Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, October 28, 1999
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Chapel of Our Lady of Good Hope, Savannah
Bishop Michael Keyes, SM, visits Chapel of Our Lady of Good Hope
By Rita H. DeLorme
or Savannahians familiar with
Skidaway Island, the name
“Priests’ Landing” is a common one.
Possibly, for some it may evoke a
picture of dark-clad clerics struggling
out of rocking boats to touch land
and begin their ministry. If so, the
story of the little white church on the
Isle of Hope which still stands
against a background of shrubs
should prove interesting.
The year was 1874 and Fathers
Gabriel Bergier and Raphael Wissel,
Benedictines newly arrived in
Savannah from their order’s head
quarters in France, were preparing to
begin their ministry to the city’s
African-American community. Saint
Benedict Parish on Harris Street and
Saint Benedict School on Perry Street
were soon established. Accordingly, a
site for a Benedictine monastery on
the Isle of Hope was purchased by
Father Gabriel Bergier for $250. A
benefactor, Dr. Stephen F. Dupon,
donated an adjacent lot to the
Benedictines in 1876 and a chapel
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary
was erected shortly afterwards on the
combined property.
Then, with the worst possible tim
ing for the Benedictines, yellow fever
engulfed the city of Savannah and the
Benedictine community at Isle of
Hope in particular. The community
there was left reeling from the fever’s
effects, and its surviving members
decided to move to Indian Territory
and start an abbey in Oklahoma.
The chapel and monastery next
came under the jurisdiction of
the Benedictines at Saint
Vincent’s Archabbey of
Latrobe, Pennsylvania. A
temporary school was estab
lished on the Isle of Hope
until one could be built on
Skidaway Island. It was the
sight of priests from the Isle
of Hope rowing over to take
supplies to the Skidaway Island school
which prompted the still-existing
name of “Priests’ Landing”. Once the
school on Skidaway was opened, the
Benedictines discontinued services at
Our Lady of Good Hope Chapel.
In 1908, the chapel reopened, this
time under the auspices of
the Benedictines of Belmont
Abbey in North Carolina and
was affiliated with the
Belmont Benedictines until
1967 when it reverted again
to the Benedictines of the
Saint Vincent Archabbey. In
1949, when Saint James
Parish was established, Our
Lady of Good Hope became a mis
sion of that church, with sendees
continuing in the chapel.
In the 1970’s, eighty-plus families
who attended the church undertook
its renovation* paring down an archi
tect’s projected restoration costs from
$35,000 to $5,000. Through the
parishioners’ own talents and hard
work, the cross atop the church was
gold-leafed, the baptismal was sand
blasted clean, and painted floors were
stripped. A craftsman in glass was
hired to restore the church’s broken
stained glass windows. Following the
chapel’s renovation, a celebratory
homecoming took place with former
parishioners and priests who had
served at Our Lady of Good Hope in
attendance.
Mass is celebrated on the first
Sunday of each month at 8:00 a.m.
Although Mass is celebrated only
once a month in it, the chapel nestled
deep in the shrubbery on Isle of Hope
still brings to mind the history of Our
Lady of Good Hope’s founding and
the sacrifices of both the priests and
parishioners who labored and wor
shiped there.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.
Catholic, Jewish scholars to review Vatican’s WWII documents
By Cindy Wooden
Vatican City (CNS)
he Vatican and its official Jewish dialogue part
ner will appoint a team of Catholic and Jewish
scholars to conduct a joint review of Vatican docu
ments from the World War II era.
The Vatican’s Commission for Religious
Relations with the Jews and the International
Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations,
known as IJCIC, announced the agreement October
19.
The three Catholic and three Jewish scholars,
whose names should be announced by the end of
October, will study 11 volumes of Vatican archival
material published between 1965 and 1981.
“The main focus is to determine what occurred
during the Holocaust period and World War II, and
if questions still remain, then the scholars will seek
further clarification,” said Seymour D. Reich,
IJCIC chairman.
Asked if the scholars will have access to material
not previously published, Cardinal Edward I.
Cassidy, president of the Vatican’s Commission for
Religious Relations with the Jews, said,
“Absolutely no.”
“It is quite clear they will have access to the 11
published volumes. If they raise questions, it will
be up to us to answer them,” the cardinal said.
Some Jewish groups objected to the study being
limited to already published material.
The October agreement marks the renewed activ
ity of IJCIC —an umbrella group of Jewish organi
zations —which had been inactive for several years
and plagued by internal divisions.
The Anti-Defamation League, which left IJCIC in
April, was not part of the agreement, Reich told
Catholic News Service in Rome.
The joint study is a response to one of the thorni
est issues in Catholic-Jewish relations: The activity
of the Catholic Church and, particularly, of Pope
Pius XII during World War II and the Holocaust.
Prominent Jewish organizations repeatedly have
called on the Vatican to open its World War II
archives to clarify allegations that church leaders
knew the extent of the Holocaust yet failed to raise
their voices in defense of European Jews.
The Vatican repeatedly responded that all rele
vant documents had been published in the 11 vol
umes prepared by a team of Jesuit researchers.
The Vatican has maintained the documents show
the church helped save thousands of Jews from
deportation to concentration camps and that Pope
Pius feared that if he strongly condemned the
Nazis, they would retaliate with harsher measures
against Catholics and Jews.
Cardinal Cassidy said in 1998 that calls for open
ing all the Vatican archives made no sense when
the relevant published documents had not been
studied thoroughly and he called for a joint study
by Catholic and Jewish scholars.
A year later, the cardinal said, “The offer was
completely ignored” by Jewish organizations.
The October 19 statement from the Vatican and
IJCIC said, “Cardinal Cassidy and Mr. Reich
expressed the hope that any question and differ
ences that now exist or may arise can be resolved
through the joint review process.
“The team of scholars is expected to raise rele
vant questions and issues that, in its opinion, have
not been adequately or satisfactorily resolved by
the available documentation, and to issue a report
on their findings,” the statement said.
Reich said he hoped the six scholars could meet
in New York in early December and map out their
work, which will deal with documents in their orig
inal languages —mostly Italian, German and
French.
No timeline has been set, he said.
“This is intended to be a scholarly work; they
won’t rush or do a slipshod job,” Reich said.
Although the volumes have been available since
1981, Reich said the approach of a joint review is
new.
“Even if they had been studied before, it wasn’t
by a group of Catholic and Jewish scholars. Their
work will be officially recognized and, therefore,
difficult to ignore,” he said.
In New York, the American Jewish Committee
objected to the limited scope of the study.
“If it is only the 11-volume compendium of
archival material already published by the Vatican,
that is not sufficient for seriously scholarly study
and historical research,” the organization’s October
19 statement said.
The organization insisted on “unfettered access ...
to any and all documents required by the scholars
... with the right to publish these documents.”
B’nai B’rith Midwest, based in Skokie, IL, said
in an October 19 statement, “doubts and tensions
will not be put to rest until the archives are fully
opened.... This is no time for half measures.”
Cardinal Cassidy and Reich said their October 18
meeting included a discussion about IJCIC’s cur
rent membership and about some members’ insis
tence that the Vatican and IJCIC not engage in a
dialogue on theological issues.
Reich said, “Some of our members have a prob
lem with discussing theological topics per se, but
we have found ways in the past to touch those top
ics and, undoubtedly, we will in the future.”