Newspaper Page Text
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Thursday, November 30, 2000
M®ws
The Southern Cross, Page 3
“For God and Country World War II chaplain
and diocesan priest, Father Harold J. Barr
B om in Savannah, Georgia, in
1898 to James and Catherine
Ferguson Barr, Harold Ban-
attended Cathedral Grammar
School and Benedictine
Military Academy before
beginning his studies for the
priesthood at Saint Charles
W" Preparatory Seminary at Catons-
ville, Maryland and continuing
Rita H. them at Saint Mary’s Seminary
DeLorme in Baltimore. After receiving
Master of Arts and Bachelor of
Sacred Theology degrees from Catholic University
in Washington, Harold Barr returned home to
Savannah to be ordained at the Cathedral of Saint
John the Baptist on June 14, 1924, by Bishop
Michael J. Keyes, S.M.
Father Barr’s first assignment as a priest took
him to Atlanta’s Church of the Immaculate
Conception, where he served as assistant pastor to
Father (later Bishop of Charleston and Bishop of
Youngstown, Ohio) Emmet Walsh. In 1925, the
young priest traveled to Augusta to become assis
tant to Father James Kane, pastor of Saint Mary on
the Hill Church. Father Barr’s service at Saint
Mary’s on the Hill stretched to eight years before
he was called to become first assistant pastor at the
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. In 1934, in the
spring, Father Barr became rector of the Cathedral.
From this post, he proceeded to Athens, Georgia,
serving there as pastor of Saint Joseph’s Church.
At this time, Father Barr became the first Catholic
chaplain ever stationed at the University of
Georgia. In 1939, he returned to familiar territory,
the city of Augusta. There, he followed Monsignor
Kane as pastor of Saint Mary’s on the Hill.
With war hovering on the horizon, Father Barr, a
member of the Army Officers’ Reserve Corps, was
summoned to active duty late in 1940 and began
service as an Army Air Corps chaplain at Hunter
Field in Savannah. When World War II erupted
with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, Father Barr accompanied his attachment of
the Third Bomber Group to Australia. After arriv
ing in that country, he became Command Chaplain
of the 54th Troop Carrier Wing of the Fifth Army
Air Force at Melbourne, Charter Towers, Port
Moresby in New Guinea, the Manus Islands, and
the Admiralties until 1945. His duties as chaplain
were those of a parish priest, but on a much larger
scale and, oftentimes, over a much broader area. A
photograph published in The Bulletin on February
19, 1944, shows Chaplain (by then, Major) Harold
Barr celebrating a Christmas field Mass “some
where in the Pacific” for a congregation of about
Undoing Racism
(Continued from page I)
favor... Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in
your hearing” (Luke 4:18-19, 21). The work is
being carried out in the spirit of the document
from the U.S. Bishops, Brothers and Sisters to Us:
“Therefore, let the Church proclaim to all that the
sin of racism defiles the image of God and
degrades the sacred dignity of humankind which
has been revealed by the mystery of the
Incarnation. Let all know that it is a terrible sin
that mocks the cross of Christ and ridicules the
Incarnation. For the brother and sister of our
A young Harold Barr
2,400 men, 600 of whom, as Father Barr noted at
the time, received Holy Communion.
An earlier picture, also printed in The Bulletin
(September 27, 1941) depicts Father Barr seated at
“one of the new folding field organs which are
now being supplied to chaplains of the U.S.
Army.” The folding organ was not to be the only
innovation for use by chaplains. In 1943, permis
sion for chaplains to wear khaki vestments while
saying outdoor Masses was granted in a rescript by
the Congregation of Sacred Rites. This permission,
given for the duration of the war, was in response
to an appeal for camouflaged vestments and altar
cloths “because white and the liturgical colors
would constitute a danger in combat zones.”
Chaplains were required to attend training ses
sions and witness training films, such as one enti
tled “For God and Country” in which Ronald
Reagan portrayed a Catholic chaplain. Chaplains
were instructed in military organization, adminis
tration and law as well as first aid techniques,
graves registration, etc. Their curriculum also
included gas mask drills, calisthenics and outdoor
map orientation, with Army Air Corps chaplains
often receiving an additional two weeks of special
training. Frequently, a chaplain’s activities were
Brother Jesus Christ are brother and sister to us.”
Collaboration will continue with the bishop and
the Offices of African American Ministry and
Catholic Social Services. Given that Savannah is a
multi-cultural Diocese, strategies will be devel
oped to collaborate with Hispanic Ministry and our
brothers and sisters from Asian and Native
American cultures.
Sister Jackie Griffith, SSJ, is Diocesan
Director of Catholic Social Services.
coordinated with actual troop movements and ter
rains.
Father Barr’s ministry as chaplain was shaped
moment-by-moment as the war progressed. He
said Mass whenever and wherever possible, often
flying to isolated bases to conduct services.
Catholic Weekly noted in a December, 1943 issue
that Father Barr was then conducting “at least one
service a day in a Troop Carrier Base and five on
Sundays.” Counseling played a major role in the
chaplain’s day during the war. In 1942, said anoth
er source, “each chaplain conducted an average of
53 personal conferences a day.” Father Ban-
observed in an interview during this period that
“the men want sound religious services and practi
cal religion in wartime, and a man finds himself
better in these wilds than he ever did in civiliza-
co
> tion.” While home on leave in Augusta in August,
H 1944, Father Ban commented that life on the
^ islands was “rugged” and that there were “hard-
21 ships,” but that much was being done to make men
~ stationed there more comfortable. In the early
^ stages of the war, he related, he had constituted
“exactly half’ of chaplains assigned to Allied
t groups in the Australia area. He was executive
8 officer to the chief of chaplains and his role
§ enlarged to include ministering to spiritual needs
ai of all Army Air Force personnel in the Australian
theater.
With the close of the war, Father Ban retired
with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Following his
reception of a Citation for Meritorious Service
from General “Hap” Arnold and the Army Com
mendation Medal from General Hornsby, Father
Ban returned to civilian life in February of 1946.
He was appointed by Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara,
J.U.D., D.D. as pastor of Augusta’s venerable
mother parish, Saint Patrick’s Church, in March of
that year. A few years later, in May 1949, Father
Ban offered a Solemn High Mass in observance of
his twenty-fifth anniversary as a priest. Attending
this Mass were Monsignor Joseph E. Moylan,
Vicar General of the Diocese of Savannah and
Bishop Walsh of Charleston, who presided at the
Mass and gave the sermon. More than fifty mem
bers of the clergy were present in the sanctuary.
Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara of Savannah-Atlanta,
sent a cablegram of congratulations to Father Barr
from his post as Regent of the Apostolic Nunci
ature in Romania, and Bishop Keyes, who had
ordained Harold Barr to the priesthood, also sent
his regards. Luncheon that day and a reception the
day before also highlighted the celebration of this
milestone in Father Barr’s life as a priest.
Shortly afterward, while serving once again as
pastor of Saint Mary’s on the Hill in Augusta,
Father Barr became ill and required treatment at
the veterans’ hospital in Atlanta. He died there on
November 7, 1950. Father Harold Barr’s years of
service to God and country had encompassed
many areas and had spanned continents as he per
formed the duties of a priest: dispensing the sacra
ments, ministering to the sick, counseling the trou
bled. Today, a monument at Arlington National
Cemetery commemorates intrepid Catholic chap
lains of Father Barr’s era who gave their lives “for
God and country.”
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.