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i The Southern Cross DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol.56 No. 28 Thursday, August 7,1975 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents m J ****>«r ipi! * Utoi m a ^ 1 § iSSfjpERi ! I ; It * » . r ~fi§: ■MHkl «' ~iftr irtu ' if oEIi’' Hi * ‘ l ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL - — s A Century Of Service k— - ' - - ■ ■ - - - - J Ratio Of Priests Studied BY SISTER M. FE LICIT AS, R.S.M. Basic to the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy who operate St. Joseph’s Hospital, Savannah, Georgia, is an unrelenting, whole-hearted response to the needs of the people whom they serve. The story of the first hundred years of this hospital is filled with examples of such response in merciful care the sick. « CIT.» . MARINE HOSPITAL When on June 30, 1875, Sister Mary Cecilia Carroll was sent with a small band of Sisters from St. Vincent’s Convent on Liberty Street to nurse the ill seamen in the Forest City Marine Hospital, a small, twelve-room, frame building on East Broad and Gordon Streets, there was begun a saga well worth the telling. Originally founded in 1845 from the Bishop England Sisters of Mercy, Charleston, in 1892 the Community in Savannah joined another group of Sisters of Mercy founded by Mother Catherine McAuley in Dublin in 1831. From the Memoirs of Sister Mary Ursula Bowe, who served the better part of her ninety-three years at St. Joseph’s, can be learned such difficulties as reaching the “second floor” patients by means of a rope ladder; drawing water from a yard pump and boiling it before bringing it to the patients; and walking fifteen blocks to and from the Motherhouse to work at the hospital. SAINT JOSEPH S INFIRMARY It was in March 1876 that the Sisters moved the seamen, together with a group of destitute elderly, to the former Savannah Medical College, comer of Taylor and Habersham Streets. This building, secured from Most Rev. William Gross, Bishop of Savannah, who had used it for four years as a boys’ orphanage, was an improvement over the original one. However, St. Joseph’s Infirmary (as the institution was called until 1901) was by no means elegant, and the Sisters set to work scrubbing, painting, and soliciting funds for improvement. The generous response of persons of all persuasions was only the first of many which proved that support of care of the sick knows no denominational barriers. If there had been any doubt as to the need for St. Joseph’s and its capability to care kindly and efficiently for the ill, it was dispelled during the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1876. Records show that 938 patients were treated in 1876; 562 of these were Yellow Fever patients. Of these, 442 recovered. The heroic work took its toll: two physicians, four priests, and three Sisters were among the victims of the epidemic. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY The hospital’s slow expansion can be explained in part by the fact that it always extended itself to the limit in caring for poor patients sent by city and county authorities until the opening of Memorial Hospital in 1955. At times the reimbursement was as low as fifty cents a day for each patient. And yet, in spite of this, the hospital did enlarge in 1901 with an annex. It was at this time that the “broad verandas” -- so long a landmark of the old building -- Were built for the “convenience of the convalescents.” The hospital continued to prosper; in 1902 the Medical Staff was formally organized with Dr. Mathew Dunn as first Chief of Staff. In that same year the School of Nursing (which was to graduate over 700 nurses through the years) was opened by Sr. M. Dominica Immick. If the needs of the people were to be met, St. Joseph’s must expand. In 1912 through the generosity of Mrs. Kate Flannery Semmes, the Flannery Memorial Building replaced the original Savannah Medical College building. In addition to a new chapel and patient quarters, it boasted the most modern of operating rooms. Activities of the war years brought about a drastic increase in population and an acute shortage of hospital facilities. In 1943 under the guidance and inspiration of Sister Mary Gloria McNally, Administrator, the $145,000 Mother McAuley Wing was added with Lanham Act Funds through the Federal Works Agency. THE NEW SAINT JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL It was inevitable that St. Joseph’s would outgrow the space available at the Taylor and Habersham location and that the buildings would become obsolete beyond any remedying. Thus it was in 1965 that Sister Mary Cornile Dulohery, Administrator, reading the signs, dreamed a dream which became a reality in August 1970 with the dedication of the new St. Joseph’s Hospital. The beautiful, multi-million dollar, 300 bed structure is located on twenty-eight acres in South Savannah near Abercom Extension. With its medical and dental staff of over 200, and its Sister and lay staff of over 700, St. Joseph’s is indeed a century removed from the twelve-room, two doctor, and five Sister hospital of 1875. WASHINGTON (NC) - Glenmary Research Center, in conjunction with the Publications Office of the U.S. Catholic Conference, has produced a study comparing the Catholic dioceses of the United States, according to their ratio of priests to Catholics, to other Christians and to the unchurched. A color-coded map accompanies the study. The study is described as an attempt to assist individuals, Religious congregations and dioceses in responding to the concern of the Second Vatican Council that priests be equitably distributed. The basic theological assumption of the study, entitled “Distribution of Catholic Priests in the United States: 1971,” is that “all people, whatever their relationship to the Church, have a claim on the loving service of the Catholic community and, therefore, on its priests.” The study noted that in comparing the needs of one area to those of another, other factors must be considered in addition to the present distribution of priests. Included among those factors are the expected increase or decrease in the ordination and retirement of both diocesan and religious clergy, as well as the question of whether priests from one place can successfully serve in another. The present study was occasioned by the availability of county by county jn the number of Catholics, other Christians and the unchurched provided by an earlier study sponsored jointly by the Office of Research, Evaluation and Planning of the National Council of Churches; the Department of Research and Statistics of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; and the Glenmary Research Center. The county data on church membership was published by the Glenmary Research Center in May, 1974, under the title “Churches and Church Membership in he United States: 1971.” The study shows the distribution of priests in areas is a matter of considerable diversity. Many Southern dioceses, where there are few Catholics, have a favorable ratio of priests to Catholics. On the other hand some dioceses elsewhere which have large Catholic populations, have an unfavorable ratio. Of some 156 dioceses surveyed, 103 have ratios of priests to Catholics that are more favorable than the national ratio, and’53 have ratios that are less favorable. The study and map are available for $3.50 from either the Publications Office, USCC, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, or the Glenmary Research Center, 4606 East-West Highway, Washington, D.C. 20014. The Glenmary Research Center was established in 1966 to help serve the needs of the Catholic Church in rural America. Father Jude Cleary, O.S.B, Belmont Abbot-Designate BELMONT, N.C. - The Very Reverend Jude Cleary, O.S.B., 49, has been designated as abbot-elect at Belmont Abbey in a special election held in the monastery chapel. Following confirmation by Pope Paul VI, which is expected to take approximately four weeks, Father Jude will become the fifth abbot in Belmont Abbey’s 99-year history. Forty-seven members of the Belmont Abbey community voted in the election, which was conducted by the president of the federation of Benedictine monasteries to which Belmont Abbey belongs, the Right Reverend Martin Bume, O.S.B., of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, New Jersey. The selection of a new abbot was necessitated by the resignation of the Right Reverend Edmund F. McCaffrey, O.S.B., on June 3. McCaffrey had been abbot since March 1970. He will continue to serve as a monk at Belmont Abbey. Abbot-Designate Jude Cleary 3 Generations Of Family Resettled St. Joseph’s Infirmary 1876 “Little deeds of kindness Little words of love Help make the earth happy Like the heavens above. ” Julia Fletcher Carney “Little deeds of kindness” sprang forth in full flower on Wednesday, July 16, as Tran Chinh Dao and his family were greeted by their sponsors, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gregory and members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Blessed Sacrament Parish, Savannah. Three generations of a Vietnamese family set foot on Savannah soil to begin a new way of life. “Little words of love” turned to action in providing this family with food, shelter, clothing, and friendship, to help replace the tremendous loss suffered in their evacuation from Saigon. The “Help which made earth happy” for the Tran family and their sponsors had its inception in a telephone call to Mrs. Joan Gregory from Tran Chinh Dao. This Vietnamese Dilot. whom the Gregorys had sponsored in 1970 when he had trained in Savannah, was asking for food, shelter, clothing and the securing of jobs for himself and eleven members of his family. After recovering from the implications of the responsibility she had accepted, Joan, along with the willing aid of her husband, Greg, began talking definite steps to accomplish this seemingly insurmountable task. They enlisted the help of their friends, including Father Kevin Boland, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish, whom they had known in Augusta. Father Boland’s parish, which was already making arrangements to adopt a family, agreed to sponsor five members of this family since the parish had no specific commitment at that time to any particular Vietnamese. The joint sponsorship developed into a true-to-life drama. Tran Chinh Dao and his fiancee, Kim Hoang, were in the midst of wedding preparations in Saigon when the fall of the city postponed their plans. They arrived in the United States and were sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, where they resumed their plans to be married. Kim Hoang, like brides-to-be everywhere, had a special dream of being married in a white gown. Because she had no sewing machine at Fort Chaffee, she fashioned her own gown without the aid of a pattern, and soon the happy couple was married with Kim in her lovely white gown which she had sewed entirely by hand. Marriage in the United States was not the only “first” for the Tran family. Dao’s sister, Anh Le, gave birth to her son, Alexander, on American soil. He was born June 27th at Fort Chaffee. Anh lovingly refers to her small son as Moses, because she claims that he was saved from the water by the U.S. 7th Fleet. Arrangements will be made shortly to have the child baptized in Blessed Sacrament Church in the presence of friends and relatives. Extending a helping hand to those who have had to leave home, families, and friends to come to a new land and a new culture is not so difficult a task as it may seem. Since God cannot be outdone in generosity, the sponsor reaps as many benefits as the refugee. Members of the Tran Chinh Dao family are: his new wife, Kim Hoang; Mr. Tuyen and Mrs. Lieu, Dao’s mother and father; Mr. Ly and Mr. Chuong, his brothers; Mr. Kheim Le and Ahn, his sister and her husband, and Alexander Le, their baby. ARRIVE IN SAVANNAH - Members of the Tran Chinh Dao Family were greeted at the Savannah airport on their arrival by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gregory, their sponsors, and the following members of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish which is helping to sponsor the family: Fr. J. Kevin Boland, Joe Ebberwein, Mrs. Marguerite McAuley, Chris Schreck and Richard Fogarty. Members of the refuge family pictured are: Tran Chinh Dao, Kim Hoang, Tran Tuyen and his wife Lieu, Tran Chuong and Tran Ly.