Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Southern Cross DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol. 56 No. 24 Thursday, June 19,1975 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents EXPLAIN PROJECT-ANSWER QUESTIONS Self-Study Teams Visit Savannah Deanery Parishes During the month of May members of the Self-Study Steering Committee (SSSC) of the Savannah Deanery visited various parishes throughout the Deanery. SSSC teams presented programs to parish councils and school boards to explain the self-study and to answer questions. Some of the more pertinent questions asked of the team members and the answers thereto are presented here as part of the established policy of the study committee to keep the members of the Deanery informed. What are the goals and objectives of the SSSC? The goal of the committee can best be explained in terms of its mission and this is to simply be an instrument to aid the church in the Savannah Deanery in implementing a process of planning and evaluation. There are no specific objectives attached to this goal; there is only the goal bringing into existence effective pastoral planning. How were the members of the SSSC selected? Why doesn’t our parish have a representative on the committee? Based on recommendations of the priests of the Savannah area and the Savannah Deanery Pastoral Council, a steering committee of 15 members was formed to direct the program. The criterion used in their selection was not to achieve any kind of geographical or institutional balance. The selection was made rather to bring to bear on the self-study the talents and experience of a variety of persons representing Bishop James Augustine Healy IN IRELAND Fr. Barry Ordained The Reverend Francis Barry, from Tara, County Meath, was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Savannah on Sunday, June 8. Father Barry was the only candidate to be ordained for the diocese this year. Bishop Raymond Lessard travelled to Ireland especially for the event which Fr. Francis Barry took place at the Church of Sts. Petpr and Paul, Dunboyne, County Meath. Diocesan priests present at the ordination with the Bishop included Msgr. Daniel Bourke and Father John Kenneally. Father Barry is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Barry who formerly lived in Bally roan, County Leix. He is one of eight children. Father Barry attended Mt. Melleray Seminary in Cappoquin, County Waterford, and did his theological studies at St. John’s College, County Waterford. Father Barry spent the summers of 1971 and 1974 v/orking in Savannah as a seminarian. This past summer he was assigned as a deacon to St. Joseph’s Church in Macon. Father Barry is scheduled to arrive in the diocese later this summer at which time he will receive an assignment from the Bishop. With the ordination of Father Barry to the priesthood, the Diocese of Savannah now has one remaining seminarian in Ireland studying for the diocese. different areas of life in the community. The membership is composed of 10 lay persons, two religious women and three priests. How long will the self-study take? When should it be finished? Hasn’t the committee moved rather slowly? The work of pastoral planning involves grassroots participation, involvement by each and every member of the Deanery. Such a process can be a slow moving one. As for the work of the SSSC, it is envisioned to be relatively short term. However, the process of pastoral planning and evaluation will be an ongoing one throughout the Deanery even after the committee has-completed its work. Has the Bishop indicated to the SSSC any specific objectives that he wants the self-study to achieve? Have any decisions been made? The answer to both questions is No. The Bishop has only charged the SSSC with the task of implementing a process of self-study and planning, a program that will help the local church see itself as a whole and enable it to approach its problems and opportunities as a total catholic community. Because is is a self-study, with the emphasis on “self,” the decision making process must involve the total community. This process is now only in the beginning stages. Why was an outside consultant retained to run the study? A consultant was hired, not to “run the study,” but to serve as an advisor to the SSSC in implementing the planning process. Father Robert Howes, who was retained, is nationally renowned for his expertise and experience in the area of pastoral planning. Because of his background and know how, it is expected that he will make an important contribution to a successful self study. Father is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Pastoral Planning Conference and also Consultant to the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C. and Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan. What will the parishes be allowed to do in the way of plans and programs as well as construction projects for their own parish before the results of the self-study are finalized? The Bishop has imposed a moratorium on any deferable building construction in the Deanery through August 1976. At present this is the only restriction that has been placed on plans, programs or construction. How will we know what the study is doing? Who will inform us and how? The Self-Study Steering Committee plans to make every effort to report fully its progress. By the study’s very nature it will involve every catholic in the Deanery and by virtue of that involvement, communications will be established. Steps already taken to inform the Deanery public include open meetings of the SSSC which have moved from parish to parish, regular reports to the Deanery Pastoral Council, progress reports to Pastors, visits to parish councils and school boards, and the publication of news releases. Georgian Was First Black American Bishop BY GR ACE CRAWFORD Macon News Staff Writer i rorn a wooded h.L in *+ on a plantation overlooking the Ocmulgee River comes the dramatic story of an Irishman and a slave girl - and their remarkable children. One of them was the first Georgian to become a Catholic bishop and America’s first black Catholic priest and bishop. Another was the only Negro ever to be named president of all-white Georgetown University in Washington. A third son built Boston Cathedral during his pastorate there. Still another became a famous sea captain around whom Jack London is believed to have based his adventure story, “The Sea Wolf.” And two daughters became Catholic Sisters, one making notable contributions in the field of education. This is not the story of a slave owner and his consort, but of Michael Morris Healy, a dark haired young Irishman who loved and married Mary Eliza Smith, a Georgia born mulatto slave girl and honored her as his sole and lawful wife. the strict sense, the union was declared valid by the Roman Catholic Church because of the absence of a priest in the f„e-Civil War year of 1829 and because Georgia law forbad such interracial marriages. THE FULL STORY of the Healy family apparently was unknown to Middle Georgians for more than 130 years. It was the persistence of Rev. Albert J. Foley, a Jesuit priest working on his doctorate in sociology that resulted in a book about Bishop James Augustine Healy, his brothers and sisters, his parents and their determination that their children should be brought up as free citizens, not as slaves. Father Foley’s “Bishop Healy: Beloved Outcast” first was published in 1954 and was the subject of a nationally televised program emanating from NBC Radio City Music Hall in New York with a script by television writer, Rod Serling. But only a few Macon Catholics read, or even heard of the book, and no one can determine whether the program was carried by area NBC affiliates. Although a common law marriage in Announcement was made this week that the Rev. Andrew T. Doris, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, Augusta, has been transferred from that pastorate and will assume the position of Associate Chaplain of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Savannah. Bishop Raymond W. Lessard also announced the appointment of the Rev. Brinstan Takach, O.S.B. (on faculty of Benedictine Military School), as Administrator of Saint Anne’s Mission Church, Richmond Hill. A few days ago, the man who 25 Also made public were the following appointments for deacons of the diocese: Rev. Wayland Brown, assigned to St. Teresa of Avilia Church, Augusta. Rev. Robert A. Cushing, assigned to St. Joseph’s Church, Macon. Rev. Benedict Swiderek, assigned to St. Benedict’s Church, Savannah. years ago journeyed from New Orleans to Jones County to spend .several months researching the Healys, was back. Sunday, June 8, Father Foley led a group of Macon Catholics and clergy by way of the River North property to a spot about 300 yards from the grave of the Irishman and his wife. IN A SHORT ceremony, a bronze marker mounted on a large field stone was dedicated in memory of the Bishop of Portland, Maine and his family. The occasion, according to the Rev. Michael Delea, pastor of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, marked the anniversary of Bishop Healey’s ordination. The plaque was the gift of Archbishop Thomas Donnellan of the Atlanta Catholic Archdiocese and Bishop Raymond Lessard of the Diocese of Savannah. The service was attended by more than 200 persons. A few days ago, Father Foley, now affiliated with Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., was telling of his delight in finding “such a wealth of information” about the Healys in the Jones County Courthouse when he came to this area in 1950. “There was shelf upon shelf of records and documents,” he said, noting that many were in Healy’s own handwriting, showing that the Irishman from County Roscommon in 1823 acquired in a land lottery 1,300 acres of rich bottomland on the Ocmulgee in the area now surrounded by the Piedmont Wildlife Preserve. Other reports and inventories Healy filed enabled Father Foley to reconstitute an exact picture of life on the Healy place. An elderly storekeeper in the area helped him find the ruins of the plantation, and finally the unmarked graves positively identified by several elderly, longtime residents of the area. THE LARGE LOG home in which the Healys lived was handsomely furnished, Father Foley determined, and the Irishman owned more than 100 books, taught his children to play the flute and the fiddle and instructed them \ in their school work. Later, he sent his sons North to Quaker schools, realizing under Georgia law, they would assume slave status since he could not emanicipate his wife. But Healy made a will, assuring that his money would be transferred out of Georgia, then appointed a New York friend as guardian. Two of his sons, Hugh and Eugene died and the tenth child, also named (Continued on Page 3) Clergy Assignments MARKER HONORS BISHOP HEALY - Father Albert S. Foley, S.J author of the book “Bishop Healy: Beloved Outcast,” stands by a ne marker which was unveiled in a ceremony on Sunday, June 8, at 2 P.M., i the River North development in Macon. The bronze plaqn commemorates the 100th anniversary of the consecration of Bishop Jam* Augustine Healy, the first black Catholic bishop in the U.S. and is place on the site of the Healy plantation where Bishop Healy was born. Tli marker was contributed jointly by The Bishop of Savannah and tli Archbishop of Atlanta and was placed with the cooperation of Mr. Robei Adams, developer of River North which occupies part of the 1600 acre which was the Healy plantation in the 1800’s. Father Foley came t Macon from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama to officiate at tli ceremony which was attended by some 200 interested Maconites. Chapel Will Be Dedicated To Father 4 Tim’ Flaherty The Chapel in the Rectory at Sacred Heart Church, Savannah, which has recently been redecorated, will be dedicated to the memory of Father Timothy Flaherty on Saturday, June 21st, following an Anniversary Mass at 5:30 in the Church. Father Tim served as Associate Pastor at Sacred Heart for many years and, after his retirement, lived at the Rectory where he frequently used the Chapel. He taught Religion at Sacred Heart School while he served in the Parish and is remembered with affection by many Savannahians. Father Tim’s many friends are cordially invited to the Anniversary Mass and Chapel dedication. I •t l