The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-01-25
A Good Place for Saints and Sinners

O~"~.-eS s~.As~
We have seen this week in the city sew
eral of the priests Of Mississippi returning
to their posts on the Gulf Coast, after their
Retreat and Synod at Chatawa.
We did not know before what an institu-
ton had grown up quietly within few
hours ride of our city. It is real Mission
House of the Redemptorist Fathers-that
10 House for the residence Of the Fathers
who are engaged in giving Missions through
the country and for the receiving of any
persons, priests or laymen, who at any
time Of the year may wish to make Spir-
itual Retreat of three or Ave days, or any
other length of time.
We have seen enough of the way Missions
are conducted, to understand that after
eight or ten days of such labor Of mind and
body, and suoh loss OF rest, the heartiest
man must have need of repose for body
and spirit both. Talk about your eight
hour system! We have known Missionary
Fathers to be up at four O'Clock, and from
the moment they could wash and dress
and that, in hurry-to be engaged In work,
preaching, hearing confessions, instruct
ing, etc, etc., only snatching q meal be-
tween time, and to keep on that way, till
10a at night-then only leaving the confess
sional because obedience compelled them.
We have known them to keep on at that
for ten days in succession and when they
closed mission Wednesday morning, it
was only to pack up and take the fret
train for another place, where they were
engaged to open another Mission Thursday
evening, to 60 through the same work.
And what we have seen in some few
cases we believe has been common
enough among all those who are devoted
to giving Missions. No wonder our priests
in this country seldom grow old.
But this sort of border warfare against
the devil-however necessary for a while
ought to give way, as soon as circumstances
permit to a more Systematic campaign,
In which equal victories can be gained with
less exposure of such valuable soldiers.
So now it seems q new camp has been
established. When a band of the Fathers
have got through one or two such battles,
| they fall back into the hills of Chatawa,
and there for one or two or more weeks
| they rest their bodies and recruit their
sally forth again, fresh and strong, to make
new assault on some other stronghold of
the devil, and set free some hundreds or
thousands of poor prisoners that he has
been treating worse than any Of our SOL
! diers were treated in their military prisons
during the war.
But besides this, the Fathers have
provided at Chatsws for laymen, too.
They have accommodations there for any
man that wiahes at any tirae 20 got away
from business and hustle and spend q few
days in looking over his other acoounts-
besides dollars and cents. This is q real
godsend in the neighborhood of big city
like ours. We don't pretend to speak for
others, but for us poor newspaper folks-in
| the treadmill week after week-like q man
| walking Thousand miles in q thousand
| hours-perhspe the most innocent charac-
ter we meet is the printers devil, and the
best work we do is scissoring, and the
healthiest place we can get to is between
damp sheets-if ever we could get the
machine to run itself for q week or two, it
would do us good to get into just such a
place as that Chatawa-as we have heard
it described.
quiet room in the house; outside, hills
and ravines, woods and rocks Watching
over the place, a gem of a chapel, with it's
miniature spire and it's sweet toned bell
and then good Father to teach us how to
enjoy and how to use these helps to peace,
ready at any moment to Listen to our
troubles and solve our perplexities, and
show US how to hold up our heads and
fight the only fight after all that is worth
the winning; such is Chatawa!
1t Is wonderful to learn what a change
has been made at Chatawa since the Re-
demptorist Fathers attend there. 1t was
in 1867 that our own Father Giesen fixed
his eyes on it as healthy location for such
house. He bought place, gave it the
name of st. Theresa's Retreat, and 500
put up the beautiful little church under
the invocation of that patroness of prayer
and recollection.
She was famous for accommodating great