By chance, I happened upon this video by accident. There are a couple of mistakes outside. The building they call the original church isn’t. That was torn down in the late 1800’s. What they are looking at is St. Francis Hall built in the late 1970 by Father William Simmons.
There is a lot of noise which was reminiscent of all the noise during the major restoration we had beginning around 1996 I think. I have no idea where that noise is coming from as there seems to be no construction in the Church.
The “new” church was begun in 1857 and consecrated in April of 1863. The original church on this property goes back to 1810, although Mass was said in the downtown area in the late 1700’s for primarily French Catholics in Augusta.
The parish was integrated with slaves and freemen prior to and during the Civil War. There are numerous baptisms of slaves in the parish’s baptismal registries.
With the closing of the all black Immaculate Conception Church about six blocks away and Sacred Heart Church about six blocks away in 1970, Most Holy Trinity once again was integrated with blacks in the majority at that time. Demographic changes in Augusta and the Catholic population shifted that well into the 1990’s and to this day, but there is still a very strong African American presence in the parish.
I still can’t believe how good the church looks as though no time has passed since its restoration in 1996.
I often wonder if I did not make a mistake agreeing to be transferred away in 2004. But that’s life!
6 comments:
We offer prayers of Thanksgiving for your courageous efforts and leadership! We are very happy you are our pastor in Richmond Hill!!
Sacred Heart actually closed in July, 1971. I suspect then-Bishop Frey got a lot of hell for that decision, but certainly by then there were not enough Catholics living in downtown Augusta (below 15th Street) to justify 3 churches in the area. The establishment of St. Marys on the Hill about 3 miles away, and the movement of many Catholics to the Hill after fires and flooding downtown, proved to be the long-term doom for Sacred Heart.
Church closings have happened more often in the North, when many were built in the streetcar era. But eventually people got cars and moved to the suburbs (or to Florida!) and there just was not enough population to support so many parishes. I even wonder in Macon (Bibb County), are there enough Catholics in that (largely stagnant in population) county to justify 3 parishes? Adjoining Houston County outvoted Bibb this year and thus may have a larger population than Bibb when the 2020 census data are released next spring.
Good summary of what happened to downtown Augusta. If not for flight to the Hill, and if there had not be major fires and floods and after those things more preservation of historic buildings, Augusta would almost rival downtown Savannah. If I had been in charge, I would have kept the Sacred Heart campus which was completely in tact with what was considered Augusta’s Cathedral, cathedral like rectory, school and huge convent, all still present and well repurposed. At Most Holy Trinity in 1971, there was just the church and a horrible 1950’s ranch style rectory. Of course since then other buildings built or acquired.
Macon is on a major decline, white flight. Yes, the Catholic population could be merged into St. Joseph and it’s school easily.
And Augusta (Richmond County) is seeing the same flight, as evidenced by how heavily Democratic Richmond County is these days (the county voted mostly Republican for president between Ike and the first President Bush) and the fact that adjoining Columbia County was not far behind Richmond this year in terms of votes cast for president. On a church level, that may mean St. Teresa of Avila in Columbia County passing St. Marys on the Hill in size, soon if it has not yet happened.
I have this notion, not sure where from, that there is a belief out there that it is best for pastors to not stay at a parish for more than 10 – 15 years or so. Fr. McDonald – we were disappointed when you left MHT and knew you were sad to leave. It has been a tumultuous ride for MHT since your departure with several short-lived pastorships, a pastorship ended too short by cancer and a wonderful interim administrator before the arrival of current beloved pastor Fr. Mariusz last year. Fr. McDonald, you were a blessing to MHT and you and the other former pastors along with Fr. Mariusz are part of my daily prayers.
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