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o 3 V') Thursday, September 7, 2000 The Southern Cross, Page 3 Remembering “Father Dan”: The Very Reverend Daniel J. McCarthy Rita H. DeLorme F ather Daniel J. McCarthy’s benign countenance and sil very white hair belied the vari ety of his priestly career. Though much of his ministry was devoted to routine parish work, Father Daniel J. McCarthy was instrumental in the growth of the Catholic Church in several areas of the diocese. Bom in Savannah in 1883, and a graduate of Savannah High School, Daniel McCarthy attended Belmont Abbey in North Carolina and studied for the priest hood at Saint Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, New York. He was ordained (on his birthday, February 16) in 1910 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Savannah. For the next eight years of his life, he served in southwest Georgia missions headquartered in Albany, and central Georgia missions headquartered at Milledgeville. No less affected than many of his patriotic con temporaries by the beginning of World War I, Father McCarthy became chaplain to the 36th Regiment of the Coast Artillery, and remained in this capacity for close to a year. In 1920, Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley of the Savannah Diocese tapped Father McCarthy for the challenging job of establishing Blessed Sacrament Parish on Savan nah’s expanding southside. Early boundaries of the parish ranged from Gwinnett Street and its eastern extension on the north, to East Broad Street on the west, to Reynolds Street south of Estill Avenue (Victory Drive), to Montgomery Cross Road on the south and, finally, to the river at Thunderbolt on the east. At first, it appeared property purchased on Ott and 37th Streets would be the site of the new church. Then, land near Estill Avenue and Chatham Crescent became available, and this new location, south of the earlier choice, was acquired as the setting for Blessed Sacrament Church. Additional lots along Waters Avenue to 44th Street Beatifications enhanced the church’s property. Though there were only about one hundred parishioners in the forming parish and funding was short, Father Dan McCarthy managed, with the aid of his devoted flock, to get Blessed Sacrament Church built. It was a modest church for modest times, an elaborate church plan being patently out of the question. Contracted by W. T. Hussey, Blessed Sacrament Church was dedicated on July 10, 1921, its green-finished pews providing seating for 200. Father McCarthy remained with his new parish until 1928, at which time he was summoned from the little white frame church in Savannah to his new assignment: Holy Family Church in Columbus. An article in The Bulletin of July 28, 1928, quoted Father Dan’s final report which noted that Blessed Sacrament parish had “grown by leaps and bounds” and that, because of this growth, the original church was already “too small.” Father McCarthy’s report stat ed that he was leaving: a church (which had cost $9,867.63), a parish house (cost: $12,379.37), and a parish with “assets $17,300 in excess of its liabil ities” as well as the “splendid church property located in the Victory Drive section of Savannah.” During what turned out to be fifteen years’ serv ice in Columbus, Father Dan was able, once again, to perform double duty as both pastor and as auxil iary Army Chaplain at Fort Benning. A 1943 issue of The Bulletin carried an editorial entitled “Father Dan” which stated: “So successful have been Father Dan’s labors in Columbus, that Bishop O’Hara appointed him Vicar Forane of the Columbus Deanery in 1936, and in 1940, named him Vicar General of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta.” The summer of 1943 saw Father Dan McCarthy’s return to both his missionary and military “roots.” Placed in charge of the missions at Statesboro and Brooklet, Father McCarthy became temporary auxil iary chaplain to air cadets in train ing at Statesboro during World War II. In 1944, at the annual conven tion of the Georgia Department of the American Legion held in Augusta, Father McCarthy was re elected state chaplain of the “40 and 8” Society. Father McCarthy’s affil iation with the American Legion lasted throughout his life. He also served as chaplain of the Columbus Lodge of Elks, took an active part in the work of the Knights of Columbus, and was a life member of the Officers’ Club at Fort Benning. He attained the rank of captain in the Chaplain’s Reserve Corp. The Very Reverend Daniel J. McCarthy’s priestly career closed in Savannah, where it had begun, with his final appointment being that of pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Port Wentworth. After years of service to both God and country, Father McCarthy died in Savannah in 1957. The Savannah Evening Press of May 9, 1957, praised him in the following words: “Father McCarthy had gone about doing good as a priest for more than 47 years. He was not a spectacular person; rather, he was on the quiet side; gentle, but effective, and thousands are those who loved him for it.” Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the Diocesan Archives. Father Dan McCarthy (Continued from page I) Catholic, Protestant and Jewish groups had voiced disappointment with the beatification of Pope Pius, who in the 19th century unsuccess fully tried to hold onto papal tempo ral power, approved the executions of political prisoners, condemned modem “progress” and its emphasis on the rights of citizens, and had a turbulent relationship with Rome’s Jewish population. The pope defended Pope Pius, not for his political choices or all his ecclesial policies, but for always tmsting in God during “the turbulent events of his times.” “His extremely long pontificate was certainly not easy and he suf fered a lot in carrying out his mis sion in the service of the Gospel. He was much loved, but also hated and slandered,” the pope said to scat tered applause. He praised Pope Pius for calling the First Vatican Council, which he said clarified internal church ques tions and “confirmed the harmony between faith and reason,” and for proclaiming the dogma of the Im maculate Conception of Mary—that by special divine favor Mary was, from the moment she was con ceived, without sin. The pope did not specifically men tion the doctrines of papal primacy and papal infallibility, which were proclaimed by Vatican I, or the Syllabus of Errors, Pope Pius’ con demnation of many modem political and philosophical ideas. Nor did he talk about Pope Pius’ stormy relations with Jews. Several Jewish leaders in Rome and else where have said the beatification of Pope Pius could set back the deli cate process of Catholic-Jewish rec onciliation set in motion by Vatican II. The pope spoke briefly about the other three newly beatified: —Blessed Chaminade, who had to flee the “reign of terror” in revolu tionary France in 1797 and returned three years later to evangelize a largely de-Christianized society, reminds Catholics today of the need to “constantly re-invent new ways of being witnesses of the faith,” the pope said. This has special meaning for those who have fallen away from the church, he said. —Blessed Marmion, the pope said, offered the church a “treasure of spiritual teaching,” following a simple but demanding path of every day holiness. His spiritual writings deserve to be widely rediscovered today, he said. Bom in Dublin in 1858, Blessed Marmion worked for years as a pas tor, teacher and chaplain of a women’s prison in Ireland before becoming a Benedictine monk. He lived most of his life in Belgium, and at personal risk took young monks to Ireland to shelter them during World War I. He died in 1923. —Blessed Tommaso Reggio, who gave up family riches in order to devote a lifetime of pastoral min istry to the poor and suffering, is a model for every bishop, priest and lay person today, the pope said. He said the archbishop’s message can be summed up in two words: truth and charity. Bom in 1818, he became especial ly active in bridging the gap between the church and society in the second half of the 19th century, founding the first nationwide Catholic newspaper in Italy. When Pope Pius condemned many forms of Catholic political activity in the unified Italy, the archbishop quietly obeyed and closed the newspaper down—despite disagreeing with the pope’s policy. He died in 1901.