Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 25, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 3
T. A. and B. Societies in the Diocese of Savannah:
Where did they come from? What did they do?
Rita H.
A recurring problem in both
Europe and the United
States, alcoholism plagued
many nineteenth-century
immigrants and there was a
cry for reform. In the
Diocese of Savannah in the
late 1860’s and early 1870’s,
influential and significant orga
nizations at various church
es sought to answer this
appeal.
Outstanding among such reform
groups was the Saint Patrick’s Total
Abstinence and Benevolent Society
which sprang up under the steady
hand of Father Charles Prendergast
on February 9, 1868. Pastor of Saint
Patrick’s Church in Savannah, Father
Prendergast had seen the destructive
effect alcohol had on members of his
parish and was determined to change
things. A few decades earlier, Father
Theobold Mathew had begun a
movement toward temperance in
Ireland and the influence of this
group had spread to the United
States.
Then clergy in this country set
about combatting “the curse of the
drink.” These priests were well aware
that Irish immigrants had become
particularly vulnerable to the habit of
alcoholism because of the dreariness
and often demeaning types of work
they performed in this country: laying
railroads and digging canals. Those
Irish who dug canals often encoun
tered “the jigger man” who went up
and down the line of workers all day
handing out jiggers of whiskey. A
writer of this period once asked the
question: “Then all the canals were
dug by intoxicated men?” and
received the reply, “No one else
would dig a canal.”
Father Prendergast’s T.A.
and B. Society proposed to
change this situation and to
woo those who had become
addicted to alcohol back to a
sober life. Saint Patrick’s not
only had a senior T. A. and B.
Delorme Societ y’ but a “ Cadet Corps”
which hoped to guide the
young along the path to sobriety. By
the mid-1870’s, the Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist had its own T. A. and
B. Society and Cadet Corp. Members
of these groups appeared regularly in
official uniform and lined up in
parades behind leaders such as Father
Prendergast.
By the 1880’s, they were in full
swing and, on the night of Jan. 13,
1884, they met “in regalia” at 6:45 to
attend a sermon by Father Cook at
the Cathedral. It was noted at this
time that “attendance on the sermons
of the missionary Fathers, now con
ducting the mission at the Cathedral,
has been considerably increased dur
ing the past few evenings—so much
so that the spacious edifice has been
taxed to its utmost capacity to accom
modate those present.” Father Cook
was to deliver his sermon on temper
ance that evening at the request of the
T. A. and B. Society and, again, “a
very large attendance” was expected.
Later that month, on January 28,
1884, Father T. W. Shea, associate of
Father Cook, delivered an address on
intemperance at Saint Patrick’s
Church with that church’s T. A. and
B. Society, again on hand in “full
regalia.” The Savannah Morning
News observed the following day that
John Cobis to leave Pacelli High School
Columbus
J ohn Cobis, Principal of Pacelli High School, Columbus, announced on
May 22 that he has accepted an offer from the Archdiocese of Atlanta to
become the founding principal of Our Lady of Mercy High School in Fair-
bum. Cobis has served as principal of Pacelli High School in Columbus, for
the past three years. He is a native of Columbus and a 1975 graduate of
Pacelli High School. Prior to returning to his alma mater as principal, Cobis
was an English teacher and Dean of Men at Saint Pius X Catholic High
School in Atlanta. Cobis will be leaving Pacelli High School June 30 to take
up his new duties at the new high school in Fairbum.
At the same time, Father J. Gerard Schreck, pastor of Saint Anne Parish,
announced that the new assistant principal for Pacelli High School, Mrs.
Barbara Perryman, will serve as interim principal for the high school until a
search committee can assemble applications and interview candidates for the
job of principal for Pacelli. It is likely that the interview process will not
begin until sometime in the fall of this year.
Mrs. Perryman has served on the faculty of Pacelli High School as a math
teacher for the past 18 years. She taught three years at Spencer High School
prior to coming to Pacelli. She has a Masters Degree and Specialist
Certificate in Math Education and recently completed a Masters Degree in
School Counseling. She is a native of Columbus and she is married to Bryant
Perryman, a speech pathologist in the Muscogee County School System.
Father Schreck expressed his thanks and that of the school board to John
Cobis for his willingness to return to Pacelli and serve as its principal for the
past three years.
The altar donated by the T. A. and B. Society to Saint Patrick
Church, now stands in the Undercroft of the Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist, Savannah.
Father Shea’s lecture had lasted two
hours and was listened to with great
attention. The sermon, spanning bib
lical references to wine drinking at
feasts and a “glowing tribute” to
Father Theobold Matthew, the apostle
of temperance, went on to cite both
“ancient and modem history in which
the demon of intemperance is record
ed as the cause of destmction of men
and the curse of nations.” The persua
sive Father Cook went on to cite
alcoholism as the cause of the down
fall of both Alexander the Great and
Hannibal, not to mention England’s
domination by the Normans and
Ireland’s oppression by the English.
“There is no salvation,” the elo
quent Father Shea warned, “for the
man or woman who dies a drunkard.”
The speaker then concluded his two-
hour talk by telling his audience to
put alcohol aside and to be inspired
by the lives led by men of sobriety.
The influential T. A. and B. Soci
eties continued to march through the
streets and history of the Diocese of
Savannah until 1890. In a time of
burgeoning membership in Catholic
organizations and groups, they stood
out through their faithfulness and
dedication. Today, a side altar in the
chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John
the Baptist bearing an inscription in
honor of Saint Patrick’s T. A. and B.
Society attests to the popularity of
this group which flourished over a
hundred years ago in the diocese.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.
Gore
Continued from page 1)
February to endorse the event; his let
ter arrived in Rome in mid-March.
Meanwhile, political leaders of the
province and region in which Rome
falls have urged the city’s mayor and
Italy’s prime minister to postpone the
gay pride meeting until next year.
Silvano Moffa, president of the
province of Rome, told a May 18
press conference that the politicians
were seeking “to save the city of
Rome and the Holy Father from a dis
play which risks to degenerate into an
offense against the symbols of the
Catholic religion.”
Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli said
he would announce his decision on the
possible postponement in the coming
days, Italian newspapers reported May
19. The mayor said he was committed
to guaranteeing respect for freedom of
expression and for the jubilee.
Writing about the gay pride event
and the concern expressed by Catholic
Church leaders, one Italian newspaper
May 11 cited Archbishop William J.
Levada of San Francisco.
In a May 16 statement, Archbishop
Levada said that during a private din
ner in Rome, which was attended by a
journalist, he was asked about the San
Francisco gay pride parade.
“I said that I personally had not seen
it, because I usually go out of town. I
said that there were reports of public
displays of nudity that were offensive
and displays of costumes that ridicule
Catholic leaders and members of reli
gious orders,” the archbishop’s state
ment said.
“I do not view these excesses with
favor, nor would I like to see such dis
plays in Rome during this holy jubilee
year,” he said. “It is a matter of pru
dence for the local authorities in Rome
to consider the potential impact of
similar activities during the planned
event in Rome.”