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Vol. 81, No. 29
Thursday, August 30, 2001
$.50 per issue
Franciscans leave a coastal legacy
By Thea Kielt Jarvis
arishioners of Saint William Church on Saint
Simons Island joined Bishop J. Kevin Boland
August 25-26 in honoring their departing Fran
ciscan friends and blessing a newly completed
parish life center, one of the order’s many lasting
gifts to the community.
The Conventual Franciscans, who have served
at Saint William since 1987, turned the parish
over to the Diocese of Savannah August 30. The
order has experienced a decline in numbers and
has recently withdrawn from parishes in
Hazlehurst and Baxley as well.
At a farewell dinner August 25, Franciscans
and Saint William parishioners alike shared per
sonal stories reflecting the growth of the church
and its lively history. Mutual appreciation and
respect were expressed for the journey that cler
gy and laity undertook together.
A morning liturgy, concelebrated by Bishop
Boland, Franciscan provincial Father Peter
Damian Massengill, OFM Conv., and members
of the order who had served at Saint William’s,
preceded the parish life center dedication and
luncheon August 26. During his homily, the bish
op praised Franciscans who opened doors of
faith in coastal Georgia and encouraged parish
ioners to continue the Franciscan tradition of an
open, welcoming community.
Franciscan friars first established a mission on
Saint Simons in 1587 and a bas-relief sculpture
of five Franciscans martyred in 1597 hangs in
the vestibule of Saint William Church.
Weekend events bore witness to the generosity
and talent found among members of Saint Wil
liam’s. Local chef Tom Delaney provided gour
met meals for the hundreds in attendance.
Entrepreneur Tommy Lee hosted the festive two-
day celebration. Robert Ussery, architect of Saint
William’s newest parish building, gingerly
climbed a ladder to install the oversized crucifix
now hanging in the gathering hall.
The parish welcomes its new pastor September
16, when Bishop Boland will return to Saint
William for the installation of Father John A.
Kenneally as pastor.
Left to right: Brother Hugo Lamm, Bishop J. Kevin
Boland, Fathers Art Young, Ernest Waechter, and
Peter Damian Massingill (provincial), at Saint
William’s on August 26.
Father Moses receives Unda-USA award
Father Moses at his farewell reception at
the Catholic Pastoral Center, Savannah.
Dayton, Ohio (CNS)
Nigerian priest who is pursuing advanced studies
in communications has been awarded Unda-
USA’s first Bishop Agnellus Andrew Scholarship.
Unda-USA, based in Dayton, is the U.S. branch of
the worldwide association for Catholic broadcasters.
Unda is the Latin word for “wave.”
Father Moses Aondover Iorapuu, a priest of the
Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria, received the $1,000
scholarship to help him with graduate studies in the
School of Science and Communications at the Salesian
Pontifical University in Rome. Father Moses served in
the Diocese of Savannah during the summer of 2000.
The financial award is one of two to be presented
annually by Unda-USA to minority students from the
United States and Canada or to students from develop
ing nations who have an interest in communications
and the Catholic Church.
“What we have begun with this scholarship award is
a recognition of the need to encourage minority and
Third World students to have both access to training
and to being a voice in shaping future communications
efforts in the church,” said Marilyn Vydra, communi
cations director of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, Diocese, who led the Unda-USA scholarship
award subcommittee.
The scholarship honors the memory of the late Bis
hop Agnellus Andrew, a Franciscan, who founded the
Catholic Radio and Television Center in Hatch End,
England, and who was president of Unda-World and
vice president of the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications.
Father Moses plans to use broadcast media for evan
gelization in the vast province of Abuja in Nigeria,
where he hopes to begin a diocesan media center and
assist with media education at the region’s major semi
nary.
“The mission Father Iorapuu has set for himself will
advance the use and understanding of communication
media in the church in his native country,” Frank
Morock, Unda-USA president, said.
Father Moses was encouraged to apply for the schol
arship while interning last summer at the Savannah
diocesan newspaper, The Southern Cross. He was in
residence at Saint Benedict the Moor Parish, Savan
nah.
The scholarship is funded by a percentage of Unda-
USA yearly membership dues and a portion of entry
fees for the annual Gabriel Awards competition. Unda-
USA also seeks contributions for the program.
Sister M. Vianney Walsh
remembered
—page 3
Hispanic Mission
in Douglas
—page 6
Father Michael O’Keeffe
retires
—page 12