
ing school until the main building
has been renovated and repaired.
There has been plenty to be
done also in the way of unloading
and unpacking the van loads of
furniture and equipment that the
Sisters had shipped from Balti
more.
Three young men, William
Floyd, Wallace Powell and Eu
gene Punte, each of whom has
a sister who is a member of the
community of the Good Shep-.
herd Sisters in Baltimore, have
been of great assistance in the
work of preparing the former
Summerland College for the
coming of the Sisters.
The Sisters have also bpen help
ed by Miss Catherine Touhey. of
Baltimore, a sister of ’ Mother
Divine Heart, Who came to Bates
burg with the Sisters to assist
them in getting settled comfort
ably in their new home.
Further assistance is being
given the Sisters by Misses
Veronica Nicholson, Jeannette
Kramer, Ruth Sears and Mary Mc
Carthy, who came down from
Baltimore with the Sisters, and
who are helping them in many
ways.
Until the Administration Build
ing was made ready for occupancy,
the Sisters were quartered in a
four-room frame cottage on the
premises. One of the rooms was
converted Into a temporary
chapel, where Mass was offered
by priests of the Congregation of
the Oratory, from nearby St. Wil
liam’s Church, at Ward, and where
the Blessed Sacrament was re
served in the tabernacle.
The altar and furnishings for
the chapel which is being con
structed on the first floor of the
Administration Building, have ar
rived, and were installed as soon
as the work of remodeling had
sufficiently advanced.
While the weather (' not con
tribute a cordial welcome to the
Sisters, and their coming to South
Carolina meant that they have
had to put up with inconveniences
such as going three times a day
from their cottage to the basement
of the Administration Building for
their meals, they accepted such
things as a frozen waterpipe or
two, the failure of the cooking-
gas supply tank to function and
other misfortunes with cheerful
ness and patience.
Shortly after arriving in Bates
burg, Sister St. Clare had the
misfortune of suffering a sprained
ankle, and was taken to Providence
Hospital in Columbia, where the
Sisters of Charity of St. Augu tine
not only extended gracious hos
pital and care, but loaded the sta
tion wagon of the Sisters of the
Good Shepherd with gifts of
linens and canned foods when
they started on the return trip to
Batesburg.
The Sisters were heartened by
the very cordial welcome which
has been extended to them by the
citizens of Batesburg, who have
showered many favors on them
since their arrival.
An instance of the good will
with which the Sisters have been
greeted was found when they dis
covered that they could not locate
the packing case in which their
tableware had been shipped from
Baltimore. Miss Touhey went into
town to purchase some knives and
forks and spoons only to find that
she was shopping on a day when
the merchants in Batesburg were
observing early closing. A visit to
a restaurant in hope that she
might there be able to buy some
tableware for the Sisters brought
a generous offer of a loan of all
the silverware needed until the
Sisters could locate their own in
their vast assortment of unpacked
items.
Already the Sisters of the Good
Shepherd have had a number
of visitors, among them being
Sisters of Our Lady of MdVcy,
from Aiken, and Sisters of Our
Lady of Christian Doctrine from
the Horse Creek Valley Welfare
Center, near Langley.
It is expected that the new
foundation will be formally ded
icated on April 24, the Feast of
St. Euphrasia, patroness of the
establishment.
Bishop Emmet M. Walsh, of
Charleston, visited St. Euphrasia
Training School on February 13,
the day the Sisters were able to
move into the Administration
Building , and unstalled Mother
Mary of the Divine Heart as Su
perioress of the new community,
at an impressive ceremony held in
the chapel of the remodeled build
ing.
Assisting In the sanctuary at
the installation ceremony were
Monsignor Martin C. Murphy, V.
F. , of Columbia; Father J. William
Goldsmith, S. T. L., J. C. D„
Assistant Chancellor of the
Diocese of Charleston; Father Jo
seph T. Rodig, C. SS. R-, of
Orangeburg; Father Alfred Kam-
ler of Columbia; Father William
G. Doyle, of Greenwood; Father
George Lewis Smith and Father
Peter K. Berberich, of Aiken, and
Father Theodore Cilwiek, C. O.,
and Father Timothy Sullivan, C.
O., of Ward
Upon their arrival in Columbia
from Baltimore, the Sisters of the
Good Shepherd were met at the
railroad station by Monsignor
(Continued on Page Two-A)