Black Catholics in Grand Coteau LA.pdf

1 Black Catholics in Grand Coteau @ Jerome H. Neyrey, SJ (2015) “In Christ there is no male or female, no slave or free, or Jew or Gentile” (Gal 3:27) Although there are many black Catholics in Louisiana, and even in the Diocese of Lafayette, the focus here is on the black Catholic population of the small village of Grand Coteau. Why Grand Coteau? One local author has called this village “The New Holy Land” (Trent Angers, Grand Coteau The Holy Land of South Louisiana, Lafayette: Acadian House, 2005), meaning that for its size it has a history of four religious orders working there (the Sisters of the Holy Family, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the Society of Jesus). Moreover, in its time, it has seen the presence of three canonized saints (St. Philippine Duschenne, RSCJ; Bl. Henriette DeLille, SSF, and St. John Berchmans, SJ) as well as a tenure of Cornelia Connelly, and Katherine Drexel). What is the focus here. “Black Catholics in Grand Coteau” is a “beau chene,” that is, an oak tree with the following branches. “Black,” of course is the modern term used for slaves, colored, people of color, negroes and mulattos. All of these synonyms apply to the non-white population of Grand Coteau in St. Landry Parish. “Catholics,” however, is narrower. While it is safe to say that most Catholic slave-owners raised their slaves as Catholics (cujus regio, ejus religio), it is by no means clear what “Catholic” meant in the 19 th century. Parish priests did not baptize colored babies, a task left to lay persons. Nor did pastors “marry” slaves, an action prohibited by civil law, for the master of the slaves had that right and if a “marriage” took place, he was the designated officiator. We have little data on whether colored children were catechized for Holy Communion, much less Confirmation. Who would have done this? The family of the owners? People in the colored community? The Sisters? Finally, when baptisms were eventually recorded (and other sacraments received by the colored), they were put into the parish book, but in the back only, behind the whites. “Grand Coteau” designates the village in St. Landry Parish which was singular for its schools: 1. The Academy of the Sacred Heart (1821-2016); 2. St. Charles College of the Jesuit Fathers (1837-1916); 3. In 1875 the RSCJ opened a school for colored children 4. In time this “free school” was transported to Grand Coteau and became the elementary school of St. Peter Claver Compound [it burned down in 1977], just as the public school (Grand Coteau Elementary School) was beginning. In 1890 the same Religious opened the parochial school for Sacred Heart Parish, renamed as St. Charles Borromeo. 5 St. 2 Charles College closed it doors in 1919 to become the novitiate for the Southern Jesuits. 6. In 1945 the Sisters of the holy Family opened a school for colored children in Bellview, a mission of St. Peter Claver parish in Grand Coteau; and 7. shortly after, a secondary school named “St. Peter Claver” opened in Grand Coteau for colored boys and girls in the village itself. 8. In time the parochial school, named “St. Ignatius,” continued the existence of the “free school” of the RSCJ. 9. When both the Bellview school and St. Peter Claver school closed, the state of Louisiana built a middle school (now integrated) in the heart of Grand Coteau. 10. A social-services center was opened on the former St. Peter Claver property, named the Thensted Center, and was staffed by many RSCJ. The village has many more significant aspects, but these suffice to locate the focus of “black” “Catholics” in “Grand Coteau.” Figure One: Educational Institutions and Staffing Religious of the Sacred Heart 1821 until the present: Academy of the Sacred Heart 1877-1946: The Free School for Black Girls and Boys 1890 until the present: Parish parochial school, 1977-until the present:Thensted Center, usually one or two sisters Sisters of the Holy Family 1942-1978 Christ the King School in Grand Coteau 1945-1979 Christ the King School in Bellevue Sisters of St. Joseph 19??-19?? St. Ignatius Parochial School Society of Jesus 1837-1917 St. Charles College 1917- 2016 House of Formation 1964- 1985 Novices, Brothers, Priests teaching at St. Peter Claver Parish and Parochial Ministry: Jesuit Fathers St. Charles Borromeo, Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Charles Borromeo 1837 until the present 1931-2016 Christ the King Mission in Bellevue 19??- St. Peter Claver, St. Peter Claver 3 The village, moreover, has from its founding been a residence for Catholic schools. First the Religious of the Sacred Heart arrive in Grand Coteau in 1821 to found the Academy of the Sacred Heart. This institution provided both elementary and secondary education; in the mid 20 th century it opened a college. The Jesuits established St. Charles College in 1837,which in the French tradition offered secondary schooling and several years of college. In 1945 the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament began to staff the elementary school in Bellview; they subsequently went on to staff the elementary and secondary schools of St. Peter Claver Parish in Grand Coteau. And there was a parochial school, which opened in 1890. Originally it was named “Sacred Heart” after the new name of the local parish, but later was re-named St. Ignatius. Ultimately, when the Peter Claver schools closed, the civil Parish of St. Landry built a middle school in the village. But of singular interest is the school which the Religious of the Sacred Heart established after the Civil War to educate black children. Much transpired in the village of Grand Coteau which is of particular interest to us as we examine the history of Black Catholics in the larger parish of Christ the King/St. Charles Borromeo. So, the focus here will be on the education of Catholic colored children and adults. While we allow for some on-site instruction by plantation staff, the bulk of the task of education fell to various religious orders who flourished in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Two religious orders of nuns were completely responsible for the education of black Catholics in Grand Coteau: first, the RSCJ, who with many strategies prepared colored children for the sacraments, and who later opened a “free school” for colored youth in 1875 and who returned to staff the Thensted Center after the close of the black schools. Second, the Sisters of the Holy Family arrived in the mid 1940's to build and staff the schools at Bellview and in Grand Coteau. If anyone knows anything about Black Catholics in Grand Coteau, it is generally the decades long struggle to integrate the white and black Catholic churches there. Moreover, the struggle was not ended until the two churches found the wisdom and courage to merge the white church (Sacred Heart) and the black church (Christ the King), resulting in a re-incarnation of St. Charles Borromeo, the name of the original parish church. But to focus on the events of the 1970-90 would be to ignore the labors of both blacks and whites to lead all in the village into the Catholic faith and practice. Hence, the progress of this study will begin with the establishment of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in 1821 and its contribution to the education and well-being of blacks, free and slave, by the progressive Religious of the Sacred Heart. The contribution of the Sisters of the Holy Family begins in the mid 20 th century and was focused exclusively on the education of black Catholics. And finally, we must examine the painful conflicts of the 2 nd half of the 20 th century when integration finally forced respect for black Catholics, to integrate all Catholics in Grand Coteau into the one body of Christ. 4 I The Contribution of the Religious of the Sacred Heart Two members of the Religious of the Sacred Heart (henceforth called RSCJ) arrived in 1821 in Grand Coteau to open an “academy” for white girls. It proved to be an immediate success and prospered. What, then, of poor people and blacks? Even before the school in Grand Coteau was founded, Mother Duchesne opened at St. Charles, MO the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi. We know that children were gathered by the local pastor and brought to the RSCJ to learn the elements of the Christian Religion, along with an introduction to reading, writing, and counting. In the Society’s Rule, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, provided for educational care for girls, both for academy and for free school: Their poverty, which makes them so closely resemble Jesus Christ, their ignorance and roughness of manner, everything (about them) will only give them additional claims to their tenderness and zeal of the Religious of the Sacred Heart” (Jeanne De Charry, pp???). Even while still in Missouri, the issue of educating slaves/colored was debated. The RSCJ were clearly in favor, but their determination to do this was derailed by two bishops, Bishop Dubourg of St. Louis and Bishop Blanc of New Orleans. The “history” of this consideration is contained into several letters between Philippine Duchenne and Sophie Barat on the very topic of educating “colored.” Below is a transcript of the two letters. St. Charles of Missouri 8 Oct 1818 Phillipene Duschene to Mere Barat We were only promised a matisse (a girl or woman of mixed racial heritage) as a servant or an applicant according to her qualities; in the United States, as for the negroes and the mulattos, there is nothing but loathing for this race. Monseigneur [Bishop Blanc of New Orleans] has stated that none should be admitted in the boarding facility nor the free school, and he assigned a different day for colored people, arguing that we would not have any white people if we were to admit them. He shared with us at this occasion a story that happened to him at the College of Baltimore that proves that one cannot win against the prejudice against the people of color (translated by Hélène Châtelain de Pronville). St. Charles of Missouri 15 Fev. 1819 5 Phillipene Duschene to Mere Barat Admitting colored people is not feasible for the boarding school, it has been decided by Monseigneur [Bishop of New Orleans] and he relies on the Bishop of Baltimore [Mgr Carroll] who told him that the contempt for them was a prejudice; but a prejudice that one should keep like one of the last safeguards of customs. In these lands, the Savages walk on the side of the Whites when their blood is not mixed but everyone agrees that they should be taken care of at the age or four or five, so that the little girls have not gone already half-wit, and then they should be given room and board: such a good deed! But very little means to achieve it. (translated by Hélène Châtelain de Pronville). It is clear that ecclesiastical authorities were not amenable to any formal education of colored, free or slaves. But certain facts cause us to moderate this total refusal of education. There are anecdotes in the diaries of the Academy of the Sacred Heart that soand-so was baptized. Presuming that this person is one of their slaves, some sort of catechesis or education was given this slave in preparation for the sacrament. “August 15, 1829 Baptism of our old negro, Martin.” This single anecdote suggests a scenario whereby Martin was prepared for the sacrament by someone, in all probability, the RSCJ. In 1850, “the Rosary was being recited, morning and evening, by all the persons in the house, in turn. . .The negroes gave part of their free time to this” (House Diary May 31, 1850). Again this presumes some instruction about the rosary, learning the Our Father and Hail Mary, and knowing the mysteries – presumably the work of the RSCJ. The clearest incident of the Sisters’ educating colored is cited in the House Diary for Jan 1, 1855. The instructions which we give to our slaves also bear the most consoling fruits. One of our negresses paid a good price for a horse and carriage to go visit her old mother, who is almost a hundred, and lives a day’s journey from here; this good daughter wished to persuade her mother to go to confession and prepare herself for death. Two days later she returned, bringing with her this soul whom she was hoping to send to heaven. Finally, “We were also deeply moved by seeing a young negro of 23, prostrate himself at the feet of an old negress, his god-mother, to receive her blessing” (House Diary Jan 1, 1855). Although these anecdotes are infrequent, they imply a large story of the interaction of the RSCJ with their slaves and colored servants in the preparation of them for sacraments and Christian life. The RSCJ tradition was to build an “academy” for white girls, educating their students and giving them good manners to take a respectable place in society. And it was their practice to build a separate facility, called a “free school” for those too poor to afford the Academy. Needless to say, the Academy of the Sacred Heart flourished over 6 the years. But the idea of a “free school” remained as a perennial in their garden. After the Civil War, when all slaves were emancipated, including those of the Academy, there was a flood of colored without education and without any skills to work, except those learned on the plantations. We do not have any documentation on the decision to build a “free school,” but one did appear. In 1875, the RSCJ build a wooden “free school” for just such free colored, named Sacred Heart Colored School. In one year it boasted 600 students. Incidentally, a year before, a Protestant Negro, Edward Campbell, opened a comparable school on the Jesuit grounds with 50 boys. The Second Miracle at the Academy of the Sacred Heart The house journal of the Academy of the Sacred Heart for May 3rd, 1875 carries the following: “Today we began our school for Negro girls.” Sixteen girls were enrolled; the classes were held in the building which now houses the guest house and the laundry. In 1888 a new building was erected on the property with contributions from Archbishop Janssens of New Orleans, Reverend Mother Lehon, superior general of the Society of the Sacred Heart and the Jesuits of St. Charles College. In 1894 two additional rooms were built to addommodate [sic] the increased number of pupils boys and girls. This school building was moved from the grounds of the Convent of the Sacred Heart to the Saint Peter church grounds in 1939. The school was deeded PROVISIONALLY to the Saint Landry School Board; the board paid the salaries of te teachers. A few years later the church was titled CHRIST THE KING; the school was still called St. Peter Claver and remained the property of the Sacred Heart, under the direction of Sister Mary Margaret Finn until 1947. At that time the enrollment numbered 286 pupils; 159 girls, 127 boys in the elementary grades, 18 in the high school. The faculty numbered 8 lay persons, two Religious of the Sacred Heart, Sister Mary Margaret Finn, the directress. In connection with the school, while under the direction of the R.S.C.J. several congregations were founded: THE CHRISTIAN MOTHERS on September 2, 1876, of which Mother Camille Zeringue was he directress and Father Widman, S.J., the spiritual director. In September 1895 a congregation for boys who had left school. There was one also for girls. Thirty girls from the school entered the Religious Congregation of the Holy Family. Leander Martin from the boy’s school became a priest of the Divine Word Congregation and Vincent Morton made his profession, as Brother Lawrence, in1945. During each summer the Religious of the Sacred Heart hosted 2 large retreats for men and women. The attendance of the summer retreat of 1946: 202 women; 173 men. In May, 1947, the Religious gave the school to Father Thenstead, S.J. [sic]. He remodeled the school building to house the Sisters of the Holy Family who took over the direction of the school. Father Thenstead built a new school, the present St. Peter Claver building. (Provincial Archives, Society of the Sacred Heart, U.S.-Canada Province). Despite emancipation, the South relentlessly reverted to the treatment of blacks common before the War. All rights were revoked, the farmlands of colored were seized, and so the colored were forced to work once more for the white planter, now as 7 sharecroppers. This had the backing of the state governments in the South and the approval of the Congress. It is within this context that we appreciate the fearless labors of the RSCJ for colored in general, and black Catholics in particular. II Sisters of the Holy Family Curiously, New Orleans enjoyed a premier school system in the early 1800s which served both girls and boys, white and colored. But the advances were precarious and eventually failed because the Louisiana legislature withdrew funding. Outside of the city, the situation was and remained dire. In fact, it was contrary to Louisiana law to educate slaves. Into this gumbo was born Henriette de Lille (1812), a free woman of color. Her vocation developed into that of the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1842). Her congregation was dedicated to nurse the sick, care for the poor, and instruct the ignorant. The part of her ministry we focus on here is education of black children. When she died in 1862 there were only twelve members of her congregation, a situation which radically changed very quickly. The Sisters had an immediate impact on the education of colored children in south Louisiana, as the following chart shows. The list is not complete, but it indicates when and where the schools were operated, especially in towns and cities apart from New Orleans. Figure 2: Schools for Colored in Louisiana under the Direction of the Sisters of the Holy Family Year (1943-44) School and Location Enrollment 1876 1893 1882 1884 1886 1895 1903 1913 1921 1924 1931 1936 1939 St. John Berchman’s Orphan Asylum, New Orleans Lafon Home for Boys, New Orleans St. Mary’s Academy, New Orleans Holy Ghost School, Opelousas St. Catherine of Sienna, Donaldson St. Francis Xavier School, Baton Rouge St. Paul School, Lafayette Holy Rosary Institute, Lafayette St. Francis of Assisi School, Breaux Bridge St. Benedict the Moor School, Bertrandville St. Augustine School, Klotzville Our Lady of Grace, Reserve Christ the King School, Bellvue 65 56 483 524 310 479 434 185 286 74 132 221 210 Although the Sisters of the Holy Family arrived only in 1943 in Grand Coteau, they had distinguished themselves by establishing twenty-one schools for colored children 8 between 1876 and 1953 in south Louisiana. They rank with the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament who established eleven urban schools, both elementary and secondary, in New Orleans and other cities, as well as twenty-two rural schools for black children. The advent of the Sisters of the Holy Family marked a new and distinctive phase in the care of “black Catholics” in Grand Coteau. To appreciate the labors of these women, we need sketch of the political social background of the South from 1775 until 1950. While never bright, the story gets nasty quickly. After Reconstruction ended, the previous prejudice against slaves returned and was actually codified in the Jim Crow laws. This eventually showed up in terms of state resources for education. By 1910, the physical plant of white schools in Louisiana was valued at over six million dollars while that for black schools was just $250,000. Most schools for African Americans were actually held in churches or lodges, not public school buildings. In the second decade of the twentieth century, twenty-three of Louisiana’s parishes spent less than a dollar per child on African American education while expending between fourteen and twenty-nine dollars for every white child. The state was not the only problem, for in 1905, a new Archbishop New Orleans determined that there should be a parochial school for every church. His domain included not just the city, but the surrounding rural areas and this new program of schools was a call for a tremendous number of new schools. A new college was even opened to train women to teach in these schools. Just as in the public school system, because of limited funding, increased opportunity for white children resulted in less for African American children. Integrated congregations were not inclined to have integrated schools, and declared that they were unable to afford two schools. They either built one for whites or none at all. Black Catholics were quickly excluded from parochial education in the greater New Orleans area. All the while the Sisters of the Holy Family had been operating schools successfully because of their symbiotic relationship to Catholic Parishes. And this was the context of the Sisters coming to Grand Coteau, well after the wave of school foundings by these sisters had passed. The congregation was well established when negotiations began between Cornelius Thensted, SJ, the pastor of the newly created parish of St. Peter Claver in Grand Coteau and the Mother General of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Correspondence between the pastor and Mother General no longer exists (thank you, Katrina). But four sisters showed up to staff the (barely-existing) Christ the King school in Bellevue: Sister Jane Frances, SSF; Sister Helen Marie, SSF; Sister Mary of Grace, SSF; and Sister Consuella Marie, SSF. Iit appears, moreover, that the Sisters arrived on site with no idea of what they were facing. The convent had but four rooms, with no shades in the windows; the parlor was divided into a chapel, a small dining room and a kitchen, and two bedrooms (two sisters per room). Needless to say, the facilities were hot in summer and cold in winter. The status of the little school was worse: three little rooms with no furniture (it was eventually replaced by two army barracks moved 9 onto the campus). Conditions at Bellevue were worse than dismal. Whatever Father Thensted promised, the reality was daunting. It was one thing to arrive, and quite another to open a respectable school, for the structure lacked everything: furniture, supplies and amenities. But the Sisters and the black children were familiar with broken and hand-medown stuff, and so they struggled together until a respectable physical plant was erected and completed by 1963, with water for sanitation, a kitchen and lunchroom, library and laboratories and showers for the children. Even a blacktopped road appeared to replace the resident mud and dust. Records indicate that a full curriculum was taught and the sisters cut the students no slack in setting and maintaining expectations. Immediately the school began to offer elementary and secondary education, just the four Sisters, no lay people assisting. Records indicate that the school opened its doors in 1946, accepting 147 students in grades one through eight. Enough cannot be said about Sister Jane Frances. In the course of eight successive Principals between 1941 and 1978, she served three different times for a total of thirty-six years (1941-45, 1946-58, 1963-74). Her band of Sisters labored not with the respectable children of the village, but with students mostly from farming families, either sharecroppers or landholders of modest acreage. The parents of the students, then, were too poor to support the school, which depended for subsidies from the parish in Grand Coteau and from the Bishop of Lafayette and other precarious sources of revenue. Sister Jane Frances labored for thirty-two years in the area, mostly at Christ the King mission school, of which she was principal. Her vision and labors extended well beyond the classroom. For, in a testimonial to her in 1968, she was praised for “the fight she led against a high percentage of tuberculosis among her students and won. . .against parents who kept their children away from school to work in the fields and won.” As the school progressed, she begged for the materials to build a gym in 1945-46 and was in the thick of the battle to erect a new convent and a new church for Bellevue in 1946-47. With the pastor’s permission, she raised funds to build a library, lunch room, and kitchen; she had lavatories and showers installed for the use of students, as well as having the driveway black-topped and the grounds landscaped. She was ever vigilant and always ready to work to improve the school to quality standards. She is best described as the “Strong Woman” of Proverbs 31, who attended to everything needed for a household and whose spirit made things happen. Yet, she was always the innovative and tireless educator; few know that she spent 17 years of summer schools obtaining her bachelor’s degree, with the final credits earned by attending night classes three times a week in New Orleans, a drive she made without the aid of the Interstate. Working in concert with the wishes of parents, the sisters and priests established a generic curriculum that would take the youngsters beyond one of the growing instructional education provisions for colored children of that era, which was content with preparation for manual labor only. Their efforts were indeed successful, for records indicate that about 27 graduates of the school went on to college, one even joining the 10 faculty of the local state university. Others were qualified for jobs as teachers, secretaries and business personnel – a far cry from fields of corn and cotton. Shortly, a remarkable spirit emerged in the school and the members of the mission. If not money, services and even materials were brought for building this or that structure. Great pride was taken in the enterprise. Even now the Christ the King mission remains an enthusiastic and friendly congregation. Success meant for the Sisters to become familiar with the parents of their children, as well as to overcome their shyness. One source says that “the sisters often had to go into the homes of parishioners and teach them how to live and how to profit from their humble conditions.” This prudent strategy succeeded immediately and beyond expectations. Christ the King School did its proper work of educating the discarded Colored children in St. Landry Parish. The contribution of the Sister was about to expand. In the 1930s the bishop acquiesced in erecting a new black parish in Grand Coteau, named after the Jesuit saint who cared for Negro slaves, St. Peter Claver. As the new parish grew, nothing would do but to build an educational compound. The “free school” run by the RSCJs was moved to the St. Peter Claver Church grounds in 1939. In that year the St. Landry Parish School Board compromised with the principal, Mother Rivet, RSCJ, and the pastor, Fr. Thensted, S.J., to rent the “Little Convent,” later St. Peter Claver Elementary School. Just a few years later, Fr. Thensted was able to finance the building of a high school, a convent for the Sisters, and a gym. Jesuits from the local college joined the faculty. Lay teachers also swelled the teaching corps. In time the academic success began attracting students from Arnaudville, Leonville, Bellevue, Prairie Bass and larger numbers from the Grand Coteau area. This school, like the sister school in Bellevue, succeeded wonderfully, with graduates qualified to be teachers, hospital workers, mechanics and business owners. With both schools prospering, we conclude that the “black Catholics” were very well served. But the success story had a constant leak: financing. In the case of the Grand Coteau schools, Fr. Thensted undertook a massive mail solicitation for funds. The following are excepts from one of his typical begging letter. The Negro needs Christian leadership from his own ranks; if we cannot produce Christian leaders, then the Negro will be lost to Christianity. . Not only must we teach everything essential for human living; we must provide facilities at least equal to the facilities of those who would compete with us for the souls of these children. I am pleading with you to help us with alms and even to interest others to help us with alms in our work for the temporal and eternal welfare of our Negro children. Perhaps you could interest some friend to sponsor a child for a week (50c) for a month ($2.00). The Sisters of the Holy Family had labored almost a century establishing schools for black children in southern Louisiana. Bellevue and Grand Coteau were just the latest 11 installment. As the following figure indicates, these Sisters took on a near-impossible job to serve the people crushed, first by slavery and then by Jim Crow segregation laws. . Her testimonial honors her as “An expert teacher, a wonderful human being, a Christ-like religious, and indefatigable worker.” She died in 1978 in the convent in Bellevue which she helped to erect. The appropriate eulogy was spoken by a fellow Sister of the Holy Family, copied in the cameo below. An Obituary for Sister Jane Frances: “Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no guile” (Jn 1:43) Of Sister Jane Frances, Sister of the Holy Family, one can say today, “This was a woman in whom there was no sham!” She never expressed in exact words what she considered to be her calling to the religious life nor her commitment to the life style of the House of Nazareth by joining the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. She knew only that she should love God in herself first and serve Him by loving her neighbor also. This meant work, lifelong labor. Here was a woman who served the obscure, the poor, the neglected, the ignorant, the deprived, the friendly and the unfriendly alike. Here was a builder, a driver of cars and of men, a frontman, a beggar for Christ’s poor. Here was this woman tending the Faith, planting, reviving, strengthening the Faith in the neglected fields of the Church in Louisiana – St. Landry, Lafayette, St. Martin, Evangeline of the Diocese of Lafayette. Here was a woman, kind, tough, rough, a diamond, yet, fullhanded, generous, and yes, vulnerably still. Here was a woman though – o namby-pamby mouthing pious chat or spouting trite geysers. She had no time for make-believe. . .The Truth was her armor. Here was a woman it hard by rejection, betrayal, denial, humiliation within the community. She became neither a fawn nor a crushed fly. Instead, she hit the books and the road, earning a degree in education, commuting to Xavier no less. She drove herself to care, to correct, to overcome the obstacles, to witness for the truth according to her lights. Oh, yes, this woman died. No, she spent herself. She has returned to the Master double the one, the two, the five, or th ten talents which He gave her to trade. So, this woman died, a child of Mary, a woman of Christ, a MAN of God. Who of you, Sisters of the Holy Family, will dare to emulate her? Has anything good come out of Nazareth? From Barracks Street? From Orleans Street? Out of Texas? (Sister M. Stanislaus Sampson, SSF) Yet for all of the labors of Sister Jane Frances and of Father Thensted, the project slowly withered for lack of funding. Father Thensted resorted to grant proposals to the Extension Society, the Negro and Indian Foundation and many more. But it was never enough. As conditions worsened there, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of the Holy Family withdrew her sisters, which hastened the demise of a dying institution. And so the Sisters of the Holy Family ceased their contribution the black Catholics in Grand Coteau. 12 In all, they had served under very difficult circumstances for XX years in Belleview and YY years in Grand Coteau. The old wooden school built in 1875 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart, burned down in 1977. And in 1978, Sister Jane Frances died. The destroyed school left ashes, but Sister Jane Frances left a a legacy, but with no one to step into her traces. The story of the Sisters of the Holy Family would be incomplete without some mention of Mary Murray. She herself proves the success of the enterprise, because she was educated both at Grand Coteau and at St. Joseph in Lafayette. Her success may be measured by the successful completing of an A.B and an M.A., and by the years of teaching which she poured back into the schools who served her with distinction. 13 The Rose of Grand Coteau Mary Murray was born in 1926, the second of sixteen children, all delivered by local midwife. She was identified in Christ the King Elementary School as an exceptionally bright girl, which resulted in her receiving in 1939 a scholarship to Holy Rosary Institute in Lafayette, LA, through the assistance of Cornelius Thensted, SJ. This school was staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Family which conducted the schools of St. Peter Claver/Christ the King in Grand Coteau. She proceeded to go to the head of her class, labored hard, and won various prizes along the way. In 1947 Mary matriculated at Xavier University in New Orleans, back when tuition was a staggering $50 per semester. Upon graduation, she returned to Grand Coteau to teach mainly because of the exhortation of Fr. Thensted to “give back to her community.” Ever the true educator, she also continued to educate herself during the summers between semesters, attending graduate courses for five years at Texas Southern University, and then at the University of Southern California. She sat in actual classes to observe methods of education, an experience which taught her more than any university course could. Her mental furniture was thus rearranged. By summer study she ensured her accreditation as a qualified teacher in Louisiana. In time, she became a member of the St. Landry Parish School Board. Back at St. Peter Claver, she served as the prefect of discipline, which qualified her to wear a “Sheriff” badge daily – literally. For years she was the chair of the “Sweet Booth” at the school’s bazaar. During her tenure she was awarded the Bene Merenti medal by John XXIII for outstanding service. She continued to teach until the black schools were closed for financial reasons. After many years in the classroom, she became addicted to public political service. She was appointed to the town planning committee. After this, she graduated to the position of alderperson in Grand Coteau, serving for four terms. At the death of the current mayor, she took over that job; she was finally was elected as mayor on her own, the first black woman mayor in the entire country. Because of her efforts the village of Grand Coteau was listed as an “Historic Town” and duly entered into the National Historical Register. This Rose continues to flourish, if not by actual service, then by example of selfless discipleship The classroom activities are self evident. But a cloud lay over the school for TB was prevalent, and so the Sisters sought the assistance of nurses. The Sisters themselves prepared the lunch program with commodities begged from others, and with gifts of plates, cups, forks and spoons. Eventually 100 desks replaced the long benches used by the students. And school supplies began flowing from the Public Board of Education. Eventually busses were purchased to transport the children back and forth, at the cost of $25 a school year. The rehabilitation of the campus took over ten years to finance and complete. Fr. 14 Thenstead leaned on a benefactor to provide the steel frame for a gymnasium (1946); a satisfactory convent rose from the prairie (1947-48); at the same time needed renovation of the church was completed (1948). Later wells were dug to provide running water for sanitation and for showers for the children (1949-57). In time a complete campus was assembled: chapel, schoolhouse, convent, kitchen, lunchroom, library, laboratories and gymnasium (1963). Blacktop replaced the dirt roads. Much of the supplies needed for this came from the parishioners themselves: a few bricks at a time, fence posts, and the like. Now the business of a school for negro children could progress. Year by year the size of the student body increased, so that by 1961, it reached 169, all of whom were educated by four Sisters and one lay person. The curriculum was consistent with other schools run by the Sisters of the Holy Family: “a general curriculum that would take the youngsters beyond one of the growing instructional provisions for colored children of that era involving preparation for manual labor only.” Testimony to the success of the educational labors at Christ the King School may be found in the remarks by Sr. Francis Cabrini, SSF on what she considered the results of the school: “Outstanding Students! Most of the students attend high school and many go on to college. Many are in the teaching profession and some have gone into business. One graduate is on the staff of the local university.” Dedicated faculty, however, was ultimately subverted by the sands of insolvency. III Parochial Grade School: Sacred Heart Parochial, St. Ignatius In the archives of the RSCJ there is a note: “In January 1889, it was decided (that the Religious of the Sacred Heart would take charge of a school for parish children, provided that the parish pay for the construction of the building and for books needed.” Nothing was said about support. Transportation from convent to school and back was negotiated: the Jesuits purchased a “small hack” for this purpose and agreed to give eight piasters (a Spanish word which came to mean dollars) to pay for the use of the horses and their feeding. Inasmuch as the parish church had changed its name from St. Charles Borromeo to Sacred Heart, the parochial school was also named Sacred Heart. It opened on Easter Monday, April 7, 1890. The Sisters would devote five hours daily (from 10:10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) to the teaching of the children. Both boys and girls were to be accepted; however, the boys had to be under the age of twelve (puberty?). Yet all of the students in this school were white, a custom sanctified in the Jim Crow laws. In 1915, due to overcrowding, plans made to enlarge and renovate current parish school. But no black Catholics attended this school. Until Catholic schools were desegrated on May 25 1965, the student body was all white, which in a sense disqualifies this material from 15 appearing in a study of Black Catholics in Grand Coteau. Indeed black children did enroll, never in significant numbers and with very few graduating. First of all, the Catholic school cost tuition, out of range of the poor blacks. Second, most black children who did indeed matriculate, stayed only through second grade, that is, until the made their First Communion. IV The Thensted Center Cornelius Thensted, SJ regularly found clothing, food, and funds to assist the needy parishioners of St. Peter Claver/Christ the King, namely black Catholics in Grand Coteau. His actions became a full-blown service offered to the blacks of the parish and the neighborhood as he gradually faded from the scene for ill health. Thus emerged the Thensted Center. In 1982, Sister Mike Hoffman, RSCJ, expanded the work of Fr. Thensted to build the Center; the former St. Peter Claver high school was refurbished and opened as a community center to serve the social needs of all Catholics – black and white – in the now unified parish of St. Charles Borromeo. The center was envisioned as being a health service facility, which meant home-visiting of the sick to assess their needs and assessment of appropriate care. It did not take long for Sr. Mike and companions to realize that there were: . . .a lot of little social problems too –problems about money, benefits, sickness, transport and home repair. Step by step as needs arose Mike built up her helping service. She got in touch with the Council on Aging, Home Health Service, and Public Health Nursing (hereafter known as HH & SS). A dietitian told her how she could organize a food service and recently, in 1980, a Nurse from U.S.L. has suggested a clinic to be specially planned for the people of Grand Coteau. From day to day things happened -- people offered suggestions to Mike which convinced her that this was God’s way of showing her what next to do. To sum up: This Mission – now called HH & SS, or Home Health and Supportive Service, had been incorporated as a non-profit service programme and it is totally supported by private donations (Sister Margaret Huffman, “Folder: Some Information re: History of HH & SS. LAST SECTION AN ANNUAL REPORT from 1976-86"). There is a full page description of the goals and objectives of HH & SS which is worth examining, because it represents a triumph of imagination in finding ways to be of service. 16 HH & SS The Goal: To help people to help themselves through needed assistance, and to educate toward a more independent and high standard of “State of Living.” Objectives –To provide a place to turn in need. – To aid the priests in meeting the total needs of the parishioners. – To provide a way to meet the church’s thrust toward social justice by “working to bring about an awareness of the individual’s obligation to the poor living among them.” By – informing people about already existing local and state and federal programmes as Social Security, Welfare, Food Stamps, Medicare, Council on Aging, etc. – Helping those who qualify for these aids to apply (fill in forms) etc. –aiding with food and clothing in emergency. – performing a full variety of nursing activities in patients’ homes. – sitting down and talking and listening – answering distress calls made to 662 - 5526 as quickly as possible – supporting the establishment of a Credit Union through which people may be educated to a more effective use of their incomes. – establishing, with the help of USL, a Health Maintenance Education and Prevention Nurse Clinic – setting up a centre for young adults, including education and counseling. Areas of Unemployment: Trying to educate young adults to be ready for new job involvement opportunities which we know will be available with the completion of the new express-way, in a couple of years These are some of the major problems that had been discovered in this area and how they were being met. From 1977 through 1985, reports on the Center were issued annually which informed the interested public of the maturation of its ministries and its finances. The staff of the Center kept excellent records which are the basis of the following remarks: Service Rendered 1981-82 1982-83 Home Visits 1983-84 841 1976-77 1984-85 869 746 1977-78 730 1978-79 1904 1979-80 1348 156 0 787 1980-81 340 17 Distribution food/clothing 153 117 167 204 251 115 129 149 157 Injections by nurses 380 465 428 304 452 106 9 1069 367 358 HH & SS home visits 104 173 238 177 461 102 5 1349 694 922 Hospital equipment needed, center helped obtain 13 17 18 11 3 ---- ---- ---- ---- Trips to doctors for those w/o transportation 109 93 72 52 46 55 23 33 Trips to Family Services (Welfare) and Social Security to register 43 51 53 26 10 20 30 48 18 Trips to Food Stamps office to apply for 34 36 55 76 117 134 100 Trips to local hospitals to bring patients for treatment 72 77 36 37 38 30 54 39 18 Pick up prescriptions 51 45 45 104 ----- 104 106 42 Shopping and other trips 122 158 543 828 1129 730 810 770 803 1032 4850 6206 5377 6332 5172 3665 3565 Trips to AC nutrition Center for elderly ----- 27 Meals on wheels ----- 43 455 1362 2900 4188 4727 3535 3545 Transportation to school ----- ----- ----- 169 649 412 344 260 315 Transportation to work ----- ----- ----- 251 1230 134 344 200 185 Transportation to Opelousas library ----- ----- ----- ----- 687 425 223 353 ----- 18 Other services were rendered on an infrequent basis: trips to Catholic Social Services, to jails and courts and Legal Aid, to Substance Abuse Clinics, Developmental Centers, and Early Intervention Programs. By the early 80's the Center had established a “Sub-bank” which provided needed instruction on how to manage money, as well as small loans – its importance grew very quickly to become very needed service. Two distinct needs are being met by the Thensted Center: health and food/nutrition. It is hardly accidental that Mike Hoffman, RSCJ was a nurse, who was licenced to perform procedures, such as injections, and who could administer home health care which was done through frequent home visits. She arranged for a mobile home to be placed behind the Center which became the community’s health clinic. Not only did she arrange for the sick to be taken to an appropriate doctor, but she would secure whatever hospital equipment needed for a sick person staying at home. Moreover she and her staff picked up prescriptions, and arranged transportation to doctors and to hospitals for appropriate treatment of the sick. But the sick and the poor needed to be fed, which occasioned trips to register for food stamps and for transportation to the AC nutrition center, a significant service as indicated by the explosive number of people taking advantage of this service. But many could not leave their homes, and so meals were brought to them, likewise a rising number of people served. From less detailed records, we can observe an expansion of the services of the Center. Increasing attention was given to establishing a community center, that is, “a safe place where people can spend time, meet, be offered counsel, support, training and job opportunities, emergency needs, meetings and classes for adults” (Thensted Center News). Comparably, programs of tutoring after school were started for Sunset and Grand Coteau Elementary, Beau Chene High School, and St. Ignatius Elementary School. And soon the PASS program was initiated (Parents Assisting, Students Succeeding). And counseling services for individuals, groups and family were arranged. Although the concern for adults never wavered, more attention was subsequently given to involvement with children as well as young mothers. The importance and vitality of the Center drew many collaborators, first, students from the Academy and later Jesuit novices. By 1992 summer and tutorial programs increased drastically. And so we can observe a new focus of the Center on preventive and remedial programs. We have some records of the income and expenses of the Center from 1978 through 1985, which indicate the growth and appreciation of its work. Year Income Expenses 1978 $25,255.07 $23,249.75 19 1979 40,790.00 28,401.94 1980 41,012.86 43,101.86 1981 85,981.33 85,230.33 1982 66,303.01 57,638.91 1983 31,461.94 32,051.71 1984 87,680.55 87,458.00 1985 64,435.45 65,169.06 Spikes in the income column represent gifts to offset the purchase of a new truck or repairs to a building or some such large expense. But the most surprising discovery in combing the records of the Center was the record (or non-record) of salaries. The gross numbers are from 1978-1985: 1980 $14,000 1981 25,000 1982 5,550 1983 6,167 1984 6,070 1985 7,100 The simple explanation for these numbers is the fact that almost all services were donated. In fact, many staff simply handed over their income to the Center. Four or more Religious of the Sacred Heart worked in the Center for no pay. Likewise a group of lay people, who provided room and board, donated their services year after year, and some are still serving: Karen Scott, Bert Richard, Euphrasine Barriere, Fran Cochrane, and Peggy Leger. On several occasions Mayor Peter Smith assisted in having rooms painted and a bathroom installed; the Marine Corps Reserved facilitated the gathering of Christmas gifts. V Integration and Merger Although slavery ended with the Civil War, the prejudice against blacks remained, and was codified in the Jim Crow state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period, these laws continued in force until 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all 20 public facilities in states of the former Confederate States of America, starting in 1890 with a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. Conditions for African Americans were consistently inferior and underfunded compared to those available to white Americans. This body of law institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages. De jure segregation mainly applied to the Southern states, while Northern segregation was generally de facto — patterns of housing segregation enforced by private covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including discriminatory labor union practices (Wikipaedia) This body of law institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages. Catholic Louisiana was essentially no different from the rest of the South. And so many Catholic churches in the diocese of Lafayette developed a white church and a separate but unequal satellite black church – both strictly segregated. It does not take much imagination to guess which of the two received the lion’s share of funding and support. But the wall of segregation eventually came apart. We listen to the conversation on integration in the 1954 document issued to the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province. After two years of interaction, 40 members of the province met and decided on this basic strategy. The document states the three basic principles for thinking and acting: 1. All people, since they have been created by the same God, are children of the same Eternal Father and hence enjoy the same fundamental human dignity and rights. 2. All people have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and enjoy the same supernatural dignity and rights as members of the Mystical Body of Christ. 3.The Constitution and the Bill of Rights of our country guarantee the same human and civil rights to all its citizens (Provincial Interracial Relations 2-3). Because of this various actions were mandated which challenged and [began to] sweep aside racial prejudices. In particular this meant the immediate integration of Jesuit colleges and universities (Spring Hill College, Loyola University), and the slower integration of high schools, parishes and retreat houses. Alas, not much happened in Grand Coteau until a racial incident occurred in 1964. Briefly stated, Mr. Wallace Belson, Sr., a black man, attended the 5:30 p.m. Mass in Sacred Heart Church. Various versions of the incident still float around, but the gist is that two white men hustled Mr. Belson out of the church and something happened which was essentially insulting to Mr. Belson. Some claim that the two men verbally attacked and/or physically beat Mr. Belson, although the local doctor found no evidence of this. Others, however, claimed that Mr. Belson was escorted outside because he was drunk (a 21 common state of affairs for Mr. Belson). The facts are and will remain in dispute, but the meaning given the event was immediately clear: a racial incident had happened in the parish church – whites showed that they refused attendance to blacks. The Jesuit Father General in Rome, when informed of the incident, wrote immediately to Father Provincial. The impact of the incident never diminished. Finally the local church made a clear and unequivocable abolition of all integration in all Catholic schools in the diocese. In a letter dated May 25, 1965, the superintendent of Catholic schools of the Lafayette Diocese wrote: The Catholic schools in those civil parishes and in the City of Lake Charles in which public schools have been desegrated by court order will accept all qualified students for the 1965-66 school year. . .Since the Catholic schools of Christ the King Parish are located in the civil parish of St. Landry, they will accordingly accept all qualified students for the 1965-66 school year. Surely this extended to parishes, as well. One would think that the matter was settled, but Sister M. Cleophas, S.B.S. wrote to Msgr. Richard Mouton: “We have come to the conclusion that we do not want forced integration just for the sake of integration (dated Nov. 19, 1969). Certain factors shaped her opinion: 1. Insufficient funds to pay required salaries to qualified lay teachers; 2. because of the size of some schools, integration forces a double-grade system on them; 3. financial assistance is essential to equalize educational opportunities. By this time, there were three Catholic schools in Grand Coteau: St. Peter Claver high school, the Academy of the Sacred Heart and St. Ignatius parish school, which struggled to find a way to integrate and still remain open. But this does not mean that all Catholic schools and churches were de facto integrated. While the process of integration moved slowly, the essential problem underlying the racial conflict emerged with the continued existence in Grand Coteau of two distinct parishes: Sacred Heart (white) and Christ the King (black). So began the effort to merge the two churches into one. The following is the letter sent to the parish which dissolved the status of both churches to establish only one church for Grand Coteau, as had been the case from 1819 to 1931. The Reverend David Knight, S.J. Pastor of the Parishes of Sacred Heart and Christ the King at Grand Coteau and Parishioners The division of mankind had its roots in the first sin. It is not of our making. We must not be responsible for its continuation. We are sufficiently Catholic to be aware that division is contrary to the teachings of Christ our Lord and so we should be sufficiently strong to accept those teachings. St. Luke, referring to the Church at its very beginning, wrote: “The community of believers were of one 22 heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32). The followers of our Divine Savior were practicing that for which He prayed after the Last Supper: “I pray, Father. . .that they may be one, as We are one – I living in them, you living in Me – that their unity may be complete. So shall the world know that you sent Me, and that you loved them as you loved me” (John 17:22-23). St. Paul used other words but taught the same doctrine: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, so we too though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:4-5). The adoption of separate churches for whites and blacks was and proved practical if not genuinely Catholic. Who shall guess the good faith which prompted it? Much good was accomplished. It preserved the faith of the blacks and was responsible for thousands of conversions to Catholicism; it was responsible for the development of leaders and definitely proved that blacks were able to take care of themselves. For more generations than we had hoped, this procedure continued unchanged. In the light of a greater awareness of the teachings of Christ, we see not only the advisability but the necessity of correcting a system which can no longer endure. With this in mind and fully conscious of all that is involved – human nature being what it is – and after much prayer, serious thought and consultation, we have appointed you as the one pastor in charge of both ecclesiastical parishes of Grand Coteau. In virtue of the faculties granted in the Apostolic Letter “De Episcoporum Muneribus”, dated June 15, 1966, we hereby further decree that as of this date these same two parishes are to be consolidated into one ecclesiastical parish retaining the already established territorial limits. The changes regarding the name of the parish, its charter, the organizations and finances should proceed slowly and prudently. As one parish in the eyes of God and His Holy Church, good will and cooperation are expected from every parishioner. “This will prove that you are sons of your Heavenly Father” (Matt 5:45). This happy and Catholic turn of events deserves congratulations and should serve as a pattern for other such developments in our beloved diocese. “Christ’s peace must reign in your heart, since as members of one body, you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you” (Col 3:15-16). 23 Given from the Bishop’s Residence under our Signature and Seal on the 19 th day of March, 1971, the Feast of St. Joseph, the Universal Patron of the Church. Maurice Schexnaydre Bishop of Lafayette The next thirty years saw big steps and little ones in the pursuit of integration of the two churches. First of all, since a new name was needed, it was determined to revert to the original name given the parish in 181p when it was founded, St. Charles Borromeo, the favorite saint of Charles Smith whose generosity provided the foundation for the new parish. Then followed little steps, not always forward and not always productive. Steps toward Unity. In the years 1970-71 a series of steps were taken to provide occasions for mutual spiritual activities. They were many, and the following indicate the seriousness and effectiveness of purpose. On September 13, 1970, the first church bulletin for both parishes was published. In October a series of eight Adult Religious Education lectures began in St. Ignatius Gym, later moved to St. Peter Claver Gym on alternate weeks. On November 1, it was announced that confessions and baptisms henceforth would be held alternately in the churches of Sacred Heart and Christ the King. On December 6 the phones were “integrated,” one new number (two lines) replaced the former phones and numbers of the two parishes. On December 13, the first “Global Village Mass” was celebrated in Christ the King Church, and alternated between the two churches thereafter. In January 1971, a proposal to amalgamate the three schools into one excellent one, which would receive out-of-parish students, failed because of this note: A school founded by the rich will be for the rich, whereas a school founded for the poor cannot commit itself to providing what the rich can pay for elsewhere. On January 24, the bulletin announced that the offices for both parishes were now relocated behind St. Charles Borromeo. The 6:30 a.m. weekday Mass at St. Charles was discontinued because of personnel difficulties. In this spring, a program was devised to share school activities between the three schools: St. Ignatius went to St. Peter Claver for a pep rally and a movie; St. Peter Claver and the Academy participated together in the Academy’s Sewing Club and Cheer-leader Clinic. Sacraments were jointly shared: the baptism of a black and a white baby at the same time; First Communion was given to 97 black and white children together (about evenly divided between the two races). The perennial stumbling block was the fact that black Catholics for forty years had financed and labored to build St. Peter Claver church, renamed in 1941 Christ the King church. In this facility they baptized their children, witnessed their First Communion, married and from which they were buried. From the beginning of the process of integration/unification, the blacks saw only loss for themselves: their building would be downgraded and abandoned; their parish council, it was feared, would be swallowed up 24 when it joined the white parish council; and once again blacks would have no voice and maybe no place. They were asked to compromise and – it would seem– to give up the most. In an unidentified document in the church files, we can hear the anguish of black Catholics, a genuine and sentiment: Father David Knight, S.J. in his zealous and priestly spirit felt that our parishes should merge. Those of us who were here lived through much anguish and suffering. Our strength was in the reality that the priests here with Father Knight, the Holy Family Sisters, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, some whites and blacks were united in their efforts to preserve the dignity, respect, and needs of our black Catholic community. Out of this came the decision to keep our former black church open as a chapel where Sunday Mass would be held. This was accepted by the blacks despite the fact that they were called on to give up so much. . .It [Christ the King Church] is closed during the periods of Advent through the second week of the New Year, closed during Lentan and Easter seasons, and closed during summer though Labor Day. These are the times when Black Catholics come home to celebrate and the Black Church is their roots (dated Feb. 16, 1993 – italics added). This proved to be a very neuralgic point; for a battle of letters ensued between Fr. William Rimes, S.J., pastor, and Bishop Harry Flynn over this very issue. I, myself, and two of the three other members of our pastoral staff, Rev. Warren Broussard and Rev. Mr. Samuel Henry, do not think the change in our Plan is wise. . . During the past year the Plan has worked well. To discontinue it now will be a setback in the gradual but steady progress of this Parish toward complete integration of the races and ignores the desires of our Parishioners, both black and white, to have all Parish Masses in the main church on weekends. Moreover the attitude of the two churches,“their church and our church,” will be promoted by following your directive (W.B. Rimes, SJ to Bishop Harry Flynn, Feb 11, 1993) . 25 “The Plan” We, the undersigned Pastor and Associate Pastor of the Church of St. Charles, after meeting with Bishop Flynn, Deacon Ray, and certain member of the parish. . .on the matter of continuing on a regular basis the 7:30 AM Sunday Mass in St. Charles Chapel, beginning Sunday February 27, 1993. . .One Mass is to be scheduled in the Chapel on Sundays at 7:30 AM during the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. . .On 6 Sundays of the Advent-Christmas Season and 7 Sundays of Lent-Easter season all Masses are to be scheduled in the Parish Church, including the 7:30 AM Mass (Communication of William Rimes, SJ and Warren Broussard, SJ to the church, Feb 16, 1993). Bishop Harry Flynn was not amused and wrote back a stern directive which reversed the “Plan,” in place for over a year. Father Rimes, I wish to restate the position which I have attempted to make as clear as possible, and that is that Sunday Mass is to be scheduled in the Chapel on every Sunday during the year. I do not agree with the reasons given for closing the Chapel during Advent or Lent. There are memories attached to that Chapel which are in the minds and hearts of many older parishioners. Those memories are precious. I have spent a great deal of time on this issue. I do not wish to spend any more and will expect that my directive will be adhered to and that Mass will be celebrated on every Sunday during the year (Bishop Harry Flynn, March 7, 1994). For ten years the problem festered. How to please all the people all the time! But a solution came unexpectedly because of the inability of a subsequent pastor, Fr. Thomas Madden, SJ to preside at all four weekend Masses. He became weak in the Spring of 2005, and could not celebrate all Masses scheduled for each Sunday because of loss of mobility and stamina; moreover, the close sequencing of them was also a major problem for him. This led him and the parish council to evaluate the need for four Sunday Masses. The sensible comprise depended on supporting the pastor in what he was able to do, namely three Masses on Sunday at decent intervals: “combine the 7:30 and 9:15 Masses in Grand Coteau into one Mass at 8:00 in the main church, to continue the 9:30 Mass in Bellevue, and to begin the later Mass in Grand Coteau at 11:15 instead of 11:00 o’clock” (Thomas Madden, SJ, insert to the parish bulletin, Corpus Christi, 2005). And so it happened that all liturgies were celebrated in the church of St. Charles Borromeo and the last piece of integration/merger was complete. VI What’s This Growing in the Garden? 26 The story of Black Catholics in Grand Coteau would be seriously incomplete without mention of the emergence of black deacons who served the local church. Both deacons are now dead, Edward Charles Ray and Samuel Henry, and at this writing Hurd Gilbeaux still serves, although he has parkinson’s disease. The stories of Ray and Henry are narratives of the power of grace to pick whom the Lord want to serve the church. How honorable are they. Scripture praises trees growing beside the water who give their fruit all year long. Well, Grand Coteau had a pair of beau chene” who grew up from the prairies and when full grown gave the fruits of education and service to Grand Coteau and Sunset. The First “Beau Chene”: Edward James Ray Principal and Deacon Given the difficulty of a black man to become educated in mid-century America, Edward James Ray (b. March 28, 1912) was a sponge for knowledge: Catholic elementary school, upper elementary school, secondary school, several years of seminary study, and then a bachelors degree from Xavier University in New Orleans in English and Foreign Languages. He later earned a Masters in Education. Along the way he attended Grambling College and RETZ Vocational School, where he earned a certificate in electronics. As an educator he taught at Holy Ghost High School, in the St. Landry Public School System and at St. Peter Claver High School. In time the Spirit inspired Mr. Ray to become a deacon in the newly-restored diaconate after Vatican II. Needless to say, he was an accomplished and comfortable public speaker in all the venues where he worked. What inner conviction led him to think of public ministry in a Church were his race was marginalized? But he was ordained a deacon and served as such in the office of Black Catholics, as assistant to Rev. Harold Trahan in Port Barrie, and finally in St. Charles Barromeo in Grand Coteau. Let us let Deacon Ray speak for himself: “My assignment to work with Father Trahan here has been most rewarding. My wife and I have become a very close family team wherein we enjoy mutual joy and cooperation in the Lord’s work. Our parishoners are a beautiful family who reach out to welcome us and support us. I consider all my duties as major ones. There is nothing that the office of permanent deacon allows that I do not perform. I am allowed a free hand to not only support Father but to be creative in my role in the parish. . .We are open, free, and comfortable in our work and discussion together. We have opened our rectory to the other five deacons of our deanery where we meet to pray, share and enjoy a social session” (CV of Edward Ray in the archives of the diocese of Lafayette, LA). Edward Ray did one more wonderful thing, he fostered the career of Samuel Henry to become a public administrator in the same system which Mr. Ray served. Vocations come from vocations. 27 The Other “Beau Chene”: Samuel A. Henry Principal and Deacon Born January 15, 1930, died November 6, 2012. But what a rich and full life. Imagine a young boy being educated in Cankton’s segregated elementary and high schools, George Washington Carver. Imagine him matriculating at Southern University, where he earned a degree in agriculture. But the seeds he would plant were in classrooms, not fields. His first success was to woo Mary Ford from Natchez and bring her back to Louisiana. Although he taught some classes in agriculture at Sunset High School, he was of such caliber that he was made the Assistant Principal early in his professional life. When Edward Ray retired, Sam moved up to become the principal of Sunset Elementary School. Sam was inspired by his stint in the Army, and when back home, Sam became a true servant of his parish, serving for many years as lector, Eucharistic minister, and visitor of parishoners in nursing home. An ordinary Catholic, it would seem, except for the explicit pleasure he took in all these ministries. As Mary said, “He was happy, he enjoyed his ministry, he loved to visit the nursing homes.” “Why not be a deacon?” he was asked “Not right now.” “Now” was 1986 when Sam retired from teaching and began learning again. Let us imagine a very bright man of considerable stature who was no longer a young man going back to school! He flourished in the deacon program, always of support to his own parish and to the other deacon candidates - ever “The Educator,” although he was a student now. Sam was ordained in 1993 and assigned to Christ the King parish in Grand Coteau, now doing as a deacon what he had always been doing as simple Mr. Sam Henry. It is often said that God confirms a vocation by giving the ordained person great consolation and energy in the new job, and so it was with Sam. But can we get beyond his dossier and know of his heart? Sam was blessed with good mentors, first, the pastor of the Catholic Church in Cankton, who was a strong, strict, but compassionate priest who read the goodness of Sam’s heart. He was particularly blessed with parents who appreciated his heart and raised him with strong moral principles in their Catholic faith. As an adult layman, he served in the ministries mentioned above, with joy and dedication. And here is the window to his heart: “He was,” as Mary Ford Henry said, “deeply in love with God,” a love which was mutual. His heart manifested itself in the service Sam offered to parish and people. His daughters remembered Sam answering questions about why he was assisting certain people or going to certain meetings, “Because I enjoy it!” “Because they need me!” “Because I gave my word!” Raised in a remarkable family, Sam and Mary made their home the perfect nursery for three daughters. Sam’s firmness and faith profited them well; Sam and Mary made enormous sacrifices to educate all three girls at Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Coteau. Indeed they were all chips off the old block, for all three chose careers of 28 What is so important about Deacons Ray and Henry is the simple fact that their faith and service are local produce. They are the ripeness of grace in what often seemed like grasslands. Both received education in segregated schools, attended college and became principals of local schools. Home grown, they attest to the fertility of their parish life, despite rocks and brambles. They grew tall, like poppies above the crab-grass of living in segregated Louisiana. If “by their fruits you will know them,” Deacons Edward Ray and Samuel Henry were hybrids in the fields. Now, It’s 2016 The update of this narrative tells a new story aobut the Black Catholics in Grand Coteau. For one thing, the parish is at peace. Whites who resisted integration and/or merger have found other churches for worship. All who gather at St. Charles are cordial to one another, shake hands or kiss, and pray in peace together. The parish staff judges that the racial balance of St. Charles is 60% black and 40% white. Moreover, all parishioners are welcome to ministries: Eucharistic minister, lector, acolyte, usher, money-counter, greeters, etc. St. Charles is truly a rainbow community, staffed by rainbows. It is a mark of the vitality of St. Charles Parish that over the years since the Diaconate was restored, four men from the parish – three of them black – were trained and ordained to this clerical ministry. Ray (19 ), Henry (1993), Guidry (19 ) 4 th ? Mr. Guy Gilchrist was recently ordained in the class of 2016 to serve in the parish. Education remains, not a matter of racial equality, but of finance. Records of attendance for St. Ignatius Parish School cannot be had before 1996, and so the data presented here is incomplete. But the available data give this picture. Year Black students White students 1966-2016 514 6,023 Hence the average enrollment of black students was 11.7% per year. These data must be massaged, because the State of Louisiana built the Sunset Elementary School and the Grand Coteau Middle School, which attracted many in the Grand Coteau-Sunset area. The flow of black students toward state-supported public schools was channeled by the tuition costs of the parochial school. The enrollment of black students differed significantly from year-to-year: in 2000, 19 black students for all grades, but in 2010, 7 for 1 through 8. Factors contributing to this fluctuation include available jobs in Grand Coteau and environment, residence by young families in the area, and relative prosperity to afford significant tuition. The parish instituted a quality Religious Education program, which was very successful in preparing black children for Holy Communion and Confirmation. Differences in annual income between blacks and whites was always significant, and surely contributed to modest enrollment of black Catholics in St. Ignatius Elementary School. The parish wisely developed a vigorous program of Religious Education. Again, the records are incomplete, but from 1997-2005 there were 324 first Communions registered, 29 an average of 36 students per year. Once upon a time, the register of white children was done in the front of the book, and that of blacks in the back – hence racial distinctions were immediately evident. But with the integration of school and parish, that anomaly disappeared and all children are listed according to the date they received Holy Communion. Hence, it is impossible to determine from current records what percentage of the children were white or black. As regards Confirmation, a total of 226 students received this sacrament in the years 1997-2005, an annual average of 27 students. These numbers remain mysterious, because we cannot tell the race of children receiving these sacraments, nor can we compare with other parishes for the same period. The Thensted Center continues to provide most of the services it offered when it was established in 1977. Because Sr. “Mike” Hoffman, RSCJ, was a professional nurse, she could provide medical services such as injections, but in current times these are provided by other health professionals. The various trips performed by the staff of the Thensted Center have been discontinued, such as trips to doctors, bringing the elderly to hospitals for treatment, transport to AC nutrition center, and transport to school or job. Most of these are provided by state services. However, it remains important for the staff to bring people to the Food Stamp office to apply for benefits and to transport them to Family Services and Social Security to register. New services meet new needs: budgeting programs, summer programs, tutoring, and Empowering Senior Citizens program. The Center welcomes all, but as it turns out, the black Catholics are the majority of those who avail themself of its services. Thus resources and personnel dedicated exclusively for the education of black Catholics in Grand Coteau has dramatically diminished; blame it on funding, but also on opportunity available to black Catholics at local state-sponsored schools. Gone are the religious orders who staffed schools for black students; schools like the Academy of the Sacred Heart and St. Ignatius parochial school are both integrated. And the idea of a separate black Catholic elementary and high school is not feasible or desirable. Finally, this phenomenon must be noted. How remarkable that the tiny village of Grand Coteau at one time had five schools active all at the same time: The Academy of the Sacred Heart, St. Charles College, Christ the King Mission School, St. Peter Claver/Christ the King Elementary and High School (whose elementary school morphed from the RSCJ’s “Colored School”), and St. Ignatius Elementary School. Only the Colored School, Christ the King in Bellevue and St. Peter Claver served black Catholics. Separate and unmistakably unequal. All the more surprising is the fact that so many black Catholics still attend weekly Mass in their church (it is estimated that they number 60% of the parishioners). Grand Coteau is getting old; young people migrate to cities in search of jobs. They probably have never heard this story, but it one of courage, determination, and virtue. It is the judgement of the author that the village is populated with saints, good folk, ordinary Catholics and wise people, who are en route to the Halls of Heaven. Would that they would tell this story to all who would listen.