Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, April 8, 1999
News
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Pioneer Catholicism in Georgia:
the Church at Locust Grove
By Rita H. DeLorme
ur contemporary vision
of pioneers who lived in
log cabins certainly holds
true for the Catholic settle
ment near Augusta known as
Locust Grove. Log cabins
were the habitat of pioneer
families and the little log
cabin church built at Locust
Grove, near Augusta, Geor
gia, over two hundred years
ago conforms to that idea.
During the post-Revolu-
tionary War period a strange thing
happened in Maryland, once the
“most tolerant” of colonies: anti-
Catholic bigotry became a real threat.
Consequently, those who had settled
in certain districts of the state were
forced either to 'knuckle under” and
give up their Faith or move. The band
of settlers who journeyed to Locust
Grove and founded their colony and a
church in 1790 chose the latter option.
By all evidence competent and
hardworking, these displaced people
set to work farming and soon pros
pered. Father Oliver Le Mercier fixed
Locust Grove, named for the stand of
locust trees which grew there, as the
hub of his missionary
efforts. Another French
priest, a Father Surjet, also
served the colony for a
time. Father Robert
Browne, pastor of the
church in Augusta, also
cared for the Locust
Grove community . Later,
Father Peter Whelan,
whose saintly ministry to
prisoners during the Civil
War is a matter of record,
was pastor at Locust
Grove for a number of years..
The early settlers who came from
Maryland were later joined by Irish
immigrants who had left their home
land for similar reasons. For a while,
the settlement at Locust Grove contin
ued to prosper. With the decline of the
cotton business, however, the Locust
Grove community saw its heyday
come to an end. Today, Washington
and Sharon, Georgia, have succeeded
the original Locust Grove community.
The original log cabin church is
long gone, but it is not forgotten. In
the past two decades, there has been
renewed recognition of the impor
tance of this pioneer Catholic commu
The Church of the Purification in Sharon, successor to the Catholic
church at Locust Grove.
nity. Old. Locust Grove Cemetery has
been restored and graves of early set
tlers there once again remind us of
their real contribution to the Church.
Though part of the Diocese of Savan
nah since 1859, the cemetery and sur
rounding acreage became the property
of the Diocese of Atlanta in 1956.
Cox Woodland Company of Augusta
has leased the tract since 1967 from
the Atlanta Archdiocese and will con
tinue to do so until the lease expires
in 2007.
It was Bishop John England who
once referred to this first organized
parish in the state as the “Cradle of
Catholicism” in Georgia. Today,
though historic Locust Grove is part
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, its pio
neer spirit remains part of the Savan
nah Diocese and, as such, is part of us
ail. •
Rita H. DeLOrME is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.
Irish priests in America a dying breed, says
By Nancy Hartnagel
Washington (CNS)
rish-born and Irish-seminary educated priests
working in U.S. dioceses are a dying breed,
according to Catholic sociologist William L. Smith.
Smith, who teaches at Georgia Southern University
in Statesboro, said in an unpublished study that they
“will likely be the last of a long continuous line of
Irish priests to serve in the United States.”
Approximately 3,365 Irish priests have served the
U.S. church since the 1800s. But, said Smith in a
recent telephone interview with Catholic News Ser
vice, “there’s a vocation crisis in Ireland, so these
guys are not there to be exported anymore.”
His interest in the subject began several years ago
at a Mass in Florida where the Irish celebrant
described “how he came to live in the United
States.” Smith subsequently discovered that the
experience of Irish immigrant priests was sparsely
documented.
So, he got the names and U.S. addresses of Irish
priests in America from their Irish seminaries: Saint
John’s College in Waterford, Saint Peter’s College
in Wexford, Saint Patrick’s College in Thurles, Saint
Patrick’s College in Carlow and All Hallows Col
lege in Dublin. He mailed surveys to 889 of them in
fall 1996 and follow-up letters in winter 1997; 402
responded.
The mean age of respondents was 62, “about 10
years older than American-born priests,” said Smith.
They were working in 77 dioceses, chiefly in the
West, South and Southwest, and 67 percent were
pastors, while three were bishops. Most had been in
the United States for 30 to 50 years.
They were asked open-ended questions about
seminary preparation, leaving Ireland, the influence
of American culture, their ethnicity and treatment,
priestly satisfaction, their problems and concerns,
and the impact of the Second Vatican Council.
Among those surveyed, 55 percent “believed they
were adequately prepared by their seminary for ser
vice in the United States,” Smith reported. Most
faulted their seminaries only for “lack of cultural
preparation.” More than three-quarters said they
would not have preferred staying in Ireland.
Smith said many would have been sent to Eng
land, Scotland or Wales for five to 10 years before
they would be needed in their own Irish dioceses.
Consequently, they saw “more opportunity for
themselves in the United States,” including quicker
promotion to pastor. One priest said, “I was attract
ed by the progressiveness of the American church in
comparison to the Irish church.”
When asked whether American culture had influ
enced their theology and philosophy of life, more
than 69 percent said yes, 20 percent said no and
almost 10 percent were undecided.
According to Smith, the one-fifth who claimed
they weren’t influenced by American culture “also
tended to say that they viewed themselves as being
more Irish than Irish-American.”
Almost 47 percent considered themselves Irish,
while just under 40 percent saw themselves as Irish-
American. Of the higher number, Smith observed,
“They haven’t been here a long time on the whole,
so they haven’t fully assimilated.”
More than half the priests said they were treated
differently by American Catholics because they’re
from Ireland. One priest suspected “the reason for it
is that the Irish are more pastoral”; another attrib
uted it to ability of Irish priests “to relate with peo
ple and to listen to their concerns.”
Regarding satisfaction with priesthood, 67 percent
said they were very satisfied, 24 percent satisfied, 7
percent somewhat satisfied, and only 1.5 percent not
satisfied.
Catholic sociologist
A “very dissatisfied” priest wrote, “I like my
priesthood but the system stinks. I think if Jesus
Christ were to return today he would be excommu
nicated in a month by the Cardinal Ratzingers of the
church.”
When asked about problems, the biggest they
faced were: 17 percent, overwork; 16 percent, lone
liness; 11 percent, celibacy; and 10 percent, clergy
shortage. Smith was surprised that 12 percent said
they had no problems. “I know very few people
who don’t have any life problems,” he added.
The priests identified 51 ecclesiological and theo
logical issues of concern to them. Topping the list
were: ordination of women, 20 percent; ordination
of married men, 15 percent; optional celibacy for
priests, 13 percent; reactivation of married priests,
13 percent; lack of vocations, 11 percent; priest
shortage, 11 percent; and celibacy, 10 percent.
Regarding the influence of Vatican II, 51 percent
said the council had gone far enough in modernizing
Catholicism, 39 percent said it had not gone far
enough, and 9 percent said it had gone too far.
Smith said many Americans perceive Irish priests
as ultraconservative, but his preliminary conclusion
is “they’re not any more conservative or any less lib
eral than American-born priests overall.” He found
contemporary Irish priests in America to be “very
pastoral ... very concerned about the people.” And,
he noted, they “think that American-born priests are
more bureaucratic ... more program-oriented.”
Smith, who earned his sociology doctorate at the
University of Notre Dame, hopes eventually to turn
this “very exploratory” research into a book. Priests
often responded at great length, producing four- or
five-page written surveys, he said. “It was a very
moving experience to read through them because
they were pouring out their lives.”