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PAGE 13 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 5, 1987
"Miss Christine" At 88 Clings
To Early Memories Of Lourdes
BY RITA MclNERNEY
Miss Christine Bullock’s life has been closely linked to
Our Lady of Lourdes since 1913 when she was the first per
son to be baptized and confirmed there.
Now 88, she remembers the day. She was the only one
receiving the sacraments from Bishop Benjamin Keily. Her
godmother was "a white lady from St. Anthony's."
Later the young girl was to become housekeeper at Our
Lady of Lourdes convent. For 52 devoted years she served
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament whose mission was to
educate black and Indian children. She knew and loved
Venerable Mother Katherine Drexel, foundress of the
order, who visited regularly from the motherhouse outside
Philadelphia.
"I'm praying every day she will be canonized," she tells a
visitor, taking a prayer card with Mother Drexel's picture
from a worn prayerbook and offering it to her visitor.
Mother Drexel’s cause for beatification was formally begun
in 1964 and she was declared venerable, the first step to
sainthood this year.
“Miss Christine,” now bent over with age, attends Mass
each Saturday evening. A friend picks her up and drives her
the short distance from her first floor apartment to the
church. “The only thing I do is go to church,” she told her
visitor, “Old age isn’t what it’s cracked up to be."
She is steadfast in her church attendance but determined
to stay “the way I was brought up” with no qualms about
voicing her dislike of the many changes. For example,
“The altar is the priest’s place, not the women's." She will
not take Eucharist from a member of her sex. “You don't
see a prayerbook, no hats, and they need a dress code.”
“I had a black chiffon waist (blouse) that I wore to
church one Sunday. When I went to receive Communion the
priest told me he didn’t want to see me wear that waist to
church any more. Now they go to Communion in those short
shorts or sloppy looking jeans."
“You don't hear about the Sacred Heart or the Blessed
Sacrament. They don’t sing Catholic hymns anymore. We
had the Blessed Virgin Mary Sodality and the Children of
Mary. I don’t know why they changed it so,” she said.
“I’ve been working all my life,” she said, “for a lot of peo
ple. In those days they hired young girls to nurse the babies
and do the cooking." She grew up in the house which stood
where the church was later built and when she went to work
for the sisters she just crossed the school yard to get to the
convent.
Back in those days she said she and the rectory
housekeeper also had to keep the church clean and sweep
the school yard. This was where the young Martin Luther
King, Jr., a child of the neighborhood, used to play marbles
every afternoon. “The sisters let the neighborhood children
play in the yard,” she recalled.
The sisters were good to work for. “They ate anything. I
shopped for the food. During the Depression I used to take a
child’s wagon to the curb (municipal) market and load it
up "
“Mother (Drexel) used to come into the kitchen and sit
down at the table and talk with me...Mother wasn't such a
beautiful woman but she sure was a great woman,” she
said of her old friend.
Her life at 88 is limited to the small apartment she shares
with Mrs. Lillian Hogan and her weekly trips to Mass. She
can no longer go, as she used to, on Friday afternoon to Our
Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home to iron for the sisters
who care for the dying.
But she has lots of memories of her church-centered life,
and a plaque on the wall of the church near the front door
which honors her: “In recognition of 60 years of devoted
service to Our Lady of Lourdes - 1913 - 1973 - this plaque
honors Christine Bullock," It bears the name of Archbishop
Thomas A. Donnellan and the date, Dec. 11, 1983.
That was the day she lunched with the late archbishop
and a party of friends at an elegant downtown hotel. A big
day in her memory log.
Her memory is good but “sometimes I can’t say my
prayers straight." she said. “But the Lord knows what’s in
my heart."
Our Lady Of Lourdes
(Continued from page 12)
outreach to the neighbor
hood. Lourdes is going to
have to look and see what it
is that is going to draw peo
ple..."
The pastor views the
school “as a real tool of
evangelization” because it
offers a Catholic Christian
message to a number of un
churched families with
children enrolled. Such
evangelization through the
classroom is a continuation
of the religious tradition
brought to Lourdes by four
sisters of the Blessed Sacra
ment. They were sent from
Pennsylvania by Mother
Drexel to educate the
children of the “black flock
in Atlanta." as she wrote to
Bishop Benjamin Keily in
March, 1913, after receiv
ing his permission to work
in Atlanta.
In the same handwritten
letter she asks for “the
great privilege of having
our sacramental Lord with
us and having Benediction
and Exposition in our little
convent chapel. For surely
we must ever say as the
disciple said on the road to
Emmaus, ‘Remain with
us.' "
The foundress, a member
of a wealthy banking family
in Philadelphia whose
canonization is now being
sought in Rome, was a prac
tical woman with a keen
business sense who regular
ly visited her sisters in the
South to make sure that
"everything was the way it
was supposed to be.” ac
cording to Sister McGinley.
“Our philosophy was
always interdenomina
tional," Sister McGinley
said. “We always had a ma
jority of non-Catholics in
the school. The children
came from all over the city.
At that time the parents
were still struggling, many
were domestics. There was
a very good PTA, but the
school did not have too
many activities. The parish
was relatively poor and the
pastors usually had another
job in the diocese. "
“It was with great pain
that we left,’’ Sister
McGinley recalled. “We
were all very close and lov
ed each other very much.
We were trying to force in
tegration, to have the
children enroll in other
schools with white students.
The people were very loyal
to us but we felt that it was
time for the mothering
community to withdraw.”
Another reason for the
departure in 1974 was the
belief that their missionary
labors were no longer
necessary.
After the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament left,
Sister Margaret McAnoy,
I.H.M., said she applied for
and was appointed prin
cipal. During her years, un
til 1980, the enrollment
reached 330 and included
many children whose
parents worked downtown.
The sixth grade was
eliminated and kinder
garten added, she said, so
that energy and finances
could be spent on the lower
grades where a child’s
ability to make it aca
demically would be identi
fied and nurtured.
The parish social action
committee reaches out to
the neighborhood under the
leadership of Mrs. Mattie
Smith. A parishioner since
1944, she has an expertise
acquired in working 20
years for social agencies.
Father Cavallo said
“We've managed to get a
grant for Mattie. She works
for our social action com
mittee. Twenty hours a
week are paid for by SETA
(the federal Senior
Employment Training
Act) Her job is to survey
the immediate King
neighborhood” to see what
the needs are, he added.
The social action commit-
tee was one of 95 local
organizations receiving
grants from Hands Across
America last July. From
the $5,000 grant she gave
$500 to St. Anthony’s Night
Shelter, $500 to Samaritan
House, another shelter; and
$500 to the Georgia Citizens
Coalition on Hunger. She
works directly with the
homeless, currently with
the Homeless Union, a
group organized by Chris
Sprowal. a homeless man
turned activist in Phila
delphia.
Each month 15 or 20
t ACONTECIMIENTOS
CAMINO DEL MATRIMONIO
PARA:
Novios que desean prepararse bien
antes de casarse.
CUANDO
5 y 6 de diciembre, 1987
DONDE:
Se anunciara mas adelante.
HORA:
Sabado 8:30 a m.-5:00 p.m.
Domingo 9 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
COSTO:
$40 por pareja
LLAMEN EN SEGUIDA AL TELEFONO 888-7839.
FOUNDRESS — Venerable Mother
Katherine Drexel was a frequent visitor to
Atlanta in the early years of Our Lady of
Lourdes parish. Members of the order she
established, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacra
ment, taught in the school from 1913 until 1974.
homeless gather in the
parish cafeteria to talk
about their problems.
They're fed up. Mrs. Smith
said, with living in shelters
and are trying to find ways
to get the housing needed to
change their lives for the
better.
Food for the Neighbor
hood is a big part of her job.
Started by the parish more
than five years ago and
funded by the grant,
church collections and pri
vate contributions, it distri
butes about 20 food boxes
each month to the needy,
including a number of el
derly widows from the pa
rish. Turkeys will be added
to the boxes for Thanksgiv
ing and Christmas. And
Mrs. Smith will give out
clothes and toys to families
facing a bleak holiday.
Shelley Earle, one of
many parish members “so
attached we’re willing to
drive the distance,” helps
Mrs. Smith on the social
justice committee. He said
the parish will shortly begin
serving Sunday breakfast
to needy people in the
neighborhood. “We’re in a
low income area and we
don’t want to have to turn
them away,” he said of
those people who have been
coming to the parish beg
ging for food handouts.
He also serves as parish
coordinator for St. An
thony’s Night Shelter, is a
former president of the
parish council and a
member of the arch
diocesan Commission for
Black Catholic Concerns.
Mrs. Thomas is another
parishioner who drives a
distance, in her case from
the southwest near 285.
"They come from every
where, from East Point,
College Park. It’s a com
munity church and a lot of
us have been there a long
time,” she said. “Three of
my four children went to
Lourdes. I guess I have
roots there.”
Mrs. Thomas has seen the
church and school grow and
was one of the women work
ing hard in the late 1950s to
raise money for the new
church. She was president
of the women’s group
known as the parish council
back then. They raised
funds through raffles,
fashion shows, individual
home parties and contribu
tions, she recalled.
After she retired in 1981
as a Fulton County school
teacher she worked at
Lourdes school for two
years. Despite having to
nurse an aunt, 99, she re
mains active as a lector and
with the women’s group and
has filled several offices
with the Archdiocesan
Council of Catholic Women.
“We consider ourselves
poor in money but rich in
spirit,” Shelley Earle said.
“When Lourdes started it
was a minority within a
minority, being black and
Catholic. We’ve come
through a lot and we’re an
integral part of the com
munity.”