Thursday, February 10, 2011 Feature Southern Cross, Page 5 Father Gustav Obrecht, SMA: Wartime separation, long years of service and the checkered history of -Lorraine

hen Father Gustav fied on his arrival that his Wisconsin. In 1907, he came priesthood. He afterwards Obrecht’s, resignation. “I WObrecht made a sen- planned return to the U.S. to to take charge served in Nigeria and, much can well imagine,” the timental journey home to in October might be impos- of later, in Augusta and Macon. bishop wrote, “with what a France in 1939, he knew sible. Although France still Church, Savannah. As the Second World War pang of sorrow you gave to war was brewing in Europe. tentatively held onto Alsace- By 1939, when he went hovered, Sittler told a Macon Father Lissner your resigna- What he didn’t know Lorraine, both England and home to France to visit his Telegraph reporter that the tion as pastor of the parish was that his visit to France were nervously family, Obrecht had been German people didn’t want of St. Benedict the Moor in his home, Alsace- watching what Hitler pastor of the Savannah par- war and compared the alli- Savannah. I feel sure also Lorraine, might was doing in Europe. ish for over thirty years. ance then existing between that you can realize the sor- be a long one. Being forced to While Father Obrecht was Hitler and Stalin with the row that it brought me to Obrecht, pastor of remain in France for detained in France, Father biblical one that existed have to accept it. During Saint Benedict the the duration was more Aloysius Ramstein, SMA, between Herod and Pilate. the ten years that I have Moor Catholic than a possibility for acted as Saint Benedict’s That year, 1939, Sittler was known you, you have been Rita H. DeLorme Church in the Savannah pastor. pastor. Like Father in Macon, Ramstein was a source of great consolation Savannah, planned to spend Gustav Obrecht, born Obrecht’s, Ramstein’s life in Savannah and Father to me.” Father Obrecht’s a month in France visiting on October 4, 1875 in was affected by the coming Obrecht was struggling to virtues had won his people’s family. The district he hailed Bisochoffsheim, Alsace, conflict. He had three broth- return to Savannah. Obrecht hearts, O’Hara observed, from - Alsace-Lorraine - had France, was fourteen when ers in the French army. His must have made it back to adding: “You have been been restored to the French he entered the college of the mother and sisters, whom he the U.S. on time, because a credit to the Church and by the 1919 Treaty of Society of African Missions had last seen in 1935, still records consistently show to your Congregation.” On Versailles following World at Clermond-Ferrand, lived in Alsace. him as pastor of Saint July 16,1945, Father Gustav War I. Like a piece on an France. He completed his Another SMA acquain- Benedict’s from 1908 until Obrecht, by then pastor international checker board, studies at the Seminary of tance of Fathers Obrecht and 1943-44. emeritus of Saint Benedict’s, it was shuffled back and Lyons and was ordained in Ramstein, Father Alphonse In 1944 the Bulletin celebrated his fiftieth anni- forth between France and 1899. Founded in 1856, the Sittler, SMA - pastor of reported that the longtime versary as a priest. He Germany from the 17th cen- SMA Order was dedicated Saint Peter Claver Church in Saint Benedict’s pastor was died in October,1951, and tury onward. Now, Father to serving the African people Macon - had his own war- recovering from a stroke was buried in Savannah’s Obrecht was caught in the or those of African descent. time stories to tell. Inducted suffered at the SMA Mother Catholic Cemetery, far shuffle. Two months after ordina- into the German army in House in Tenafly, N.J. from his birthplace, Alsace- On September 23, 1939, tion, Father Obrecht was 1914 when he returned to Father Obrecht recovered Lorraine. The Bulletin of the Catholic sent as a to the an Alsace controlled by sufficiently to return to Saint Laymen’s Association Gold Coast, British West Germany, Sittler served four Benedict’s, but poor health Columnist Rita H. DeLorme of Georgia reported that Africa. He later accompa- years on the Russian front soon led to his retirement. is a volunteer in the Obrecht had sailed for his nied Father Ignatius Lissner, during WWI. When the In a letter dated October Diocesan Archives. She can homeland several weeks SMA, to the U.S. and, for war ended, Alphonse Sittler 26, 1945, Bishop Gerald be reached at earlier, but was noti- several years, served in completed his studies for the P. O’Hara, acknowledges [email protected].

marriage-building . . . trends is not inevitable. Today’s data are not neces- A second stage of the highly successful “What God’s plan for the good of humanity. sarily tomorrow’s destiny. Nothing will change, have you done for your marriage today?” public All these resources will not be fully effective though, if we don’t take action now. service announcements campaign is now in pro- unless they are joined to an even greater resource, This is why the U.S. bishops established the duction, this time emphasizing the social value of namely, the Catholic people themselves. A huge National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage in 2004. a good marriage. The 2007 radio and television potential force for good exists in the witness and They extended and deepened their commitment spots, which utilized the comments of persons- service of married couples and families who live when they adopted the strengthening of marriage on-the-street, got extensive airtime (equivalent of and worship in the more than eighteen thousand and family as one of their five priority goals in more than $20 million) and won several industry parishes throughout our country. What a difference 2009. awards. it could make if every parish committed itself to The has a long and rich history A major resource is the “for your marriage” become a “marriage-building community”! of teaching about the meaning and importance of website (www.foryourmarriage.org ), a one-stop This effort would not be a new program but marriage and family life. Happy and holy mar- location featuring “resources for a happy and holy rather a new attitude and approach to what the par- riages are a work of God’s grace combined with marriage.” These English-language resources have ish may be doing already. It would incorporate the our human effort. Marriages are strong and endur- a Spanish-language complement in the website three elements of a Christian vision of marriage, ing when they rest on three pillars: a transcendent www.portumatrimonio.org and in a radio cam- skills that lead to virtuous living, and supportive vision, a range of skills that can lead to virtu- paign that is currently in production. ministries within the community. Becoming a ous relationships, and a supportive community. In light of recent social and political develop- marriage-building church, particularly at the parish Through theological, spiritual and pastoral resourc- ments, the bishops have also felt it necessary to level, is what the bishops envision in their pastoral es, the Catholic faith tradition can help couples and organize an effort aimed at protecting the legal letter when they urge “a renewed commitment by communities put these pillars in place and thereby definition of marriage as the union of a man and a the entire Catholic community to helping those build strong marriages. woman and at promoting a better understanding of called to the vocation of married life to live it faith- The centerpiece of this resource-based strategy this truth that is based on right reason and divine fully, fruitfully, and joyfully.” is the 2009 U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter, Marriage: revelation. This project, consisting of catechetical Love and Life in the Divine Plan. The annual materials and public policy advocacy (see www. Dr. Richard McCord is executive director of the observance of Catechetical Sunday in 2010 also marriageuniqueforareason.org ), responds to a Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and provided many educational resources on the sacra- growing challenge in our society. It affirms the Youth at the United States Conference ment of matrimony, and a new pamphlet series for teaching that marriage must be preserved, pro- of Catholic Bishops. engaged and married couples is also underway. tected, strengthened and renewed in keeping with