St Mary of the Mount High School - St Mary Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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z o p O u UJ Q Pi 02 UJ H U U C

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true apostle, he was desirous of bringing Christ to those remote regions. Shortly after becoming established at the Mount, Father Griffin conceived the idea of organizing a Pittsburgh Apostolate. The work of the Apostolate had been successfully organized by Father Elliot in Detroit, Michigan, and Father Griffin was confident that the same kind of missionary work could be carried out in the Pittsburgh diocese. In 1904, Father Griffin placed his well-drawn plans before Bishop Canevin, who gave wholehearted consent and lu-ged Father Griffin to execute his plans on a diocesan basis and to assume fidl responsibility for the organization as its first direc- tor. Thus, St. Mary of the Mount became the first home of the Apostolate and the house on 127 Ulysses St. became the headquarters for the missionary work of the diocese. The priests appointed to assist Father Griffin, Very Reverend William J. MiUlen and Reverend J. Quinn, made their residence at the place of the Apostolate Headquarters, which became known as i he Apostolate House. This building stands today next to the Church on Ulysses St. and is now used as the home of the custodian of the Church and the School. These first priests were soon to be joined by others and the Apostolate became a very active organization of secular priests giving missions throughout the diocese. To get an idea of the tremendous work accomplished by the Missionary Workers, we give here the contents of a public report which Father Griffin pre- sented on September 20, 1910. The report included the various missionary works that were accomplished from September, 1909, to July, 1910. The report stated that the year had been a most successful one and that the missionaries were justly proud of their 47 missions and 16, 652 confessions. Father regretted the fact that because of lack of funds the Apostolate was unable to give missions for more non-Catholics. In conducting the Catholic Missions, Father pointed out that each mission included rmong its spiritual exercises, an Hour ' s adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and a Holy Name Rally. As a result, ten Confraternities of the Holy Name were organized by the Apostolate during the year. The missionaries ' greatest consolation, the report continued, was the number of very splendid converts whom the priests of the Apostolate had received into the Church in that one year. Another great grace was the return to the Church of 1 1 8 schismatics. Because Father Griffin forsaw that the coming year 1910-1911 was to be a very demanding year for the Apostolate, he urged pastors desiring missions to make application for them early. Father concluded his report by announcing that the missionaries of the Apostolate were prepared to hear confessions in English, Ger- man, Italian, French, Polish, Hungarian and Lithuanian.

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Workers — Wednesday Evening Parties Left to Right: John K. Keenan, James Wallace, Albert J. Brusco, James M. Curley, and Francis J. McMahon. Missing from picture are: Joseph Cataro, Andrew Dowd, Joseph Sharkey, Daniel McCann, Frank Dorio, Walter Richardson, and Arthur Reynolds. Four year after the official organization of the Apostolate, the Missionary Con- fraternity of Christian Doctrine was organized with Father Griffin as its director. The Apostolate Hotise also became the headquarters for the Confraternity. Many parishioners took an active part in the Confraternity work, either through donating their time and service in the teaching of catechism in the outlying districts or through their contributions to help defray expenses. Seeing that the pressure of his parish work, together with the work of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, was beginning to take its toll from Father Griffin, Bishop Canevin relieved him of his directorship of the Confraternity in 1916. With St. Mary of the Mount remaining as headquarters, Father Timothy Shea became the new director of the Missionary Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Within a year Father Shea died and Father Lawless replaced him as director. Eight years later when Father Lawless became pastor of St . Mary of Mercy Church on