Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, November 9, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Baxley revisited: tabernacle mystery solved after 22 years
Left: Old Saint Christopher Church; new Saint Rose of Lima Church.
Photos courtesy of the Diocesan Archives.
^ peculation about the origin of a
j tabernacle unearthed in a
farmer’s field near Baxley,
Georgia, in the late 1970s may be
over (see The Southern Cross,
October 5, 2000). The answer to
the question: “Who buried a
brass tabernacle on a previously
unplowed lot in the area?” came in
the form of an enlightening conversa-
Rita H ti° n ^ ose Pk O’Leary, now
* retired and living in Savannah.
DeLorme j can te q you w here
the tabernacle came from,” Mr. O’Leary said on
the phone. “You see, my wife Bette and I lived in
Baxley from 1956 until 1967 and attended Saint
Christopher’s Church there. At some point during
our stay, the congregation of Saint Christopher’s
decided to refurbish the little church. What with
one thing and another, among the items replaced
was the tabernacle, which was quite large. Alvin
Bunch, a member of the parish who lived on some
property nearby, volunteered to bury the removed
tabernacle where it would most likely never be dis
turbed. So, it was buried there and I guess it stayed
there until it was dug up by the man who lived on
that property in 1978.”
This simple explanation gives closure to a mys
tery which has likewise lain buried in the files of
the Catholic Archives for over twenty-two years.
Dean Wolgemuth, the newspaper man who cov
ered the story of the buried tabernacle at Baxley in
March 1978, had made numerous inquiries about
its possible origin, even going so far as to contact
Sister M. Michael Joseph, then archivist of the
Savannah Diocese, about the matter. He had spo
ken with Father Patrick McCarthy, who was pastor
of Saint Joseph’s Church at Waycross, and had
even contacted a local minister of the Episcopal
Church seeking information. Finally, the matter of
the resurrected tabernacle had been allowed to
drop. James Folsom, who owned the property the
tabernacle was found on in 1978, eventually
moved away from Baxley, taking with him knowl
edge of the fate of the tabernacle his plow had
struck. There is one further question: the age of the
tabernacle when it was placed in Saint
Christopher’s Church. Joseph O’Leary surmises
that it may have been a hand-me-down from anoth
er Catholic Church in the diocese, though there are
no clues to its provenance.
Founded in 1948, the church that had housed the
tabernacle was a former army barracks located on
South Main Street in Baxley. When the highway in
front of the church was slated for four-lane expan
sion in 1990, blocking access to Saint Christopher
Church, something had to be done. On December
15, 1991, Bishops Raymond W. Lessard dedicated a
brand-new church with a brand new name to serve
the former Saint Christopher’s parishioners.
For over fifty years, Mrs. Rose Brown had faith
fully supported the Church in the Baxley area.
Now, with the decision to change Saint Christo
pher’s to another name because of confusion with
a similiarly named church nearby, dedicating the
new Catholic church at Baxley to Saint Rose of
Lima in Mrs. Brown’s honor seemed to be appro
priate.
Father Patrick J. Shinnick became pastor of the
newly-named church. Located on City Circle
Road, Saint Rose of Lima is quite a change from
the old barracks/church. The newer church boasts a
modem design which features the altar as the focal
point of the room. State-of-the-art lighting
enhances services held in the church, while other
parish activities haye been given more scope with
the addition of a cry room, a kitchen, an office, etc.
Though the Catholic community in Baxley is still
relatively small, its members are devoted and
active. Saint Rose’s Parish Hall is dedicated to
Saint Mark in memory of Mark Peblote, a parish
ioner who died in 1991 and whose parents were
instmmental in establishing the new facility.
The Catholic community in Baxley has wit
nessed many changes. In its first life, the church
was served out of Douglas by the Oblate Fathers
for a period of about twenty years, from 1947-
1967. From 1967-1985, diocesan priests from
Jesup took care of the steadfast little Catholic com
munity. In 1985, the Glenmary Fathers became
responsible for the welfare of Baxley Catholics,
remaining at that post until 1990. In June of 1990,
Father Shinnick, a diocesan priest, was assigned to
care for the Catholics of both Appling County
(where Baxley is located) and Jeff Davis County.
The Catholic community at Baxley has over
come many difficulties and inconveniences along
the way to its present stable status. Holding a spe
cial place in the annals of this persevering parish is
the story of a tabernacle an unsuspecting farmer
unearthed as he plowed his fields in the early
spring of 1978, of a newspaperman looking for
answers about the tabernacle, of an archivist who
tried to help him find those answers, and of a file
which can now officially be marked “Closed.”
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.
,
New president, whoever he is, will struggle for power,
say analysts
As The Southern Cross goes to press
(November 8), the outcome of this
year s presidential election is still in
doubt. The following is a reflection
on the situation from the Catholic
News Service.
Washington (CNS)
hough the result of the presiden
tial race was still unclear the day
after the election, whoever moves
into the Oval Office in January
should expect slow progress on his
agenda, analysts said.
Americans woke up November 8
to hear that the outcome of the race
between Vice President A1 Gore and
Texas Governor George W. Bush
was perhaps less certain than it was
when they went to bed.
A margin of less than 2,000 votes
separated Gore and Bush in Florida,
where absentee ballots and a legally
required recount dragged the result
of one of the closest races in history
into at least the next day.
The razor-thin nationwide margin
between victor and loser means
“there is no national mandate for
either candidate,” said Joe Grieboski,
president of the Institute on Religion
and Public Policy.
“That will be the big effect, no
matter who wins, both politically and
in day-to-day governing,” he told
Catholic News Service the morning
after Election Day. “We’re going to
see a very different first 100 days of
the presidency than we have in a
while.”
Stephen Wayne, a government pro
fessor at Jesuit-run Georgetown
University, said the close outcome of
the presidential race as well as the
narrow majorities Republicans still
reportedly held in the House and
Senate mean that whoever wins will
find it hard to do “anything dramat
ic” as president.
“The name of the game is compro
mise, it’s moderation, it’s incremen
tal victories,” Wayne said.
Exit poll data that breaks down
how specific groups of people voted
also was still being analyzed the day
after the election.
Preliminary results of Voter News
Service’s exit poll for The Associ
ated Press and the major television
networks said that nationwide, 47
percent of Catholics voted for Bush
and 50 percent voted for Gore.
People who said they attend reli
gious services at least once a week
were more likely to support Bush.
Sixty-three percent of those who said
they attend services more than once a
week voted for Bush, compared to
36 percent who said they voted for
Gore.
Among those who said they go to
religious services once a week, 57
percent voted for Bush, and 40 per
cent voted for Gore.
One conclusion Wayne drew from
the statistic that Bush was favored by
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