A Moment of Catholic History in Florida
Florida Catholic publishes debut issue
FC ARCHIVES
Original Publication Date: 12.01.1939
“It is with pleasure that I designate The Florida Catholic the Official Organ of the historic Diocese of St. Augustine. I feel that this paper fills a great need in the life of the Diocese and that its influence for good will more than justify its existence.
“To the Reverend clergy I commend it highly and trust they will give it the fullest cooperation in fulfilling its mission. To the laity I cannot commend it too highly and hope and pray that by their support of it that The Florida Catholic will quickly take its place in the front ranks of the best Catholic newspapers in the country.
“The Florida Catholic has my unstinted approbation as it sets out on its mission of spreading Catholic Truth and in combating the sinister influences that would undermine the faith of the thousands of souls entrusted to my care.”
So read the typewritten letter from Bishop Patrick Barry, reproduced straight from its “Bishop’s Residence” stationery, published above the fold on the front page of the first issue of the Florida Catholic. The Diocese of St. Augustine included most of Florida at the time – all but 10 Panhandle counties that belonged to the Diocese of Mobile, Ala. – and its intention to cover all of its territory was evident; though the bishop was seated in north Florida, the newspaper was operated out of south Florida with Msgr. William Barry – the bishop’s brother – as founder and publisher.
The inaugural weekly issue, an eight-page broadsheet, was packed – in the eight-column, tiny-type style of the day – with parish, state, national and international news from a Catholic perspective.
The size of the pages, editorial style, frequency of issues and number of diocesan editions has varied over the years, but the Florida Catholic has been in continuous publication for seven decades.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives. This is the last installment in a yearlong series.
Posted: 10.31.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Number of Florida dioceses reaches seven
Original Publication Date: 11.02.1984
“The Church in Florida is bursting at the seams. This week we celebrate the creation of two new dioceses and the installation of their first bishops. Last week in the new Diocese of Venice, Bishop John J. Nevins began his job as chief shepherd of some 115,400 Catholics. And in the new Diocese of Palm Beach, Bishop Thomas V. Daily becomes the first bishop of about 103,000 Catholics in this new Atlantic coast diocese.
“Congratulations to the new bishops, the priests and people of these two new dioceses!
“We share their joy – because we are happy for them and for the entire Church in Florida, because we are all part of that happy story.”
So began an editorial in the Florida Catholic in the first issue after the number of dioceses in the state grew from five to seven. Until 1959, when the Diocese of Miami was created, nearly all of Florida was in the Diocese of St. Augustine. In 1968, the dioceses of St. Petersburg and Orlando were created, and Miami was elevated to an archdiocese. In 1975, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee was created from territory in northwest Florida, some of which had been part of the Diocese of Mobile, Ala. No new dioceses have been created since 1984, leaving the total standing today at seven.
The editorial went on to note the “tremendously constant spirit of unity between the bishops and dioceses throughout Florida. Florida’s bishops have cooperated on many key moral issues affecting the entire people of Florida – issues such as abortion, immigration, capital punishment, family life and migrant labor. Their voice has been a powerful one through the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee.” That cooperation continues today.
Just as it is this year – its 70th year of publication – the Florida Catholic was celebrating a milestone anniversary in 1984, which was noted in the editorial: “The Florida Catholic has been reporting the growth of the Church for 45 years, and we are understandably quite happy to report in this issue that this historic journal now has editions serving four of Florida’s seven dioceses – St. Petersburg, Orlando, Pensacola-Tallahassee and Venice.”
The number of diocesan editions of the Florida Catholic has varied through the years, peaking at six. The newspaper now has print editions serving three dioceses and an online edition serving Catholics throughout the state and beyond.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 10.30.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Newspaper highlights Florida’s connections to Vatican II — and Vatican I
Original Publication Date: 10.05.1962
FILE | FC
In the great expanse of St. Peter’s Basilica, the world’s bishops gather during the early 1960s for the Second Vatican Council.
“ROME | Amid the peals of trumpets, great choirs and triumphant song and the gladsome applause of nearly 500,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, the Second Vatican Council opened yesterday in the Eternal City of Rome.
“Beginning at 8:30 in the morning, the greatest procession of prelates that Rome had ever seen wound slowly through the square fronting St. Peter’s Basilica, as ceremonies began inaugurating the 21st general council in the centuries–long history of the Church of Christ.
“The solemn line of Cardinals, Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots and Superiors of religious orders, nearly 2,500 in number, took over an hour to enter the basilica.
“Among them was Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley, Bishop of St. Augustine.”
The story was written in Rome for the Florida Catholic by Father Michael V. Gannon, a Florida priest, and, as evidenced by documents in the newspaper’s files, was transmitted on deadline by telegram.
The Florida Catholic, as the official publication of the Diocese of St. Augustine, covered Archbishop Hurley’s participation in Vatican II. At the time, the St. Augustine Diocese encompassed all of the state except the relatively new Diocese of Miami and parts of the western Panhandle that belonged to the Diocese of Mobile, Ala. Miami Bishop Coleman Carroll was also among the Fathers of Vatican II, but his participation was chronicled not by the Florida Catholic, but by that diocese’s official publication of the time, The Voice.
Bishop Augustine Verot, 1804–1876
The Oct. 12, 1962, issue of the Florida Catholic also carried a historical retrospective piece, which read in part: “When Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley took his place among the nearly 3,000 Bishops of the Catholic world, his honored presence reminded Church historians of two important events 92 years before.
“Both events occurred during the first Vatican Council, held 1869–1870. The first of these was the presence in the council of Bishop Augustine Verot as the first representative of Florida Catholics in a general council of the Church. The second was the erection of St. Augustine into a new and separate diocese.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 10.23.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Florida’s bishops head to Second Vatican Council
Original Publication Date: 10.05.1962
“ST. AUGUSTINE | Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley and the priests who accompanied him from the Diocese of St. Augustine are en route to Rome where the Bishop of St. Augustine will take his place among other Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. The general council will begin in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 11.
“(Archbishop Hurley) wrote a pastoral letter, given at St. Augustine from the Cathedral on October 1, 1962, ordering that the prayer requested by Pope John XXIII for the success of the council be observed in all diocesan parishes …
“Each parish will open a triduum of meditation and penance on Thursday, October 11.”
St. Augustine was one of two Florida-based dioceses at the time, encompassing all of the state except the four-year-old Diocese of Miami and parts of the Panhandle that belonged to the Diocese of Mobile, Ala. Miami’s first bishop, Bishop Coleman Carroll, also traveled to Rome to take his place among the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 10.16.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Pilgrimages will climax Marian Year
Original Publication Date: 10.29.1954
“ST. AUGUSTINE | Through diocese-wide pilgrimages to America’s most ancient Marian shrine here and local observances throughout the state, the Catholics of Florida will bring their Marian Year observance to a ‘great and flourishing climax,’ according to present plans.
“During the first eleven months of this year dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, scarcely a day has passed at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche and the Mission of Nombre de Dios here without some special group of pilgrims coming to invoke the protection of Our Lady on their families and parishes.
“Almost all of the parishes of the Diocese (of St. Augustine, which then encompassed most of the state) have held parish pilgrimages as directed and many others are scheduled for the closing weeks of the year.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 10.09.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Newspaper covers 450th, 500th Columbus anniversaries
Original Publication Date: 10.9.1942
JACQUE BRUND | FC FILES
A replica of one of Christopher Columbus’ ships passes by the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine in October 1992 as the city and the Diocese of St. Augustine celebrate the 500th anniversary of the explorer’s discovery of America. The 450th anniversary in 1942 also was a major cause for celebration in the diocese, which at the time included most of the state.
“ST. AUGUSTINE | The vital part that the Church and people in the state of Florida are destined to play in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and to further the understanding between the free nations of this hemisphere will be the theme of the celebrations to take place here next Sunday in connection with the commemoration of the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.”
That whopper of a sentence led the Florida Catholic’s advance coverage of the Church’s celebration of the 450th anniversary of Columbus sailing the ocean blue in fourteen hundred and ninety-two. Festivities included a symposium and a pontifical Mass in the cathedral of the Diocese of St. Augustine, which then encompassed most of the state.
Father Maurice Sheehy, senior Catholic chaplain of the Naval Air Base in Jacksonville, was scheduled to give a speech at the symposium on the Catholic role in inter-American relations, focusing on “the existence of spiritual bonds between Catholics in the Americas and the further recognition of the fact that these bonds of a common faith form the only solid basis for true friendship and understanding among the American nations.”
The story also noted: “Although wartime difficulties of transportation will not permit many out-of-town guests to come to St. Augustine, quite a number of Knights of Columbus from Miami and Jacksonville plan to be present.”
The social climate of the nation was much changed by 1992, when the Florida Catholic covered commemorations in St. Augustine of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ journey, which drew huge crowds from all over.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 10.02.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Newspaper follows up on Sept. 11 coverage
Original Publication Date: 09.20.2001
“Our nation turns to God”
That banner headline, flanked by two images of American flags, ran across the top of all editions on the second issue of the Florida Catholic after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The staff had mere hours to prepare coverage for the Sept. 13 issue, which went to press the same day as four hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a rural Pennsylvania field. Reporters and editors immediately began planning to go deeper in the follow-up coverage.
In the dioceses of Orlando, Palm Beach, Pensacola-Tallahassee, St. Petersburg and Venice and the Archdiocese of Miami – each of which had its own edition of the Florida Catholic at the time – the journalists wrote about people in their areas who were touched by the attacks. In addition, the newspaper acknowledged common threads throughout the state – such as the high population of former New York City residents who felt particularly close to the tragedy.
“New Yorkers – historically – one of the largest groups of transplants to Florida – reacted with dismay, sadness and stories of personal connections to the trauma felt last week in the Big Apple,” began a story that ran in all editions.
Among the many Catholic News Service follow-up stories the newspaper ran was one about Father Mychal F. Judge, a New York Fire Department Catholic chaplain who died while giving last rites to a firefighter in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. A Florida Knights of Columbus fourth-degree assembly, based at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Pembroke Pines, has since been named for Father Judge.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 09.25.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Catholic school offerings in state expand
Original Publication Date: 09.5.1952
“ST. AUGUSTINE | Seven brand new schools enter the picture of Catholic education in the Diocese of St. Augustine this term bringing to over 70 the number of primary, elementary and high schools offering full-time instruction for Catholic boys and girls in Florida.”
The new schools included the state’s first two Central Catholic High Schools – one in Fort Lauderdale taught by Sisters of St. Dominic of Adrian, Mich., and one in Jacksonville taught by Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine. The rest were parish elementary schools: Blessed Sacrament in Tallahassee, St. Francis of Assisi in Riviera Beach, Holy Redeemer “for colored” in the Liberty City area of Miami, Epiphany in south Miami and Queen of Peace in New Port Richey.
The Diocese of St. Augustine at the time encompassed most of Florida, which had 218 Catholic schools as of the 2008-09 school year, according to the Florida Catholic Conference. Fort Lauderdale Central Catholic became St. Thomas Aquinas High School; Jacksonville Central Catholic High School became Bishop Kenny High School. Of the parish schools founded in 1952, only Epiphany School remains in operation.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 09.25.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
‘9/11’ shock grips state
Original Publication Date: 09.13.2001
“ORLANDO | Although the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened geographically hundreds of miles away, the tremor of their terror made marks in the Sunshine State.
“In the St. Petersburg Diocese, Catholic Charities set up a hot line for those who needed to talk to a counselor about the attack. Joe Citro of Catholic Charities, where the hot line is staffed by the organization’s counselors, said he was worried about the refugees who were settled in the area by Catholic Charities. Not only was the bombing a stark reminder of the violence the refugees fled from their own countries, but he worried about the backlash on refugees who are Muslims or any of them who looked Arabic.
“‘We do have refugees who are Muslims,’ he said. ‘If there is a backlash … anyone who even looks Arabic may be targeted.’”
The Florida Catholic’s A1 story, reported on the newspaper’s deadline day for going to press, went on to detail other connections between the attacks and Florida in general, and the state’s Catholic community in particular. Airports, theme parks and Kennedy Space Center shut down.
The 90 students of the “new Dreams Are Free Institute at St. Martha Parish, Sarasota” (now Dreams Are Free School), who had lined up along the street to watch President Bush’s motorcade pass, saw it whiz by faster than expected on its way to Booker Elementary School. About five minutes later, Dreams Are Free’s director, Sisters of Notre Dame Sister Gilchrest Cotrill, began hearing reports of what had transpired in New York. According to the story, “The president was scheduled to spend time at Booker Elementary School to read with children at the school, known for its remedial reading program. … However … the president … came into the school’s media center and explained there had been a tragedy” before leaving.
With the exception of those in the Diocese of Palm Beach, most Catholic schools in Florida remained open, but many anxious parents arrived to pick up their children, with the full understanding and blessing of school officials. A normal school routine, with extra prayer, ruled the day for those who stayed, the story indicated.
In parishes, clergy and lay staff prepared for the pastoral ministry they anticipated would be needed. For instance, Father Charles Mitchell, pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Altamonte Springs, told the Florida Catholic: “With as many people affected in the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it is most likely some of our parishioners may be directly affected, and we want to be ready to assist them.”
Elsewhere in the paper that day, the following headlines appeared:
“Bishops: Put your faith, trust in God,” (a wrap-up of reactions from Florida’s bishops)
“U.S. bishops call terrorist attacks ‘national tragedy’”
“Holy Father expresses horror at ‘inhuman terrorist attacks’”
Editor's Note: Read Jean Gonzalez' first-person account in, “Florida Catholic editor remembers deadline pressure of 9–11 coverage.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 09.11.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Drawn–out storm draws out faith all over Florida
Original Publication Date: 09.11.2008
“ORLANDO | Florida tourism officials might wish other visitors were as determined as Tropical Storm Fay to reach just about every part of the state on their summer sojourns.
“The storm headed toward north Florida Friday, Aug. 22, after a quick jaunt through Key West Aug. 18, followed by a landing in southwest Florida, an invigorating slog across the Everglades to the Treasure Coast and Space Coast and a lazy two–day stay off Daytona Beach.
“But Fay was not a gracious guest. The tropical cyclone’s winds never reached hurricane force as feared. But the storm left a trail of flooding, rough surf, tornados and other effects that damaged or destroyed property and crops, drove people from their homes, knocked out power, put people out of work and led to at least seven deaths from causes such as ocean drowning, automobile accidents and generator–related carbon monoxide poisoning.”
The Florida Catholic’s front page story chronicled not just the destruction of the storm, but also the stories of faith along the way — from the parishioners in Key West who trusted in the Blessed Mother’s protection, to those in Melbourne who would not let flooding keep them away from their shifts in the perpetual adoration chapel.
The story in the newspaper’s print editions was a wrap–up of the daily coverage of the storm in the Florida Catholic’s online edition.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 09.04.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
War’s end announced on eve of feast of the Assumption
Original Publication Date: 08.17.1945
“On the vigil of the feast of the Assumption of his Blessed Mother, the Prince of Peace prevailed upon the hearts of men and peace came to a war-torn world. As the air-raid sirens – those symbols of war – added their fearful cacophony to the sweet tolling of church bells, the announcement of the end of hostilities came to the nation and diocese.
“Immediately upon reception of the announcement of peace, Catholics in the Diocese of St. Augustine (which included most of Florida at the time) streamed into the churches in all parishes. Coming as it did at the dinner hour, the announcement found most people at home. Many had been planning to go to confession in preparation for reception of holy Communion on the feast of the Assumption. When they arrived at church, priests were preparing to give Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament as the first devotion of thanksgiving for peace.”
The front-page story in the Florida Catholic made no mention of the recent events that hastened the Japanese surrender and thus the end of the war – the Aug. 6 and Aug. 9 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, the front page of the previous week’s issue carried a story from NC News Services, the predecessor to Catholic News Service, headlined: “Priest questions atomic weapons in modern war: Moral implications arise, questions of conscience in use of bomb.”
It began: “WASHINGTON (NC) – ‘The story of the atomic bomb should fill us with dismay,’ declared the Rev. Dr. John K. Ryan, associate professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America. ‘The question arises: Does the malice of Japan’s military leaders justify so ruthless an attack on the Japanese people?’”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 08.28.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Bishops poll faithful about holy days
Original Publication Date: 08.01.1959
“The St. Augustine, St. Petersburg and Orlando Dioceses are cooperating in a national survey asked by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to determine whether or not to keep certain holy days a matter of obligation in the United States.
“Bishop Paul Tanner (St. Augustine) asked priests to devote homilies to weekday feasts of obligation and to poll parishioners on specific feast days. He has asked the results of the people’s votes to be presented to the Chancery in Jacksonville before Aug. 8.
“Father Francis X.J. Smith, director of the liturgical commission in the Orlando Diocese has polled the priests, asking for their personal viewpoint by Aug. 1. In addition, sample opinions are being taken from lay people in selected parishes throughout the Orlando Diocese, he said Tuesday.
“The chairman of the liturgical commission in St. Petersburg, Father Jerome A. Carosella, is also preparing samples of viewpoints in that diocese.”
(The Florida Catholic didn’t cover the Archdiocese of Miami at the time because it had its own newspaper, The Voice, and the dioceses of Palm Beach, Venice and Pensacola-Tallahassee had not yet been established.)
The holy days about which the U.S. bishops inquired were the solemnities of Mary, Mother of God; the Ascension; the Assumption; All Saints; and the Immaculate Conception. They sought opinions on whether for each there should be no change, transfer to the nearest Sunday or removal of the obligation to attend Mass.
The results of the polling are elusive. The bishops, with the approval of the Vatican, have since decreed that whenever Jan. 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or Aug. 5, the solemnity of the Assumption, or Nov. 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated. But that change didn’t go into effect until 1992, according the USCCB Web site. Most dioceses also have since transferred the obligation at attend Mass for the Ascension – the Thursday of the sixth week of Easter – to a Sunday.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives and other sources.
Posted: 08.21.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Bishops ask obedience to pope’s reaffirmed teaching on artificial birth control
Original Publication Date: 08.02.1968
“The bishops of the three dioceses served by The Florida Catholic have urged all Catholics to give respectful Christian consent to Pope Paul VI’s teachings on birth control issued in an encyclical by the pontiff July 29.
“The joint statement signed by Bishop Paul F. Tanner of St. Augustine, Bishop Charles P. McLaughlin of St. Petersburg and Bishop William D. Borders of Orlando points out that the text of the encyclical is printed in full in this issue of The Florida Catholic and urges that it be carefully read and reread by young and old.” (The then-Diocese of Miami had a separate newspaper, The Voice, and the dioceses of Palm Beach, Venice and Pensacola-Tallahassee had not yet been established.)
Coverage of the release of the encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (“Of Human Life”) took up much of the front page, and the full text inside filled nearly one and a half broadsheet pages in that week’s issue of the newspaper. The Florida Catholic still recognizes papal encyclicals as “front-page news,” as it did for Pope Benedict XVI’s recent “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”) in its July 17-Aug. 13, 2009, editions and with extensive Web coverage. Space limitations these days prohibit printing of such lengthy documents, but unlike editors in 1968, today’s editors have the option of providing the full text online instead. (Read it HERE.)
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 08.14.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Diocese urges lay interest in Vatican II at home
Original Publication Date: 08.03.1962
“ST. AUGUSTINE | On the opening day of the Second Vatican Council – October 11 in Vatican City – Catholics throughout the Diocese of St. Augustine will attend Mass in the parish churches and receive holy Communion. This mark of union with all of Christendom will be one of the manifestations of lay interest and personal involvement in the success of the 21st general council of the Catholic Church.”
Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley recommended a number of steps the faithful of the Diocese of St. Augustine, which at the time included all of Florida other than the current Archdiocese of Miami and the western Panhandle counties, could take to feel a part of Vatican II. For example, “as a special, lasting memento of the Second Vatican Council, (the archbishop) has recommended that there be tree-planting ceremonies during the council.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 08.07.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
10,000 Floridians write: ‘Shalom Mr. Pope’ on get well scroll
Original Publication Date: 07.17.1981
“JACKSONVILLE | ‘Shalom, Mr. Pope, get well soon, be happy and healthy and let gun control work. P.S. Don’t you hate hospital food?’
“Pope John Paul II soon will be receiving more than 10,000 greetings like this – in a single ‘get-well scroll’ from Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
“The idea for the scroll was developed at Jacksonville’s Beth Shalom synagogue and grew to become one of the largest get-well cards the pontiff will receive. In all, 25 congregations assisted in filling up the scroll. The project began when the pope was originally hospitalized for gunshot wounds suffered in an assassination attempt. He was readmitted later when suffering from a fever.
“The scroll was sent to the office of the apostolic delegate in the United States in Washington for forwarding to the pope.
“‘All of the prayers of Jacksonville are with you,’ read one greeting, ‘even the Baptists.’
“Rabbi Gary Parras of Beth Shalom synagogue said that the ecumenical care and even humor evident on the scroll were a cause of hope and joy. ‘All divisions were bridged,’ he said. ‘All barriers were dissolved. Jews, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and others all shared in the sorrow of the Catholic community and expressed their concern for the beloved world leader.’”
Rabbi Parras now lives and works in central Florida, where he remains active in interfaith efforts.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 07.31.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Female altar servers make debut
Original Publication Date: 07.08.1994
DAVID GONZALEZ | FC FILES
Katie O’Brien, the Orlando Diocese’s first female altar server, stands next to Father Bob Webster during an ordination ceremony for permanent deacons at St. James Cathedral June 25, 1994.
“ORLANDO | Katie O’Brien waited for the liturgy to start June 25 that would make her the first female altar server in the Diocese of Orlando.
“‘I felt really confident before Mass,’ 16-year-old Miss O’Brien said. ‘But as soon as I stepped into the church my knees turned to Jell-O.’” …
“It was a scene that will play out in many churches throughout Florida since the National Conference of Catholic Bishops ‘overwhelmingly’ supported the Vatican’s March ruling permitting females to serve at the altar, the conference said June 21.”
Katie may have been the first girl or woman to officially serve on the altar in all of Florida. Bishop Norbert M. Dorsey approved the use of all altar servers immediately upon the action of the U.S. bishops at their meeting in California. The Florida Catholic story reported that the ordinaries of the Archdiocese of Miami and the dioceses of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Venice and St. Petersburg were ready to follow suit. The story did not mention the dioceses of St. Augustine or Palm Beach.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 07.24.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Race riots prompt statement from cathedral pulpit
Original Publication Date: 07.03.1964
”ST. AUGUSTINE | Msgr. John P. Burns, pastor, read the following statement at all Cathedral parish Masses last Sunday in St. Augustine:
‘Let me repeat to you again this morning what I have said on several occasions during these unhappy weeks of strife between our white and colored people.
‘All American citizens should be accorded their full rights under our Constitution and laws. All human beings are the children of God and equally embraced in the love of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
‘The Church knows no discrimination. We Catholics are law-abiding people.
‘During the difficult days immediately ahead, we must do all in our power to preserve the peace in our sorely tried city, and to preserve the good name of this ancient community.
‘I urge all our parents, both white and colored, to keep their young children and adolescents close to them and to their homes, especially during the evening hours.
‘I urge all our people to give respectful and obedient cooperation to their civil authorities and to their law enforcement officers, who have been acting so commendably, so impartially and with such a minimum of force under conditions of great provocation. …’”
Msgr. Burns’ statement was read at the June 28, 1964, Masses, just days after a wade-in by black protesters at a segregated beach in the area was marred by violence by white counterprotesters. Several people on both sides of the clash were arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol. (A state archive video of the incident may be watched HERE). The eyes of watchers of the civil rights movement had been fixed on St. Augustine since June 11, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 40 others were arrested after staging a sit-in at a local hotel as part of a campaign for desegregation of public facilities. That was the only time and place in Florida that King was arrested.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 07.17.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine begin overseas mission work
Original Publication Date: 07.06.1956
“ST. AUGUSTINE | Four Sisters of St. Joseph will leave for Corazal, Puerto Rico, this month to open their first mission outside the continental United States, following a departure ceremony in the motherhouse here.
“Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley will celebrate Mass at 9 a.m. July 16 in the chapel of the St. Joseph Convent for the departure ceremony, Mother Anna Maria, superior general, has announced.”
Four sisters — Sister Mary Isabel, Sister Mary Geraldine, Sister Mary Jacinta and Sister Mary Vivian — were chosen for the mission, which involved teaching 130 children at a school in the Diocese of San Juan.
At the departure ceremony, as reported in the July 20, 1956, Florida Catholic, Archbishop Hurley likened the milestone to the arrival of the order in Florida nearly a century before.
“Just as 90 years ago your predecessors went out from their homes in Catholic France to evangelize in the mission land of Florida, you today send out missionaries to a neighboring people who need you as much as we do,” the archbishop said.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 07.10.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Florida Catholic opens Washington bureau
Original Publication Date: 07.26.1940
Continuing its march of progress, in order that it may the more ‘quickly take its place in the front ranks of the best Catholic papers in the country,’ to quote the official approbation given to it by the Most Rev. Patrick Barry, the Florida Catholic thus inaugurates its own Washington bureau.
“Aside from The Review, published in Baltimore, which is the official organ of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Washington, and which, therefore, of necessity maintains a Washington staff, the Florida Catholic is believed to be the only Catholic newspaper in this country with its own Washington bureau.
“This bureau will keep our readers advised of up-to-the-minute news emanating from the nation’s capital.”
The Page A1 announcement directed readers to the first dispatch from Washington correspondent Kenneth Stokes on Page A6, which pointed out it was coming from the place from which “are promulgated the decrees that control the destiny of 133,000,000 people.” That was the approximate population of the United States at the time, according to the U.S. census. The latest available census figures, from July 2008, peg the U.S. population at more than 304 million.
Alas, though, the Florida Catholic has not had a Washington bureau for as long as anyone currently on staff can remember. (The paper’s oldest archives are not easily searchable, so it’s unclear how long it lasted.)
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 07.03.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
U.S. bishops meet in Florida for the first time
Original Publication Date: 06.20.2008
MIAMI | The Catholic Church is all for research into how human stem cells can be used to help cure diseases and heal injuries. Its opposition is to obtaining those cells by destroying embryos rather than harvesting them from adult tissues, umbilical cord blood or placentas.
‘Lots of people, including Catholics, don’t have that distinction and that distinction has to be made,” Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of the Palm Beach Diocese told the Florida Catholic, explaining one rationale behind a June 13 decision by the nation’s bishops to issue a statement reiterating the Church’s teaching on stem cells.’”
The decision came during what U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sources said was the first gathering of the nation’s bishops in Florida. The meeting was in Orlando June 12-15.
The U.S. bishops meet twice a year. The fall meeting always takes places in the Washington, D.C., or Baltimore area and the spring meeting travels to various locations. This year it was in San Antonio.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 06.26.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
‘Gutter saint’ opens house for bag ladies
Original Publication Date: 06.19.1981
MIAMI | Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the little woman with the big heart, told this city’s warring residents this week to ‘love one another’ and accept with open hearts the refugees that daily struggle to their shores.
“During a press conference held June 15 under the hot sun outside the converted motel where four of her Missionaries of Charity will care for indigent and battered women, and later after a concelebrated Mass in nearby St. Francis Xavier Church, the saint of the gutters asked Miamians to welcome refugees because ‘if you look at the Cross, the hands of Jesus are sill extended, his heart is still open.’”
The story – written by Ana M. Rodriguez of The Voice, which was then the Archdiocese of Miami’s newspaper, and picked up by the Florida Catholic for its front page – documented the opening and blessing of the shelter at 724 N.W. 17th St. The reporter, who is now Ana Rodriguez-Soto, the Miami archdiocesan editor for the Florida Catholic, said the facility is still open and still run by the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa died in 1997.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 06.19.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
New ministries open to nuns
Original Publication Date: 06.13.1975
In the past decade, Catholics have witnessed dramatic changes in the life and work of religious sisters, changes which represent major developments in the church’s understanding of itself and each of its members.
“The Florida Catholic asked several sisters who represent a variety of both new and traditional ministries in the dioceses of St. Petersburg and Orlando (the only two dioceses the Florida Catholic covered at the time) about the identity and function of the sister in the Church today.
“The sisters expressed appreciation for the opportunities to serve in new types of ministries and felt that expanding the diverse ministries in which sisters serve was one of the most serious challenges confronting sisters today.”
Among the sisters interviewed for the article, written by staff reporter Paul Blice, was Sister Cathy Gorman, who along with three fellow Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the early 1970s brought teaching skills with them to start a new ministry to farmworkers and other migrants in the Apopka area of the Diocese of Orlando. Sister Gorman still works in the ministry, and she and her fellow sisters – Sisters Gail Grimes, Ann Kendrick and Teresa McElwee – in 2008 were honored as Central Floridians of the Year by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 06.16.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Families consecrated to Sacred Heart
Most sweet Savior, humbly kneeling at thy feet, we renew the consecration of our families to thy divine heart. Be thou our king forever! In thee we have full and entire confidence. May thy Spirit penetrate our thoughts, our desires, our words and our works. Bless our undertakings, share in our joys, in our trials and in our labors. Grant us to know thee better, to love thee more, to serve thee without faltering. From the ends of the earth, let this cry resound: “May the triumphant heart of Jesus be everywhere loved, blessed and glorified forever!” Amen.
Original Publication Date: 06.15.1950
ST. AUGUSTINE | “At Masses in all churches in the Diocese of St. Augustine this coming Sunday, June 18th, the Sunday within the Octave of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, families will be rededicated and consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
By 1950, the ceremony of consecration of all members of all families had become a tradition in the Diocese of St. Augustine, which then encompassed nearly all of Florida. The practice originated in 1944 and grew out of a diocesan census, during which priests visiting families to poll them presented each with a picture of the Sacred Heart for enshrinement in their home. However, previously many parishes conducted the ceremony on the day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, which is always a Friday 19 days after Pentecost. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. McDonough directed parishes in 1950 to do the ceremony on Sunday to make it possible for a greater number of families to take part. The text of the prayer for the ceremony appears on this page.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 06.05.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
English Mass expected before the end of this year
Original Publication Date: 05.22.1964
“The bishops of the United States have decreed the extensive use of English in the Mass in order to promote the Church’s avowed goal of leading all people to ‘that full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which … is their right and duty’
“English is expected to come into use throughout the country at a date to be established by the episcopate, presumably before the end of this year.”
The bishops’ decision, which had been adopted at a meeting in April, was confirmed by the Vatican in May. In Florida as in the rest of the world, the old rite Mass in Latin, known as the Tridentine liturgy, virtually disappeared in the subsequent years. Faithful who preferred the Latin Mass were given few options until 1984 when Pope John Paul II authorized the Traditional Latin Mass of the Roman Rite with the approval of the local bishop. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI further relaxed the restrictions, giving any priest who wished to celebrate the old Mass permission to do so, as long as he is qualified and his bishop does not expressly object.
Since then, a handful of parishes around Florida have begun to offer the Tridentine liturgy in addition to the new order English Mass, and in April 2009 a chapel that exclusively celebrates the old Latin Mass, Christ the King chapel, was dedicated in Sarasota.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 06.02.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
St. Augustine divided 3 ways, Florida now a Province
Original Publication Date: 05.10.1968
FC FILE
With the elevation of the Diocese of Miami to Metropolitan See status, Miami Bishop Coleman F. Carroll was appointed as its first archbishop.
WASHINGTON | “Pope Paul VI has created new dioceses of St. Petersburg and Orlando and elevated the Diocese of Miami to a Metropolitan See in a major realignment of the Catholic Church in Florida.
“Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, bishop of Miami, has been named first Archbishop of Miami with the dioceses of St. Augustine, St. Petersburg and Orlando as suffragans.”
As part of the reorganization, Bishop Charles McLaughlin became the first bishop of St. Petersburg and Msgr. William Borders became the first bishop of Orlando.
Also, 10 Panhandle counties that had been part of the Diocese of Mobile, Ala., were added to the St. Augustine Diocese. The Province of Florida map remained the same until 1975, when those counties and eight counties east of the Apalachicola River were carved from the Diocese of St. Augustine to become the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. The creation of the Venice and Palm Beach dioceses in 1984, from areas that had been part of the Archdiocese of Miami and the dioceses of St. Peterburg and Orlando, brought the total number of Florida dioceses to seven, where it stands today.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives and other sources.
Posted: 05.21.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Tiny Polish parish joins global celebration
Original Publication Date: 05.06.1966
FC FILE
The small, white wood-frame church built in 1914 at St. Mary Parish in Korona, shown in 1967, still gets occasional use for weddings, baptisms and funerals even though a larger church was built on the grounds in 1994. For a larger view of the interior of this church, see: St. Mary Parish in Korona, an early Florida parish
“KORONA | The heroic community of Korona, pioneered by Polish–Americans of the Catholic Faith, celebrated the millennium of Christianity in union with Poland’s Catholics this week. The Catholics of Korona were commissioned by Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley to join with him and take the lead in the diocesan celebration next fall to commemorate 1,000 glorious years of Polish Catholicity.”
Archbishop Hurley of the Diocese of St. Augustine, one of three dioceses in Florida at the time, spoke at a special Mass on May 2 at St. Mary Parish, whose small, white wood–frame church was built in 1914 by the original Polish settlers of Korona. On the same day, Pope Paul VI celebrated Mass in Rome to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the Catholic Church in Poland.
St. Mary’s original 65–seat church, on U.S. 1 between Daytona Beach and Bunnell in Flagler County, still stands and is used on occasion for weddings, funerals and baptisms. Sunday Masses in English and Polish take place in the new 300–seat church added to the grounds in 1994. A shrine to St. Christopher, built in 1923, also stands on the parish grounds.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives and other sources.
Posted: 05.18.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Though not involved in war, Floridians pray for peace
Original Publication Date: 05.03.1940
The focal point of the Florida Catholic’s front page was a full-size image of a letter sent by Bishop Patrick Barry to all of the priests of the Diocese of St. Augustine, which then included most of Florida. “Reverend dear Father,” the bishop wrote, “Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII has sent out an appeal to the faithful of the entire world for prayers for peace.
“During the month of May then you shall have the Beads recited daily in your parish church and missions for the intentions of the Holy Father.
“The little children especially shall be instructed to offer their prayers for peace, as their innocent hearts make a special appeal to the great God of mercy and goodness.”
The rosary appeal came at point of escalation in World War II, which had begun the previous September as France and Britain declared war in response to Germany’s invasion Poland. Poland’s defeat was followed by relative calm but in April German forces overwhelmed Denmark, began their conquest of Norway and then in May swept through The Netherlands and Belgium on their blitzkrieg invasion of France.
Floridians joined in the prayers for peace, though U.S. involvement in the war had yet to come.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives and the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Posted: 05.05.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Many felt personal connection to JPII
Original Publication Date: 04.15.2005
ED FOSTER JR. | FC FILE 2005
Bishop Robert Lynch, center, and Msgr. John Cippel, at right, listen to a musical tribute to Pope John Paul II as an image of a young Father Karol Wojtyla is projected onto a screen near the altar at St. Francis Cabrini Parish in Spring Hill on April 4.
Catholics throughout the state reacted to the April 2 death of Pope John Paul II by sharing with the Florida Catholic their stories about how the pontiff personally touched their lives. The anecdotes were so numerous that each of the newspaper’s six diocesan editions carried two pages of stories and photos exclusive to that diocese in addition to those that ran statewide.
Eva Mekwinski, a parishioner at St. Stephen in Winter Springs, recalled being an 18–year–old high school senior in communist Poland who risked suspension to go to Pope John Paul’s 1979 Mass at Jasna Gora Monastery in Częstochowa. South Florida Catholics shared their recollections of the pope’s 1987 visit to Miami. St. Peterburg Bishop Emeritus Thomas Larkin, now deceased, talked about his five–decade friendship with Pope John Paul.
A pair of Orlando high school students had perhaps the freshest memory. They told of how they were in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on March 27 to be among the in–person recipients of what would be Pope John Paul II’s last Easter blessing from his window.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 04.26.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Floridians off to see the pontiff
Original Publication Date: 04.25.2008
iPhone® PHOTO | Karen Osborne
Massgoers wait in line outside Yankee Stadium at 7 a.m. April 20.
“Among Catholics from across Florida at Pope Benedict XVI’s April 20 Mass at Yankee Stadium were students from the University of Miami and Ave Maria University, families with kids in tow, youth groups, young married couples, older retirees, priests and laypeople.
“‘It was the most inspirational experience that I’ve had in my life,’ said Leila Souza, a parishioner of Incarnation Parish in Tampa, who got tickets through the Diocese of St. Petersburg for herself, her mother and two daughters. ‘To be in the presence of the Holy Father was to bring up my faith in ways that I cannot even explain.’”
The Yankee stadium Mass was the finale of the pope’s U.S. visit, which drew hundreds – perhaps thousands – of Floridians to New York and Washington, D.C., and garnered four full pages of coverage in all editions of the Florida Catholic. Among the newspaper’s other headlines for the visit were: “State’s bishops gather in D.C. with pope”; “Pope achieved objectives critical to future of U.S. church”; “Floridians get up early for pope’s first U.S. Mass”; and “Jewish leaders pleased with pope’s efforts to build relationships.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 04.24.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
The birthday of Earth Day
Original Publication Date: 04.17.1970
The Florida Catholic acknowledged the first-ever Earth Day with a nearly full-page spread under the headline “Pollution: Issue of the ’70s.” It began as follows:
“In the name of conservation, anti-pollution, ecology, health, environmental balance – many labels are used – war has been declared on everything which fouls the quality of life. ... Beginning April 22, local groups throughout the country will hold ‘Environmental Teach-ins’ to draw attention to the problems involved. The conservation movement, once a group of small organizations whose aim was preservation of nature, has become a revolution and everyone is getting involved.”
Those April 22 “teach-ins,” called for by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, were the heart of the first Earth Day, which drew participation from 20 million people and is regarded by many as the launch of the environmental movement. A celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1990 similarly is credited with instigating widespread and lasting support for home and workplace recycling programs.
Though it’s not on the Church calendar, Earth Day has been embraced by many Catholic parishes, schools and other entities because of its compatibility with the Catholic social teaching of care for God’s creation. “On a planet conflicted over environmental issues, the Catholic tradition insists that we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith,” according to “Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, Reflections of the U.S. Catholic Bishops,” 1998.
Figures quoted on various Earth Day Web sites, contend it now is observed by more than 500 million people in 175 countries.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 04.13.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
‘The world’s swiftest priest’
Original Publication Date: 04.02.1954
EDWARDS AFB, Calif. | A Florida priest became last week the first chaplain to break the sound barrier. He is Father (Lt.) David J. Heffernan (U.S. Air Force), chaplain here. His feat has caused fellow officers to dub him ‘the world’s swiftest priest.’”
Father Heffernan, who reached 839 mph in the training F–86, said he was motivated by the desire “to know firsthand the problems facing the pilots of today’s high–speed aircraft.
Before joining the Air Force in November 1951, Father Heffernan served at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tallahassee, Corpus Christi Parish in Miami and the Cathedral of St. Augustine.
Achieving Mach 1 was not, however, Father Heffernan’s first “first.” According to the Archdiocese of Miami Web site, his 1945 ordination at St. Thérèse of the Little Flower, Coral Gables, represented the first native priestly vocation from the area that would become the archdiocese.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 04.03.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Bishops tie statewide pro-life pilgrimage to Annunciation feast
Original Publication Date: 03.16.1979
“Heeding a historic call from all of the bishops of Florida, Catholics from throughout the state will join in a pilgrimage on Sunday, March 25, at Saint Leo College to pray for God’s help in the struggle to defend innocent human life.” All the bishops of Florida’s then-five dioceses encouraged their flocks at travel to the college and abbey in the town of St. Leo, northwest of Tampa, on the feast of the Annunciation. Busloads were expected from Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Crystal River, Fort Myers and Bradenton. According to a follow-up story in the March 30 issue, more than 3,000 Catholic Floridians, four bishops and 45 priests participated, arriving not only by bus but also by car and van. “They carried banners and sported bumper stickers that proclaimed their love and reverence for all forms and stages of human life. They honored the Virgin Mary as a symbol of one who was willing to accept God’s will in the Annunciation and allow Word to become flesh.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 03.27.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Youths rally for decency
Original Publication Date: 03.28.1969
MUSEUM OF BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS
Jackie Gleason was among entertainers at a March 23, 1969, “Rally for Decency” at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
MIAMI | “Miami’s teens did their ‘thing’ March 23 in the Orange Bowl. Spectators and entertainers agreed the ‘Rally for Decency’ has probably sparked a nationwide movement by youth against obscenity, bigotry and discrimination.” So began the Florida Catholic’s front–page report on the interfaith event, which drew about 30,000 south Florida teens including thousands from Catholic youth groups, many chaperoned by priests. One of the organizers of the rally was Michael Leverque, 17, who was identified as a Catholic Youth Organization member, but whose parish affiliation was not mentioned. Entertainers at the rally, which also made the front page of the New York Times, included comedian Jackie Gleason and singer Anita Bryant.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 03.21.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
From one parish to a dozen
Original Publication Date: 03.02.1951
This etching by Lakeland artist Will Kay Hagerman depicts Gesu Church prior to its replacement in 1939.
MIAMI | “The story of Christ in Miami is a great story. … In a quarter of a century Miami has done the work of decades.” So proclaimed an editorial that accompanied a Florida Catholic retrospective on a 25–year church–building binge in the greater Miami area. From 1897 until 1924, there was one Catholic parish in Miami, Gesu Church. By 1939, that church had been replaced with a new building and four more had been built. By 1951, 10 more church buildings were either in operation or under construction. “Where at the beginning of 1941 there were five greater Miami parishes, now at the beginning of 1951 there are 12 parishes serving the Catholics numbered among the half–million population of greater Miami,” according to the story.
Today there are 62 parishes and missions in Miami–Dade County, one of three counties in the Archdiocese of Miami. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at nearly 2.4 million in 2007.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 03.16.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Cardinal adds color to cathedral dedication
FC FILE
On the eve of the dedication of the Cathedral of St. Augustine, the church was seen first in its newly restored splendor at the liturgical reception for Ireland’s Cardinal William Conway, seated at left. For more on the restoration and a much larger photo, see the “70 Year Photo Blog”
Original Publication Date: 03.18.1966
ST. AUGUSTINE | “Bright colors in meaningful murals and mosaics dominate the interior of the Cathedral of St. Augustine, vying for attention – at the solemn dedication of the edifice – with the scarlet of the Cardinal and the red robes of the hierarchy gathered in this ancient place of the beginning of Christianity in what is now the United States.” (Too bad all of the photos are black-and-white from the March 9, 1966, ceremony and Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley’s reception the previous day for Cardinal William Conway, primate of Ireland.).
The cathedral was restored and redecorated as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Sept. 8, 1565, arrival of Spanish Catholics in what is now St. Augustine. The first Mass in what is now the United States actually had been celebrated years earlier – in 1559 in what is now Pensacola – but that original settlement was abandoned because of hurricanes.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 03.10.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
State gets diocesan hospital
FC FILE | 03.03.1960
Mercy Hospital Auxiliary president, Mrs. William F. Urankar, discusses Cobalt unit with Sister Louis Edwin, S.S.J., hospital administrator, which recently installed a new unit in the Theratron with which cancer patients receive treatment.
Original Publication Date: 02.02.1951
“The formal dedication of Mercy Hospital will take place on the hospital grounds Sunday, February 4th, at three o’clock in the afternoon.” The Florida Catholic noted Mercy, which opened in December 1950 with 125 beds, was the first diocesan general hospital in the state and was staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine. The sisters assumed sponsorship of the hospital from the diocese in 1966. It is now a 473-bed acute-acute care facility affiliated with more than 700 doctors.
Posted: 02.27.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Word leaks out: new dioceses coming
Original Publication Date: 02.17.1984
“There has been no official announcement, but it is expected that two new dioceses will be established in Florida this year. The formal announcement is expected this spring.” The Florida Catholic reported the rumor, substantiated by sources in both the St. Petersburg and Orlando dioceses, that new dioceses would be carved out — one on the east coast and one on the west — from their territory and that of the Archdiocese of Miami to the south. Creation of the new dioceses, which would be named Venice and Palm Beach, brought the number of dioceses in Florida to seven, and the map remains the same today.
From 1870 until 1958, when the Diocese of Miami was created, most of the state was in the Diocese of St. Augustine. In 1968, the dioceses of Orlando and St. Petersburg were created and Miami became an archdiocese. The Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee was created in 1975 from a northwestern portion of the Diocese of St. Augustine and a southeastern portion of the Diocese of Mobile, Ala.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 02.19.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
State gets first basilica
Original Publication Date: 02.11.1977
FLORIDA CATHOLIC | FILE
“Pope Paul VI has elevated the Cathedral of St. Augustine to the rank and dignity of a minor basilica.” So began the Florida Catholic’s report on the Dec. 4, 1976, designation of the state’s first basilica, a church with special ceremonial privileges and a home away from home for the pope. The cathedral remained Florida’s only basilica until January 2006, when Pope Benedict XVI designated the former St. Paul Catholic Church in Daytona Beach as the Basilica of St. Paul.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 02.13.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Bishop urges support of diocesan paper
FLORIDA CATHOLIC | FILE
The Florida Catholic’s first publisher, Bishop Patrick Barry, sits for a portrait in what is believed to be sometime in the 1930s. Bishop Barry was bishop of St. Augustine when the diocese encompassed most of the state and was a strong promoter of the diocesan newspaper.
Original Publication Date: 02.09.1940
The Florida Catholic’s late 1939 commencement of publication meant that February 1940 was the first time for its participation in Catholic Press Month, which had been celebrated in the U.S. since the bishops declared it in 1920 and internationally since it was constituted by Pope Pius XI in 1931. Then–publisher Bishop Patrick Barry marked the occasion by sending a letter to every pastor in his Diocese of St. Augustine, which at the time encompassed most of Florida.
“As February is designated as Catholic Press Month, I wish by this letter to advise you of the great opportunity you have in cooperating in the advancement and support of our own ‘Florida Catholic,’” Bishop Barry wrote, urging pastors to ask every Catholic family to “secure a full, paid–in–advance subscription” to the weekly paper.
Catholic Press Month continues to be celebrated each February, not only by diocesan newspapers such as the Florida Catholic but also by the range of publications that belong to the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 02.05.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Challenger disaster stuns Catholic community
FLORIDA CATHOLIC | FILE
A woman reads a plaque at Kennedy Space Center in memory of the seven astronauts who perished in the January 1986 Challenger explosion, the three who died in the January 1967 Apollo fire and others.
Original Publication Date: 01.31.1986
The Jan. 28 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger a few moments into its flight from Kennedy Space Center was a tragedy of historic proportions, and it was in many ways a Catholic story. The Florida Catholic’s four pages of on-deadline coverage – including most of the front page – conveyed the reaction of the bishops of all seven Florida dioceses. Orlando Bishop Thomas J. Grady, whose diocese encompassed the space center, said he was “stunned and deeply grieved” and added: “A poignant aspect of the tragedy was the fact that special arrangements were made for 2.5 million children to watch their teacher go off into space and the celebration was turned to tragedy.”
That teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was an active parishioner of St. Peter’s Parish in Concord, N.H., the newspaper also reported. Among the children watching were many students in Catholic schools across Florida, including the kindergarten class of Ascension School in Melbourne. Its teacher, Mercy Sister Mary Immaculata Knox, had applied to be the first “teacher in space,” but McAuliffe had been chosen instead.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 01.30.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Bishops express deep dismay at Roe v. Wade decision
Original Publication Date: 01.26.1973
The Florida Catholic reported the immediate reactions of the bishops of two of Florida’s then–four dioceses following the U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring abortion to be legal throughout the country. Bishop William D. Borders of Orlando said, “Life is a gift of God and no court and no civic community has the authority to deny that right.” Bishop Charles B. McLaughlin of St. Petersburg said the decision has “opened the way to destroying literally hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.” He added: “The Catholic Church will continue to oppose abortion as something intrinsically evil and will continue to urge all citizens to develop respect of all phases of human life from the unborn child to the elderly citizen.” Bishop McLaughlin’s remarks have stood the test of time. An estimated 50 million legal abortions have been performed in the U.S. since the decision. The Florida bishops’ Jan. 22, 2009, statement on the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision reads, in part, “There can be no freedom, justice or peace while we continue to deny the rights of members of the human race. Let us continue to build a culture of life starting with protection for the most vulnerable human beings, the unborn.”
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 01.24.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
High schools seen as state church’s greatest need
Original Publication Date: 01.25.1957
“The Catholic High School is our Catholic Youth Program.” That was the motto of a massive fundraising campaign kicked off with a full-page ad and a story in the Florida Catholic by the Diocese of St. Augustine, which at time included all of the state except the western Panhandle. Florida had seven Catholic high schools – most of which had been recently build and few of which were paid for – including: Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville; Central Catholic High School in Fort Lauderdale; Archbishop Curley High School and Notre Dame Academy in Miami; Bishop Moore High School in Orlando; Bishop Barry High School in St. Petersburg; and Jesuit High School in Tampa. The campaign’s goals were to pay down those debts and build nine new high schools within two years including one each in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, the West Palm Beach-Lake Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Sarasota-Bradenton areas and two in southwest Miami. Florida now has 39 high schools affiliated with the National Catholic Educational Association, including traditional diocesan high schools, schools run by religious orders and special-education schools that serve students into their high school years.
Compiled by Denise O’Toole Kelly from the Florida Catholic archives.
Posted: 01.16.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Diocese readies to celebrate city’s 400th anniversary
Original Publication Date: 01.08.1965
BEAUDOIN’S STUDIO | FC FILE
ST. AUGUSTINE | Officials of the Diocese of St. Augustine, which at that point still encompassed all of Florida except its southern– and westernmost reaches, ushered in the new year by announcing restoration work had begun on the ancient Cathedral of St. Augustine. Restoration of the cathedral was part of the 1965 celebration of the quadricentennial of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. The restored, 400–year–old cathedral was to be rededicated the following year.
LEFT | Sun streams through the apertures in the facade of the historic ancient Cathedral of St. Augustine as Msgr. John P. Burns, pastor, confers with the architect (George W. Stickle, right, of St. Augustine) and builder (Jack Quailey, general superintendent for Demetree Brothers of Orlando) for a restoration completed in honor of the 400th anniversary of the city.
Posted: 01.09.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page
Ground is broken for Florida’s first Catholic college
Original Publication Date: 01.26.1940
FLORIDA CATHOLIC | FILE
Msgr. William Barry, founding pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Miami Beach, Bishop Patrick Barry, bishop of St. Augustine from 1922 to 1940; and Mother Gerald Catherine Barry are shown from left to right in this photo from 1926.
MIAMI | The first shovel of earth for Barry College for Women in Miami Shores was turned at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 24, 1940, by the college’s founder, the Rev. Mother Gerald Barry, prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Mich. The college was named for her brother, Bishop of St. Augustine Patrick Barry. The campus opened in June 1940, and its five buildings were dedicated the following February. Barry, now co–ed and with a 54–building campus, became a university in 1981 and is still run by the Adrian Dominicans. Florida now has four Catholic universities.
Posted: 01.02.09 | Return To Top | Florida Catholic Online Home Page