USA > Maine > The Catholic church in Maine > Part 30
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One incident marred Murray's six pleasant years in Maine. He was charged by the New Republic (July 4, 1928) with meddling in politics and joining forces with the power inter- ests and Republican machine of the state to eliminate the progressive elements in the party. This charge came after the Maine primaries in which Governor Owen Brewster, aspiring to be the Republican candidate for the United States Senate, was defeated by the incumbent, Senator Frederick Hale. Mur- ray's ostensible reason for opposing Brewster, according to the New York weekly, was the failure to appropriate a satis- factory sum of money for the reconstruction of the church
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and convent on the Passamaquoddy Indian reservation, which had been destroyed by fire; his real but unrevealed reason, the readers were told, was Brewster's support of the proposed amendment to the state constitution prohibiting state aid to private and parochial schools. It would have been surprising if the Catholic bishop of, Portland spoke in favor of any can- didate supporting such a proposal. But it is equally surprising to read that Bishop Murray joined forces with power interests and Republican machine to defeat any candidate, for he had followed a clear policy of neutrality in partisan politics and had even abandoned his predecessor's practice of appearing before legislative committees in Augusta and municipal meet- ings in Portland.
One would expect the Press Herald and Evening Express of Portland to exploit Bishop Murray's opposition to Governor Brewster, for these two papers were strongly committed to the governor's defeat. They blasted away at Brewster and they gave headlines to the serious charges against him by former Governor Percival P. Baxter, charges they considered "thor- oughly creditable." But there was no mention of any state- ment by the Catholic bishop of Portland. What, then, was behind the New Republic's statement?
Early in 1927 fire destroyed the church and convent of the Sisters of Mercy on the Passamaquoddy reservation. The Sis- ters retired to Eastport and at great inconvenience continued to conduct the school for the Indians. The state was obliged to provide a house of worship for the Indians, and Bishop Murray wanted both the church and convent to be fire-proof buildings. That would be costly, but under the conditions
on the reservation there could be no objections to the expense. Sixteen months later, in June 1928, the Indians were still with- out a church and the Sisters without a convent. It was clear by then that most of the money for the construction, about $60,000, would have to be raised by a diocesan collection. In a letter, dated June 11, 1928, to the pastors of the diocese, Murray appointed Sunday, June 24, as the day for the collec-
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tion. He related the reasons why the collection was necessary. What he related was common knowledge: how the Indians had asked the state to appropriate $20,000 from the Indian fund, in addition to the $6,000 insurance money, for the new building; how the legislature had referred the matter to the Governor's Council; how the chaplain of the Indians had in- terviewed the members of the Council "and was assured that they were practically unanimous in their disposition to allow" the requested amount; how after many months of waiting only $6,000 had been appropriated. It is clear that the bishop was disappointed by the delay and the niggardly sum. To provide a decent church for the Indians and an adequate home for the Sisters, he was compelled to call on "the charity of the good people of the diocese." How this letter affected the outcome of the primary elections is difficult to see. It re- ported what was already known by the Catholics of Maine; there was no reference to the elections; it was ignored by the two Portland papers that were out to defeat the governor. The results of the election would have been the same if the letter had been written in July. The letter would have been somewhat different, however, if it had been delayed.
A few weeks later, no doubt in response to the bishop's letter, the State Auditor explained that the ready money at the disposal of the Indian fund did not allow for an appro- priation of $20,000. Bishop Murray, in another letter dated July 10, 1928, reporting the results of the collection ($8,679.26) and announcing the necessity of another collection before October 1, acknowledged that under those circumstances the refusal of the requested sum was reasonable. He had been under the impression that what the Indians had requested was available. Bishop Murray did not bother to add that many others were under the same impression, among them the mem- bers of the Governor's Council. It seems strange that they were willing to appropriate money that did not exist. And it must have occurred to many that the state could have in 1928 committed itself to annual appropriations that would provide
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for a decent church for the Indians. But 1928 was an important presidential election year and a commitment of that nature might not have been politically wise.
The Republicans won the September election in what was called a landslide, and it was generally conceded by the poli- tical commentators that this was a sure omen of Smith's de- feat by Herbert Hoover, in the November elections. Two years later, in the 1930 state elections, it was a different story; the gubernatorial candidates were the same, Democratic Edward C. Moran, Jr., of Rockland, and the Republican governor, Wil- liam Tudor Gardiner, but the 82,000 majority of 1928 had been reduced to 16,000. The commentators differed sharply in interpreting the significance of the decline of the Republi- can vote, but no one implicated Bishop Murray. Some writers minimized the influence of the depression; Maine, wrote the Washington correspondent for the New York Evening Post, was on the whole "more prosperous than most of the States. It has not been hit by the drought, and the tariff has aided its farmer." Murray found little evidence of prosperity.
It was becoming more and more difficult to raise money for the diocesan charities and he was compelled to borrow to keep institutions like the Holy Innocents for foundlings, the St. Elizabeth's Home for orphan girls, St. Louis' Home for orphan boys, St. Joseph's Home for the aged, and the diocesan hospitals functioning. There was a sharp decrease in the 1930 charities drive, not one-half the money needed for current expenses; by the end of the year he had borrowed nearly $50,000 to keep them open. Many parishes, too, were suffering hardships. In the fall of 1931 he organized a relief committee in every parish, a move that is a good example of his concern for the unfortunate and his ability to organize. The pastor was the permanent chairman and he had five assistants who di- rected the raising of money, relief of the homeless, relief of destitute families, relief of institutions, and the unemploment problems. Each parish had its own fund that was separately administered. Each parish or local committee was directed
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to discover individual and family needs by a thorough inves- tigation of the parish territory. To avoid duplication and confusion the parish committee cooperated with other public and private agencies of relief.
While the parish committees were busy organizing and oper- ating the relief programs news arrived, early in November 1931, that Bishop Murray was transferred to the archdiocese of St. Paul. It was a deserved promotion, all admitted, but the transfer was genuinely regretted. His preparation for depar- ture was interrupted by one farewell testimonial after another; it seems every group and organization wanted to sponsor some tribute. It is doubtful that the bishop himself realized until this hour how deeply loved and esteemed he was. The touch- ing sincerity of these farewells, the manner in which men and women of many creeds and races hastened to honor him, the large attendance at all of them, were, as the Portland papers observed, a revelation of the hold he had on the hearts of people of Maine. Only the tribute dinner at the Elks Club will be mentioned here. This was a crowded affair and the speakers were many. The Episcopal Bishop Benjamin Brewster spoke about Murray's contribution to social service and re- habilitation work in Portland and Maine; the Reverend Ralph Stoody, president of the Church Federation of Portland, praised his spirit of cooperation and his work in easing the religious prejudices of the state; the Reverend Morris H. Tuck hailed him as the "man who has done more than anyone" else in removing religious prejudices from the contemporary scene. Murray was visibly affected by these words. He told them that Portland had spoiled him by its kindnesses, that he did not want to go away, that he asked that the decision to transfer him be reconsidered, that now he had no choice and was leaving with many regrets.
Archbishop Murray was installed at St. Paul's on January 27, 1932. A tremendous crowd packed the Union Station in Portland to see him off. The Commonweal, reporting the trans- fer, managed to capture the feelings of the people:
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He leaves a grateful and affectionate flock in the important bishopric of Portland, Maine, and those who will come to know him in his new important post, will find him a brilliant speaker and a patron especially of music, besides a dignitary of the Church who will rule wisely and inspire an active love for the things of God.
Mea Omnia Tua was the motto on his episcopal coat-of-arms; all mine are thine. John Gregory Murray lived by that motto.1
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Monsignor McDonough again assumed the duties of Ad- ministrator of the diocese. Ill health, however, compelled him to resign before an appointment was made, and Father George Johnson, Rector of the Cathedral since 1922, was named in his place on April 4, 1932. News that Joseph E. McCarthy had been selected as the new bishop of Portland came in May. Before a date for the consecration could be set, he had to consult with John B. Peterson, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, who had at the same time been appointed to the Manchester see as successor of Bishop George A. Guertin. A conflict of dates had to be avoided. The installation of Bishop Peterson, it was decided, would take place first. Bishop McCarthy would then be consecrated in the Portland Cathedral on August 24. His friend, Bishop Maurice F. McAuliffe, who had succeeded Murray as the Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford, was asked to be consecrator, assisted by Bishop Nilan and Bishop Peterson. Archbishop Murray was invited to preach. The details of the consecration ceremony completed, McCarthy visited his alma mater, Holy Cross, to prepare himself in the solitude of a re- treat for the burdens of an office he had tried to avoid. Years later, when those burdens had broken his health and had constrained him to retire, he confided to his successor that he had pleaded to escape the heavy duties of a successor of the Apostles and had finally accepted when told he should defer to the Vicar of Christ.
1 Murray died at St. Paul October 11, 1956, a few weeks short of his silver jubilee as the Archbishop of St. Paul. Those who knew him well spoke of his unfailing courtesy and saintly character.
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Bishop McCarthy was no longer a young man when asked to exchange the quiet routine of directing seminarians towards the priesthood for the task of directing a diocese burdened with debt. He was tall, the shock of black hair already streaked with white adding to his height, and he carried his fifty-five years with an agile step. He brought in his contacts with people the kindness and courtesy that a new generation had forgotten. He also brought to the diocese a resurgence of confidence that had been undermined by the deepening de- pression. In Maine, as elsewhere, people were in need of a leader. There is no denying, wrote the editor of the Church World,
that the instability of our material fortunes had made us timid, ner- vous, apprehensive; no question but that our individual and collec- tive woes had to some extent deprived us of that assuring sense of spiritual victory which is so necessary a part of the truly Christian mentality.
With a bishop in their presence, the Catholics faced the future with more hope and more courage. Monsignor McDonough agreed to continue as Vicar-General, although his long career in this office under three bishops was nearing its end. He died on April 29, 1933, and was succeeded by Monsignor Johnson.
More than any of his predecessors Bishop McCarthy's ac- tivities were restricted to the limits of his diocese. His con- secration had made news. The ceremonies had been carried by one of the Portland radio stations, and a widely read col- umnist, not too well acquainted with the facts and with Catho- lic ceremonies, had remarked that the station had stolen a beat on other major chains by broadcasting "the induction ceremonies" of the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland. This was the first time that the consecration of a bishop had been covered by radio, but a Manchester station had covered the installation of Bishop Peterson a few weeks previously. Thereafter, McCarthy's name seldom appeared in the national news and he had no leading part in the work of the hierarchy. He wanted it that way. His work was in Maine, with the prob- lems sired by the depression and the war that followed.
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His major task, and one that demanded his attention the day after his consecration, was the diocesan debt that threat- ened to ruin the labors of past generation and paralyze the energies of the present and future generations. How well he faced and solved that problem is best told in the eulogy of Bishop McCarthy by his successor, Bishop Feeney:
The financial burdens that beset this diocese were of such stagger- ing proportion that they would have destroyed a man of lesser strength than that found in the new Bishop. Like the rest of the nation, we in Maine had suffered the pangs of the financial crash and the subsequent depression of the thirties . .. Bishop McCarthy faced a debt situation of nearly five million dollars. We had the properties, we had the good will; we had the fundamental honesty that is based on the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal;" we did not seek relief in new bankruptcy laws, nor did we seek to settle for less than the dollar we borrowed. We knew that the Catholic Church would be here for a long time to come. The men of finance, how- ever, who in good times welcomed the business of the diocese of Portland, were filled with panic. For them, the end of the world was in sight. Like Shylock they must have their money. Bishop McCarthy set to work with calm assurance, and after mature and unhurried deliberation the plan was evolved which bonded the diocese for a period of twenty years, enabling all the banks and individuals who had lent money to the diocese to recover their investment. Nobody lost a cent on the Catholic Church in Maine. It was the determination of the man we lament this morning that gave courage and example to every Catholic in this state and made the diocese of Portland honored and respected in every financial institution interested in sound investment. This we owe to Bishop McCarthy.
He was compelled to move slowly despite the growing pressure on him. He had to have an exact knowledge of the financial conditions of the diocese before any plan could be made, and Rome's approval was needed before the plan be- came operative. Aided by lawyers and businessmen such as Francis W. Sullivan, Leonard A. Pierce, and John J. Cunning- ham, and by his diocesan consultors, a survey of the diocese was made. By the time this was completed the bank holiday had been declared and conditions had deteriorated. He dis- covered that most of the diocesan debt was in demand notes and hence suits could be instituted at any hour; that three-
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quarters of the debt was owed to banks that had closed and whose depositors were in dire need of their money; that a quarter of a million was owed to a bank that was threatening to sue; that the diocese was paying an average of 5.9 percent interest and without any plan of reducing the debt, a few parishes managing to do so and the others hard pressed to meet the interest payment.
With the assistance and advice of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a plan to refund the debt was drafted and was approved by Rome in the spring of 1935. It was carefully explained to the pastors whose cooperation was essential, for their parishes would be assessed a fixed sum annually for many years. Their cooperation was pledged and the bonds, dated July 1, 1936 and due July 1, 1956, were offered to the public. The bonds were oversubscribed. One could not ask for a stronger letter of approval from the bankers. The bishop, the pastors, and the parishioners quietly proceeded to the grim task of meeting the annual assessments. In his pastoral letter of December 26, 1937, Bishop McCarthy told them that "All our expectations of the success of this Bond Issue are being fully realized." The annual interest had been paid and the principal reduced by $100,000. But he urged the pastors to 'operate diligently" so that the annual assessment would be always available at the specific date. He himself operated diligently, too, and by means of refunding in 1938 and another a few years later, the debt was substantially reduced. The hardships and the economies were not without their compen- sations; there was no little satisfaction in knowing that the huge debt was dwindling year by year and that it would be entirely liquidated by 1963.
The debt problem made heavy demands on the bishop's time during the early years of his episcopacy, curbed the ac- tivities of the parishes, and limited construction throughout the diocese. Yet there were twelve new churches constructed under McCarthy by 1948, and in 1940 plans for a new hospital in Portland were announced. Parishes went in strongly for
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socials and parties: bazaars, lawn parties, field days, teas, concerts, and lectures as convenient means of raising money, but one suspects they developed a parish spirit that would not otherwise have existed. And the bishop was ever alert to the needs of his flock and of the people of Maine. When a fire destroyed the great part of Ellsworth in May 1933, he called for a special collection in every parish to relieve the hundreds suffering from lack of food, shelter, and clothing. The next week, when another fire in Auburn left nearly a thousand homeless, he asked the Catholics of Maine to come to their aid by another diocesan collection. The next year, realizing that the Catholic charitable institutions of Portland could not function properly without help, he initiated a public drive for funds, and the response was so favorable the charity drive became an annual affair. The local press recorded these deeds and the unfortunate ones aided by them were grateful, but the publicity ended there.
He followed his predecessor's policy on proposals before the state legislature, refraining from personal appearances at legislative committees and from public statements. But he, too, would oppose any attack on or weakening of Christian morality, when the occasion demanded it. When, in 1941, a bill extending sterilization of defectives was introduced in the state legislature, Bishop McCarthy condemned the pro- posal and urged Catholics to express their convictions to their legislators. Maine already had a law permitting the steriliza- tion of defectives when and if released from state institutions; the new bill would extend the permission to persons never committed to institutions. It was a dangerous extension of the power of the state over human life and came when Ameri- cans were disturbed by tyrannical rule in European countries. The bill received little support in the legislature and was unanimously defeated in the lower house. But the proposal was sufficient to distress the bishop and in his Eastertide pas- toral he urged its defeat.
The annual confirmation trips still remained arduous despite
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the advantages of the automobile. But in 1940 and thereafter his visits to the St. John Valley gave him many pleasant sur- prises. These hardy people were showing the rest of Maine how to defeat the depression. Thanks to the introduction of cooperatives the whole Valley, where 30,000 people lived, was humming with activity. He was pleased, too, with the activity of another group which had strengthened him and the dio- cese during the harsh days of the depression.
Bishop McCarthy introduced the contemplatives into the Catholic life of Maine, and who can assess the good from that one decision? No doubt his predecessors had considered the need but they had not acted, and to this extent the diocese lacked the full Catholic life. To many, among them Catholics, the depression years appeared hardly the opportune time to be concerned with contemplatives. The bishop knew it was the most opportune time. In the fall of 1934 he invited the Sisters Adorers of the Most Precious Blood, a congregation of cloistered contemplative nuns, to establish a house in Portland, and when the invitation was accepted the former residence of Judge Putnam on State Street became their convent. He was not satisfied with one group. Later, when he was ap- proaching retirement, he persuaded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to open a house in Waterville. And the Felician Sisters of St. Francis, who staffed the Paine Private Hospital in Bangor that had been purchased in 1947 and renamed St. Joseph's, were a congregation of semi-contemplative Sisters.
To help in the field of education and in parishes came re- ligious orders and congregations of men. The Franciscans settled in Biddeford in 1933 where they opened a high school, a minor seminary for their own members, and eventually a college for men. Another group of Franciscans, refugees from Lithuania, were offered a home in the diocese in 1944, and from their house in Greene worked among the Lithuanians of Maine and other states. The Oblate Fathers purchased the property of the Eastern Maine Methodist Conference Seminary in Bucksport and opened a minor seminary in the fall of 1941.
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The following year the Jesuits returned to staff Cheverus High School founded in 1917 by Bishop Walsh and staffed, until the arrival of the Jesuits, by diocesan priests and laymen. Ten years later classes were opened in a model building lo- cated on Ocean Avenue made possible by a gift of $500,000. The donor, not a Catholic, stipulated that the Jesuits own and operate the school; Bishop Feeney and his consultors accepted the offer and then deeded the land, purchased and held for such purposes, to the Jesuits, who now own and operate Cheverus High School.
Bishop McCarthy was a sick man and in retirement by then. He was approaching his seventieth year when the World War ended and the burdens of the office for fifteen years had undermined his health, although he was the last, and even then with considerable reluctance, to admit it. The year after the war, on June 22, 1946, Rome gave him an auxiliary bishop to ease the burdens of office and the Catholics of Maine were delighted that the priest selected was from their own diocese. Daniel Feeney was born in Portland September 12, 1894, and as a boy in the grade schools saw and remembered Bishop Healy, Portland's second bishop. He attended the city high school and then entered Holy Cross College in 1913 and re- mained there two years before starting his studies for the priesthood in Montreal. And in St. James' Cathedral of that city he was ordained by Bishop Georges Gauthier, Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, in 1921. His work, both as a curate and a pastor, was linked with the education system Bishop Walsh had developed. As a curate of St. Mary's, Orono, he taught in the parochial high school, and a few years later he was appointed superintendent of the diocesan school system, re- siding with the Cheverus High School faculty on State Street. He was pastor of the parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Preque Isle when he was selected as auxiliary bishop.
His consecration was, as Archbishop Cushing noted in his sermon on the occasion, "an important stage in the glorious
、
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history of the Catholic Church in the State of Maine." He was the first Auxiliary Bishop in the history of the diocese, and, more worthy of note, he was the first diocesan priest, born in the faith and in Maine, raised to the episcopacy. In time, under God's Providence, he became the seventh Bishop of Portland, the first native of Maine elected to guide the Catholics of Maine. Actually, he was administering the dio- cese long before he became Bishop of Portland. Bishop Mc- Carthy's health continued to decline and the governing of the diocese was beyond his competence. He was persuaded by the Holy See to retire and allow Bishop Feeney to govern the diocese. Late in July 1948, Bishop Feeney was given the powers of a residential bishop and the diocese of Portland was thereafter under his complete direction. Broken in health, Bishop McCarthy lingered on in retirement until the fall of 1955, but Rome had provided for the uninterrupted adminis- tration of the diocese by naming Feeney Coadjutor Bishop with the right of succession March 4, 1952.
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