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The Passionists: 150 years in America, continued |
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Ministry to Black
Americans
After Bishop Vincent Waters directed that all churches and schools be integrated, the consolidation of missions and parishes under diocesan personnel followed during the 1960s.
A second mission was begun at Fairfield, where the church of St. Mary was dedicated in March 1943. A small elementary school staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Joliet, Illinois, was dedicated in March 1949. (above: Pastor Philip Paxton, C.P. at parish picnic, Birmingham, Alabama, 1999)
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The
years 1928 to 1938 mark the beginning of an apostolate among black Americans
in North Carolina and Alabama. From chapel-car missions, eastern Passionists
eventually worked toward building parish communities in New Bern, Washington,
and Greenville, in the newly formed Diocese of Raleigh. The growth of
these congregations was accompanied by the foundation of grammar schools
and fully accredited high schools, directed by the I.H.M. Sisters from
Scranton and the Sisters of Christian Charity. At Greenville, Fr. Maurice
Tew began convert work. He built a catechetical center for children
from public schools and preached on TV. He was a popular speaker at
school gatherings and before Protestant congregations. (Chapel car,
at right, c. 1928)
In
1938, at the invitation of Bishop Thomas J. Toolen of the Mobile diocese,
the Passionists of Holy Cross Province began a ministry to the black
community in Ensley, Alabama. Organization and building began with the
opening of the first school at Holy Family Mission in September, staffed
by the Felician Sisters of Chicago, and continued when the Sisters of
Charity of Nazareth began teaching at Holy Family High school in 1943.
The Sisters of Charity also directed the development of a hospital facility
in several stages.
