Every year since 2000, the Diocese of Savannah has recognized long-standing service to the Catholic Church in south Georgia by conferring the Bishop Francis X. Gartland Service Award on honorees nominated by their pastors. In this way, the Diocese expresses its gratitude to those who serve within it. This year, Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv.

The Southern Cross recently reached out to parishes with a Spanish-speaking population to gather perspectives on how immigration laws have affected them.
This is the second installment of a four-part series.

By Dana Clark Felty
For the Southern Cross

“Families are being torn apart,” Erika Garza told The Moultrie Observer in June. “I don’t think people recognize the severity of the issue.”

The Southern Cross recently reached out to parishes with a Spanish-speaking population to gather perspectives on how immigration laws have affected them. This is the first installment of a four-part series running through November.

By Dana Clark Felty

Father Pablo Migone watched as attendance dropped at the 2 p.m. Sunday Spanish Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Warner Robins earlier this year.

Word had begun spreading among parishioners that busloads of Hispanics were fleeing the area. Panic had set in, and many of the faces Migone saw most Sundays in the pews were disappearing.

“I know of families who sold their trailers,

By Father Bob Cushing

In mid-August while a group of parishioners from four Catholic middle Georgia parishes (St. Theresa – Cordele, St. Patrick – Kathleen, St Juliana – Ft. Valley, and St. Mary – Americus) were working to restore a home for a leukemia victim in Vienna, Georgia, they received some surprising assistance from an enthusiastic group of emergency workers called “Ground Zero Grace.” 

Audelia Villa was eleven years old this past May when she was diagnosed with two kinds of leukemia.

Clemency Requested For Death Row Inmate Troy Davis By Andrew Nelson Staff Writer Published in The Georgia Bulletin, 9/15/11 ATLANTA—Catholic spiritual leaders asked the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency to Troy Davis, the death row inmate convicted of murdering an off-duty Savannah police. Davis is scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21, for the 1989 death of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

Bishop-designate Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM Conv.

By Michael J. Johnson
“I am extremely grateful to Pope Benedict for his confidence in me as the bishop of Savannah,” said Bishop-designate Gregory John Hartmayer, Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv.) as he stood on the shady lawn of Lafayette Square opposite the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Savannah. 

The announcement of his appointment as the 14th bishop of Savannah was released in Washington D.C.  Tuesday, 161 years after the establishment of the Diocese of Savannah on July 19, 1850.

The BAA goal of 2,4 million dollars has been surpassed with 7,710 of 28,121 households participating (27.4%). The total amount pledged is $2,422,260.13. The total amount received to date is $1,793,788.83. The 2011 Bishop’s Annual Appeal, “One In Faith, One In Family, One In The Body Of Christ” began the weekend of February 5-6, 2011.

By Michael J. Johnson
“God has never written straight, he has always written in crooked lines,” said Sister Noelle Hart, MFIC as she described her life as a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception.
She reflected on her life recently as she prepared to leave the staff of Sacred Heart Parish in Savannah for a new position as director of a clinic in Bradenton, Florida.

Watch the audioslide show. 

On June 4, Bishop J. Kevin Boland ordained two new priests for service in the Dio­cese of Savannah in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. By prayer and the imposition of hands, Deacons Dawid Kwiatkowski and Christopher Ortega were raised to the priesthood.

In his homily, speaking to the congregation, the bishop said, “In being configured to Christ the eternal High Priest and joined to the priesthood of the Bishops, they (Kwiatkowswki and Oretega) will be consecrated as true priests of the New Testament, to preach the Gospel, to shepherd God’s people, and to celebrate the sacred Liturgy, especially the Lord’s sacrifice.”

This year the annual Catholic Communication Campaign Collection will be used to tell the stories of Catholics who have returned to the Church following the Advent 2010 Catholics Come Home TV advertising initiative.
The collection will be taken up in parishes and missions around the diocese on Pentecost weekend, June 11-12.