The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-05-24
FATHER DUFFY DAY
WAR HERO OF NEW YORK is
CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN OF THE
OLD SlxTY-NINTH REGIMENT
REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION
FOR PRIEST FATHER DUFFY
AT POLO GROUNDS.

FOR PRIEST FATHER DUFFY
AT POLO GROUNDS.
The New York Times, in long ar
tiCle on Sunday, May II, speaking Of
Father Duffy, the heroic chaplain,
says in part:
It was distinctly a One-nlan parade
that spIashed through a deluge Of rain
between two walls of dripping UNI
brellas in The Bronx yesterday after
noon.
The approximately $4,000 soldiers,
knights of Columbus, Salvation Army
workers, officials and private citizens
who splashed with it the length Of
| the Grand Concourse served only as a
guard of honor to the main attraction.
The several hundred thousand men
and women who peered out from all
covering raincoats and from beneath
Iingeniously contriVed devices for she'd
| ding water were seeking a glimpse of
| but one person.
Father Francis ?, Duffy, senior
chaplain Of the old Goth and idol of
The Bronx
The day was given over to welcom-
| ing home the chaplain whose brave
and unselfiSh services on French fir
| ing lines have made his name known
| the country over. Business houses
were closed, public and parochial
schools emptied their class rooms
| into the streets, and the steady down
pour Of rain was forgotten, except as
a subject for jests.
Practically every religious organiza-
| ton in the borough, every political
party and nearly every civic body was
represented in the line of marchers.
Never before had such a cosmopolitan
gathering been brought together to do
honor to hero of The Bronx, or the
entire city, for that matter
Half d dozen military bands, an
equal number of civilian bodies and
the city police band attempted, by
Offering their best Irish airs, to make
the spectators forget the clouds and
rain. Lines of school children lifted
their voices in patriotic songs and ap-
peared to enjoy the novelty Of stand
ing in the rain without drawing repri-
mands from their teachers.
| "Where's Father Duffy" care you
| hiding the parade from us?' were
questions that followed the leaders of
the parade up the Concourse.
The question usually was answered
| by the wave of cheering that could be
heard blocks away, preceding the au-
| tomobile in which the smiling chap
lain, service cap shedding streams of
water into his eyes, rode with Bor-
ough President Henry Bruckner on
his right and the Rev. F. j. Prunty
on his left
The grandstand at 181st street was
far from the most comfortable place
in the city at the hour the parade
lpassed. Mayor Hylan's familiar silk
hat must have been irreparably dam
LACED by the passage of many streams
of water down it's FURNISHED sides
BY his side were Robert l.. Moran
president of the board of aldermen
| hOuIldu Ndndlndher, VI LuS Mdyoi
Committee to Welcome Homecoming
Troops; Borough President Maurice
jConnelly, of Queens, and Surrogate
George NJ Schultz, of The Bronx.
The grandstand also held numerous
Estate, county and Federal officials
such gathering as would have done
credit to any of the big demonstra
tons heretofore seen only south o
the Harlem river.
Father Duffy's machine had gone
but a few blocks from the starting
point Of the parade when chile
tossed a great bunch of red roses int
the car. He lifted it, smiled AM
waved his hand at the donor of tn
bouquet and held the flowers during
the remainder of the parade.
A guard of honor escorted fathe
Duffy to Fordham University, Wher
he was guest of honor at banquet
Thursday. May Is, was "Fathe
Duffy Day" at the New York Pol
, baseball grounds.