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Seventy-Five Years of Vincentian
Apostolate in East Alabama

THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH in Eastern Alabama over the past 75 years is a truly Vincentian story. It was foreshadowed as long ago as 1822 when Vincentian missionary Joseph Rosati, later first Bishop of St. Louis, was named Vicar Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, an appointment rescinded when Rosati convinced the Holy See of the dearth of Catholics, Mobile being the only town in the two states which could support even one priest.

Vincentian Apostolate

When Father Patrick McHale, Vincentian provincial, said yes to Mobile's Bishop Edward Allen's request for priests in 1910, he was accepting the very work for which St. Vincent de Paul had founded his community, the evangelization of poor country people. The reality of the work has not changed substantially over the years. This evangelization was carried on from the first by resident priests who were at the same time roving missionaries; and as the work became rooted, they added the second original Vincentian work of ministering to the clergy, an apostolate which was formalized in 1947 with bimonthly days of recollection for priests which perdured for years.

Father McHale, offered a choice of two districts, chose the one without a single church: "Lee County with the five counties north and northeast, with two counties south." The first superior, Father Thomas J. McDonald, chose Opelika as the center of operations because "no city of the South has better railroad facilities, is more convenient for transportation, and has better connection with the surrounding country."

"From this little town," wrote Father Joseph P. McKey - Father McDonald's assistant - to hoped-for benefactors in the North, "the priests will radiate through their assigned territory of ten counties covering six thousand square miles, a territory larger than the whole state of Connecticut by more than one hundred and fifty square miles, more than three times larger than the state of Delaware. In the town of Opelika with its four thousand inhabitants there is but one Catholic. In the surrounding country, because of the scarcity of priests, hundreds have fallen away from the faith... hundreds feel themselves wavering; and the faithful few are fearful for their young." The basic facts were true, the numbers were exaggerated: the first census - taken by consultation with people who knew their neighbors: Protestant ministers, doctors, drug store clerks, etc. -- turned up 114 Catholics, 0.0005% in an overall population of 210,000.

The honor of the first public Mass in the district went, not to Opelika, but to Tallassee, where Father McDonald celebrated on September 18, 1910 in the Masonic Hall. It was appropriate enough, for Mass could well have been said in the area 400 years earlier when, according to Creek Indian lore, the explorer Ferdinand DeSoto and his band visited their village of Talisi less than 50 years after Columbus discovered America.

Beginnings

When Fathers McDonald and McKey arrived "in their Roman collars," wrote Father McKey jocularly, to take possession of "The Pines," - the big house at 1000 Fourth Avenue still in use, which they had bought for $12,000 from Captain Dean - "for the first time the people realized that the Catholic Church had a foothold in town." Bishop Allen transferred Father McKey to Eufaula on August 16 as part of his campaign to convince the Vincentians to take over the second district, too, but he relented and sent McKey back to Opelika on November 2. In the meantime a legendary lay brother, Brother James Carver, had arrived on October 4 "with a broom and a saucepan."

These first missionaries were truly spiritual men with no other goals than the spread of the Church and the salvation of SOULS. Their sheer energy was amazing. In the first five years they built five churches, at Opelika (1911), Phenix City (1911), Auburn (1912), Salem (1914) and Lanett (1915). In the first months The Marian, "the first magazine ever published in Opelika," came out with 3,000 charter copies on December 21, 1910. "The priests here," according to the same quarterly, "besides giving missions, forty hours, and retreats outside the district in order to support the mission work within the district, attend to the Catholics of 13 towns at least once a month; to those of three towns at least three times a month (Auburn, Loachapoka, and Opelika); to those of four towns every Sunday (Phenix City, Girard, Fort Mitchell, and Hatchuchubee. East Tallassee, West Tallassee, Salem, Lanett, West Point, and LaGrange made up the 13 towns whose people were cared for monthly.)"

Willing Hands

The priests did not, of course, do it all by themselves. They had first of all the faith and good will of the early parishioners, people like Mrs. Lyons of Opelika who suffered the ridicule of her husband with the lonely distinction of being the only Catholic in towns like William Merna, Sr., of Lanett who opened his home for the monthly Mass and took his family by train to Mass in Montgomery on the other Sundays; like Mrs. O'Brien who welcomed the Mass to her home in Tallassee, "a God-fearing and loving, apostolic woman" whose dearest dream was to build a church.

They were helped also by many benefactions from parishes and friends in the North, like the Alumnae of St. Joseph's College, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, prime builders of St. Mary's Church, Opelika, in memory of Mother General Mary Clement, S.S.J.; or the sisters Susanne Heraty and Mary Rossiter who built Holy Family Church, Lanett, in memory of their brother J.P. Hand. Southerners Mrs. Kennon donated the land for St. Vincent de Paul Church in Salem, and Mr. and Mrs. Roberts Blount the land for St. Vincent de Paul Church in Tallassee. Over all loomed the magnificent benefactions of the Vincentian Fathers' headquarters in Philadelphia, the Catholic Church Extension Society, the Bishops of Mobile and Birmingham from Bishop Allen, through Archbishop Toolen, to Archbishop Lipscomb and Bishop Vath and The Central Association of The Miraculous Medal.

They, and the priests who followed them, have been helped by a host of women religious, beginning with the Ladies of the Lay Apostolate who came to start a school and remained to be incorporated by their founder, Father Thomas Judge, in 1917 as Missionary Servants of the Blessed Trinity, the Daughters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, and The Vincentian Sisters of Charity.

Zeal for Souls

The zeal of the first missioners was taken up gladly by their successors and endures to the present. As increasing years offered wider opportunities than the Friday night lectures on Catholicism at St. Mary's, Opelika, and The Marian which ceased publication in 1914 for lack of support, it took various forms, such as Holy Family Academy, Opelika (now St. Patrick's School, Phenix City); street preaching through public address equipment from a station wagon lent by the Vincentian Western Province (St. Louis) along with its veteran Father Oscar Miller, who was joined for four summers by Fathers John Cody and John Conway; weekly radio preaching on local stations in Lanett, Auburn, and Alexander City; and "Operation Doorbell, a Crusade for Souls" in all the parishes. Overriding forms of zeal have been and are, of course, friendliness, devotion to the sick, and concern for the poor. A memorable example was the heroic care given influenza sufferers by priests and Sisters during the terrible epidemic of October, 1918. The laity, too, had and have their own forms of zeal: the regular practice of their faith is "a bright and shining light" in a non-Catholic culture - attendance at Sunday Mass by "soldiers, sailors, and flying cadets" during World War 11 was noted as "advancing the Church" - and the multiple church societies of past and present: Holy Name, Sodality, Knights of Columbus, Altar Society, Children of Mary, Holy Family Society, Ladies of Charity, Legion of Mary, Mother Seton Guild, National Council of Catholic Women, Newman Club, etc.

Perseverance

Another virtue inculcated by the first priests, equal to their energy or zeal, and faithfully practiced for 75 years, is perseverance. It is an especially heroic virtue in the face of often minimal results and disappointments. In 1913 Father McKey bravely claimed a 30% increase in Catholics when the overall population increase was less, but he spoke of only 34 people. In the fall of 1915 there were still only four Catholics in Opelika, several families in Lanett, and the largest mission was Auburn with 30 students from the University and the few town CatholiCS. In 1932, after 22 years of apostolate, Father Eugene Snyder, who loved the South and its people and was beloved by them in return, sadly reported only one Catholic in every thousand persons still - .001% - "worse than China." There had been only 95 adult converts in all those years, and the total number of Catholics remained stable and discouragingly low because of population mobility. In 1946 there were 80 Catholics in Lanett, 20 in Alexander City, 25 in Auburn (apparently excluding University students), and 26 in Phenix City. An early disappointment was the failure of a proposal for a Catholic hospital in Opelika in 1914, which undoubtedly contributed to the death in 1915 of the second superior, Father James Molyneaux, "crushed by the rude treatment of his hospital project." This unhappy affair, like the attempt at a school in Opelika, was typical of the bigotry the missionaries and their people endured and persevered against. But in 1932 Father Snyder was able to write hopefully: "Prejudice has been dispelled, and a better understanding and knowledge of the Catholic religion have been diffused" - and he finished prophetically - "The seed has been well sown. In God's time it will bear a rich harvest."

Mother of God

Special Vincentian devotion to the Mother of God, and her favor in return, were evident from the beginning. The foundation was named St. Vincent's Mission House until, Father McKay recorded, "Father McDonald... thought what a hand Mary the Mother of God had in the enterprise, as is seen from the following dates: September 8, the Birthday of Mary, the deeds received; September 15, octave of the feast, property delivered; September 18, Seven Dolors, first Mass celebrated in Opelika ter- ritory - at Tallassee; October 9, Maternity of Mary, first Mass in the chapel of the house; December 16, first Mass on present altar ... Purity of Mary. These considerations made him change the name, and incorporate the foundation into St. Mary's Mission House." This indispensable devotion continued through the years in The Marian magazine, the modalities and other Marian societies, the weekly Miraculous Medal Novena in the mission churches, the dissemination of the Green Scapular to myriads of people from Opelika, the establishment of Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission for Blacks in Auburn and Immaculate Conception, Roanoke.

Opelika

The Opelika church, built at a cost of $4,500 and first called St. Clement's after the patron of the nun it commemorated, was dedicated on the saint's feast day, November 23, 1911, by Bishop Allen.46 Its welcome to the Church in Alabama was further signified by the presence of a diocesan priest, a Benedictine monk, faculty members and students from Auburn, and Knights of Columbus from Atlanta, Columbus and Birmingham. The first Sunday school, which served Auburn as well, opened on January 16, 1916 with three of Father Judge's lay apostles teaching 10 Protestants from 6 to 40. Thirty years later three Daughters of Charity were teaching catechism every Sunday. The first formal mission band, consisting of Fathers William Gunndlle, Thomas Madden, William McGlynn, and Terrence O'Neill, took up residence at St. Mary's in 1919. By 1951 the Band, consisting then of Fathers James Glynn and John Conway, was preaching in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama.

Phenix City

A month before the church dedication in Opelika the cornerstone of St. Patrick's Church, Phenix City, built on a lot donated by Father P. McKenna of Cedarhurst, Long Island, was laid, and the church dedicated by Bishop Allen on November 5, 1911. To date, Father James Salway has had the longest tenure as pastor (1937-1954) during which years he built a new parish hall, the Catholic Center, and first shrine to Our Lady in the area. Father Salway, now 91, served longest in Alabama (more than 35 years), with Father Snyder a close second (more than 30 years). More recently recreation and meeting facilities have been enlarged and modernized.

Auburn

Sacred Heart Church, Auburn, was dedicated by Bishop Allen on November 10, 1912. The original structure served for more than 50 years when parish growth to 400 single and 70 married University students plus 100 local families necessitated a new church, which was dedicated by Archbishop Toolen of Mobile-Birmingham on September 29,1966, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph G. Vath, now Bishop of Birmingham, preaching the sermon. The new structure, made possible by the generosity of Auburn students and parishioners, the Catholic Charities Expansion Program and the Diocesan Holy Name Chapel Fund, signaled the change of the parish name to St. Michael's, to emphasize the importance of campus ministry. Father Patrick Doran became first resident pastor in 1943. By 1946, besides the Newman Club which Father Nelson Schrader had founded some years before, the parish boasted two units of the Legion of Mary. In 1951 Sisters of Mercy from Columbus were teaching the children religion every Saturday. In 1953 Father Joseph Kennedy opened Joyland Day Nursery in connection with his Mission of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for Blacks, whose name was changed to St. Martin de Porres in 1961. When the mission and nursery ceased operations, St. Michael's Social Service for Blacks continued on the site. Long-range planning begun 20 years ago for new resident and parish activity facilities has become decisive and active, encouraged by the recent purchase of a commodious adjoining property.

Salem

The Salem "parish" was the only one which has not survived to the present day. Salem had six Catholics in 1910, and Mass once a month in 1913. Bishop Allen dedicated St. Vincent de Paul church, built at a cost of $3,000 on land given by Mrs. Kennon. In 1946 Mass was being celebrated on alternate Sundays at Salem and Alexander City, but the earlier mission soon passed out of existence.

Lanett

In 1910 Lanett had 13 Catholics and two more in the outskirts. In 1913 Mass was being offered there once a month, first in the Merna parlor, then in the Lanier's Hall; Catholics from West Point and LaGrange also attended. Bishop Allen dedicated Holy Family Church on April 11, 1915. That morning 10 children made their first Communion at the seven o'clock Mass. Father Eugene Snyder was the first pastor (1927-1945); Father John King became first resident pastor in 1945. The children have been instructed in the faith over the years by the Vincentian Sisters of Charity (from Mother Mary Mission in Phenix City) and the Daughters of Charity. Immaculate Conception Parish, Roanoke, was established as a mission when 13 people attended Mass in Sgt. Courtney's home on January 28, 1951. Parish growth necessitated doubling the seating capacity of Holy Family Church in 1978.

Alexander City

On Easter Sunday, 1945, a stable Catholic community was formed in Alexander City with Mass offered for 13 people at the home of Mr. and Mrs. T.W. Tifton. The following year Mass was said on alternate Sundays in Disabled Veterans Hall, and in 1951 every Sunday in the new St. Thomas Chapel as well as at Dadeville and Tallassee. The present church, renamed in honor of St. John the Apostle, was dedicated by Archbishop Toolen on March 27,1960. From 1959 until 1972 the pastor had dual responsibility for Alexander City and Tallassee.

Tallassee

Tallassee, where the first Mass in the entire district had been celebrated, struggled through the years for a permanent Catholic presence. In 1913 Mass was said in East and West Tallassee once a month, and there were regularly scheduled Masses from 1915 to 1920 when the departure of Catholic families from the area and a stiff bigotry brought about the abandonment of Catholic services for the next 24 years. Resumed in 1946, they were discontinued again two years later, only to be restored permanently a short time later. The beautiful Church of St. Vincent de Paul was dedicated on February 12, 1956 by Archbishop William D. O'Brien, of the Church Extensior. Society, in the presence of Archbishop Toolen; Bishop Fulton J. Sheen preached.

Fulfillment

Father Snyder's prophecy is surely being fulfilled. The 114 Catholics of 1910 (84 area residents and 30 Auburn students) has increased 44 times over to 5,036 Catholics in 1985 (3,036 area residents and 2,000 Auburn students). Most importantly, there are six firmly established parishes with resident priests to care for their faithful people, to support the wavering, to welcome the strayed, to offer havens of truth to the seekers. May God be blessed who has given the increase!

Vincentians Who Have Served
In East Alabama

Superiors

Rev. Thomas McDonald* Rev. J.P. Molyneaux* Rev. Thomas Judge* Rev. William Groeninger* Rev. Eugene Snyder* Rev. Thomas Crossley* Rev. Nelson Schrader* Rev. William Brady* Rev. James Halpin* Rev. Henry Harris*

Rev. John Hild* Rev. William Harrigan* Rev. Francis Hinton* Rev. Louis Furton* Rev. Eugene Sheridan Rev. Gerard Conroy Rev. Joseph Symes* Rev. John Nicholas* Rev. Martin McGeough

Other Pastors and Missionaries

Rev. William Allegretto Rev. Francis Beatty* Rev. John Carroll* Brother James Carver* Rev. John Cody* Rev. Arthur Colby* Rev. John Conway* Rev. Thomas Corrigan* Rev. Walter Dirig Rev. Charles Docherty* Rev. Patrick Doran* Rev. August Englert Rev. John Ewens* Rev. William Fitzpatrick* Rev. Joseph Gately* Rev. James Glynn* Rev. William Gunville* Rev. James Halligan* Rev. James Hart* Rev. John Henry*

Rev. Joseph Hill* Rev. John Hummel Rev. John Hurley* Rev. Joseph Kennedy* Rev. John King Rev. Donald Knox* Rev. Joseph Konen* Rev. Bruce Krause Rev. Thomas Liney* Rev. Paul Loeffler* Rev. Vincent Loeffler* Rev. Andrew Lyden* Rev. Thomas Madden* Rev. William Mason* Rev. Francis McCormack* Rev. Patrick McCormick Rev. Charles McEnnis* Rev. William McGlynn* Rev. Joseph McKey*

Rev. Francis Meaney* Rev. Walter Menig Rev. Andrew Mullen* Rev. James Mundy* Rev. Gerard Murphy Rev. Bartholomew O'Malley Rev. Terrence O'Neill* Rev. Thomas O'Neill* Rev. Patrick Flaherty* Rev. Edward Rouse* Rev. Richard Rock Rev. John Rutledge Rev. Francis Sacks Rev. James Salway Rev. Robert Schickling * Rev. Robert Stone Rev. Charles Stouter* Rev. John Tumelty Rev. Henry Young* Rev. James Wholey*