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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 (Continued on page I I)