Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 44, No. 47
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SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1964
BLESSING OF THUNDERBOLT SHRIMP FLEET — The “Premuda”, pennants flying
and ready to move out to sea after weeks in port during closed season, passes before
Crucifix on deck of Shrimper “Franklin” to receive blessing from Father Robert J.
Teoli, pastor of Thunderbolt’s Nativity Church.—(Ward Studios)
Thousands View Blessing
Of Thunderbolt Shrimp ers
The shrimp boats are going
to sea again, but with a differ
ence this year.
For the first time in a dec
ade more than 25 shrimp boats
and an even greater number of
Marine Rescue boats filed in
solemn procession past the pas
tor of Thunderbolt’s Nativity
parish to receive the Church’s
solemn * 'Blessing for Fisher
man and Boats.”
Father Robert J. Teoli offi
ciated at the colorful rites last
Sunday, May 31st which were
witnessed by a crowd estimat
ed by police at about 4,000.
Also participating were clergy,
civic officials and uniformed
Fourth Degree Knights of Col
umbus.
Said Father Teoli, in a pro
gram explaining the ceremony,
“The ritual for the blessing of
ships and fishermen is rich with
depth of meaning. The opening
words are full of significant
truth for the sailor as well as
all other men. ‘Our Help is in
the name of the Lord’ are the
first words of the priest. The
ceremony continues with spe
cial prayers for those whose
work is in ships. Incidents in
the life of Christ and His help
to men of the sea are recount
ed. It is pointed out that His
closest associates were re
cruited from a group of fisher
men.
“Finally, the ships are dedi
cated to God. Holy Water is
sprinkled on them and the
priest, anticipating the dangers
which may lie ahead for the ves
sels, begs the Lord of the tem
pest to protect those who have
placed their trust in Him: ‘May
the peace and blessing of Al
mighty God the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit, descend
upon these ships, and upon all
who shall be in them, and re
main forever. Amen.’ ”
Father Teoli said seaman
knows that his efforts are puny
' ‘when pitted against the might
of the sea, so before venturing
forth to the open sea for the
year’s fishing, he first seeks
the protection of God for his
boat and his crew.”
The next morning, Monday,
June 1st, the first boats of the
Thunderbolt fleet began putting
out to sea, mindful that they
had received the blessing of
Him Who had heeded the cries
of other fishermen and calmed
the stormy sea—mindful , too,
that those other fishermen, obe
dient to His command had let
down their nets which * ‘en
closed a very great multitude of
fishes” and hopeful that their
own would enclose a great mul
titude of shrimp.
Cathedral Square
Renamed For
Kennedy
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban
SAIGON (NC) — The public
square facing Saigon’s twin-
spired rose brick Catholic ca
thedral was renamed President
John F. Kennedy Square (May
30). This Memorial Day action
honoring the late President was
taken by the city administration
and endorsed by the govern
ment.
Prime Minister Maj. Gen.
Nguyen Khanh attended with
other high Vietnamese officials
and members of the diplomatic
corps, including Msgr. Fran
cesco de Nittis, Charge d’ Af
faires of the Apostolic Delega
tion.
Ambassador Henry Cabot
Lodge thanked the authorities
on behalf of the U. S.
The square, which is munici
pal property, was formerly
named Place Pigneau de Be-
haine, after Father Pierre Pig
neau de Behaine, later a bishop,
a French missionary who died
in 1799. He obtained French
volunteer help that enabled Em
peror Gialong to regain his
throne.
Earlier on Memorial day ce
remonies honoring Americans
and Vietnamese who have died
in the present war in Vietnam
were held at Tan Son Hsut Air
field. High ranking American
and Vietnamese military and
civilian officials took part.
Father (Lt. Col.) Thomas E,
Waldie, a Blessed Sacrament
Father from New York, gave
the invocation. He prayed:
"God, Our Lord, humbly and
confidently we beg thy Almighty
blessing upon us, this republic,
the United States of America
and the world. Bless our ef
forts. Crown them with the
peace and liberty for which we
struggle and yearn.”
A PASSING BARGE held up line of shrimp boats at
blessing ceremony at Thunderbolt. Father Robert J. Teoli,
pastor of Nativity Church who officiated, and two Fourth
Degree Knights of Columbus, John Kenney and William
O. Mangan look apprehensively up-river.—(Ward Studios)
Papal Knight, Medalists
Named By Holy Father
His Holiness Pope Paul VI has conferred honors upon three
from the Diocese of Savannah. This announcement was made
by The Most Reverend Thomas J. McDonough, Bishop of the
Diocese.
BISHOP’S NIGHT — Bishop Thomas J. McDonough is pictured as he addressed Serrans
and their wives at the annual Bishop’s Night Dinner of the Savannah Serra Club. The dinner
was held last Thursday evening. Pictured (L. toR.) John M. Brennan, toastmaster for the
evening; Mrs. Brennan; Bishop McDonough; W. T. Gaudry, Serra President (not visible
in photo); Mrs. Gaudry; Rev. William Coleman, chaplain. — (Ward Studio)
Southern Cross Columnist
Father O’Connor Receives
Top Catholic Press Award
Dr. William Whatley Battey,
Jr., of St. Mary’s-on-the-Hill
parish, Augusta, has been nam
ed a Knight of Saint Gregory
the Great.
Miss Ilka Leche, Most Bles
sed Sacrament parish, Sa
vannah, and Miss Anna M. Rice,
St. Mary’s on-the-Hill parish,
Augusta are recipients of the
papal medal “Pro Ecclesia et
Pontifice.”
Bishop McDonough personal
ly visited the Papal honorees
to notify them of their selec
tion. He joined with their pas
tors in extending his congratu
lations and expressing his joy
at the receipt of honors justly
deserved.
Dr. Battey will be invested
as a Knight in the Order of St.
Gregory at ceremonies sche
duled for September 6th, at St.
Mary’s Church.
Miss Rice will receive her
medal from the Bishop at cere
monies set for 6:30 p.m. at St.
Mary’s on. June 6th.
His Excellency will confer the
papal honor on Miss Leche on
June 14th at the Church of the
Most Blessed Sacrament.
* * *
Dr. William Whatley Battey,
Jr. was born in Richmond Coun
ty, Georiga. He is the son of Dr.
William Whatley Battey and
Louise Barbot Battey.
He attended schools in Rich
mond County and graduated
from St. Patrick’s Commercial
Institute conducted by the Bro
thers of the Sacred Heart. He
entered St. Mary’s College,
Belmont, N.C., (now Belmont
Abbey) and graduated with an
M.A. Degree. He entered Medi
cal College of Georgia and grad
uated in 1904 with an M.D. De
gree. While at the Medical Col
lege of Georgia, he was one of
the founders of Chi Zeto Chi
Medical Fraternity which has
since amalgumated with the Phi
Ro Sigma Fraternity.
After graduation from the
Medical College of Georgia,
Dr. Battey served as House
Surgeon at New York Polyclinic
Hospital and interned at St.
Mary’s Hospital in Brooklyn,
New York. After practicing in
Augusta for three years, he went
abroad and spent one year at
Allgemeines Kraken Haus in
Vienna, Austria. He served as a
delegate to the International
Medical ; and Surgical Associa
tion Meeting in Budapest, Hun
gary in 1909.
Dr. Battey returned to Au
gusta and resumed practice of
Medicine and Surgery. In 1910,
he was appointed Instructor in
Surgery, later Associate Pro
fessor of Surgery and finally
Clinical Professor of Surgery.
After 48 years teaching, he
retired and was appointed
Emeritus Professor of Sur
gery.
At the conclusion of World
War I, he received a certifi
cate of Appreciation for Se
lective Service work from the
President and after World War
II, a Selective Service Medal
from President Truman.
He has recently been honored
by Governor Carl Sanders of
Georgia by receiving a com
mission as Lt. Colonel on the
Governor’s staff.
He served as the first Presi
dent of the Staff of St. Joseph's
Hospital, President of the Rich
mond County Medical Society
and the University Hospital
Staff and as the attending sur
geon for the University and St.
Joseph’s Hospitals, Augusta.
He is a Fellow of American
College of Surgeons, American
Medical Association, Southern
Surgical Congress, Southern
Medical Association, Medical
Association of Georgia and
Richmond County Medical As
sociation.
He has been a Fourth Degree
Member of the Knights of Co
lumbus Assembly for many
years.
He was married to Virginia
Dugas at St. Patrick’s Church,
Augusta, by Bishop Benjamin
Keiley on October 5, 1912. He
has four married daughters,
Virginia, Louise, Mimi and Ma
rie.
Miss Ilka Rosema Leche,
daughter of Louis J. and Co-
rinne Leche, was bom in New
Orleans, Louisiana and was
baptized in the Church of Our
Lady of Good Counsel, shortly
thereafter. She attended the
public schools in New Orleans.
For twenty years, Miss Leche
has served the Church of the
Most Blessed Sacrament,
Savannah, as the President of
its Altar Society. Her devotion
to the sanctuary has been ex
traordinary and an inspiration
to the clergy and laity of the
parish.
Miss Leche is a retired em
ployee of the American Oil
Company.
Miss Anna M. Rice is the
daughter of Patrick H. Rice,
Sr., and Elizabeth Carson.
Her father was one of the
founders of the Catholic Lay
men’s Association of which he
was President for fourteen
years and President Emeritus
at the time of his death.
Her mother was noted for her
charitable work in church and
civic organizations in recogni
tion of which she also received
the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
Award.
Miss Rice received her edu
cation at Sacred Heart School
and St. Mary’s Academy. In her
youth she taught Sunday School
at Sacred Heart Church. For
upwards of forty years, she has
MISS RICE
supervised the collection of
funds in Augusta for St.
Mary’s Home, Savannah.
She was the first Secretary
of the Catholic Women in Au
gusta and the first Augusta
Deanery President. She was the
second elected President of the
Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women and served on the Board
of Directors for seven years.
For many years she
has been a promoter of the
League of the Sacred Heart
and for the last five years,
she has been an active member
of the Legion of Mary of St.
Mary’s on-the-Hill parish.
Since World War I, she has
been associated with the Red
Cross in Augusta. During World
War I, she served as volunteer
nurses’ aide at the Augusta
Emergency Hospital rendering
heroic service to the soldiers
during the influenza epidemic.
During World War II she ser
ved as a Gray Lady.
By Elmer Von Feldt
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
PITTSBURGH—Father Pat
rick O’Connor, Far East cor
respondent of the N.C.W.C.
News Service, became the first
journalist to receive a second
top honor from the Catholic
Press Association for outstand
ing reporting. His columns ap
pear regularly in THE SOUTH
ERN CROSS.
Father O’Connor was given
the CPA award for ‘ ‘the most
distinguished contribution to
Catholic journalism” during
1963. The award was announc
ed at the banquet of the annual
national convention here of the
professional association of U.S.
and Canadian Catholic journal
ists and publishers.
The recommendation on the
basis of which the CPA mem
bership voted Father O’Connor
its top award this year stated:
* ‘A veteran correspondent for
the N. C. W. C. News Service
and a veteran missionary in
Asia, Father O’Connor has been
steadfast in accurate reporting
on the Church in this area.
More particularly, he has done
an outstanding job in reporting
the crisis in South Vietnam and
in clearing up a distorted im
age of the Church there in the
face of contradiction from a
majority of other reporters
covering the scene.”
The St. Francis de Sales sta
tuette, symbol of the award,
was accepted on behalf of the
Columban priest by Floyd An
derson, director of the
N.C.W.C. News Service.
Father O’Connor, president
of the CPA from 1944 to 1946,
previously received a top award
from the association in 1956
when he was given the Catholic
Digest award, consisting of a ci
tation and a $1,000 check.
On presenting the award at
that time, CPA president Char
les J. McNeill praised Father
O'Connor as * ‘an untiring cham
pion of right and ceaseless foe
of man’s inhumanity to man, who
helped to save the liberty and
lives of tens of thousands of
Three Awarded
Scholarships
PITTSBURGH (NC) — Three
persons from three different
states have been awarded scho
larships by the Catholic Jour
nalism Scholarship Fund.
The winners were announced
by Msgr. John S. Randall, man
aging editor of the Rochester,
N. Y., Courier Journal and
president of the fund, at the
annual meeting of the Catholic
Press Association here.
The winners are:
John Ellis, Jr., of Yorktown
Heights, N. Y., who was given
a four-year scholarship valued
at $1,600 a year to study at
Fordham University, New York.
Charles Kelly, Jr., of Verdon,
Neb., who was awarded a
$l,500-a-year scholarship for
four years at Marquette Univer
sity, Milwaukee.
Judith Wilt of Pittsburgh,
staff writer of the Pittsburgh
Catholic, who was given a scho
larship for two-and-a-half
years valued at $1,000 a year to
finish her college work at Du-
quesne University here.
refugees from communist ty
ranny.”
This year’s award to Father
O’Connor followed by less than
a month the May 4 presentation
of a Pulitzer Prize for Inter
national reporting to David Hal-
berstam of the New York Times
and Malcolm Browne of Asso
ciated Press for coverage of
Vietnam. The priest-reporter
took a substantially different
view from Halberstam and
Browne of events leading up
to the overthrow of the Ngo
dinh Diem regime, including
the alleged persecution of Bud
dhists.
In 1956 Father O'Connor was
honored for reporting to the
world the heroic story of the
hundreds of thousands of Ca
tholic refugees who decided to
forsake land, home and friends
National
Honors For
Georgia Bulletin
The Georgia Bulletin, week
ly newspaper of the Archdio
cese of Atlanta was the winner
of two national awards at the
annual national convention of
the Catholic Press Associa
tion in Pittsburg, Pennsylva
nia.
Receiving the awards for the
paper was Mr. Gerard Sherry,
editor. The Georgia Bulletin re
ceived an awardfor "Best Front
Page” among Catholic newspa
pers with a circulation up to
15,000 and was cited for hav
ing the Best Editorial” in Ca
tholic newspapers during 1963.
The editorial was entitled
“A Negro Child” and was writ
ten by Mr. Sherry after the
bombing of a Negro church in
Birmingham, Alabama.
Earlier this year the same
editorial was cited for nation
al honors by the National Coun
cil of Christians and Jews.
in North Vietnam to escape an
iron-fisted regime which for
bade their exercise of religious
freedom. They used every mode
of transportation available to
flee to South Vietnam and be
gin life anew there.
This year Father O’Connor
was honored for his painstak
ing reporting to clear up the
confusion resulting from char
ges that Buddhists in South Viet
nam were suffering religious
persecution under the allegedly
Catholic-inspired regime of
Ngo dinh Diem, who was over
thrown and assassinated last
November in a military coup.
A 65-year-old native of Dub
lin, Ireland, Father O’Connor
served as editor of the U. S.
Columban missionary maga
zine, the Far East, from 1923
to 1945, before joining the staff
of N.C.W.C. News Service as its
roving Far East correspondent.
The “temporary assign
ment to report on postwar con
ditions in the Orient has last
ed almost two decades. It has
taken Father O’Connor to ev
ery Country in the Orient as up
heaval, persecution and other
problems posed ever changing
dangers to Christianity.
Father O’Connor was sta
tioned in Shanghai when he wit
nessed a Soviet-armed horde of
communists sweep across the
mainland. He was in Tokyo to
view the postwar demoraliza
tion of a conquered Japan and
to advise of the opportunities for
Christianity in the religious and
philosophical vacuum.
He followed United States
troops into North Korea and
chronicled the devastation
Christianity suffered under the
Korean Reds. He was the only
Catholic priest accredited as a
war correspondent with the
Eighth Army in the Korean
war. With a typewriter in one
hand and a Mass kit in the other,
he was dubbed “God’s P I O’*
(public information officer) by
fellow correspondents.
IN A SCENE typical of graduation exercises throughout
diocese, Miss Anne Smith (L) and Miss Anne Davis (R) of
Savannah’s St. Vincent’s Academy receive diplomas from
Bishop McDonough. Priest in photo is Fr. John Cuddy,
Superintendent of Diocesan School.s