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VoL 81, No. 20
Thursday, May 17, 2001
$.50 PER ISSUE
Clarence Thomas, Janet Reno visit Savannah
Bishop J. Kevin Boland prays the invo
cation at the Savannah Bar Associa
tion’s annual Law Day luncheon May
11. In the foreground is U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
By Jan Skutch
J udges are human too. U. S. Supreme Court Jus
tice Clarence Thomas told a group of Savannah
lawyers and judges May 11 he was glad to be
home, then talked of his dreams as a child and
experience over 10 years on the high court.
The justice, his hair turning white from the job,
then turned his attention to Savannah attorney
Joseph B. Bergen, a parishioner of the Cathedral of
Saint John the Baptist.. Bergen and five other
lawyers were recognized by the Savannah Bar
Association during its annual Law Day luncheon
for reaching 50 years in practice. “I came home to
be with Joe Bergen as he celebrates his 50th year,”
Thomas said.
After telling the lawyers that Bergen had been a
friend of the Thomas family and referring vaguely
to a matter involving a family member, Thomas
suddenly was silent, fighting back tears. Thomas
and his wife, Virginia, took custody of his sister’s
6-year-old grandson in 1997. The child, Thomas’
grand-nephew, lives with the couple in their
Fairfax, Virginia home. “Suffice it to say, it had to
be done very quickly, very quietly, very sensitive
ly, very thoroughly,” Thomas said.
In the past, he has spoken of his relationship
with the boy to school children and civic groups.
After a few moments, Thomas resumed his praise,
pausing on a few occasions. When he apologized
for getting emotional, a lawyer in the back of the
room responded, “You’re home.”
“Thank God for Joe Bergen,” said the justice,
who is known for his dignified appearance. “He
has been a friend when my family needed
friends—he has never asked for a single thing.”
Thomas was witty and insightful during his talk,
telling the legal group he would not lecture them.
“I didn’t come home to do that,” he said.
Thomas grew up in the Pin Point community and
on East 32nd Street, attending parochial schools.
His family remains here.
“I am always pleased to be here,” Thomas said.
“Georgia is my home. Savannah is home, the low-
country.” He returned to that theme several times,
telling the group he was one who “grew up here
and who believes in this town.”
“The whole purpose for leaving was to come
back,” Thomas said. “A little of me certainly wish
es I had come back home.”
He recalled the Carnegie and Savannah public
libraries as places where he went to dream. “I
dreamed there was a world out there worth pursu
ing—I saw one 11-year-old there and he looked
like me—there’s so much out there that kills
dreams.”
Thomas, who is in his 10th year on the Supreme
Court after bitter confirmation hearings, said the
justices are among the finest group he has ever
worked with. “I have yet to hear the first unkind
(Continued on page 11)
Wanted: Single Swiss men,
ready to give lives for pope
While the Swiss Guard recruits’ shouted oaths on May 6 were as
, enthusiastic as in previous years, they were far fewer in number—
and left the tiny fighting force 13 men below its 110-soldier mandate.
After 500 years of sometimes tormented but often glorious his
tory in service to the Holy See, the Swiss Guard is facing a
recruitment slump. Recruits must be unmarried Catholic men
between the ages of 19 and 30, who are at least 5 feet 8 inches
tall and have earned a high school degree or apprenticeship cer
tificate. They must have completed the Swiss military's four-month
“boot camp,” required of all Swiss men.
Right: Sweating beneath medieval armor in a small
Vatican courtyard, 26 young men stepped forward one-
by-one to vow at the top of their lungs to defend the
pope, even at the cost of their lives.
Catholic Boy Scouts
—page 3
D.C.C.W. has challenging
convention
—page 6
Dublin parish prepares to
expand
—page 7