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Bill 4333

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                      4333
Type of Legislation:              House Resolution HR
Introducing Body:                 House
Introduced Date:                  20010815
Primary Sponsor:                  Lloyd
All Sponsors:                     Lloyd
Drafted Document Number:          l:\council\bills\gjk\20792sd01.doc
Date Bill Passed both Bodies:     20010815
Subject:                          St. James the Greater Roman Catholic 
                                  Church of Catholic Hill, Resolutions


                        History

Body    Date      Action Description                     Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  ______________________________________ _______ ____________
------  20010904  Scrivener's error corrected
House   20010815  Introduced, adopted


              Versions of This Bill
Revised on September 4, 2001 - Word format

TO RECOGNIZE ST. JAMES THE GREATER ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF CATHOLIC HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND ITS PARISHIONERS FOR ALMOST TWO CENTURIES OF SERVICE AND COMMITMENT TO GOD AS THEY CELEBRATE ITS ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR.

Whereas, St. James the Greater Roman Catholic Church of Catholic Hill, South Carolina, was established by Bishop John England, the first Bishop of Charleston, in 1826; and

Whereas, St. James is situated at the crossroads of the Charleston-Savannah highway and the old plantation road that linked Walterboro with the area where the Ashepoo and the Combahee Rivers converge and flow into the Atlantic; and

Whereas, the first worshipers were local Irish landowners and their African slaves; and

Whereas, in 1856, the frame church burned to the ground catching fire from the burning fields nearby. No immediate effort was made to rebuild the church. In only a few years the War Between the States began, and there is little written record of church activities for approximately forty years after this time; and

Whereas, during this forty-year period the parishioners who were mostly former slaves continued priestless in the Irish Catholic tradition of serving God; and

Whereas, around 1897, a priest named Daniel Berberich discovered the presence of Catholic people in this area which is known locally as the crossroads where he found a group of people with a thriving Catholic faith, and Father Berberich immediately put into operation a plan to rebuild the church and to build a school; and

Whereas, Father Berberich served the people of St. James until 1909, and the church continues today under the auspices of the Diocese of Charleston; and

Whereas, the present church was built in 1935 replacing the 1897 structure which had grown weak with age and damage by storm. The bell in the tower is from the 1897 church and was placed there by Father Berberich; and

Whereas, the members of the House of Representatives, by this resolution, would like to recognize the St. James Church and its parishioners for their faith and Christian service and devotion as they celebrate the one hundred seventy-fifth anniversary of this truly special House of God. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the House recognize St. James the Greater Roman Catholic Church of Catholic Hill, South Carolina, and its parishioners for almost two centuries of service and commitment to God as they celebrate its one hundred seventy-fifth anniversary this year.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to St. James the Greater Catholic Church.

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