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History Of The Church In South Georgia
(Eight in a series prepared by the Diocese
of Savannah Christian Formation
Department).
Savannah’s Port today is a busy
place, bringing cargoes from all over the
world. Freighters, tankers and
containerized vessels crowd the docks
from Garden City to the Talmadge
Bridge, while farther downstream are
docks for the new and slightly sinister
tankers bringing Liquified Natural Gas
from the Middle East.
A hundred years ago the vessels were
smaller but the Port was already a busy
spot, well-known as a commercial
center. On one day alone, in December
1879, the Savannah Morning News
listed a total of 138 vessels in port: 16
steamships, 26 ships, 52 barks, 16 brigs,
and 28 schooners.
It was at about this time - a hundred
years ago - that the Missionary
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception first came to the South, to
work in the Savannah Diocese at the
request of Bishop William H. Gross,
C.SS.R.
Mother Ignatius Hayes, the
remarkable woman who was their
Foundress, looked at the City of
Savannah and the nearby settlement at
the Isle of Hope, before choosing
Augusta as the site of her missionary
work. In Augusta, she purchased a
property at Woodlawn, and built a series
of cottages for an orphanage for colored
girls, an industrial school and a printing
press.
The work of the Franciscans was to
be primarily among the Black
population of the area. Bishop Gross
specifically spelled this out in his
Articles of Agreement, which contained
the following provisions:
1. The religieuses of the Order of St.
Francis are to employ their time and
labor in the Diocese of Savannah for the
negroes or colored people only. And
they are in no manner whatever to work
for the white population.
2. The said Sisters are especially to
teach and train young colored girls in
those domestic duties such as washing,
ironing, cooking, mending, etc., which
form the daily occupation of women.
While at the same time they will give the
colored girls a simple and plain English
schooling.
3. The said Sisters may visit and
nurse colored persons. They may also,
with permission for each case obtained
from the Bishop of the Diocese,
establish hospitals for the colored sick
people.
In 1885, just before Bishop Gross
left Savannah to assume his new
position as Archbishop of Oregon City,
another group of would-be missionaries
came to the Diocese. These claimed to
be “Poor Clares,” and they came to
work on Skidaway Island, where they
planned to run a school and orphanage
for Black girls. There seems to have
been some doubt about whether these
“Poor Clares” were bona fide religious
sisters, though at least one of them had
been a member of the community of
Poor Clares in York, in England. The
group occupied the property on
Skidaway, recently administered by the
Benedictines. Having little or no
experience of the area, or of missionary
work among the people of the South,
they understandably ran into
difficulties. Not the least of these were
financial troubles.
The members of this rather unusual
community were sometimes seen in a
rowboat, circling the ships in the dock
to ask for donations, and at other times
they were said to go begging along the
taverns by the waterfront. The more
, staid of Savannah’s catholic citizens
were naturally alarmed by these
methods of fund-raising. Eventually the
“sisters” left the area, leaving behind
them a number of debts and little
accomplished. Their original aims were
(Continued on page 6)
Mission Co-op
The weekend of September 9-10 has been set aside in the Diocese of
Savannah, as Mission Co-op weekend.
Representatives of the Maryknoll and Columban Sisters and the Maryknoll
Fathers and Fathers of the Sacred Heart will be in the diocese to appeal for
support of their Mission activities. There will also be a pulpit exchange by
some priests of the diocese who will ask for support of the missions.
POPE JOHN PAUL I
CANDIDATES FOR PERMANENT DEACON in
Diocese of Savannah ring altar at Savannah’s Cathedral
of St. John the Baptist during Formal Admission
Ceremonies.
Seventeen Advance In Deacon Program
BY FAYE RUEHLING
The candidates for the Permanent
Diaconate in the Diocese of Savannah,
accompanied by their families, gathered
it St. John’s Center on August 19 for a
/ery special weekend. Everyone enjoyed
the facilities of Camp Villa Marie for
‘Fun in the Sun” which was topped off
with a covered dish supper and
jntertainment supplied by the various
families.
All the families met at the Cathedral
of St. John the Baptist on Sunday
morning for Mass which included a very
impressive formal Admission to
Candidacy ceremony. The Most Rev.
Raymond Lessard was celebrant of the
Mass assisted by concelebrants
Msgr. Felix Donnelly, Fr. Marvin
LeFrois, Fr. Michael Smith and Fr.
Steven McIntosh. Fr. Daniel O’Connell
served as Master of Ceremonies and
Brother Joseph Teston was the Minister
of Communion. The Cathedral Men’s
Choir, under the direction of Mrs.
Joseph Schreck, rendered inspiring
musical selections. The congregation,
led by Sister Mary Fidelis, also
participated in singing portions of the
liturgy.
The Ceremony for Admission to
Candidacy included the presentation of
each of the seventeen men to Bishop
Lessard. At this time, these men had the
opportunity to voice their commitment
to serve God and His people in the
Savannah Diocese. The theme of the
Mass was “I Am Among You As One
Who Serves”, and as Bishop Lessard
prayed that God would complete the
work already begun in the candidates,
the church echoed with a resounding
Amen.
Mass was followed with a luncheon
(Continued on page 2)
Solemn Inaugural Mass
Breaks With Tradition
V ATICAN CITY (NC) ~ Surrounded
by royalty, ranking churchmen and
hundreds of thousands of spectators,
Pope John Paul I formally launched the
church’s 263rd papacy.
The ceremonial inaugural Mass Sept.
3 climaxed a week of mass meetings and
private colloquies for the man whose
election as pope on Aug. 26 came as a
complete surprise to Vatican-watchers
and who has already said many times
that he never expected to be chosen.
The new pope’s pontificate quickly
took on the marks of simplicity which
had characterized that of Pope Paul VI
and humanness which was Pope John
XXIII’s hallmark.
At the solemn Mass Pope John Paul
chose to be symbolically invested with
papal power through the imposition of
the pallium - a simple strip of white
doth with black crosses - and not by a
coronation with the papal tiara.
He thus broke with many hundreds
of years of papal tradition.
Also missing from the solemn,
lengthy rites were the papal portable
throne and the triple admonition, ‘Thus
passes the glory of the world.”
In their place the new pope chose to
highlight the ceremony by praying
silently and alone at the tomb of St.
Peter before walking out to the crowds.
After the imposition of the pallium
the pontiff received a formal sign of
obedience from each cardinal. But even
that gesture turned into a fraternal
exchange as the new pope smiled, kissed
and spoke with each cardinal.
The smiling face and friendly way of
the former patriarch of Venice
PARISH HALL DEDICATED - Savannah’s Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard dedicated the new parish hall of St. Joan of Arc Parish, Louisville,
in recent ceremonies. Others in the picture are Father William Smith,
Claxton; Father Clement Borchers, Vidalia-Lyons; Father Dominic
Duggins, pastor of St. Joan of Arc; Father Donald Kunkel, Swainsboro
and Father Francis Korizinek, Sylvania.
Clergy Appointments
The Most Reverend Raymond W. Lessard, Bishop of Savannah, announces
the following appointments:
FATHER RALPH BAILEY, O.S.B., Administrator of St. Anne’s Mission
Church, Richmond Hill, effective immediately;
FATHER FRANCIS KORZINEK, Glenmary, Vicar Forane (Dean) of the
Statesboro Deanery, effective September 1,1978, for a 3-year term;
FATHER EDWIN J. HAYES, O.M.I., Vicar Forane (Dean) of the
Valdosta-Brunswick Deanery, effective September 1,1978, for a 3-year term;
FATHER MARK STERBENZ, S.D.S., Moderator of the Savannah
Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, effective immediately for a period of
one year;
FATHER CHRISTOPHER SCHRECK, Assistant Director of Vocations.
dominated earlier meetings as well that
first week.
Right after his election Aug. 26, it
was the smile on his face that most
struck the crowds in St. Peter’s Square
and millions around the world who saw
the new pope’s first appearance on their
television sets.
I ™ - ~.Jl J.,
The next day he thrilled those in the
square when, coming out on the
balcony for the Sunday Angelus, he
abandoned the usual formal greeting to
the crowd and spoke informally, telling
amusing anecdotes about himself and
(Continued on page 2)
PAPAL CHAIR -- Pope John Paul I sits on his papal chair as he wears
his new miter and holds the same pastoral staff carried by his predecesor.
Pope Paul VI. The chair is simpler than previous pope’s chairs and has no
canopy over the top. Next to him is Msgr. Virgilio Noe, master of
ceremonies during the inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square. (NC Photo)