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-A- The Provincial House—nerve center of a fast growing province.
Now, except for the'major seminary, the future vocations were well provided for. Thus attention was shifted to works of the ministry and within two years, two retreat houses were functioning in the Vice-Province. First, King’s House I in Belleville, and then King’s House II in Buffalo, Minn. Also in 1952 a new mission house was obtained in St. Paul, supplanting the old one at White Bear Lake.
By 1952 the number of scholastics had climbed to around fifty and their support in the scholasticates of the other provinces was a constant and heavy drain upon the finances of the province. Something had to be done and buildings suitable for such needs were being inspected in many places. It seemed for a time that here too beginnings would have to be made from scratch and then the property of the old Pine Hills hotel at Pass Christian, Miss., providentially came along. It was purchased, occupied by its first Oblates in June of 1953 and after a summer of concentrated effort on the part of fathers and brothers, classes were commenced on the 26 of October. Fr. John Taylor, O.M.I., was installed as first Superior by the Very Rev. E. J. Guild, O.M.I., the fifth Provincial. Also in this year the Vice-Province of St. Henry was named the Central United States Province.
St Stanislaus College	O'Neal	Electric	Co.
Bay St. Louis-	1416	-	25th	Ave.,	Gulfport
■40- Campus Mission House—Missionaries' home in Northern Illinois
This has purported to be the history of the Central Province. The reasons for its obvious inadequacy are hinted at in the poet’s words with which it was begun—how compass the infinite graces of God with empty words. How can a man so frail and imperfect presume to distinguish the natural from the supernatural, the decisions of men from the determinations of God? Of the events of twenty-nine years some loom more importantly than others. How gauge their importance in the plan of God and be able to say, “This must be told, that need not”. Or how shall one who has not experienced them tell of the faith and confidence in the hearts of the Fathers who saw the beginning of the province? Who, but they can express the doubts and fears that troubled their earliest efforts? And who, but they, can describe the ecstacy of complete abandonment to the goodness of God and the indomitable courage that springs therefrom? These are the things that have been omitted and it is in them that the story of growth has its life. Made fertile by zeal for souls and the glory of God and nurtured by His infinite grace, the small group of twenty Fathers has grown into what we know today as the Central Province. It is a story of dogged perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Never has the province known the baneful pleasure of total adequacy. At times indeed there seemed to be no hope of winning out over such great odds but no quarter was asked. Persevering trust in God is the priceless heritage of the Central Province.
Hancock Bank
Pass Christian
Griffon s Pharmacy
Pass Christian


Pine Hills Document (037)
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