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History Of The Church In South Georgia
(Third in a series prepared by the
Savannah Diocese’s Department of Christian
Formation.)
A journey from Augusta to
Baltimore takes an hour or two by plane
today, with a stop-over in Atlanta. A
family moving south from Maryland
might drive down in a day, with the
help of a moving van or U-haul.
Travel was a very different affair in
the years just following Independence,
for families who decided to move South
in search of a fertile land and a new
home. They came on foot or on
horseback, following rough roads that
were sometimes little more than trails
through the wilderness. There was no
stage-coach or wayside inn to make
matters more comfortable. Each family
brought along its servants and its
children and as many of its belongings
as could be carried or strapped to the
back of a horse. The journey might take
weeks.
Among these groups moving South
shortly after the Revolutionary War was
a small Catholic community from
Maryland. Although Maryland had been
founded by Catholics, political changes
had deprived them of the right to
practice their faith. They moved south
to Wilkes and Warren counties, just
above Augusta, where land was fertile
and relatively cheap. And it was here
that the first organized Catholic parish
was formed, at Locust Grove, near
present-day Washington and Sharon.
Some of these families were
moderately wealthy, and brought with
them their slaves. They were attended
by priests who came at intervals and
ministered to the slave families as well
as to their white masters. The old
baptismal and marriage records show
slave names along with those of the
white Catholics. Slave children were
instructed in the faith by their masters -
the wives doing much of the teaching.
One of the first priests to serve in the
Locust Grove area was Father Oliver le
Mercier, who came to Savannah from
San Domingo and made Locust Grove
the center of his missionary work for
about two years. Some ten years passed
before the little community had a
regular pastor again - with the arrival of
Father Robert Browne who was
stationed in Augusta and served Locust
Grove from there.
At about the same time that the
small Catholic group was establishing
itself in Locust Grove, Catholics from
another source were settling in
Savannah and in Augusta. These were
refugees from France, who had fled the
Revolution there, or from San
Domingo, where many had escaped
from a slave rebellion. Initially there
was some opposition to these new
French families, from the local
colonists, who were afraid that the
slaves they brought with them might
stage another uprising. These fears seem
to have been groundless, because before
(Continued on page 3)
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 59 No. 25 Form 3579 To: 601 E. 6th St. Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Thursday, July 6,1978
Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
FIRST MASS - As Father Michael A. Lubinsky, who was ordained the
day before, prepares to enter St. Matthew’s, Statesboro, for his first
Solemn Mass, the event is heralded by David Siefker ringing the steeple
bell. Photo story of the June 11 activities will be found on page five.)
AUGUSTAN STATE DEPUTY
“Year Of The Child”
Should Not Promote
Abortion, Says Pope
Knights Name State Officers
The Eugene Whitney Council 6514
recently hosted the 76th Annual
Meeting of the Georgia State Council
Knights of Columbus in Athens. Among
the many highlights of the meeting was
the election of officers to serve the
State for the Fraternal Year which
began July 1. John E. Thorstad of
Council 677 in Augusta was elected to
head the Knights in the State of Georgia
as State Deputy.
John had previously served at the
State Council level as a District Deputy,
State Program Director, State Advocate,
State Treasurer, and State Secretary. In
his local council he served in a variety of
offices including Grand Knight in 1970.
Also elected to serve during the
coming fraternal year are the following:
State Secretary - John Sedor of Warner
Robins; State Treasurer - Stanley F.
Wojek of Rome; State Advocate -
Donald Laird of Savannah; State
Warden - Lewis C. Thibodeau of
Atlanta.
Installation of the newly elected
officers will be held at the 10:00 a.m.
Mass celebrated by Archbishop
Donnellan in the Immaculate Heart
Church of Atlanta on July 23.
A highly contested and eagerly
sought after honor, the selection of the
Outstanding Knight of the Year from
among nominees of all councils, was
concluded with the selection of William
T. Jordan, Jr. of Council 6517, Sandy
Springs for that recognition.
At the meeting, recognition was
accorded four recent council additions
to the Knights of Columbus roster in
Georgia. Council 6918 in Thomson,
Council 6920 in Gainesville, Council
7049 in Statesboro and Council 7113 in
Americus. The Georgia State Council
Knights of Columbus now recognizes 24
councils throughout the State and
welcomes all practicing Catholic
gentlemen to seek membership in the
Order.
New State Deputy Thorstad has
announced that emphasis will be placed
upon Vocations and Family Life in the
varied programs for the coming year. He
also announced, as part of the Georgia
State Council charity program, the
donation of $10,000 to Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home in
Atlanta, the home which provides free
care and treatment for incurable cancer
victims.
BY JOHN MUTHIG
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul
VI has urged officials of the United
Nations-sponsored International Year of
the Child not to let the celebration
become an occasion for promoting
abortion and contraceptive activities.
The pope also called for action
against child neglect and child abuse.
Children have the right “to life, to truth
and to love,” he said.
At a meeting June 28 with the
executive director of UNICEF, Henry
Labouisse, and the Year of the Child
director, John Grun, Pope Paul said, “It
would be a form of contradiction if, on
the occasion of the International Year
of the Child, activities were to be
promoted whose inspiration and
purpose were to make children less
welcome or even to prevent them from
being born.”
The pope told Labouisse that he
has “wholeheartedly supported”
UNICEEF Activities aimed at providing
for children’s basic needs. But he said
that “we have repeatedly expressed our
dissociation from any involvement in
projects that may directly or indirectly
favor contraception, abortion or other
practices that do not respect the
supreme value of life.”
The Vatican has taken a cautious
stance on the 1979 International Year
of the Child.
When the idea was proposed, the
Holy See’s U.N. mission opposed it,
questioning the proliferation of such
U.N.-sponsored years and asking if the
money to be used in marking the year
might Slot be more effectively spent to
bolster existing programs for improving
the lot of children.
The Holy See also fears that
pro-contraception and pro-abortion
groups will use the occasion to further
their causes.
“With regard to the International
Year of the Child,” said the pope, “it
has been the concern of the Holy See
that such an event should not be the
occasion for multiplying initiatives that
would have no direct bearing on the
welfare of children.”
The pope asked the children’s year
officials to concentrate on the “real
needs of children everywhere.”
He especially called for action
against hunger, emotional neglect, child
abuse and broken families.
“Despite technological progress,”
said Pope Pai^l, “children still suffer and
die from lack of feaSfl? o 'rishment or as
victims of violence and armed conflicts
that they do not even understand.
“Others
neglect.”
are victims of emotional
John E. Thorstad
Pope Reaffirms Humanae Vitae 9
BY JOHN MUTHIG
VATICAN CITY (NC) - In his first direct mention of “Humanae Vitae”
(“On Human Life”) in years, Pope Paul VI has restated the encyclical’s teachings
on artificial contraception.
In a major address on the eve of his feast day (St. John the Baptist, June
24), Pope Paul told the College of Cardinals that “Humanae Vitae,” which
restated the church’s ban on artificial contraception, was a painful document to
issue.
But he emphasized that the “more serious scientific studies” have confirmed
the validity of the encyclical’s teachings.
“Humanae Vitae,” he told the cardinals June 23, “was a painful document
of our Pontificate, not only because the issue was serious and delicate, but also -
and perhaps even more important because there was a certain climate of
expectancy among Catholics and in the wider sphere of public opinion which
anticipated that changes, relaxations or liberalizations of the church’s moral
doctrine and teaching on marriage would be made.
“It seems to us,” continued Pope Paul, “that the decade which has passed
since its promulgation is sufficient enough time to evaluate better — after the
confirmations which have come from the more scientific studies — the
significance of the decisions which we then took ‘coram Domino’ (before the
Lord).”
The pope said that the 10th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae” is “an
opportunity to reaffirm the important principles which in the wake of the just
ended council we pronounced with more careful formulation: the principle of
respect for the natural laws . . . and the principle of aware and ethically
responsible parenthood.” 0
The pope’s ban on artificial contraception was issued in July, 1968, after a
papally appointed commission urged revision of church teaching on
contraception.
The encyclical caused a storm of controversy among the laity, theologians,
priests and bishops.
Sociologists have stated that in the United States much of the decline in
Mass attendance since the Second Vatican Council can be traced to
dissatisfaction over the encyclical, the last one to be issued by Pope Paul.
In his address to the cardinals, the pope called for an end to the “dissident
criticism (in the church) which goes well beyond the church’s healthy need
continually to purify herself.”
He insisted that the church is “vital and alive, even though for some time
and from people not only outside of the church, cries have been raised by those
who like to stress the church’s ills and to advance the idea that she is in agony
and fatal decomposition.”
The pontiff said that the church is under attack “both in countries which
try to suffocate religious freedom and in lands where that very freedom which is
guaranteed to the church is used by some of her adherents to change the nature
of her creed and undermine her institutions.”
The pope stressed the healthy signs of church life, including the generosity
shown by the laity in their willingness to take church responsibility after the
council and the growth of small Christian communities and prayer groups.
He said that prayer groups yield “vitalizing oxygen” for the church.
He also praised “those many theologians and Christian thinkers who strive
to prevent the construction of a perilous ditch between the traditional faith and
the fragile, often ambiguous cultures of our time.”
The pope urged involved Catholics to ask whether they are completely loyal
to the true church in their Christian apostolates.
He said that all must ask themselves: “Is the church’s message, doctrine and
authentic tradition the hinge of my theological research, my preaching, my
religious education lessons?
“Or is it rather a metter of a religious ideology which I have invented, or a
personal opinion?”
Speaking about relations between local churches and the Vatican, the pope
said that both sides ought to try to understand better the other’s position.
“The Holy See,” he said, “will have to evaluate with more care the diversity
of problems of the local churches. *
“And the local churches will have to understand better that the concern of
the Holy See and its offices is to guarantee the faith’s authenticity and unity,
and an exchange of charity and harmony as perfect as possible among its living
members,” said the 80-year-old pontiff.
The pope continued: “There are
people who poison the minds of the
young by passing on to them prejudices
and empty ideologies. And today
children are exploited even to the point
of being used to satisfy the lowest
depravities of adults.”
He said that a “despicable aspect”
of child exploitation is “that it is often
controlled by powerful forces motivated
by financial gain.” Vatican officials said
that the pope had in mind forms of
exploitation such as physical and sexual
abuse, and use of children in
pornography.
The pope asked that the “full
attention” of children’s year activities
be directed at parental attitudes toward
children.
“In our time some people consider
the child a burden and a restriction to
freedom, rather than a living expression
of the love of parents” said the pontiff.
“Others deny to the child the
fundamental right to have a mother and
a father united in marriage. But all
society must vigorously reply that the
child has a God-given right to be born,
the right to a mother and father united
in marriage, the right to be bom into a
normal family.”
The Year of the Child, said the
pope, must reaffirm the “inestimable
value of the child.”
“The church stresses that every
child is a human person and has the
right to the integral development of his
or her personality,” he said.
Pope Paul VI