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PAGE 4 — The Southern Cross, September 12, 1985
Rectors Interviewed By Gillian Brown
Cathedral Edition
Sunday, September 15 will be a
joyful day for the people of God
known as the Diocese of Savannah.
On that day, the beautiful Cathedral
of St. John the Baptist will formally
be re-opened after being closed for
repairs since May of 1984. True, the
ordination of men to the Permanent
Diaconate was held there in May of
this year, and it has been used for
marriages since that date, but these
were held despite ongoing painting
to the interior and exterior. The final
work was finished just this past
week.
This special edition of The
Southern Cross features a color
photo of the Cathedral in all its splen
dor. We have included a brief history
of the Cathedral and details of its
beautiful stained glass windows and
murals. Also presented are the
memories of a long-time parishioner,
Joseph Schreck and of former rec
tors, Monsignor Felix Donnelly and
Father J. Kevin Boland.
We would like to thank all those
who made this edition possible, in
particular: Gillian Brown, Savannah
Diocesan Information Office; Preser
vation Photography for art work on
color photo; Savannah Chancery
staff; employees of Chalker
Publishing, Waynesboro; our adver
tisers.
Those wishing to save this section
will find it easy to do so by removing
the news pages which are in the
center of the paper. T171V j
"Visitors Made Life Interesting"
Visitors from far and wide made life in
teresting at the cathedral when Msgr.
Felix Donnelly was Rector, during the
years 1976-1981. Priests of the Diocese
would come and go, bringing news of
events all over south Georgia, and the
guests included many distinguished
people—such as the lecturers who came
each year for the Theology Seminar.
Former Secretary of State Henry Cabot
Lodge was a guest of Bishop Raymond
Lessard on one occasion; Cardinal Krol
came for the ‘‘Pulaski Day” celebrations
marking the bicentennial of the Siege of
Savannah; and Bishop Fulton Sheen—at
the age of about 80—made a visit to ad
dress an audience at the Civic Center.
Theology Seminar speakers included
Father Avery Dulles, S.J., Father Alfred
McBride, O. Praem, Father Roland Mur
phy, Father Raymond Brown, S.S., Father
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J.
‘‘Visitors helped us realize that the
Cathedral is the hub of the Diocese,”
Msgr. Donnelly said. ‘‘Different people
would come from different parts to keep us
in touch.”
Ominous cracks were apparent in the
Cathedral walls during that time, and
engineer Hugh Thomas would come in
from time to time to measure them. ‘‘We
kept watch on the cracks and repaired
some of them. A Nativity church
parishioner patched some of the cracks
and matched the paint. The building was
stable at that time, until the recent settling
of the foundation.”
Problems of another kind came his way,
however. A strong wind nearly blew off
one of the heavy crosses on the bell tower.
The leaning cross posed a possible danger
to pedestrians in the street below, until
repairs were made. Construction workers
from Porter Huggins used a giant boom to
stabilize the cross once more.
Fire broke out within the cathedral
itself, caused when a cushion on a pew
behind the altar burst into flame. A tourist
who saw smoke called the fire department.
The fire was extinguished quickly, but the
smoke damage was intense, and much
cleaning had to be undertaken before the
altar area looked itself again.
“One of the real pleasures of being there
was the liturgy,” Msgr. Donnelly said,
“with the Cathedral choir, led by Mrs.
Schreck, and the girls from St. Vincent’s,
and all the other choirs which used to come
there for special events. The liturgies were
a great inspiration, particularly when
there were gatherings for the whole
Diocese, or the deanery, and the special
liturgies for Pentecost and such times. The
noonday Mass was well attended. Also we
had the inspiration of the Angelus ringing
three times a day, recalling the coming of
the Redeemer.”
Small events as well as large ones re
main in Msgr. Donnelly’s memory. There
was the time that the Sheehan boys went
up into the bell tower to capture an owl,
ostensibly for demonstration at a science
class at Benedictine Military School. The
police were called and the game warden
also had words to say, but the intervention
of the rector helped to smooth things over,
and the owl was permitted to go to school.
Another owl—perhaps a relative or
descendant—was found in the bell towers
during recent repairs to the steeples, and
was sent to safer surroundings at Oatland
Island.
To Msgr. Donnelly, one of the most
rewarding aspects of life at the Cathedral
was the opportunity it gave him to lead
groups of tourists through—a process he
regarded as a form of evangelization.
“There is so much there in the way of in
struction, with the windows and the pain
tings, and the ringing of the Angelus,” he
said. “Showing the visitors the windows
above the altar and in the transepts I
would give them some background on St.
John the Baptist, on the Trinity and the In
carnation.”
In the cathedral, where Gothic arches
lead the eyes upward, Msgr. Donnelly
believes that it is hard to refrain from
prayer. Leading to the centerpiece, the
altar, the arches impress the most footsore
of tourists with their beauty. “They help to
turn the mind to God and the things of
God.”
"Monsignor Dominates Memories"
Father J. Kevin Boland was twice
assigned to the Cathedral, first as an
associate pastor in 1961-63 and later as rec
tor in 1970-72.
His memories of the first assignment are
dominated by the personality of Monsignor
McNamara, the rector, whose name, ac
cording to Fr. Boland, was “synonymous
with all that was Catholic.”
Msgr. McNamara was said to have
been born in the shadow of the Cathedral,
and he looked upon it as the “barometer of
Catholic prestige” or a measure of the
respect in which Catholicism was held in
those days.
“The Cathedral parish was a little larger
than it is now,” Father Boland said when
we talked to him about his memories of the
Cathedral. “People showed up in large
numbers, however, for the special events.
Novenas would have been better attended
then, than they are now. Remember that
the years 61-63 were identified as the
beginning of Vatican II, and the radical
changes were just beginning. Before
Christmas and Easter, when we heard con
fessions, we were there from 7:00 p.m. to
half an hour before Midnight Mass.
Several priests would be doing that. There
were hours and hours of confessions—they
were regular, and substantial.”
“Attendance at confession has fallen off.
However, that has been offset to some ex
tent by the penance services, where you
have nine or ten priests to hear confessions
at the same time.”
The parish during his assignment there
was a mixture of older people and a few
younger families. The teen group, under
Father Patrick O’Brien, had twenty or
thirty people who attended regularly.
Many families were in the process of mov
ing out to the suburbs at that time.
Two big events stand out in Father
Boland’s memory. One was the funeral of
Msgr. McNamara, in October 1970 and
the other the ordination of Msgr. Andrew
J. McDonald as the first native Savan-
nahian ever to be raised to the episcopacy
in the United States.
The history of the Cathedral is closely
linked to the lives of the men who have
lived there, in particular with its bishops,
Father Boland said.
“Archbishop McDonough always used to
say he knew he was getting close to home,
after a journey, when he saw the spires of
the Cathedral over the city.”
The great ceremonies as well as the
everyday liturgies remain in Fr. Boland’s
memories as significant. “They epitomize
what the Cathedral is all about. On one
level, it is the place for a glorious liturgy.
On the other it is a place for the normal,
everyday celebration of the Mass...the ma
jestic as well as the simple.”
People at Fr. Boland’s present church,
St. Ann’s, Columbus, have little emotional
attachment to the building, he said.
However, they responded generously to
the building fund which made its repairs
possible, and several will be present for
the Solemn Liturgy of the Re-opening,
September 15.
The Southern Cross
(USPS 505 680)
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
Rev. Joseph Stranc
Director, Department of Communications
John E. Markwalter, Editor
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