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History Of The Church In South Georgia W (Ninth in a series prepared by The Savannah Diocese’s Department of Christian Formation.) Tourists today, visiting the City of Savannah, flock to see the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which dominates the skyline with its twin towers. It is a familiar part of the Savannah scene, and recently, when high winds partially dislodged a cross on top of one of the £ spires, the story of the mishap made headlines in the local newspapers. A much greater disaster took place toward the end of the last century, when the former cathedral, which stood on the same spot, burned down. The catastrophe took place on a Sunday evening, February 6th, 1898, between 10 and 11 o’clock. Next day, the SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS reported: ^ “The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, one of the most magnificent and imposing structures of Savannah, upon which years of toil and thousands of dollars have been spent, is a mass of ruin, and nothing remains but its four walls and indestructible parts of its two tall spires.” When the alarm came, firemen were already hard at work fighting another fire which raged along the riverfront. Two or three hose wagons arrived, but the pressure was so low that the streams of water from the fire plugs barely reached the sills of the windows. The SAVANNAH PRESS stated: “Years of work by scores of men burned in the presence of thousands in less than two hours.” The catastrophe took place during the last part of the administration of the sixth Bishop of Savannah, Thomas A. Becker. It became the task of his successor, Bishop Benjamin Keiley, to build a new cathedral, more beautiful and impressive than the last. During his long administration, which lasted until 1922, Bishop Keiley saw great progress in the Church. New parishes and schools were established in Savannah, Atlanta, Augusta and Brunswick, and St. Joseph’s Church in Macon was consecrated. A former Confederate drummer boy, Bishop Keiley was nevertheless very sympathetic to the needs of the Black population in his diocese. It was under his aegis that the Society for African Missions came to the area, led by the indefatigable Father Ignatius Lissner, a remarkable missionary who - with his gutteral accent and grizzled beard -- became a familiar figure here for many years. Father lissner began his work in Savannah, taking over responsibility for the small parish of St. Benedict the Moor. His letters describe his humble beginnings: On January 15th, 1907, I took up the work in Georgia as the first delegate from the Society ... I rented one room of a boarding house in Savannah ,... When I had obtained a sufficient footing I rented a little house near the Church and associated with me the priest sent by the Society to help me. The Catholic negroes numbered only twenty-five persons as the average attendance, and the collections were poor in proportion. I was told that if I did not get friends to help me we must face the alternative of starving or abandon the attempt. I, however, was not ashamed to beg, nor would I have refused to dig. I was ready to work, and work hard.” Help came, with the assistance of several more priests from Lyons, France, and before too long a good two-story building had been erected at St. Benedicts, for use as a church and school. The Franciscan Sisters came to staff the school, which soon had more students than it could manage. A new building, dedicated to the Most Pure Heart of Mary, became the center of a second parish. Before long, a third parish was established on the West Side of Savannah. This was St. Anthony’s, situated on a charming stretch of farm land lying on Route 17, then the major road to Florida. Not content with his work in Savannah, Father Lissner and his companions next went to Augusta, where they established a church, school, rectory and convent. Once again, the Franciscan Sisters were called upon to staff the school. Next, the SMA Fathers moved on to Macon, where the Jesuits had already laid a solid foundation. In Macon, the parish and school of St. Peter Claver were soon established. Funds for St. Peter Claver, as for the establishment of other schools and churches for the Black population, were partly provided by Mother Katharine Drexel, foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Katharine took a personal interest in the work of the missionaries and made generous grants from her own considerable fortune. Her Sisters staff St. Peter Claver School to this day. Determined that leadership would be the key to the progress of the Faith among the Black population, Father Lissner encouraged vocations among his people and was responsible for the foundation of a small congregation of Black Sisters, the “Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary.” This congregation, headed by Mother Mary Theodore Williams, eventually moved from Savannah to New York City, where it is still in existence today. Beginning with social work in the Harlem area, the congregation's work has grown to include teaching, organization of summer camps for girls, the administration of a day nursery, and visitation of the sick and elderly. The SMA Fathers gave over sixty years of service to the Diocese, working among the Black population in Savannah, Augusta and Macon. It was not until the late sixties, with the influx of additional young priests from Ireland to take over many of the responsibilities of parishes in South Georgia, that most of the SMA priests withdrew. They are remembered with warmth and affection, particularly by the Catholic families in the parishes they served for so long. RESOURCES*: Archives, SMA Fathers, Tenafiy, N. J. “History of the Cathedral Parish,” Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. ”The Church in South Georgia,” William V. Coleman, Diocese of Savannah. “History of the Catholic Church in Georgia,” Patrick Adams, OFM. The Southern Cross DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol. 59 No. 32 Form 3579 To: 601 E. 6th St. Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Thursday, September 14,1978 Single Copy Price - 15 Cents .SHARING me UGHTOF BWO \mm\\ umimiul <ATeCH£TICAIi 5HNW l178*J6fTSM8eRI7 JOINT MEETING HELD Religious Planning Education Programs OnWorld Problems CLEVELAND, Ohio (NC) - “The call for solidarity with the poor and oppressed echoes in our lives,” said more than 1,000 members of male and female religious communities at the end of their meeting. The focus of the first joint meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) was oppression and injustice in the Third World and in the U.S. The meeting was held in Cleveland Aug. 27 to Sept. 1. The delegates, representing over 500 religious communities, pledged to: -- Live more simply, be sparing in use of goods and rid themselves of affluence for the sake of a more just world. - Initiate national and regional education and mass communications programs to deepen awareness and stimulate efforts for global justice. - Use more energies for solidarity with oppressed peoples in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Delegates heard bishops, priests and nuns from Third World countries describe problems of economic exploitation, colonialism, racism, sexism and classism. In Latin America, “The enormous and heartbreaking social cleavages make up the most salient and most painful fact that hits the eyes of everyone approaching our countries,” said Father Cesar Jerez, Jesuit provincial of Central America. “There are among us powerful minorities who live in luxury and waste, the cost of which is being paid by large majorities who live in economic, social, political, cultural and religious oppression,” he added. In Asia, “according to United Nations studies, 20,000 children die each year of hunger,” said Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen of the Philippines. He asked for improved social analysis of problems to avoid self-defeating .development projects. PAPAL MEDALIST Mrs. Walter M. (Mary Miles) Crawford, widely known throuhgout the Savannah Diocese for her work on behalf of St. Mary’s Home, died September 6 at Azalealand Nursing Home. Mrs. Crawford was honored in 1964, when Pope Paul VI bestowed the Papal Medal “Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice” on her for her many outstanding services to the Church. For many years she solicited funds for the Female Orphan Benevolent Society working with and carrying on the work of her mother, who was treasurer of the Society for 37 years. Her greatest interest was St. Mary’s Home and she was treasurer and “This means we must use the social sciences as tools. We have too many examples in Asia of work for development which is counter-productive: for example, social action programs to promote poor farmers that end up benefitting the rich farmers at the expense of poor farmers,” said Bishop Labayen. “A special benefit of social analysis is that it helps us see what is authentically (Continued on page 2) membership chairman of St. Mary’s Home Guild from its creation, in 1958, until her last illness. She was known for her volunteer activities fojr the church, serving for many years as volunteer bookkeeper at the Cathedral. Mrs. Crawford was married to the late Walter M. Crawford who was also known for his work for his Church. Father Christopher Srhreck and Father Daniel O’Connell were concelebrants of a Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Crawford on Saturday morning, September 9, at the Cathedral in Savannah. She is survived by a number of nieces and nephews from Florida. Burial was in Catholic Cemetery. Funeral Mass In Savannah For Mrs. Walter Crawford Carter Demonstrates That He Is Papal-Minded President WASHINGTON (NC) - When Pope Paul VI died Aug. 6, President Jimmy Carter praised him in a statement and sent a telegram of condolence to each American Catholic bishop. The next day, Carter stopped during a trip to New York City to sign a loan guarantee bill to pay his respects to Cardinal Terence Cooke. On Sept. 7, Vice President Walter Mondale met with seven reporters from the religious press to discuss his half hour audience with Pope Paul’s successor, Pope John Paul I. The White House handling of the death of one pope and the election of another between those two dates was, on one level., the kind of ceremonial response expected of a president. But it was also a small political campaign in which Carter sought to shore up his support among Catholics and maintain ties to a foreign policy ally. The White House consulted outside experts, including Bishop Thomas Kelly, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in drawing up the delegations to the papal funeral and inaugural. Bishop Kelly says Carter handled the papal transition with exceptional “dignity.” “He managed it very well,” he said. “It was a good political event and a good diplomatic event. The people who went to Rome (in the official delegations) represented our country very well.” Two bishops who are personal friends of Vice President Walter Mondale - Archbishop John Roach of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the NCCB vice president who preached at Carter’s inaugural, and Bishop James Rausch of Phoenix, Ariz. a Minnesota native -- accompanied Mondale as part of the official U.S. delegation to Pope John Paul’s inaugural. Carter picked the political figures in the delegations to the funeral and the inaugural with an eye toward showing sensitivity toward the Catholic Church and various Catholic ethnic groups. His choices also indicated he used the events to reward his political friends. The two delegations included Irish Catholics such as Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and New York Gov. Hugh Carey, Italian Catholics such as Rep. Peter Rodino (D-N.J.), Robert Giaimo (D-Conn.) and Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.), Hispanic Catholics such as the U.S. immigration commissioner, Leonel Castillo, and Eastern European Catholics such as Rep. Clement Zablocki (D-Wis.) and Mayor Michael Bilandic of Chicago. Several of those in the delegations, such as Carey, Sen. Thomas McIntyre (D-N.H.) and Sen. William Hathaway (D-Me.), face tough election fights this fall in states where they may be helped by their participation in the official delegations. The Carter administration also showed that it recognized the Vatican was an important foreign policy friend under Pope Paul and could be again V under Pope John Paul. As Mondale noted in his interview with the religious press, the Church is a major voice in defense of human rights and social justice in countries where the United States has similar concerns. (After Pope Paul died, Father J. Bryan. Hehir, the U.S. Catholic Conference’s top foreign policy adviser, received a call from a friend at the State Department looking for an insight into the choice of a new pope. “I told him our system does not lend itself to conventional American political analysis,” Father Hehir said, with both good humor and good insight.) (Continued on page 6)