USA > Maine > The Catholic church in Maine > Part 20
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unwashed, and he, in turn, considered a fellow priest with Afri- can blood a corrupting influence. The priests of the Portland diocese knew, of course, that their new bishop had been pub- licly denounced by one of them when they proffered him their cooperation and they wanted to ease an uneasy situation. No doubt their action helped, but Healy was long haunted by the fear that disrespect and contempt for his person on the score of his racial strain would lead to disrespect and contempt of his episcopal authority. He became unduly cautious.
The consecration ceremony aroused great interest in Port- land, and even though the event was competing with the Beecher trial the Portland papers were generous with their space. The day was beautiful and the cathedral was thronged; there were nine bishops and over one hundred and fifty priests from New England, New York, and the British Provinces. Archbishop McCloskey, now John Cardinal McCloskey, was expected but was detained. For a day at least Portland looked like Rome. Williams had the honor of consecrating him, assist- ed by Bishop Francis McNierney of Albany and Bishop Patrick T. O'Reilly of Springfield. Archbishop Thomas L. Connolly of Halifax preached. Sherwood was master of ceremonies and Father Peter J. Blenkinsop, S.J., President of Holy Cross when Healy graduated, was Williams' deacon of honor. Portland was impressed by the affair and by Bacon's successor. He had already, from the contacts made during his pre-consecration visits, "won the respect and esteem of those who had the pleasure of making his acquaintance."
He was not, however, from the same mould as was Bacon. In appearance he was not impressive. A seminarian, who later became the fourth bishop of Portland, saw him four years after his appointment and wrote this description home to his parents: "I saw Bishop Healy of Portland at Notre Dame Church [Montreal] .. .; he is very stern, noble looking man, though very few would think him a Bishop." He lacked the imposing stature, although his head was an exception; this was large for his body, and he was pleasantly surprised to discover that he
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could wear Bacon's mitres. His intelligent face was far from forbidding, and his usual grave manner concealed a gay dis- position; he remained quite child-like in his ways and this, no doubt, was his secret power over children. They did not fear him. His voice was rich, musical, made for the pulpit; Port- land had one of the best preachers in New England during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Fortunately a recent study of Healy has rescued him and his work from oblivion and only the salient features of his career will be recalled in this section.1
2. PROBLEMS AT THE START
By the time he was consecrated Bishop Healy had a fairly sound understanding of the diocese. There was, despite Bacon's good work, a shortage of priests and churches. The stream of Catholic immigrants, Irish and Canadian, was creating the need for another church in some communities, or was settling in missions that needed resident priests. Portland was a good example of the change coming over Maine, and the change was made manifest on March 17. A parade was the attraction in the morning, and in the evening three thousand crowded the city hall to attend a concert and a lecture (on the mys- teries of Irish history), the Montgomery Guards had a social "in their armory" which the Sheridan Cadets were invited to attend, and the Young Men's Social Club had their dance in Lancaster Hall. All these activities were reported at length in the city papers, along with the activities of the Irish societies through the country, and the Eastern Argus in good humor noted that "St. Patrick is getting to be about as big a man as Fourth of July." The change was more noticeable on Easter Sunday, a week or so later, with the Catholic churches and chapels repeatedly filled for Mass. The significance of this did not escape the editors; in the estimate of one of them, there were probably more attending the High Mass at the
1 Albert S. Foley, S.J., Bishop Healy: Beloved Outcaste (New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1954).
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Cathedral "than was present at any of the places of worship in this city."
What the Irish were doing to Portland and Bangor the French-Canadians were repeating in Lewiston and Biddeford. Bishop Healy would have to build more churches and find more priests. Since this was so, the news that the church and rectory in Machias was destroyed by fire five days after his consecration was disheartening. This loss was not, as some have said, the work of anti-Catholics. The fire, probably due to a careless tramp, had started in a barn during the night and destroyed a hostel, the Old Machias House, the homes of two prominent citizens, several barns and other small buildings, as well as the church property. The Catholics lost a landmark, for the church was an old one, built in 1845 before the diocese was established. Fortunately, and this was a clear sign of the changing times, the church and rectory had been insured for five thousand dollars, and work on a new and larger church was started without delay. But replacing the Machias church was not solving the bishop's problem of more churches for a growing diocese.
Churches and priests were only part of Healy's problems. He had inherited a heavy debt; he was, as he wrote four years later when pressed to pay what he considered an unjust debt, 'swamped by debts incurred by my predecessor." They amounted to 110,000 dollars. His advisers, both clerical and lay, assured him that the diocese could bear it. He made some changes in the diocesan curia. He appointed Father Barry his Vicar-General, but he did not remove Father O'Donnell. He had two Vicars-General. This would have been a practical move if one of them were in northern Maine, at Bangor for instance, and the other in New Hampshire, or if O'Donnell was too old for the burdens of office. But this was not the case; O'Donnell was only fifty-four and both were pastors in nearby New Hampshire parishes: Barry in Concord and O'Donnell in Nashua. Barry, it seems, exercised the functions of the office, while O'Donnell retained the title. No one was appointed to
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succeed O'Donnell when he died in 1882. Healy found him- self a new chancellor, too. Like Barry he was from Holy Cross, young, well-liked, gifted. Denis Bradley became rector of the cathedral and chancellor, and he retained these posts until 1880 when he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's in Man- chester; by then Healy was considering a division of the diocese and had Bradley in mind as his choice for the new see.
Did the bishop discuss the contents of his first pastoral letter with his vicar, chancellor and the newly formed diocesan council? On one item he did not need advice. He forbade the priests of the diocese from denouncing either priest or lay person from the altar. Father Peterson, now the pastor of St. David's in Rockland, knew the reason for this prohibition.1 However, the reason was not entirely personal. The pulpit, reserved for the teaching of the gospel, could be abused and the abuse could involve the priest in law suits. The bishop had in mind a case that took place a few days before his con- secration. A pastor in Chelsea of the Boston diocese had been sued for slander by a parishioner because he had been publicly and repeatedly denounced from the pulpit for living in mortal sin. The accused sought relief not in the confessional, which is the objective of pastoral reprimand, but in the courts, and the case caught the fancy of non-Catholics. Healy knew there was no better method devised for sapping a declining faith than pulpit fulminations. He protected both the pulpit and the parishioner by forbidding them.
He sought help and advice from the laity, too. He was en- couraged by discovering the emergence of a group of Catholics to positions of prominence in their communities, lay leaders on whom he could call for advice and financial aid. The group was small, but it was no small feat to break through the solid barriers that protected the recognized leaders in local and state affairs. A few Catholics, with roots in Maine such as Winifred Kavanagh and James Cottrill Madigan, could not be denied recognition, and their advice was invaluable to Healy. Wini-
1 The Catholic Directory for 1875 (see p. 299) lists the church in Rockland as St. David's. If this is correct, the name was later changed to St. Bernard.
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fred Kavanagh could give him information on the situation of Maine not at the disposal of most pastors. Madigan was now a respected leader in the state, a well-to-do lawyer with his office in Houlton, one of the leading Catholic lay men in New Eng- land. He had discussed the financial status of the diocese with the bishop shortly after his arrival, and he could post the bishop on the political situation in the state. In 1875 he had been appointed one of the five commissioners to revise the state constitution. He was a good man to have as an adviser; he had only four more years to live, unfortunately, but he had sons to carry on his good work. Albert Whittier Madigan, his eldest son, was beginning his law practice and in 1877 was elected attorney for Aroostook County; another son, John B. Madigan, would be an Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court.
He soon found a man who would advise him wisely on New Hampshire affairs, and the man's rise to legal prominence in the state was an unexcelled example of the opportunities awaiting the able and ambitious sons of honest and hardworking immi- grants. John M. Mitchell, one of New Hampshire's noted cor- poration lawyers, was born in Plymouth on July 6, 1849, the son of John and Honora (Doherty ) Mitchell who had migrated to America the year before and after a brief stay in Boston had elected to settle on a farm in this small New Hampshire town. After attending the local school, John went to Salem, a town many miles south of Plymouth, to teach in the public schools, but he attended classes in Derby Academy when his schedule permitted. In the summer he was back in Plymouth working on his father's farm. One can measure his native ability and leadership and the confidence he inspired in others by recalling that the Yankees of Salem elected this son of an Irish immigrant the superintendent of their school when he was only nineteen. He was soon studying law privately and by 1870 was working in the office of Bingham and Bingham, lead- ing law firm in the northern section of the state; by 1881 he was Harry Bingham's partner, located in Concord. He became
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Healy's legal adviser in New Hampshire, and when the diocese was divided he continued that same position with Bishop Brad- ley.
The emergence of the immigrant and the immigrant's sons to prominence was encouraging. A few had quickly succeeded beyond expectation in Maine, and Healy soon discovered who they were. One such person, a promising young lawyer of Eastport, had died, he learned to his regret, the day before he was appointed bishop. John W. McMahon was the town's tax collector, a director of the town's bank and insurance com- pany, and "highly esteemed by all classes for his honesty and integrity of character." His death was a severe loss to the town and more so to the diocese. A glance at the Portland directory (until 1846 this annual segregated the negroes to a section in the rear of the volume) would tell him who the wealthier Catholics in this city were. Among the principal taxpayers were some Irish merchants and tradesmen: Thomas Lynch, a merchant, paying a tax of $300 in 1875; Patrick O'Neil, a grocer, paying $245; James Quinn, a boilermaker, paying nearly $700 in personal and company taxes. More prominent than these merchants were James and Frank W. Cunningham, two building contractors who erected some of the largest buildings and finest monuments in the city and state during their lifetime. James was the more active of the two brothers in civic and political affairs, and his rise to a position of wealth and influence also pointed up the oppor- tunities in America for an able and ambitious immigrant. He had arrived in Portland in 1863 and started his new life in America as a poor journeyman mason; he became one of New England's noted contractors, retaining all the time his strong simple faith and generous heart. Two of his buildings that he took considerable pride in, the Union Railroad Station and the Lafayette Hotel (which he built for himself) still remain as reminders of his prominence.
Charles McCarthy, Cunningham's friend, was probably the most influential Catholic in Portland, and Bishop Healy made
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his acquaintance without delay and depended on him for both small and important favors, from a box of paper collars that could be converted into roman to assistance for his brother. This brother is not identified, but probably was Eugene, a restless soul who would interrupt his wandering by occasional visits to his brothers. In 1877, when the brother visited Port- land, the bishop sent him to McCarthy with the following note:
This is my brother and if you can suggest to him any by which he can make an honest living, it would be a very great favour to me. I can only say that, as you see & more than you see, he is smart enough, too smart.
McCarthy, no doubt, did what he could for the bishop's brother and Bishop Healy, in turn, helped McCarthy to settle down to a family life.
For many years McCarthy was, as the Portland papers noted, "one of the prominent business men of Portland." Bishop Healy discovered that Catholics in other communities were forging ahead, men like James Reynolds of Gardiner, Thomas J. Lynch of Augusta, Cornelius Hanrahan and James Donahoe of Rockland. Thanks to a large legacy from Reynolds the bishop was able to build a convent and a home for the aged in Deering; St. Bernard's of Rockland was freed from debt by the generosity of Hanrahan; seminarians were educated by the Donahoe money. Lynch, a son of a pioneer Catholic family in Augusta, was another example of the successful immigrant's son. A lawyer, he became something of a business tycoon in the city: trustee of the Kennebec Savings Bank, director of the Granite National Bank, treasurer of the Augusta Loan and Building Association, president of the Augusta Trust Com- pany, director of the Edwards Manufacturing Company and the Street Railway Company. At the beginning of Healy's years as bishop, it was the Irish, the first immigrant group in Maine, who were breaking the barriers; near the end of his episcopacy and the end of the century, the Canadians and their children were doing the same in their communities.
Yet his first years as bishop, despite his training for the episcopal office, his acquaintance with Maine, and the advan-
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tages of competent clerical and lay advisers, were not happy ones. Mother Mary Warde found it difficult to work with him, and a long and painful dispute with a pastor so disturbed him that twice he offered to resign his office.
About a month after his consecration Healy went to Bidde- ford where he confirmed about four hundred children of St. Joseph's, "the new French church," in the morning, and about one hundred and seventy in St. Mary's, "the Irish Catholic church," in the afternoon. It was the secular newspaper of Portland, no doubt borrowing the descriptions from the Cath- olics themselves, that identified the Catholic churches by nationalities; it was one of the unfortunate aspects of the Catholic church of the nineteenth century that nationality took precedence over Catholicism. St. Joseph's of Biddeford was the source of the bishop's troubles; more exactly, it was the pastor of the church, Father John R. Ponsardin. We can be sure the bishop had been posted on the situation before the visit: a parish heavily in debt, an unfinished church, and a pastor drawing an exorbitant interest on a personal loan to the parish. The pastor was eventually removed; Ponsardin's name disappears from the Catholic Directory after 1877. The pastor, however, challenged the bishop's right to remove him on the score of parish debts and brought the case to Rome where it dragged on until 1881 and a verdict favorable to the pastor was rendered and sustained. Technically the case depended on a fact: had Bishop Bacon admitted Ponsardin to the diocese of Portland. Healy could find no evidence that he had; Pon- sardin submitted evidence he had. Rome accepted the pastor's evidence and held the diocese liable for the parish debt. To rid the diocese of the man, Bishop Healy had to recognize the priest's claim against the diocese and reinstate him as pastor with the understanding he would immediately resign.
The proceedings of this case so disturbed Healy that twice he offered to resign. One can understand how Healy longed to return to the protection of Archbishop Williams and the security of a Boston parish, but Rome was not impressed with
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offers of resignation as a solution to administrative problems. Healy's reputation was not enhanced in Rome by the Pon- sardin case. In New England, where the situation was better understood, he retained the respect that known ability had won. But the affair had consumed far too much of his time that should have been given to diocesan problems. Father Peter E. Dupont, appointed in 1877 and pastor of St. Joseph's for thirty-eight years, completed the church that had cost $125,000. Bishop Healy and the parishioners were in a much happier frame of mind on May 9, 1883 when the church was dedicated.
A clash of personalities brought on the coolness between Mother Warde and Bishop Healy; both were accustomed to control the administration of their affairs. Bacon had given Mother Warde a free hand in administering the Sisters of Mercy; Healy, however, was not inclined to give subordinates much freedom of decision. He liked to regulate details. The Annals of the Sisters of Mercy admit this clash between their superiors; it is quite evident that Mother Warde did not con- ceal the fact that she did not relish doing business with the new bishop. Interested (but unnamed) parties, it is said, prejudiced the bishop against her from the start. From the start,, too, the bishop gave Mother Warde the occasion to question, but not to change, his judgment. He decided that the Kavanagh gift, intended by Bacon for a convent, would be used for a school building. Since Healy was a friend of Winifred Kavanagh, the donor, we can assume that this change of plans had her approval. The two, however, learned to appreciate each other, and the bishop was a gracious host to Mother Warde on her golden jubilee early in 1883 when the Catholics of New England paid her a deserved tribute for her contribution to the growth of the Church in these states.
Yet it does seem that happier relations between bishop and Sisters began after the Sisters in Maine became an independent community, under a new superior, Sister Mary Teresa Pickers- gill, in 1884. By then the Sisters better understood the bishop
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and saw that his concern for them and for the advance of education overshadowed his faults. Probably they never did reconcile themselves to some of his ways; of insisting that pro- motions in the classroom were automatic provided the child was physically present, of reserving to himself the power to expel from the school, of declaring holidays without notice, of forbidding dancing at school socials and plays, of interrupting school plays to order an overdressed girl off the stage, of re- minding Sisters that their habits needed mending.
But one must not think that Healy did not appreciate the work of Mother Warde and the Sisters of Mercy. He did, and the proof is in their expansion in his diocese during the first decade of his episcopacy while Mother Warde was living. In Maine alone five new schools were opened: at Indian Island (1878) and Pleasant Point (1879) for the Indian children, an academy for girls at Deering (1883), and parish schools in Calais and Oldtown, both in 1885. And he gave them in the Kavanagh school in Portland one of the best school buildings in the state. And the proof of his concern and friendly rela- tions with the Sisters will be found in the lengthy, warm, informative letters he wrote their communities when he was absent on trips.
3. GROWTH UNDER HEALY
Not many bishops live to celebrate the silver jubilee of their consecration. James Healy was the only one during the first century of the diocese of Portland, and his twenty-five years as bishop were important ones for the nation. The nation expanded in population and in territory and emerged, as the new century began, as a world power with possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Growth was also the salient feature of the diocese of Portland during these years, growth in pop- ulation, in churches, in priests, in schools, and in religious orders and congregations introduced into the diocese. The growth of population was not of the bishop's making; it was
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part of the nation's growth. But the problems sired by this growth were his and they were many.
The division of the diocese in 1884 is the best measure of the growing diocese. By 1880 the diocese was too large for one man, and Healy prepared the way for a division by appointing his chancellor, Father Denis Bradley, pastor of St. Joseph's of Manchester. In 1884 New Hampshire was separated from the diocese of Portland, and Bradley was appointed the first bishop of the new diocese of Manchester. Neither bishop knew at the time of the separation how many Catholics were in their dio- ceses. According to the Catholic Directory of 1884, printing the report sent by Healy for the undivided diocese, there were 90,000 in both states. This figure was obviously incorrect. In the 1885 Directory Bradley estimated there were "about 60,000" in New Hampshire with forty-one priests to minister to them. This meant that there were only 30,000 Catholics in Maine, where there were forty-six diocesan priests. Healy knew there were many more Catholics than this and made no at- tempt to give an estimate for this year. Both he and Bradley omitted population figures for the next three years. Actually the Catholics were increasing so rapidly the two bishops were unable to give a fair estimate of the Catholic population in their diocese. By 1889 they had what they considered fairly reliable figures and included them in their annual reports: 70,000 for Maine and 73,000 for New Hampshire. This was a remarkable growth since the diocese was established in the early 1850's and the increase during the last decade of the century was even more impressive. During the 1890's Maine's 70,000 Catholics mushroomed to nearly 100,000. At the turn of the century the Catholics of Maine were, of course, still a minority, but they had ceased to be an insignificant one; one- seventh of the population was now Catholic. During the diocese's first half century Maine's Catholic population had multiplied nearly fivefold while the population of the state had increased only from 583,169 to 694,466. Maine would have had a stationary population without the increase in the number
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of Catholics. This is one contribution that can not be denied them.
The Reverend Washington Gladden, a prominent minister of the late nineteenth century, credited them with another in his article that appeared in the first volume of the Century: the preservation of family life.1 After a study of the alarming increase of the divorce rate in New England he feared for the permanency of the family and he submitted figures for the New England states to support his fears. He was shocked by the rapid increase, and still more shocked to discover that the divorce rate was higher in Bangor and New Haven than in Chicago, a city a New Englander was inclined to place near Babylon. At the same time he discovered that divorces among the Catholics of New England were few and he admitted that the Catholic Church was proving itself "the conservator of the family."
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