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Wednesday, April 19, 2023

28 YEARS AGO, APRIL 18, 1995, THIS HAPPENED….

 But first, I almost went to the Cathedral Basilica’s blessing of the Basilica Insignia like this.I went into the closet to put my nice dress shoes on for the clergy conference Mass and dinner at our Cathedral Basilica. Fortunately before I departed I looked down! Old age is just a state of mind! Can you imagine:

Then at the blessing of the Basilica Insignia, it was pointed out the our retired bishop was ordained our bishop exactly 28 years prior to this blessing.

On April 18, 1995 Bishop J. Kevin Boland was ordained as the Bishop of Savannah. I was the Master of Ceremonies for this Solemn Mass and yes, both shoes I wore that day matched! Last night, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 was Bishop Boland’s 28th anniversary of his ordination as bishop. Bishop Boland is on the right, Archbishop Hartmayer in the middle and Bishop Parkes on the left prior to last night’s Mass to bless the insignia of a minor basilica.




2 comments:

rcg said...

That’s funny!

Paul said...

I am sorry this is COMPLETELY off topic but I’d like to write the following:

I don’t know how many there are who read this blog who are interested in their ancestry and family history; especially, any military achievements of their ancestors….but:
In 2012, my father died; and 2 years ago my mother died. Apart from $$ inherited, as the oldest son, I inherited 3 generations of military medals, won for “conspicuous gallantry” “the greatness coolness and devotion to duty” “absolute disregard of personal safety” etc in various battles in WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam…and my father’s decade long research into our family tree.

I don’t think many Americans are aware that probably the main reason the British colonised Australia and sent tens of thousands of their convicts to the penal colonial “down under” states was that after the American War of Independence such people, such convicts, could no longer be sent to places like the colony of Georgia…
“The colony of Georgia was originally stared as a debtors colony. The English seeing the other colonies of Virginia and Maryland were upset with the convicts sent to their land had James Edward Oglethorpe establish such a colony in Georgia - named for King George II - in 1732. It got some 50,000 convicts alone. Same purpose, for the English to empty their jails of petty criminals and debtors in the hope they would never return to their shores….most were sold off to plantation owners as indentured servants; most sent to Georgia were petty thieves…”

Only one of my ancestors was a convict; William C……, was sentenced to 14 years and transported to Sydney, after a conviction for stealing a mare, in Cambridge, England….

Looking at my father’s decades long family tree research, I was amazed how often a Protestant ancestor, English or German, would become Catholic, at once or eventually, on marrying an Irish Catholic woman - like my ancestor Mary McGuinness, aged 19, born Dublin 1831, illiterate housemaid etc - and of course their children would be Catholic….how many millions of people are today Catholic because of those strict laws in the past re the Church demanding a promise/commitment children must be raised Catholic in a mixed marriage….

I am most proud of my family’s military history, mainly privates and corporals in the Australian infantry forces, only one officer, but with many military medals won for “conspicuous gallantry” etc …. in various battles spanning almost a century…

If anyone who reads this has served in the American military or has any knowledge of military history, do you believe it true what the Harvard scholar, Niall Ferguson, wrote in “Empire: how Britain Made the Modern World” and in other texts wrote about Australian infantry - namely, that British and later American commanders were at first reluctant to rely on Australian troops, but they soon came to appreciate their quality….for example, it was soon found only an elite Scottish Highland regiment could equal them in ferocity in battle; and at times the Australian “Diggers” were even more feared by the other side as “the devils in skirts”…