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GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1968 3
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The New Career Of Msgr. Cassidy
“YOU LOVE to see them go home, but it’s amazing how much you miss
them,” said Msgr. Joseph G. Cassidy, Catholic chaplain at Central State
Hospital as he reads a letter from a former patient.
By MARY LACKIE
At an age when most priests
think of retiring, Msgr. Joseph G.
Cassidy began a new career as a
chaplain at the second-largest
mental hospital in the world.
The 71 -year-old priest became
a resident chaplain at Central
State Hospital in September,
1966. He was pastor of the
Cathedral of Christ the King for
20 years and for a year before he
moved to the hospital, he
commuted to Milledgeville to
visit patients and offer Mass for
the 250 Catholics there.
Msgr. Cassidy said, “Then the
archbishop was convinced that
my work was a full-time job.
Chaplain Douglas Turley, who
was trained in Cincinnati, arrived
here about 1962 and introduced
the religious program. Now there
are 10 clinical chaplains and nine
intern chaplains at the hospital.
The esprit de corps is marvelous.
DESCRIBING the work at the
hospital, the monsignor said,
“I’ve forgotten the words to
some of the Baptist hymns, but
everyday we visit the wards, talk
to the patients and hold
devotional services. A devotional
service is like a prayer meeting.
The frequent contact with these
wonderful chaplains brings the
people to a new religious level
they might never have reached.
When they leave the hospital,
they will carry on their religious
spirit.”
Devotional services are only a
part of the monsignor’s duties.
His schedule includes visits to the
sick, instruction classes, and three
Masses at the main chapel on
Sundays. During the week he
offers Mass at the smaller chapels,
at the Women’s prison and Holly
Hall, for patients unable to
attend services at the chapels.
He said, “Last evening I was
out on two devotional services
and tonight there are three. It is a
very active ministry, but very
consoling. To many people, our
work might seem depressing, but
in a sense, it is very much like
parish life. And, on the surface,
the patients are as normal as the
people you would find in a
parish. Here, they are all a part of
your life. I’ve found the work
most satisfactory, and I have
worked in some good parishes.”
The chaplains and the staff
really get to know the people, the
monsignor said. “It’s like a small
town-or more like one big
family. We have Some patients
who have been here 30 years.
They have been abandoned by
their relatives. Many of the
patients lack the basic things of
life and are very poor. These are
the ones who need help, but they
all have a wonderful sense of
humor.”
WHEN THE canon of the
Mass was first read aloud in
Latin, a man came up to the
monsignor after Mass and said,
“That was marvelous-to think
you could read that language.
You are so gifted.”
The monsignor said that the
rosary means so much to many of
the older people. “So we pray the
rosary together. There must be
Catholic families who could
donate rosaries and missals to
these people.” He praised the
generosity of the nuns who have
donated religious articles, the
women who write letters to the
patients, and the group of women
from Savannah who visit the
hospital.
“If only a group from Atlanta
could come down here and visit
with the personnel and the
patients they would find out by
talking to them what they could
do to help. It’s funny isn’t it- the
busiest people always find
something more to do,” the
monsignor said.
ON A TOUR of the
124-year-old institution, the
slender priest displayed his
stamina and gentleness. He
described the hospital as a place
of contrasts interrupting his
descriptions to visit and
introduce patients and staff
members.
He said, “There are over 9,000
patients and 3,000 staff
members. Twenty or 25 years ago
when I was pastor of Sacred
Heart in Milledgeville, I would
come out here frequently to say
Mass and visit the patients. At
that time there was no clergy
program, and ministers would
alternate on Sundays and come
out for emergencies.”
He said, “Back in 1941, the
work was mostly custodial care.
Everybody wanted to do
something to help the patients,
but didn’t know how. Now we
have the last word in buildings
and modem therapy.”
There are five chapels at the
hospital and the money for them
was raised by Governor and Mrs.
Ernest Vandiver through'
contributions, the monsignor
said.
The hospital grounds are a
mixture of old and new buildings,
magnolia trees, flowers along
the walks and a dusty road where
a 150-bed addition is under
construction for the Georgia
Veterans’ Hospital. At the sales
office, patients sell articles they
have made in the therapy classes.
“Carry-all” buses transport
patients to the dentists, doctors,
and to the apparel shop, a
wooden building where they can
select clothes donated from all
over the state.
MSGR. CASSIDY said,
“There are new buildings and
modern therapy programs.
Besides the sports events, movies
and parties, there are programs in
educational therapy, music
therapy and projects of all kinds
that give the patients a new
outlook on life.
‘‘The therapy and
rehabilitation programs give
many patients opportunities they
would never had had in their lives
and they are most appreciative
for what has been done for them.
Sometimes a patient will stop
you just to say how wonderful
the meal was that day and how
much they enjoyed it.”
The priest emphasized that it
isn’t just buildings and programs-
he said, “It is the spirit of the
personnel that is the secret. You
find in your work here that the
doctors, nurses and chaplains are
really dedicated. There are nurses
who just live for these people.
They get to know their little
whims and peculiarities and take
care of them.”
Dr. James Craig, hospital
superintendent, has the human,
touch, the priest said. “He has an
expression, ‘give people tender,
loving care.’ So many patients
just need someone to say ‘hello’;
someone who will take the time
to visit with them.”
Msgr. Cassidy said the
chaplains try to encourage an
interest in religion. “When
patients leave, we refer them to
priests or ministers in their own
towns. You love to see the
patients go home, but it’s
amazing how much you miss
them. I try to keep in touch with
them after they leave.”
THERE ARE two things the
monsignor has loved most in his
life. He said, “I have been in
some good parishes, but I have
found trailer work and work at
the hospital most satisfactory.
I’ve always contended that a
priest is happier in the country
than in the city, but I have made
it a rule never to make
comparisons. This is one of the
factors that contribute to peace
of mind.”
The monsignpr recalled the When the monsignor would be
trailer work in the rural areas of assigned to a parish, he continued
Georgia. “When I first came here his trailer work at night or during
after my ordination 45 years ago, the week. He said if the people
there were about 20 priests in the were responsive, they could take
diocese. I drove a trailer around his correspondence course and
the state and would spend three many of them became converts,
days or a week, holding services “j’ m s till sending out the corres-
and saying Mass. pondence course to people,” he
said.
He said, “If there were
established churches in the towns Asked to comment on changes
we wouldn’t go there. Sometimes ; n the Church, the monsignor
there would be only one Catholic said, “l was brfmght up in the
family in a town, and a week sc hool of obedience, and I’ve
before we arrived, a local man gone along with everything. But,
would distribute flyers. We would w hat I think is needed in the
stay in the rural area outside church today by many of the
town and sometimes have as clergy and the laity is a second
many as 50-100 people at the spring of spirituality. There
services. The trailer was designed should be stricter discipline on
by a Savannah architect and there the part of the clergy and a more
was a small altar at the back. We sacrifical spirit on the part of the
sang hymns, preached, and said laity. We need a little more
Mass. We had to take our own penance and sacrifice in our lives,
generator with us because we We are getting too much of this
showed movies. If you know world’s goods and things are
anything about generators, you being made too easy for us.”
know they can cause difficulty,
but we never encountered any He added, “But old Mother
trouble from the people in the Church will go on ministering to
towns.” people. She may be wearing a
new dress, but she’ll go on.
THE MONSIGNOR recalled Nothing can change that. And the
the little towns like Pin Point and Holy Spirit will guide us-we used
Sandfly. “All those towns with to say‘Holy Ghost’-that was one
their descriptive names. I thing that made the archbishop
remember in 1938 while we were proud of me-when he heard me
in Sandfly doing trailer work, we say ‘Holy Spirit’.”
had to rent the Poor and Needy
Hall for seventy-five cents a rr r A rvc
night. There was a stove in the B LILLEl l-IM
hall, but we had to bring our own nn nro tj*cttt
kindling.” BRING REbUL rb
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