Father John D. Stapleton, pastor of St. Jude’s parish, has been appointed chairman of the Msgr. Joseph E. Moylan Memorial fund to provide for the education of priests.

Msgr. Moylan, who died last week, served as priest, pastor, chancellor and vicar general during nearly 50 years of service to the Church and would have celebrated his Golden Jubilee on Oct. 18. Msgr. Moylan was ordained Oct. 18, 1917, by Bishop Benjamin J. Kelley at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah.

“There is a strong link of continuity in this new fund for more priests to be named in memory of Msgr. Joseph E. Moylan,” Archbishop Hallinan.

“For nearly 50 years, the hills and roads of Georgia were traveled by a great missionary priest. During the coming decades, more great missioners are needed to renew the faith of our Catholic and to bring to others, especially lapsed Catholics, the Word and the Eucharist.

“Many Catholic people must have had the same thought. From the contributions, there will be built a new burse to provide the seminary education and formation our young men need. Father John Stapleton will be chairman of the new memorial fund. We hope that many Catholics, those who knew and loved the monsignor and those who today are the spiritual heirs of his zeal, will be generous in their gifts. Large or small amounts are welcome,” the archbishop said.

Father Stapleton, who served as an altar boy for Msgr. Moylan, said some laymen had talked about a burse in honor of the monsignor if he had lived to celebrate his Golden Jubilee. “He wouldn’t have had a formal celebration if he had lived, and the burse was in the talking stages,” the priest said.

Father Staleton said contributions to the memorial fund should be sent to the Chancery, 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 30305.

The archbishop said the “Moylan Burse for More Priests” will follow a fine tradition in the archdiocese. “Encouraged by such leaders as Msgr. Patrick J. O’Connor, many Catholics have given generously to the formation and education of our future priests. The new burse, urged by many at the time of Msgr. Moylan’s death, offers new opportunities for personal and family gifts and bequests.”

In his eulogy last week at the monsignor’s Funeral Mass, the archbishop said, “Almost every priest in the world, in his heart of hearts, wants to be the kind of priest that Georgia has had in Msgr. Moylan. Here was a man who was never torn in the dilemma of the priest: should he be praying, should he be working?

“Christ long ago fused in him the material of pastoral charity,” the archbishop said. He was no wandering split personality. He did not spend his life having identity crises. Every prayer of his life was a service to his people. Every busy action was charged into a deep spirituality.

“Like Isais, he told God 50 years ago, ‘Behold Lord, here I am, send me.’ God did send him to every corner of Georgia. He left a heritage, not of the churches he gave us, but of the living continuity—priests taken from among men, remaining men of God,” the archbishop said.