tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post257755042612439894..comments2024-03-28T18:02:12.286-04:00Comments on southern orders: AUGUSTA'S FORMER CATHOLIC CHURCH, NOW CULTURAL CENTER, TO BECOME MOVIE STAR AS IT IS USED FOR A HORROR FILM!Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-60465275978451274262015-08-13T13:13:16.622-04:002015-08-13T13:13:16.622-04:00Father, thanks for your comments on Sacred Heart. ...Father, thanks for your comments on Sacred Heart. I'm sure the closing was heartbreaking to many parishioners---one of whom was my grandmother, who died a few short years after that and insisted her funeral be across the river (in North Augusta), I guess her last protest against the closing (guess it was Our Lady of Peace Parish but I was pretty young at the time). I wonder if that was a factor in the bishop being transferred to a diocese in Louisiana after a relatively short 5 years overseeing the Savannah Diocese?<br /><br />I agree with you on our thanks for the non Catholic community saving the church---only thing marring it today is the reality of the John Calhoun Expressway passing not far in front of the church (the ugly viaduct connecting Greene Street with 15th Street). That may be the world's shortest expressway, maybe two and a half miles long. Never understood why they built that road, though perhaps plans called for a longer stretch---I guess Augusta National stood in its way to the north (beyond its current northern end at Washington Road and Lake Olmstead).<br /><br />Also, is St. Marys on the Hill the largest (membership) church in the diocese? If so, what would it compare in membership to say Holy Trinity or the new parish in Grovetown (forget its name, but you wrote about its dedication last year)?<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-67174727000836843742015-08-12T17:02:54.003-04:002015-08-12T17:02:54.003-04:00I can say this as a former pastor of Most Holy Tri...I can say this as a former pastor of Most Holy Trinity, which I loved/love, but it was a tactical mistake on the part of the bishop at the time to close Sacred Heart rather than Most Holy Trinity, although it is a beautiful and more historic structure, but Sacred Heart at the time of its closure was the most viable in terms of it being a parish and the building was and is beloved by all of Augusta regardless of religion (and this accounts for the non Catholic community saving it!) It was seen as the symbol of Catholicism in Augusta. So the Bishop not only closed a church, he closed a symbol. Not good and it created more problems than it solved. This would not have occurred with the closing of Most Holy Trinity at the time. <br /><br />But that is water under the bridge and Most Holy Trinity is doing fine but it needs people to come in from all over for there are not enough Catholics in its parish boundaries to support it. Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-52418352946942711032015-08-12T16:34:30.753-04:002015-08-12T16:34:30.753-04:00Though not a native of Augusta, I have kin down th...Though not a native of Augusta, I have kin down there who have passed on memories of the Old Sacred Heart Church. My aunt was the last person to get married there (after the church had "officially" closed in July of 1971---got a dispensation to have it there because the wedding was planned before the closing announcement). I think someone wrote a history of the church as well (maybe the late Ed Cashin of Augusta State University)? I would have been too young at the time to recall, but I suppose then-Bishop Frey got a lot of heat for its closure (no doubt from my grandmother among them), but by then many of Augusta's Catholics had relocated to the Hill (as in, St. Marys on the Hill) and downtown Augusta could not support 3 Catholic parishes, all so close to each other. I guess that benefited Holy Trinity, though of course that was many years before Fr. McDonald was pastor there. Maybe Fr. M., growing up in Augusta, could confirm that general overview of the closings? I think about 30 years ag0, after a fire, Atlanta's bishop had considered closing Atlanta's first Catholic Church, Immaculate Conception, which today is mostly a commercial area---but he kept it and today its membership comes from "all over"---it could not survive just on the old parish boundary system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-12301842571863671022015-08-12T09:25:50.242-04:002015-08-12T09:25:50.242-04:00I've always wanted to play a bishop. Or maybe ...I've always wanted to play a bishop. Or maybe a cardinal.<br /><br />(Although, I'm content to wait a few decades to become a real bishop... or maybe never becoming one at all)The Greeknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-45356404813879186522015-08-12T09:05:30.284-04:002015-08-12T09:05:30.284-04:00Seriously? You have to ask?Seriously? You have to ask?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com