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Title: Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians: - What Is Being Accomplished by Means of the Annual Collection Taken Up for Our Missions
Author: Various
Language: English
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THE INDIANS: ***
MISSION WORK
AMONG THE NEGROES
AND
THE INDIANS.
What is being accomplished by means of the Annual
Collection taken up for our Missions.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING THE FUND:
HIS EMINENCE JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS,
ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
MOST REV. DR. RYAN,
ARCHBISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA.
RIGHT REV. DR. KAIN,
BISHOP OF WHEELING
BALTIMORE:
FOLEY BROS., PRINTERS,
4 LIGHT STREET.
1893.
Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
_From January 1st, 1892, to January 1st, 1893._
RECEIVED FROM COLLECTIONS OF 1892.
Archdiocese of Baltimore $ 2,400 00
” Boston 5,005 00
” Chicago 1,918 00
” Milwaukee [1]2,192 79
” New Orleans 947 60
” New York 4,293 27
” Philadelphia 6,261 01
” St. Louis 2,382 69
” St. Paul 1,000 00
” San Francisco 1,098 60
” Santa Fé 113 18
Diocese of Albany 1,082 35
” Alton 417 70
” Belleville 300 00
” Brooklyn 3,077 68
” Buffalo 990 48
” Burlington 309 00
” Charleston 30 00
” Cleveland [2]1,858 54
” Concordia 95 80
” Covington 333 85
” Davenport 668 03
” Denver 310 60
” Detroit 750 00
” Dubuque 1,332 65
” Duluth 82 00
” Erie 416 90
” Fort Wayne 1,294 37
” Galveston 135 45
” Grand Rapids 452 72
” Green Bay 477 27
” Hartford 1,659 08
” Helena 87 15
” Jamestown, N. D. 100 00
” Kansas City, Kansas 340 25
” Kansas City and St. Joseph 372 80
” La Crosse 563 66
” Lincoln 206 21
” Little Rock 200 00
” Louisville 909 07
” Manchester 733 40
” Marquette 322 00
” Mobile 193 35
” Monterey and Los Angeles 170 00
” Nashville 227 74
” Natchez 96 65
” Natchitoches 30 00
” Nesqually 82 60
” Newark 1,755 89
” Ogdensburg 216 25
” Omaha 324 05
” Peoria 1,830 00
” Pittsburg and Alleghany 3,390 34
” Portland 1,030 70
” Providence 2,035 86
” Richmond 237 00
” Rochester 645 84
” Sacramento 173 82
” St. Augustine 72 00
” St. Cloud 250 00
” San Antonio 150 00
” Savannah 200 00
” Scranton 600 00
” Sioux Falls 136 60
” Springfield 1,300 34
” Syracuse 548 61
” Trenton 225 00
” Vancouver’s Island 19 75
” Vincennes 1,376 42
” Wheeling 232 23
” Wichita 68 20
” Wilmington 450 00
Vicariate of Brownsville (1891 and 1892) 67 00
” Idaho 16 50
” Indian Territory 52 90
Interest on Deposit 244 00
Proceeds sale of pamphlets 7 30
-------
Total amount received from collections of 1892 $66,068 09
Balance on hand January 1st, 1892 2,327 58
----------
Total $68,395 67
==========
Balance on hand January 1st, 1893 $498 32
DISBURSED.
Archdiocese of Baltimore $2,300 00
” Chicago 1,000 00
” New Orleans 2,700 00
” New York 1,500 00
” Oregon City 1,200 00
” Philadelphia 1,500 00
” St. Louis 1,200 00
” San Francisco 500 00
” Santa Fé. 2,500 00
Diocese of Charleston 1,800 00
” Cheyenne 300 00
” Covington 1,500 00
” Dallas 750 00
” Duluth 500 00
” Fort Wayne 360 00
” Galveston 1,800 00
” Grand Rapids 1,000 00
” Green Bay 1,000 00
” Harrisburg 150 00
” Helena 1,500 00
” Jamestown 1,000 00
” Kansas City, Kansas 1,000 00
” La Crosse 800 00
” Little Rock 1,400 00
” Louisville 1,000 00
” Marquette 500 00
” Mobile 600 00
” Nashville 750 00
” Natchez 2,250 00
” Natchitoches 1,800 00
” Nesqually 1,200 00
” Pittsburgh 1,000 00
” Portland 200 00
” Richmond 1,800 00
” St. Augustine 1,000 00
” St. Cloud 1,000 00
” San Antonio 500 00
” Savannah 1,000 00
” Sioux Falls 1,500 00
” Vancouver’s Island, Alaska Missions 2,500 00
” Vincennes 1,000 00
” Wilmington 2,000 00
Vicariate of Arizona 500 00
” Brownsville 1,500 00
” Idaho 1,000 00
” Indian Territory 2,000 00
” North Carolina 1,400 00
St. Joseph’s Seminary, Baltimore, for the formation
of priests devoted to the missions among the
colored people 6,000 00
Expenses at the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions,
Washington 4,000 00
EXPENSES:
Secretary 250 00
Pamphlet on the Negro and Indian Missions sent
to all the priests of the U.S. 282 05
Other printing, stationery, postage, &c. 105 30
--------
$67,897 35
_Balance transferred to a/c for 1893_ 498 32
----------
$68,395 67
[1] In this amount is included a legacy of $1,000 from Mrs. Alice
Hussey, $500 for the Negro and $500 for the Indian missions.
[2] Including a legacy of $100 from Mr. Adam Haefling, Tiffin, O.,
to be equally divided between the Negro and the Indian missions.
Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians.
The communications we publish from Bishops who receive aid from the
annual collections for our Negro and Indian missions, show very simply
and forcibly the importance and needs of this work. Passages from the
letters of Archbishop Janssens, of New Orleans, of Bishop O’Sullivan, of
Mobile and of Rev. Father Molony of the diocese of San Antonio, may help
to answer a question as to the ultimate outcome of what is being done,
that doubtless arises in many minds.
* * * * *
The Archbishop says:
“In another portion of the diocese, at Grossetete Bayou, there is a
somewhat similar settlement of negroes, who before the war were sold
in Maryland, to Louisiana Protestant planters. The history of their
trials for religion, their constancy to the faith, would embellish a
page in the history of the Martyrs of the Church. Much is said of the
inconsistency of the negro, but my experience convinces me, that when
the negro has been brought up in the knowledge and practice of religion,
he is as constant as any white Catholic under the circumstances. Bad
training and ignorance degenerate their mind and heart, as it does with
the white population. We are trying to raise means to build a church
for that settlement. I regret very much that the Commission has been
obliged to diminish the allocation. Our work is increasing and the funds
diminishing. May the Lord provide some other means.”
* * * * *
Bishop O’Sullivan writes:
“We receive very few adult converts from among the colored people.
However, the proportion of colored converts is equal to the number
of white converts. Hence, there is no reason why we should look upon
the conversion of the colored people as hopeless; on the contrary the
outlook is encouraging. If we plant the good seed, our successors will
reap a rich harvest. The Catholics in the South are so few, that it
is impossible for them to supply missionaries and means to carry on
the work. Help must come from outside. May God bless all who help this
mission.”
* * * * *
Rev. R. J. Molony writes: “Our work in this diocese is assuming a
brighter look. God has blessed it this year beyond our most sanguine
expectations. Our experience of the past did not inspire much hope. Since
the foundation of the mission in 1888, our colored people have stood
aloof and looked on our labors with cold indifference. They seemed to
assume an attitude of distrust. Within the present year we have noticed
a change in their behavior towards the mission and the Catholic church.
Now they approach with more confidence. The better class, the religiously
disposed, receive religious instruction. They begin to appreciate the
intellectual and moral improvement of the children who attend our
schools.”
* * * * *
The amount received from the annual collection was in
1887 $81,898.01
1888 76,175.30
1889 69,637.68
1890 70,461.87
1891 63,386.84
The receipts for 1892 to date stand 66,068.09
In 1887 thirty-one dioceses received help from this fund and forty-six in
1892.
* * * * *
The following Pastoral Letter issued last year by the Rt. Rev. Bishop of
Louisville, sets forth strongly and earnestly the claims of the Negro and
Indian Mission work on our sympathy and generous aid.
The Colored and Indian Missions.
The following is taken from a Pastoral Letter issued last year by Rt.
Rev. Bishop McCloskey of Louisville. It sets forth strongly and earnestly
the claims of the Negro and Indian mission work to our sympathy and
generous aid.
“If thousands of these wretched beings of whom we speak, are still as
ignorant and destitute of the light of Christianity, as heathen, so to
say, as when the first settler landed on our shores, whose fault is it?
And if they are now fast falling back into the practice of their old
heathen rites, who are responsible for abominations which disgrace the
Christians’ name? Christ died for all; for the African as well as the
European. Have we recognized this fact? Have we come up to the full
measure of the duty we owe to our less favored brother? and when we found
him lying in helpless misery, bruised and beaten,—have we taken him up
and carried him to an inn, and like the good Samaritan, pored oil into
his wounds? or have we not rather, like the unfeeling priest and cold
hearted Levite, passed him by and left him lying by the way-side, as
if _his_ heavenly Father was not ours also? These, dearly beloved, are
questions that we must answer at the judgment seat. “I was hungry and you
gave me not to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink: naked and
you clothed me not; sick and you did not visit me;” and the answer will
come to you as distinct and definite as to the astonished culprit, who
could not see Christ in the person of the poor and needy. “Amen, I say to
you, as long as you did it not to one of these least ones, neither did
you do it to me.”
Yes, dearly beloved, He who died to redeem us all, will surely hold us
accountable, unless we make such tardy reparation as we are able, for the
wrongs done these neglected creatures, in whose behalf the Church pleads
so earnestly and yet so tenderly to-day. “Now is the acceptable time; now
is the day of salvation.”
What the Church wishes you to do just now is to strengthen the hands of
those noble bands of missionaries—priests of God and devoted Sisters of
Mercy and Charity; heroic Ursulines and brave daughters of St. Benedict,
now laboring among our Colored brethren in the South, and, in the far
West, among the scanty remnants of a race that still clings (and who can
blame them?) with the tenacity of despair to their last footholds in a
land they once proudly called their own.
The Church, which to the Catholic, is the voice of God, wishes you to put
in the hands of the self-denying workers in that rougher portion of the
Lord’s vineyard, the funds they need to carry on the work they have in
hand. These holy missionaries would carry the glad tidings of salvation
to the benighted children of the forest. They would plant in their midst
schools in which young Indian boys and girls may be trained in civil
learning; and churches into which all may be gathered round the altar of
God, and taught to know and worship in spirit and in truth Jesus Christ,
their Redeemer, whose children they are, and, equally with us, heirs of
eternal life. “Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” It is the humility and the
meekness of Jesus that is to win for us the great prize of eternal life
for which each one, in his own way, is daily striving. “Blessed are the
meek, for they shall possess the land.” It is the beauty of our soul not
the color of our skin that will be the real test of our right to gaze
upon the glory of God in paradise. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for
they shall see God.”
Such then, in brief, is the object for which this collection is to be
taken up at all the Masses on the First Sunday in Lent—a noble and a
blessed work, and full of richest merit for all who approach it in the
spirit of Christian charity, and with kindly feelings toward those of
their brethren, who, as you know too well, are utterly unable to help
themselves.
The heroic self-abnegation of those priests and nuns who have gone forth
into a sort of voluntary exile to spend themselves and be spent for
Christ in the service of the forsaken and despised Indian, whose lot,
to some extent, they share, is worthy of our highest admiration; for
this, Dearly beloved, is not a field of labor which all would willingly
select—this life of perpetual self-sacrifice, ending only in death. The
very nobility of the sacrifice they have made is in itself one of their
strongest claims on your generous support; for (do not forget it), but
for this their heroic self-denial, you would not easily find a means
of discharging a debt you owe a race which for two long centuries has
been so cruelly dealt with;—a race, too, that has proved itself time and
again, in council and on battle field, as brave, as skillful, and as
magnanimous as your own. And yet, to our shame, be it spoken, nearly all
that are left of this singular, and in some respects, mysterious people,
are now wanderers upon the wild prairie, eking out, as best they can, a
miserable existence on the paltry pittance that is doled out to them, and
are to-day, practically speaking, as destitute of religious instructions
as were their pagan forefathers. Oh! Dearly Beloved, what a commentary
is this sad spectacle on the boasted superiority of our Christian
civilization! Take heed, lest Christ’s words on witnessing the faith of
the centurion, and the want of it on the part of those to whom He was
speaking, may one day rise up in judgment against you: “I say to you
that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children
of the kingdom shall be cast out into exterior darkness: there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Come, then, We entreat you in the bowels of Christ’s mercy;—in the name
of Him who for your sakes, and for the sake of those for whom We are
pleading, hung naked on the cross, despising the shame; come to the aid
of these devoted missionaries who are doing what they can to save this
people worthy of a better fate; remembering the rich graces poured out
centuries ago on your own ancestors in the faith; for what after all,
are these brave missionaries doing, but just what St. Patrick did for
Ireland, St. Boniface for Germany, St. Francis Xavier for the savage
tribes of India, and St. Francis of Sales, the gentle apostle of the
Swiss, for the tens of thousand whom he rescued from the enemy of souls.
Dearly beloved, a glorious work is going on in your midst and you know it
not. If, then, you hear the voice of God to-day, harden not your hearts;
turn not a deaf ear to the voice pleading within you for your destitute
Colored and Indian Brethren; but take in hand at once the blessed work
which your generous hearts prompt you to do. Rise up like true men, and
shake off the forgetfulness of the past, and let your charity respond in
full measure to this earnest appeal to you for help. It comes to you with
the sanction of grave and venerable prelates who in council have weighed
the matter well, and now make known to you the obligation you are under.
The rich results of your generosity you may not live to see. Leave that
to God. The just man lives by faith, and knows that if in loving kindness
to the poor and destitute he casts his bread upon the waters, it will
come back to him, not in the shape of human praise, but in the fullness
of divine mercy, which will not be wanting to him in that supreme hour
when he will stand most in need of it. Strive thus, dearly beloved, to
make your vocation and election sure; that, for your kindness to the
needy, you may one day hear those words so full of comfort and divine
love: “Come ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for
you; for I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave
me to drink; I was naked and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me;
for as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it
to Me. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
You will have the sweet consolation of knowing that you have hearkened
to the voice of the Bishops whom the Holy Ghost has placed over the
Church in this our beloved country—this favored land which is ours by so
many pleasing associations;—discovered by a fearless Catholic navigator,
aided, as he was in turn, by the royal munificence of that pearl of
Christian Queens, “Isabella the Catholic;”—its early missionaries devoted
sons of St. Dominic, St. Francis and St. Ignatius, who were the first
to plant the cross and spread the true faith on American soil, which
they watered with their blood;—this blessed land of ours now dedicated
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and tenderly guarded by our dear Lady, the
Immaculate Mother of our God, and sweet comforter of the afflicted.
Dearly beloved, may the joy of a good conscience, the peace of God, that
peace that surpasseth all understanding, ever be yours.”
I. THE NEGRO MISSION WORK.
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+
| Negro |Catholic | | | Baptisms. |
DIOCESE. |Population.| Negroes.|Churches.|Priests.|Children.|Adults.|
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
Baltimore | 218,000 | 36,000 | 4 | 14 | 460 | 170 |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Brownsville | 20,000 | | | | | |
Charleston | 550,000 | 1,000 | 2 | | 35 | 15 |
Covington | 75,000 | 115 | 1 | | 3 | 15 |
| | | | | | |
Galveston | 250,000 | 500 | 1 | 2 | 21 | 24 |
| | | | | | |
Kansas City | 40,000 | 200 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 14 |
| | | | | | |
Little Rock | 400,000 | 100 | | | 5 | 2 |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Louisville | 200,000 | 4,003 | 1 | 1 | 167 | 37 |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Mobile | 706,243 | 2,500 | 5 | | 82 | 4 |
Nashville | 431,320 | 40 | | | 3 | 3 |
Natchez | | 1,838 | 1 | 1 | 75 | 30 |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Natchitoches | 145,000 | 15,000 | 2 | 1 | 178 | 23 |
New Orleans | | 80,000 | 2 | | 3,218 | 292 |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
New York | 80,000 | 3,000 | 2 | 4 | 58 | 22 |
| | | | | | |
Philadelphia | 60,000 | 1,500 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 10 |
Pittsburgh | | | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4 |
Richmond | 700,000 | 700 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 34 |
| | | | | | |
Savannah | 720,000 | 1,000 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 12 |
St. Augustine| 97,800 | 1,200 | | | | |
| | | | | | |
San Antonio | 75,000 | 1,200 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
| | | | | | |
Wilmington | 100,000 | 125 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 7 |
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| [3] | 140,021 | 28 | 30 | 4,479 | 734 |
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
[3] Colored population of the South in 1890, 6,996,166.
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
| | | |
DIOCESE. |Schools.|Pupils.| Institutions. | Sisterhoods.
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
Baltimore | 10 | 1,200 | St. Joseph’s |{ Notre Dame.
| | | Seminary, Epiph’y |{ Oblates.
| | | Apostolic College,|{ St. Francis.
| | | Two Orphanages, |{ Holy Cross.
| | | Academy, St. |{ Charity.
| | | Joseph’s Guild. |
Brownsville | | | |
Charleston | 1 | 126 | |
Covington | 1 | 219 | Hospital, |{ Charity.
| | | Orphanage, Home. |{ Charity of Naz.
Galveston | 2 | 420 | Orphanage. |{ St. Dominic.
| | | Indus. School. |{ Incarnate Word.
Kansas City | 3 | 108 | Orphanage. |{ Oblates of Prov.
| | | |{ Charity.
Little Rock | 5 | 450 | Indus. School. |{ St. Benedict.
| | | |{ Mercy.
| | | |{ St. Joseph.
| | | |{ Charity.
Louisville | 8 | 680 | |{ Loretto.
| | | |{ Charity.
| | | |{ Nazareth.
Mobile | 4 | 286 | | Mercy.
Nashville | 1 | 167 | |
Natchez | 5 | 240 | |{ St. Francis.
| | | |{ Mercy.
| | | |{ St. Joseph.
| | | |{ Perp. Adoration.
Natchitoches | 6 | 252 | |
New Orleans | 36 | 2,309 | Orphanage. |{ Mercy.
| | | Aged People’s |{ Perp. Adoration.
| | | Home. |{ Mt. Carmel.
| | | |{ St. Joseph.
| | | |{ Sacred Heart.
| | | |{ Holy Family.
| | | |{ St. Francis. (col.)
| | | |{ Holy Cross.
New York | 4 | 200 | Orphanage. |{ Charity.
| | | |{ St. Dominic.
Philadelphia | 2 | 140 | | Notre Dame.
Pittsburgh | 1 | 60 | | Mercy.
Richmond | 6 | 380 | |{ St. Francis.
| | | |{ Holy Cross.
Savannah | 5 | 175 | Orphanage. |
St. Augustine| 5 | 225 | |{ St. Joseph.
| | | |{ Holy Name.
San Antonio | 2 | 165 | |{ Servants of the
| | | |{ Holy Ghost.
Wilmington | 1 | 82 | Orphanage. | St. Francis.
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
| 108 | 7,884 | |
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
BALTIMORE, MD.
The Catholic Church in the Southern States has long felt the need of
priests. The Bishops of these States have made successive appeals for
zealous workers, but all to no purpose. St. Joseph’s Seminary and the
Epiphany Apostolic College have been founded to supply this want.
Although both institutions are new, sixty-five young men have offered
themselves for the arduous mission. If Providence favors this Seminary
and College a number of missionaries will depart yearly for the South, to
work wholly in the spiritual interests of the Negro. “On sending in our
application,” writes the Rev. Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, “it may be
well to review the work of the scholastic year, 1891-92, at St. Joseph’s
Seminary and the Epiphany Apostolic College. The most important event,
the placing of our work on an independent basis, is already known to you.
We are seven priests to initiate the new movement. We have just finished
a retreat in common in which we threw ourselves into shape under the
name of St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart. The seven represented
the two institutions for the training of missionaries, the missions
of Richmond, Va., Wilmington, Del., and St. Peter Claver’s mission of
Baltimore. In regard to this step, very many Bishops and Priests, by word
and letter, have endorsed it. The second event of importance was the
ordination of our colored priest, in December, 1891. At the close of the
year there were ten seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary and fifty-two
students at the Epiphany Apostolic College. Of our seminarians, one is
a deacon, one is in minor orders, and three are tonsured. With God’s
blessing and our Lady’s help, next year will see fifteen seminarians
in St. Joseph’s Seminary, of whom six will have been graduates of the
Epiphany Apostolic College. We expect to have at least sixty students in
the latter institution. Your Eminence will bear in mind that the five
thousand dollars the venerable Commission has agreed to allow us, are but
one fifth of our expenses. And it is but just to add that we must raise
the other four-fifths. Moreover, we must build a new seminary this year.
At present, the neighboring house, one hundred and thirty feet distant,
must be used, and we fear to the detriment of discipline. Plans are drawn
for a building to hold sixty seminarians. Because of this building may
we ask a special donation in addition to the regular allotment? The new
seminary will cost sixty thousand dollars, which, as I must stand at my
post, I know not how to raise.”
The following letter is from the Rev. Paul Griffith, of St. Augustine’s
Church, Washington, D. C.
“I most respectfully apply for assistance from the fund for the Indian
and Negro Missions. We need all the help possible to cope with the Public
Schools of Washington. In fact our school facilities are poor, and unless
we can do something to invite children to our Catholic school, many of
them will lose their faith. Five hundred dollars are absolutely necessary
to pay the teachers, but one thousand would be a veritable Godsend.”
Sister Rose Noylam, who has charge of St. Euphemia’s School, Emmitsburg,
Md., writes as follows, in a letter addressed to His Eminence, Cardinal
Gibbons: “I make a new appeal for our poor colored children. At the
same time I wish to thank Your Eminence for last year’s appropriation;
although it was one hundred dollars less than that of the year before,
still we are most grateful for it. There are from forty to fifty colored
children enrolled in our school, and it is both consoling and edifying
to witness the docility of these little ones, and their eagerness to
make all manner of sacrifices to avail themselves of the advantages of
an education. Some of these children have to walk three miles to school
and three more in returning to their homes. They come to school in
all varieties of weather, through snow and ice, to say nothing of the
other discomforts to be met with on the rugged roads of the surrounding
district.”
The Rev. C. G. Giesen, pastor of St. Francis Xavier’s Colored Church,
City of Baltimore, had many difficulties to contend against in the
running of his large parochial school. “Four hundred colored children
receive tuition free. I shall give the amount of expenses and receipts
for 1891.”
Teachers’ Salaries $1,220.00
Ground Rent and Taxes 102.80
Light and Fuel 35.00
Repairs 196.33
Interest on debt 35.84
Books 203.53
---------
$1,793.50
Receipts and Donations 574.28
---------
Deficit $1,219.22
The Rev. A. B. Leeson, of St. Monica’s Colored Church, writes as follows:
“Next year we shall have to exert all the influence in our power to hold
our school. Within two doors of our school a large public school building
is being erected.” This new public school building will draw pupils away
from the Catholic school unless the latter be made equally efficient in
its work. This means an increase of expenditure.
CHARLESTON, S. C.
The diocese of Charleston has a large negro population out of which
a thousand are counted as Catholics. This is a goodly number, when
we consider the fact, that there are but eight thousand Catholics in
the whole diocese. The Ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Northrop, has
this to say in reference to the Negro Missions: “This poor diocese has
bought and given for the use of the colored people, since the war, the
following property: a church valued at $7,000, a residence at $3,500,
a school-house at $4,500, a chapel at $3,500. This makes a total
expenditure of $18,500. The fathers hitherto in charge of the Negro
Missions, have done their best, I suppose, but the results of their work
are not satisfactory. We have the names of a thousand colored Catholics
on the rolls, but no more than four hundred actually attend church. The
support derived from them is extremely meagre. Notwithstanding this we
have supported two churches, one priest, sometimes two, and kept the
school going with three excellent teachers. I have delayed my report
while trying to secure a successor to the late Rev. Cornelius Hurley,
who died last April. After various unsuccessful efforts, I have made a
contract with the Fathers of the Pious Society of Missions, and expect
two priests in a short while. I hope by next year to be able to report
progress. Father Hurley was sick for a year or more and the mission
suffered very much. The Josephites were unable to give me any assistance,
and just after resigning the mission Father Hurley died. I have kept
the Church and School open since then, not without great inconvenience
and considerable personal expense. After the arrival of the priests,
whose coming I expect, I can give a better outline of my prospects for
the future. I have a building valued at $5,000, situated near the Church
and the School. This I propose to repair and arrange for Sisters devoted
to the Colored work. It will serve as an Academy and Orphanage. These
repairs will cost about a thousand dollars. If I succeed in procuring the
services of Sisters, I expect your generous aid. The Church and School
now call for at least $1,000 for support, the income being only $500. A
new church at the Cross-roads will, I hope, be an event of the future.”
CHICAGO, ILL.
There are 35,000 Negroes in the city of Chicago; of which number about
500 are Catholics. The latter are now permanently organized and form
a parish having for its pastor, the colored priest, Rev. A. Tolton. A
building site has been procured in a good location and Father Tolton
is exerting himself to raise funds for the erection of a church. A
colored school is badly needed and could be made the instrument for the
accomplishing of much good. Father Tolton is sure of the attendance of at
least one hundred Catholic children, while he feels confident that two
or three hundred colored Protestant children would seek admittance. The
colored people in most localities are very partial to parochial schools
conducted by sisters.
COVINGTON, KY.
The diocese of Covington has but few colored Catholics, yet the schools
and charitable institutions founded by Bishop Maes, promise in time
to bear rich fruitage. St. Peter Claver’s school in Lexington has a
membership of 219 pupils; of this number 202 are protestants. The
salutary influence of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, as exerted
over the children intrusted to their keeping, will necessarily tend to
turn the eyes of the parents towards the Church. Besides this school,
there is in the same city, a hospital for colored people under the charge
of the Sisters of Charity. Last year it admitted 142 patients. Another
hospital in Covington cared for 42 patients last year, five of whom were
received into the Church. “Your committee will notice that we have kept
our own,” writes the Bishop of Covington. “Solid results already attained
are the only claims we bring forward to support our application for the
same amount of help as has been given us in the past, and if possible a
greater amount. You will kindly notice, that so far, I have been unable
to contribute a single cent towards the maintenance of the 184 feeble and
sick colored people in our hospitals; and that the same lack of funds
prevents me from taxing the charity of our orphan asylums to a greater
extent than is already done. The prospects for permanent good done to
souls at Lexington, are as bright as ever, as is proved by results, and
will in my opinion assume a brighter aspect every year. I would like to
begin, in Covington itself, to enlarge the sphere of negro work, but
property being expensive and the resources small, I forebear, of least
for this year. The following record of receipts and expenditures will
give some insight into our work and its needs.”
_Accounts from January 1st, 1890, to December 31st, 1891._
1891.
Jan. 1. Balance debt of last account $1,305 06
Sisters’ School, salary 500 00
Janitor—coal 138 20
Repairs to school house 56 93
Salary of Priest 200 00
Chapel supplies 89 04
25 copies of Catholic Tribune 25 00
---------
$2,314 23
Cr. Oct. 13th. By allowance of Committee 2,000 00
---------
Dec. 31st. Balance debt 314 23
1892.
May 1st. Debt to date:
Salary of Teachers, 91 and 92 500 00
Salary of Priest 75 00
Salary of Janitor 60 00
Repairs to School 4 65
--------
May 20th. Debt to date $ 953 88
========
Estimate of expenses for 1892-93:
Balance Debt $ 953 88
School expenses 760 00
Church expenses and Priest’s salary 450 00
Help for Hospitals and Orphanage 500 00
Paris, Lot and New School 1,510 00
Salary of Teachers 300 00
---------
$4,463 88
GALVESTON, TEXAS.
The diocese of Galveston presents a great field for missionary labor.
Its Negro population, aggregating a quarter of a million, knows almost
nothing of the saving truths of Catholicity. The five hundred colored
Catholics within the limits of the diocese are scattered here and there
and are thus unable, as a body, to possess or exert any influence over
their brethren. A church has been erected for the colored people, two
schools have been opened, an orphanage founded, while two priests have
volunteered their services for the good work. This is a good beginning.
“The laudable work in behalf of the colored people in this diocese
still goes on,” writes Bishop Gallagher, “and with fair success,
notwithstanding the many obstacles to be met with, and the constant
opposition of many ill-disposed toward our Holy Faith, especially the
colored ministers, who in various ways strive to keep the colored people
from our churches, and the colored children from our schools. The white
people, in general, manifest little interest in our efforts to benefit
the colored race; and even Catholics give little aid or encouragement
to this good work. It seems evident, therefore, that the conversion of
the colored people here, under ordinary circumstances, will be a work of
time. The colored Catholics, being mixed with Protestants and surrounded
by them, need a great deal of fortitude to withstand the evil influences
about them. But in time, with the blessing of God, under the protection
of our Blessed Lady of the Rosary, we hope to see the colored people
coming into the true fold in large numbers. I feel sure that earnest
prayer and zealous labor now will bring success later. To carry out the
various projects we propose to realize during the coming year, we shall
need $1,691.73 to pay the debt on Holy Rosary Church, Galveston, and
on St. Nicholas School, Houston. We also need $800 to meet the current
expenses of this Church and School. An addition to this, the priest’s
house attached to this Church is badly needed. This improvement would
cost $1,000. We would like to build a school-house for colored children
at Austin. This building could be built for $1,200. To continue the
work going on and to pay our debts, I request the usual allowance for
Galveston. A short while ago I administered the Sacrament of Confirmation
to seventeen colored people; this indicates about the results of our
efforts here in Galveston in the work of evangelizing the Negroes.”
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.
The Rt. Rev. L. M. Fink of Kansas City, submits the following
communication touching the mission work in his diocese. It will be found
interesting.
“The number of colored Catholics has not been notably increased during
the past year. About one-half of the adults baptized since the last
report obtained that grace in _articulo mortis_. Prejudice and ignorance
will, however, be gradually removed, it is hoped, and then the work will
go on more rapidly. Our schools are quite satisfactory, both in point
of attendance and in the progress made by pupils in their studies. The
Guardian Angel Asylum is a very promising institution, and well worthy
of all encouragement. Here colored children, in their tender years,
imbibe the principles and practices of Christianity. Aloof from all
contaminating influences, their dispositions are carefully regulated,
their minds cultivated, in a word, they are wisely prepared to become
faithful Christians and useful members of an enlightened community. The
buildings now occupied are entirely inadequate for the work. Many of
Christ’s little ones must grow up in filth and ignorance and sin, because
they who are otherwise so able and willing to keep them, lack the means
of providing ample accommodations for the helpless and forsaken. One
thousand dollars are needed for the ensuing year to keep up the Sisters’
schools at Leavenworth and Topeka, make an addition to the Colored Orphan
Asylum at Leavenworth, and furnish part of support to one priest.”
From a letter of Bishop Fink, accompanying his report to the Commission,
we quote the following: “Last year I felt very much discouraged; this
year I feel more encouraged. We have again a very good school for colored
children at Leavenworth. We have about twenty-five colored boys in our
orphan asylum. The building being too small, we were unable to take in
any girls. In order to give room to those we have, and to take in a few
more, we have to put an addition to our present accommodations. This
will entail an expense of some $500. I do not dare to ask for more than
a thousand— which will leave a small sum at my disposal to support two
schools, the Colored Sisters and give a fractional salary to the priest,
who is almost exclusively engaged in the colored work at Leavenworth.
We have not recuperated from the loss we sustained at Topeka, by the
Oklahoma exodus, about two years ago. Besides adding a sanctuary to the
school-house, separated by folding doors, so as to give the colored
people divine service on some Sunday evenings, nothing more was done,
except to keep up the colored school. If I could have any hope of
getting for once only, an appropriation of $3000, or $4000, I would feel
encouraged to put the Orphan Asylum for colored children on a firmer
basis. For this purpose I would have to secure a site in the country,
with a sufficient piece of land, to train the children to work and make
the institution self-supporting in the course of a few years. My diocese
is poor; it receives the poor from the eastern cities and towns. For
these we try to do the best we can, but they do not become wealthy or
able to give much help even to their own churches and schools, much less
to the Negro cause. Even if they would like to be generous, as many of
them try to be, still they are unable to contribute much. Thus in other
words, I can expect very little, if any, help from my own diocese. We
have a large Negro population in Kansas City, perhaps some 6000 souls,
among whom there are not over one half dozen Catholics. As soon as our
missions become self-sustaining, a beginning can be made here. I have not
a sufficient number of priests at present for the whites, let alone the
means.”
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.
Bishop Fitzgerald, of Little Rock, feels sanguine of the future success
of Catholic Missionary work in his diocese. “There is at the present
time a somewhat better prospect for conversions than existed last year,
as the colored people begin to see that we mean them good, not harm. The
most flourishing school is at Pine Bluff. Here the usual common-school
branches are taught, together with music, vocal and instrumental. The
girls are taught sewing, domestic work, etc., and the boys, carpentry.
Three Sisters of Charity are employed as teachers; and also an instructor
in carpentry and building. The Hot Springs’ School is also doing well. In
our five schools we have four hundred and fifty pupils enrolled. On the
whole, I feel more encouraged than when I last wrote. We have not as yet
been able to open a school at Little Rock. The colored people here are
superabundantly supplied with schools, public and private. The Colored
Industrial School, although but three years, founded, is a pronounced
success. The attendance is much larger than usual, and promises to reach,
when cotton picking time is over, two hundred and fifty pupils. In a few
years it is hoped that a farm will be procured, and a full course of
trades and farm work gradually developed.”
“It is desired by the Directors, Teachers and Patrons of the school to
commemorate the great centennial year of 1892, by the erection of a home
for the Sisters of Charity, a little church for the people and a small
house for the pastor. There are 350,000 colored people in Arkansas,
the greater part in the cotton Belt Region, of which Pine Bluff is the
centre, and there is not one Catholic church for colored people in the
whole State. Before the war many of the colored people were Catholics,
but have fallen away from the church through want of that attention,
which the poverty of the diocese could not grant them. A great number
would now gladly return if a proper chance was offered. At present, Mass
is held every Sunday in St. Joseph’s Church for their special benefit.
While they have always been invited to attend the regular services of the
church here and elsewhere in the State, they have, as a rule, refused to
do so, owing to the fear of feeling on the part of the whites, and the
demands of the regular congregation. With the great success of the school
and the sympathy of both colored and white citizens, we feel, that we are
offering a rare opportunity to the charitably disposed. We, therefore,
most earnestly request all friends of the colored people to send us a
donation, large or small, to aid us in this great work. The usual masses
and prayers will be offered for all benefactors.” An interesting history
of this school will be found in last year’s report of “The Negro and
Indian Commission.”
LOUISVILLE, KY.
There are 4003 colored Catholics in the diocese of Louisville. Eight
special schools for colored children are in good running order, with
an enrollment of 680 pupils. These schools are under the direction of
the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, of Loretto and of lay teachers. The
colored Catholics of Louisville have a church of their own, attended by a
regular priest of the Josephite order. Two hundred and four baptisms have
been reported during the last year.
MOBILE, ALA.
According to the late census there are 706,243 colored people in the
diocese of Mobile. About 2,500 of this vast number are Catholics. The
total Catholic population, negroes and whites included, is scarcely
17,000 souls. These figures will give us some slight idea of the
difficulty to be met with on every side in the work of propagating
the faith. Priests, money and moral support are absolutely necessary
to achieve any missionary success. Bishop O’Sullivan has five colored
schools directed by the Sisters of Mercy and by lay teachers. Two hundred
and thirty-five pupils attended them. “These schools do much good. The
attendance would be larger if they were entirely free. In our present
circumstances I think it advisable to exact a small fee for tuition.
People do not always appreciate what they get for nothing. The children
are well instructed in the catechism and make good progress in their
studies. Through the children we hope to lead the parents to the church.
We have at last opened the mission for colored people in Pensacola.
Father Fullerton generously took charge of the work. We have a church
and school combined. It is a frame building, two stories high, 75 feet
by 32 feet. The first story is used for school purposes and the second
as a church. The Sisters of Mercy teach the school. The building was
blessed December 4th, there being large congregations present at the
three services. The church is under the patronage of St. Joseph. I am
more than hopeful for the success of this mission. We need a house for
the Pastor and as the church is yet to be built we have secured a lot
in a fine situation. We receive very few adult converts from among the
colored people. However, the proportion of colored converts is equal
to the number of white converts. Hence, there is no good reason why we
should look on the conversion of the colored people as hopeless; on the
contrary, the outlook is encouraging. If we plant the good seed, our
successors will reap a rich harvest. We must work and wait and pray until
the Lord sends the harvest. The Catholics in the South are so few, that
it is impossible for them to supply missionaries and means to carry on
the work. Help must come from outside. May God bless all who help in this
mission.”
NASHVILLE, TENN.
There is but forty colored Catholics in this diocese. The colored
population numbers 434,320. The contrast is very striking. The diocese
has suffered much on account of the Civil War and the terrible yellow
fever plagues that ravaged the South in 1867, 1873, ’78 and ’79. These
successive plagues carried off twenty priests and many religious, dealing
a blow, from the effects of which the diocese has not as yet been able
to recover. There is one special school for the colored people. It is
located in Memphis and has a membership of 167 pupils. Bishop Rademacher
writes that in regard to this school, Father Moran, of St. Peter’s
Church, informs him that the progress of the pupils is very encouraging.
“Towards the close of the term, however, the ‘Oklahoma fever’ attacked
our colored people and many of those who went out there were the parents
of our children, and of course we lost those children. The tendency
of the colored people to roam about is one of the chief obstacles to
the success of the school. The race trouble in Memphis last Spring had
also an injurious effect. The experience of the last four years has not
been very encouraging. ‘I believe’ says Father Moran, ‘we are removing
prejudice and gradually convincing the colored people that the Church
is honestly trying to do something for them. The children are taught
the catechism and prayers and are making satisfactory progress in them.
But for good and sufficient reason, it has not been deemed prudent to
receive, as yet, any of them into the church.’”
NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI.
In the State of Mississippi the negroes out-number the whites. The
Catholic population of the whole State numbers but 15,000, out of which
1838 are colored. There is perhaps one colored Catholic in every seven
hundred of the population. Five colored schools are kept open with an
average attendance of about two hundred children. These schools are in
charge of religious. Bishop Heslin has a wide field for work. One of his
priests, a very zealous man, is engaged exclusively in Negro Mission
work. This priest, the Rev. A. N. Peters, has just purchased a plot of
ground in a locality easily accessible to the colored people. “This
will entail additional expense,” writes Bishop Heslin, “as almost every
building that is required will have to be built new, and the old place
cannot be disposed of at once. The Rev. Father will have to seek help to
enable him to erect church, school, convent and parsonage and to provide
himself with a means of livelihood.”
NATCHITOCHES, LA.
The colored Catholics of this diocese number 15,000, or about half the
total Catholic population. Bishop Durrier is doing his utmost to extend
the work of Catholic education. The six schools within his diocese have
been founded through aid granted him by the Commission.
In a letter forwarded to the Commission the bishop writes: “I ask for
the same allocation as that granted me last year, $2000. This year I
did not succeed in doing for Catholic education all that I wished. I
hope to do better the coming year. I have re-opened the school at Bayou
Wallace which we were forced to close last year. The prospects of the
work hardly show a bright spot; yet the work can stand on the principle,
that the salvation of a single soul is worth both any amount of money
and any amount of labor. The work will keep going on. I have no special
observation to submit to the Commission. I simply surmise that in the
fight for the Catholic education of the colored people, the Commission
ought to give the honors of war, even to those who come out from the
battle field badly beaten, provided they ‘never despair of the Republic.’
The progress we have made is not so encouraging as I had expected. Still,
I believe in trying and trying again.”
This determination to succeed has the true ring to it; Bishop Durrier’s
motto will always bear him out. “What _ought_ to be done, _must_ and
_shall_ be done.”
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
The diocese of New Orleans still continues to lead in the work of Negro
education. There are 80,000 colored Catholics in the diocese, 36 schools
open to colored children, a large orphan asylum and a home for aged
women. The schools are attended by over 2309 pupils. Two or three extra
schools are opened each year. Archbishop Janssens feels confident of the
future good results to come from his labor, in multiplying these colored
schools. His pithy letter is extremely interesting.
“This year I notice a decrease in infant baptisms. One year there are
more, another less. An average of a certain number of years would enable
us to draw a conclusion either one way or the other. During the last
year our schools have been increased by four new ones while we note an
increased attendance of 404 pupils. This is a consoling item. There is a
strong desire on the part of both priests and sisters to perform their
full duty towards colored schools. In many of our parishes the priests
are anxious to open schools, but the poverty of the parishes does not
allow it. If we had $20,000 to spend on this item alone, it would not
be adequate, by any means, to present and pressing wants. However, we
are making arrangements to open three schools, two of which will draw
a very large number of pupils, they being situated in parishes largely
made up of colored people. We have two churches especially for colored
people. One of these, at Petite Prairie, has long since existed but I was
not aware of it, until I made a visit there last year. One new Orphan
Asylum is so far finished that we have been able to transfer our orphan
girls there. It has cost $16,747, on which is a debt of $4000. God’s
Providence has visibly assisted us in this work. When the debt is paid,
we will furnish it according to plan, thus entailing a cost of $8000
more. It is of brick, simple but beautiful style, strongly constructed,
well ventilated, with a capacity for 150 orphans. This Asylum, more
than anything else, has lifted up our colored population in the city.
They feel grateful to the Church for it. At the laying of the corner
stone, the different colored societies paraded and there were about 7000
colored people in and around the premises, besides many whites. The old
Asylum has been fitted up at an expense of $1200, (no debt) and our aged
colored women have it for a home. It is able to accommodate about fifty
people. The year 1891, has been remarkable in the history of the Church’s
progress in this diocese, both for white and colored Catholics. _Deo
Gratias._
“Last September I made a pastoral visit to the chapel at Petite Prairie.
The road leads through swamps and is abominable in bad weather. We
were favored by a clear sky. Thirty colored cavaliers came to meet us,
to conduct us to the chapel, an old store, in a rather dilapidated
condition. The chapel was full to overflowing and the people delighted.
I confirmed sixty-nine colored people. This is an exclusively colored
settlement, most of its inhabitants being free-men before the war. They
are industrious, intelligent and very much devoted to the church and
religion. Here there are about 500 Catholics, but owing to the distance
from the church and the many occupations of the Pastor they have Mass but
once a month on a week-day. I was really surprised to find the children,
when examined, so well instructed in their religion. They are anxious
to have a resident priest, a school and a new church. But where are the
laborers? In another portion of the diocese, at Grossetete Bayou, there
is a somewhat smaller settlement of negroes, who before the war, were
sold in Maryland to Louisiana Protestant Planters. The history of their
trials for religion, their constancy to the faith, would embellish a
page in the history of the Martyrs of the Church. Much is said of the
inconstancy of the negro, but my experience convinces me, that where the
negro has been brought up in the knowledge and practice of religion,
he is as constant as any white Catholic under the circumstances. Bad
training and ignorance degenerate their mind and heart as it does with
the white population. We are trying to raise means to build a church
for that settlement. I regret very much that the Commission has been
obliged to diminish the allocation. Our work is increasing and the funds
diminishing. May the Lord provide some other means.”
NEW YORK, N. Y.
The diocese of New York has 80,000 colored people within its limits.
The vast majority of these dwell on the Bermuda Islands which are under
Archbishop Corrigan’s jurisdiction. In New York City there are 3000
colored Catholics, with one church devoted to their use. Their spiritual
interests are cared for by two priests of the diocese. Two Benedictine
Fathers are in charge at Nassau. A flourishing “school and home” has
been opened at Rye, N. Y., which is directed by ten Dominican Sisters.
The three schools at Nassau are well spoken of as will be seen by the
following letter. The Sisters of Charity have charge of them. The labor
of these two Sisterhoods in this arduous mission work has been untiring.
The Sisters of Charity have devoted their energies to the colored people
without remuneration, and have been supported by the zeal and generosity
of the Mother House at Mount St. Vincent’s.
The following interesting letter is from Archbishop Corrigan:
“I have the pleasure of returning to you the blank form with regard to
the colored Missions. The Rev. Jno. E. Burke, of St. Benedict’s Home,
has given the facts relating to his Mission, and I myself add a few
details regarding the Mission at Nassau, which I visited last month for
the purpose of administering the Sacrament of Confirmation. I found our
Free Schools to be the best on the Island. They are attended by over
200 children, all of them negroes, and nearly all non-catholics. Their
parents are anxious that these children should have the benefit of a
good education, and especially of that training and gentleness which
is imparted by devoted religious teachers. The Sisters who conduct the
schools are popular with all classes of the community. During my stay
at Nassau, I visited the schools several times, in company with other
clergymen, and was a witness to the surprising proficiency of the pupils,
and was present at an exhibition given by the colored children, which was
attended by the most distinguished residents of Nassau. Among them were
Sir Ambrose and Lady Shea, the Colonial Secretary, Captain Jackson and
his wife, the Attorney General and the Chief Justice. They unanimously
expressed themselves as surprised and pleased beyond measure with the
results obtained in so short a time from such unpromising material. Later
on this exhibition was repeated for the parents of the pupils, much to
their delight and gratification.
“The hope of the future of this Mission is in the schools, and,
therefore, with God’s blessing it is proposed this year to erect another
building, in order to accommodate the large number of applicants, whom
we are now obliged to refuse. During the month of November, 1891, a
kindergarten was opened in Nassau. It is already overcrowded. We propose
to receive young children in this kindergarten, and then gradually lead
them on to the other branches of an ordinary education. Religious
instruction is regularly given, and I assisted one Sunday at the Sunday
School, which was composed almost entirely of non-catholics, who went
there of their own accord, and who answered the catechism in such a way
as might bring a blush to many of our more favored children.
“Recently a second Benedictine Father sailed for Nassau to assist Rev.
Father Chrysostom, O. S. B., who is in charge of the Mission. On the
whole, I felt very well repaid for the discomforts of the journey by sea
and the distance traveled, (nearly 2400 miles altogether), on witnessing
the results already accomplished. I had the pleasure of confirming 20
children and adults, all of whom, except one, were colored, and all of
whom except this one, were converts. On Holy Saturday Father Chrysostom
expects to baptize 20 more Neophytes. As the colored Catholics of Nassau
are few and poor, it is impossible for them to contribute to the support
of the Mission, so that for the present it must be carried on as a
labor of christian love and self-sacrifice. There are many hardships
connected with the Mission, particularly in the long summer months when
the thermometer rises to 160 degrees in the sun. There are privations in
the way of obtaining proper food, as the fresh meats and fresh vegetables
must be imported from this city and communication is rare from the
month of May to November. However, the Grace of God enables the good
missionaries and the devoted sisters to endure these difficulties and to
bear them cheerfully for the glory of His name.”
The New York City Mission carries a large debt on the Home for Destitute
Colored Children, located at Rye. It receives children from other
dioceses. One hundred children are now cared for and educated within its
walls. Father Burke who is at its head asks the Commission for $1500.
Besides this, the building of a new school at Nassau is deemed necessary,
thus calling for an outlay of about $2000. The prospects for future good
in this diocese look encouraging.
NORTH CAROLINA.
Bishop Haid has many unfavorable conditions to encounter in his large
vicariate. The Catholics both white and colored are few and scattered.
Every step he would make in the right direction is hampered by the
poverty of the diocese. We give his letter to the Negro and Indian
Commission: “The Colored Missions in North Carolina, have made some
progress, but not such as I could have wished. With the means at our
disposal, we should perhaps not expect too much. St. Charles’ Church at
Newbern, is finished. Rev. M. Haw has Divine Service there every Sunday
for the colored People. He seems greatly interested in the work, and
has a considerable class ready for Confirmation. The Sisters of Mercy
teach the colored school and have from 88 to 100 pupils enrolled. At
Wilmington the colored Catholics attend St. Thomas’ Church and are very
regular. The Sisters of Mercy teach the school which numbers about 100
pupils. This year we may increase our school room. St. Benedict’s colored
church, near the Abbey, is under the charge of good Father Melchior, who
exerts himself to the utmost. The school connected with this church was
taught by a lay teacher last year. This year the Sisters of Mercy from
the Sacred Heart Academy will take charge of it. Until I procure more
priests, or better, until I procure priests ready to devote themselves
altogether to the colored people, little more can be done than what we
are now trying to do. If some community of Sisters would establish a
house for the old and infirm in some large town, I believe they could
do a world of good; as the older people are more thoughtful, they would
gladly open their hearts to our Holy Faith on beholding Faith practised
in Charity. I trust you will continue your generous aid to the colored
people of North Carolina.”
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
In last year’s report a full account was given of the purchase and
opening of a church for colored Catholics in Philadelphia. “From the
results attained since then” writes the Rev. Jas. Nolan, “there is
every reason to believe that the colored Mission in Philadelphia will
eventually prove a success. Nothing could be more encouraging than
the large number of young men and women who have, within the last
year returned to the practice of their religion. For years they had
strayed away; they had but rarely attended church and were never known
to approach the sacraments. Now they approach the sacraments and are
ardently attached to their church. I have no doubt that each succeeding
year may bring many more to follow their example.
“Lack of funds, unfortunately is a great drawback to the mission,
there is still a debt of $10,000 on the church, the interest payable
half-yearly. Moreover, we have other heavy expenses for schools, light,
heat, water, etc. These matters often prevent us from paying as much
attention to the spiritual side of the work as is really necessary. The
schools are well attended and through them we hope to reap in due time an
abundant harvest. I earnestly hope your venerable Commission will give me
this year a substantial subsidy to enable me to realize at least some of
the great good that can be done among so large a population of colored
people.”
Sister Agnes Mary, superioress of the Convent of Notre Dame, writes of
the colored school for girls, as follows:
“In sending in our claim for a share in the annual distribution in favor
of colored schools, we present the Committee with a report of the Girl’s
colored school under our care at Ninth and Pine Sts. The school opened in
September last with an attendance of 68; but owing to sickness and other
causes, the number was decreased by 10 or 12, so that at the close of the
school, June 23, there were about 56 present. One-half are Catholics. We
have had the consolation of seeing many who had been negligent in the
discharge of their religious duties, resume their former fervor, and
become monthly communicants. The pupils have given general satisfaction.
One convert has been received into the church. As many Catholic children
are drawn to public schools by the inducement of books free of charge, we
are obliged to use the same bait, and furnish them with sewing material,
books and other school requisites.” The boy’s school is conducted in the
basement of the church, (St. Peter Claver’s) by Brothers of the Society
of the Holy Ghost. This school has an average attendance of 80 pupils.
PITTSBURGH, PA.
The spiritual interests of the colored Catholics of Pittsburgh are looked
after by the Rev. John Griffin, C. S. Sp., who resides at Holy Ghost
College in that city. A church was erected last year, in the basement
of which a school has been opened, conducted by two Sisters of Mercy.
Its average attendance is about fifty pupils. “We greatly need pecuniary
support” writes Father Griffin “in order to pay off the debt still
due on our parochial property. There is no pastoral residence near the
church, and this for want of means to purchase one. The priest attending
the colored church, has to reside at a considerable distance from it.
The good effected, though perhaps not so rapid and consoling as might
be found in other kinds of charitable enterprises, is still real and
substantial. We hope that those who have power, influence and means, will
extend a kindly, helping hand to the poor priest, to whose lot it has
fallen to take upon his weak shoulders this difficult, uphill work.”
RICHMOND, VA.
In this diocese live 700,000 negroes. Out of this number 700 are classed
as Catholics. One Catholic in every 1000. This is certainly a good field
for zealous missionaries. One priest only is engaged in the colored
work. Six schools are in operation with an enrollment of about four
hundred pupils. The Sisters of St. Francis and the Sisters of the Holy
Cross have charge of them. Rev. P. J. Oud, a Josephite father, writes to
the Commission as follows: “During the coming year we hope to open new
missions. Several localities are clamoring for schools, but we have not
the means. In the past, as well as now, we are mainly depending upon the
money, kindly granted us by the Commission for the distribution of the
Negro and Indian fund.”
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.
A letter from Rev. R. J. Molony about the work being done among the
Negroes of this diocese has already been cited.
SAVANNAH, GA.
Nearly one-half of the population of this diocese are colored. There are
1000 colored Catholics out of the total number of 20,000 Catholics to be
found in the State. The colored people have five Catholic schools open to
them, and one church in Savannah which is regularly attended by a priest.
“It seems to me” writes Bishop Becker, “that the colored people need to
be taught less in schools, and a great deal more in individual work.
They have a notion that the sovereign panacea for all their woes is to
be able to read and write a little, and learn something of figures. They
believe that such knowledge would somehow keep them from being obliged to
work. The orphan Asylum for colored children is wholly dependent on our
help, except for what the girls may get for working. I would gladly do
all in my power to aid the colored people suitably. It is my well founded
belief, that without an ‘Industrial School’ under some Brothers, like the
Xavieran for instance, very little permanent good can be effected. With
utterly inadequate means we are doing what we can.”
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA.
The Rt. Rev. Bishop Moore, of St. Augustine, presents his views on the
condition of Negro Mission work in his diocese, in an interesting letter
which we give in full.— “This month one year ago the convent and school
of the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Jacksonville, were burned and have not
since been rebuilt. I should like to rebuild a school for the colored
children at a cost of about $500. This would suit very well until the
Sisters are able to rebuild their convent. In Tampa the Jesuits are
desirous of establishing a colored school and I should like to give them
$500 for that object. The $7700 I have heretofore received has paid
for the block of ground which I have secured for school, church and
presbytery for the colored people. Over $400 are left over to go towards
the building. As I would have that building to serve for a school, a
hall for meetings, and perhaps for a church temporarily, I believe I
should not erect one that would cost less than three or four thousand
dollars. Hence, I propose to wait until I shall have a sum approximating
that amount before I undertake to build; and I would express the hope of
receiving a generous contribution from the collection this year. Although
I feel much discouraged by the accounts I hear of the partial failure of
separate churches for the colored people in other parts of the South, I
am determined to make the experiment in St. Augustine this year; but I
desire to make it after my own idea— I desire to have for the colored
Catholics the best and most attractive church in the place, one of which
they will be proud. I desire to have it so situated that the grounds will
allow of public processions on Palm Sunday, Corpus Christi and other
festivals of the church. I hope in that way to retain the Catholics we
have and to win over others.”
WILMINGTON, DEL.
The Rev. J. A. de Ruyter, a zealous Josephite Father who has accomplished
much good in Wilmington writes: “By advice of the Rt. Rev. A. A. Curtis
and very Rev. J. R. Slattery, an asylum for negro orphan boys has just
been opened. For this purpose I have given up the priest’s house. Next to
it we have a plot of ground on which to build. This is the only exclusive
boys’ orphan asylum for Catholic negroes. Orphan boys from all dioceses
will be admitted. We need much help to supply this long-felt great want.
A plot of ground at Cape Charles City, donated to me by a protestant
gentleman, needs a little chapel and school combined. We have no means to
carry out this desire. Chestertown, Md. and Elkton, Md., need the same.
We are ready and anxious to carry out the mission work, but we have no
means to do it. I request an allowance of $3000 this year. This sum is
badly needed.”
II. THE INDIAN MISSION WORK.
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+
| Indian |Catholic | | | Baptisms. |
DIOCESE. |Population.| Indians.|Churches.|Priests.|Children.|Adults.|
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
Arizona | | 450 | 1 | 3 | | |
Brownsville |[4]40,000 | | 30 | 16 | | |
Cheyenne | 15,000 | | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| | | | | | |
Duluth | 12,000 | 4,000 | 3 | 7 | | |
| | | | | | |
Fort Wayne | | 84 | | | 6 | |
Grand Rapids | | 2,500 | 7 | 6 | 73 | 2 |
| | | | | | |
Green Bay | 3,500 | 1,300 | 3 | 2 | 55 | 29 |
Helena | 12,000 | 6,000 | 12 | 16 | 450 | |
| | | | | | |
Idaho | 4,000 | 1,100 | 4 | 6 | 55 | 9 |
Indian Ter. | 96,640 | 3,000 | 6 | 7 | | |
| | | | | | |
La Crosse | 3,500 | 1,800 | 9 | 3 | 118 | 8 |
| | | | | | |
Marquette | 5,000 | 2,800 | 5 | 2 | 84 | 17 |
Natchez | | 400 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 19 |
Nesqually | 18,000 | 6,000 | 17 | 7 | | |
| | | | | | |
Oregon City | 2,500 | 1,800 | 2 | 2 | 57 | 22 |
| | | | | | |
Sioux Falls | 25,590 | 5,400 | 10 | 13 | 412 | 339 |
| | | | | | |
Santa Fé | 25,000 | 8,000 | 18 | 3 | 403 | 22 |
San Francisco| 1,500 | 800 | 2 | 2 | | |
Vancouver I. | 35,000 | 4,000 | 14 | 14 | | |
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
| 285,730 | 49,434 | 146 | 113 | 1,729 | 469 |
-------------+-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------+
[4] Largely Mexican Half-Breeds.
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
| | | |
DIOCESE. |Schools.|Pupils.| Sisterhoods. | Religious.
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
Arizona | 1 | 40 | St. Joseph. |
Brownsville | 5 | 600 | Oblates of Mary. |
Cheyenne | 1 | 111 | St. Joseph. |{ Jesuit.
| | | |{ Benedict.
Duluth | 1 | | |{ Jesuit.
| | | |{ Franciscan.
Fort Wayne | 1 | 84 | | C. P. P. S.
Grand Rapids | 3 | 243 |{ St. Francis. | St. Francis.
| | |{ Notre Dame. |
Green Bay | 1 | 176 | St. Joseph. | St. Francis.
Helena | 13 | 930 |{ Charity. | Jesuits.
| | |{ Ursulines. |
Idaho | 3 | 130 | Providence. | Jesuits.
Indian Ter. | 6 | 265 |{ Mercy. | St. Francis.
| | |{ St. Francis. |
La Crosse | 4 | 316 |{ Perp. Adoration. | St. Francis.
| | |{ St. Francis. |
Marquette | 1 | 56 | St. Joseph. | Jesuits.
Natchez | 1 | 48 | Mercy. |
Nesqually | 6 | 435 |{ Providence. | Jesuits.
| | |{ St. Francis. |
Oregon City | 2 | 191 |{ St. Benedict. | Jesuits.
| | |{ St. Francis. |
Sioux Falls | 12 | 938 | St. Benedict. |{ Jesuits.
| | | |{ Benedict.
Santa Fé | 11 | 433 | St. Loretto. |
San Francisco| 4 | 70 | | Franciscans.
Vancouver I. | 7 | | St. Anne. |
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
| 82 | 5,066 | |
-------------+--------+-------+-------------------+----------------------
ARIZONA.
The following communication is from the Rt. Rev. Bishop P. Bourgade,
of Arizona. “The Indian work here is so limited and so uncertain that
the prospects for the future are not very bright. The protestant and
government schools are getting control of most of the Indians. The
work of propagating the faith would require money, and missionaries to
consecrate themselves to the work— I have very little money, and very
little time to give to the Indian work. I have besides, no missionaries
to spare. The few attempts that I have made to induce Religious to come
to Arizona to work for the Indians, have failed.”
BROWNSVILLE.
Bishop Verdaguer makes this touching appeal. “For two years we have not
raised any crops and for the past six months we have experienced the most
severe drought ever known here. Two-thirds of our priests cannot support
themselves. Oh! please do for us what you can. Remember, that along the
Rio Grande there are 20,000 Mexican Indians actually starving— living
on dying cattle and boiled prickly pear leaves. Most all the horses and
cattle have disappeared. There is no grass, and has been no crop for
two years. If you do not help us I know not what we can do. Remember,
that out of hundreds of half-breeds that attend schools not one child
pays anything. Remember, that many of our priests have not received $100
during the past year. Please help us. We need five chapels. These five
could be built for $2000. Twelve priests have to be helped on account of
the drought and the misery to be met with on every side. $150 for each
of these would amount to $1800. The Sisters ought to receive something
for the half-breed children taught gratuitously by them. An allowance
of $4.00 for the yearly tuition and books for each of these children
would call for about $1500. The Bishop himself has no resources, still
he must visit his vicariate. There is no house for him except a little
shanty with two poor rooms. Five chapels are badly needed. The people
for whom they are designed are exceedingly poor and are totally unable
to contribute towards their erection. If each one of these chapels were
50 by 30 feet we could have them erected at a cost of $400 apiece. $2000
would suffice to build them.”
DULUTH, MINN.
In this diocese there are 4,000 Catholic Indians, three churches and one
school for the Indians, and four priests attending the missions. These
four priests represent the Jesuit, Benedictine and Franciscan orders.
FORT WAYNE.
There is a large Indian Normal School, situated in Rensselaer, in
the diocese of Fort Wayne. The school is under the direction of the
Congregation of the Holy Ghost and has an attendance of 81 young men.
Four of these are being educated for the priesthood. “If you could pay
the tuition of the four students,” writes Rev. A. Geitl, the President
of the school, “namely, $40 a year for each, we would esteem it a great
favor. We will supply everything else in the way of books, board and
clothing. I have tried everywhere to get a little help for these four
young men.”
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
There are 2500 Catholic Indians in the State of Michigan. Two Regular
priests, who attend seven churches, look after their spiritual needs.
The Catholic Indian Schools, three in number, have 243 pupils enrolled.
“We need $2000,” writes Bishop Richter “to pay teachers’ salaries at
Elbridge, Cross Village and Eagletown, to contribute towards the support
of the missionaries, and also to assist in the building of a church at
Harbor Springs.” The Indians of this diocese dwell in nine villages the
most prominent of which is Harbor Springs. This latter place needs a new
church. The church erected by the late Father Piery in 1842 is in a bad
condition and is fast going to ruin. It is, moreover, too small, being
hardly large enough to hold the children of the parish. The Indians as
well as the white Catholics of the vicinity are poor, and help from
outside sources is urgently demanded. There is a large Indian Boarding
School in this village attended by 130 boarding pupils and 30 day
scholars. These pupils, come from all the villages save Elbridge. This
school, in the opinion of its director, the Rev. S. Altmicks, needs to
be enlarged, to accommodate children who at present are unable to attend
it through want of sufficient room. A tribe of Ottawa Indians are within
the limits of the diocese and have passed through various vicissitudes
of fortune. The Official Government Report on Indian Affairs, for 1891,
has this to say of them. “A great mistake was made by the Government,
when the allotment was made, in giving to the (above) Indians titles for
their land without any restriction as to their right to sell. As soon as
the allotments were made, land sharks went among the Indians and bought
their lands for trivial sums, or loaned them small sums of money at high
rates of interest secured by mortgage, on short time, and then foreclosed
as soon as the law would permit them to do so.” In 1888, through the
zealous labors of Father Altmicks the condition of affairs was brought
before the Government, and a contract was given for the support of the
schools at Harbor Springs. “There is very little hope for the prosperity
of the Indians of the United States, in this world,” writes Father
Altmicks, “notwithstanding the good will of some noble, honest and well
meaning statesmen. But one thing I know, in the next world there will be
a number of our poor Indians— while of our “civilized” people, hundreds
of thousands will be cast out.”
GREEN BAY, WIS.
Out of 3500 Indians in this diocese 1300 are classed as Catholics. They
are all located on the Menominee Reservation. Two Franciscan Fathers
are exclusively engaged in missionary work among them. There is a
large Industrial School on the Reservation under the direction of five
Franciscan lay Brothers and eight Sisters of St. Joseph. “A total amount
of $7,500 is needed for carrying on the work of the mission,” writes
the Rev. J. A. Selbach. “As reported last year, our school suffered a
loss by fire amounting to nearly $20,000. The building has been rebuilt,
its re-erection and equipment running the missionaries into heavy debt.
Besides, a new church was sorely needed at Little Oconto and has been
built at great expense on the part of the Franciscan Fathers, as yet it
is not completed. A very necessary work is the building of a new church
at Kinepowa, calculated to be finished during the coming summer, if the
necessary means can be gotten for the same. The two old buildings wherein
divine service has been held so far, are in ruinous condition, and so
small that not more than half the respective congregations can find room
therein during divine service. They have to attend outside, the doors
being left open. It is needless to add how hard and difficult this is
for the poor people, to be thus exposed to the inclemency of the weather
especially during the long winter season. As for the Oneida Reservation,
there is a little frame church which has to be brick-veneered. An
addition ought to be built to this church and also a school house
constructed, at least, in course of time. The Government does not help
in the least; on the contrary, these (Oneidas) Indians having been
Protestants before, made all difficulties possible. The Rector of Freedom
Congregation, heretofore attending to the Oneida Mission, is hardly able
to do so any longer, as his congregation claims all his time, and he is
certainly unable to do full justice to the enterprise of converting many
more Oneidas. Wherefore it is absolutely necessary that a priest be given
to the Oneidas, having care of them alone. Such a priest would, without
the least doubt, convert many, for the Oneida Indians are favorably
impressed with the Catholic Religion.”
HELENA, MONT.
There are twelve churches for Indians in this diocese, and sixteen Indian
Schools with 930 pupils enrolled. The Ursulines have a mother-house
located in the diocese as well as a novitiate. They devote themselves
entirely to the education of the Indians of the different missions.
“I will be called upon to pay for the debt of the Indian school and
novitiate and mother-house of the Ursulines” writes Bishop Brondel.
“These nuns were living for seven years in small log cabins and now
they have a decent building considerably in debt. Two or three thousand
dollars would help considerably.”
IDAHO.
Eleven hundred Catholic Indians are to be found in Idaho, four churches
and three boarding schools have been erected for them. “Our Indian
Missions continue to be prosperous” writes Bishop Glorieux. “Last June
I visited the Coeur d’Alénes, at De Smet, the Nez Percés, at Lapnai and
the Kootenais, near Bonner’s Ferry, in the northern part. The magnificent
reception they gave me as well as their piety, showed that their faith
is still lively. All the Coeur d’Alénes and the Kootenais are practical
Catholics. About one-fifth of the Nez Percés, viz., 300 are Catholics,
nearly all of whom are practical ones. Many of the Shoshones and Bannocks
in the south-eastern part of Idaho were baptized about twenty-five years
ago, but owing to the Government policy, the missionaries could not
visit them for a long time, and consequently, they have given up their
religion. The Lemhis in the eastern part have never been visited, to
my knowledge. They number nearly 500. Lack of priests and funds is the
principal cause of this neglect. I hope that in a short time I will be
able to do something for them.”
INDIAN TERRITORY.
The Indian Territory is a great Indian centre, there being no less than
96,640 Indians within its borders. Of this great number but 3000 are
Catholics. These Catholic Indians have six churches which are regularly
attended by six Benedictine Fathers, of the Sacred Heart, and one
secular priest. There are five Catholic Indian boarding schools in the
Territory with an enrolment of 262 pupils. “A school should be built in
the Gwokow nation” writes Bishop Meerschaert, “for that nation and other
small tribes around. A church there is an absolute necessity. Another
school should be built in the Creek nation. We will try a day school in
Muscogee where we can build and be able to have sisters. The trouble is
that day schools with our Indians are impossibilities. We have to clothe
the children, board them and teach them. When our schools are built,
if we could have all the children we could accommodate it would be all
right, but the Morgan system is there to destroy all. He has been a
perfect scourge for our Indians— refusing contracts, diminishing them,
building other Government schools at the expense of the Indians, where
Catholic schools already existed, and this in order to destroy and ruin
them. The Priest of Muscogee Creek Nation attempts to visit nineteen
places. He writes that two priests more are needed there and they must be
supported, as no help comes from the Indians. I will try to get priests
to work for that mission and for many others among the whites in the
Oklahoma Territory. These I will have to procure in Europe, as I cannot
find them here. Hence, more expense. This country is being populated
rapidly. Everywhere new settlements are springing up and towns and cities
are developing. These towns and cities are anxious to have churches and
schools. As yet there is little money and most is expected from the
priest. Protestant associations are building handsome churches everywhere
and keeping our work back where we cannot build. Notwithstanding our
poverty several new churches have been built this year, thanks to the
great efforts and self-sacrifice of the priests on the Missions. Their
mass intentions and every cent they can get go to the good work. They
live very poorly in order to be able to do the work. They are indeed hard
workers and good, pious and zealous priests. The Propagation allowance is
$2,897.72. About $3000 below the sum given to me in former years. As the
funds of last year were exhausted before my arrival, except $450, I had
to use most of the present years’ allowance for the improvements and work
of the vicariate. As regards the Indian work; I have opened a new mission
among the Creeks, the Guokows and other surrounding tribes. I have to
build a church and school for the Guokows, and must help the Creek nation
to do the same. I hope the Commission will help us in our poverty, for
the money will be well spent in this large territory, the home of nearly
100,000 Indians, and will do a great deal of good. I beg God that I may
find self-sacrificing priests and means to do our work. Much good might
be done here in a short time if priests and sufficient means could be
had. All the priests in charge of the missions work most faithfully and
cheerfully, notwithstanding all manner of hardships. I enclose a check
for $52.90, the full amount of the collection taken up for Negroes and
Indians. The amount is small, but it is the first collection ever taken
up for that purpose, I think. And as it is an expression of the good will
of our poor people, may our dear Lord accept their good will and give
them an abundance out of which to contribute in the years to come. We
cannot expect all the means actually needed here in a new country like
this, where everything is wanting and resources few— yet with a little,
much can be done.”
LA CROSSE, WIS.
There are 1800 Catholic Indians in this diocese out of an Indian
population of 3500. These Catholic Indians have nine churches visited
regularly by three priests of the Order of St. Francis. Four large
schools, attended by 316 Indian children are in good running order,
under the direction of Franciscan Sisters. These schools were materially
assisted by last years allocation.
MARQUETTE.
About 2700 Catholic Indians dwell in this diocese, over half of the
resident Indian population. They have five churches and one school. The
churches are visited by two Jesuit Fathers and the school is conducted
by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Missions and the priests attending
them were helped by the Negro and Indian Commission at the last yearly
distribution.
NATCHEZ, MISS.
Bishop Heslin, of Natchez, has four hundred Catholic Indians in his
diocese. They have one church and one school. “The number of Catholic
Indians in Neshoba Co., has now increased to 335, a considerable gain
over last year. Rev. B. J. Bekkers, with money lately collected from
friends in Holland, has made a further purchase of some 600 acres to
be portioned out among the Indians according to necessity. He reports
the Indians are very much distressed in consequence of the low prices
obtained for their crops, which were chiefly cotton. He cannot tell how
they will be able to tide over the time lapsing before the new crops. The
poor people have no credit, and they are now left dependent on Divine
Providence. I must confess that I am comparatively ignorant of the other
Indian Colony situated back of the coast; but I expect before long to
get better acquainted with them, and to be able to give a more accurate
account of them. A great deal has been said about the efforts made, and
the aid given by the Indian Bureau and by Mother Catherine Drexel,
in behalf of the Indians, but we have as yet seen nothing of them in
Mississippi.”
NESQUALLY.
This diocese has quite a large Indian population, there being no less
than 18,000 within its limits. About 6,000 of these are Catholics.
Seven Jesuit Fathers are here engaged in Indian missionary work while
three diocesan priests visit the missions when opportunity affords.
There are seventeen churches exclusively for the Indians, while four
schools conducted by the Sisters of Providence look to the instruction
of the Indian children. “We could have a great many more children at
school,” writes Bishop Junger. “About three weeks ago eighteen children
were brought to Yakima to go to school, but they were not received as
there is no room there, and besides the Sisters of Providence have a
great number above their contract. The same may be said in regard to
the school at Blanket and Puyallup. Then there are several tribes which
would willingly accept the teachings of the Church, but missionaries and
priests are wanting. In my last report I mentioned that the diocese of
Nesqually does not receive an allocation in proportion to other dioceses,
concerning schools, missionaries and churches. I would not reiterate this
remark, and it is against my feelings that I do it again; but I think my
conscience obliges me to do so. Neither do I begrudge the other dioceses
what they receive. In the pamphlet, ‘Mission Work among the Negroes and
Indians,’ which was sent me a short time ago, I see on page 21, under the
heading ‘Indian Mission Work,’ that Nesqually is not fairly represented
in regard to priests and pupils, and especially in regard to the latter.
There are only 150 pupils mentioned, whilst if you count them up in my
report you will find nearly 400, and this year there are about 450.”
OREGON CITY.
Two thousand, five hundred Indians dwell in this diocese. Eighteen
hundred of them are Catholics. Two priests attend the two churches
erected for the Catholic Indians. The two Indian schools, one of which is
taught by the Benedictine Sisters, report an enrollment of 191 pupils.
“Besides the current expenses,” writes Archbishop Gross, “I should like
about two or three hundred dollars to erect a modest chapel on the site
selected by me recently at the Silety reservation. I should also like
some additional donations for the Franciscan Sisters for their school
at the Umatilla reservation. In giving my report, I must state that the
Klamath Indians are large in numbers, and many of them are Catholics.
The reservation is in the hands of Methodists. I made an ineffectual
attempt to visit them some time ago. The next dry season I shall go again
and preach there, whether the government agent likes it or not. I shall
the next time not allow myself to be kept off the reservation. There is
a government school for the Indians near Salem, but so far completely
in the hands of the Protestants. I paid a most interesting visit to the
Silety. These poor Indians had been handed over to the Methodists by
General Grant, and the Catholic priests were ordered to remain away from
the Silety reservation. I went there uninvited this summer and spent
quite a time among them. I was astonished to see how many had preserved
the faith. Nearly all of them came to confession. I administered
Confirmation to a large number. I am not quite sure as to the number
of Indians in this diocese. For fear of exaggerating, I have placed in
my report a total, which I believe to be in reality less than the true
number.”
ST. CLOUD.
We present an interesting letter from the Mother Superior of the Sacred
Heart Industrial School, at Morris, Minn. “I would have replied long
since in answer to your kind letter, but I met with a very severe
accident, a dislocation of my right shoulder, and I am not well yet. I
can use only my thumb and first finger. God grant that I may get the use
of the others, for it is a great loss to the poor children that I cannot
work. I am anxiously looking forward to September, and I trust what our
good Bishop Zardetti asked for us will be granted. Having lost all our
crops by hail and having had to build an addition to our building by
order of the Government, or lose our children; we are greatly in need.
We had to mortgage cattle, sheep and horses. Had I not promised to pay
in September we would have lost all. What we get from the Government,
$9 per month for the support, clothing, teaching and travelling
expenses of each pupil, falls far short of the actual expense. For this
reason we try to raise all we can. If we secure what we expect all our
difficulties will be over in regard to the Industrial School, as it will
be self-supporting. We are teaching the girls all kinds of work. They
make their own clothes as well as those of the boys. They knit, spin and
weave. We are now teaching them to do store work; so that if any remain
with us off the reservation they will be able to support themselves.
We are aiming at the plan of the Industrial School at our convent in
Brooklyn, which I organized some years ago. If we can induce the parents
of the children to let the latter remain with us when their schooling is
finished, it will be, in our opinion, the best method of civilizing them.
Oh, if we could but have help, how much good we could do for the glory of
God and the salvation of these dear souls!... We are praying God to help
us now in our struggles and if the Commission will grant what is asked
this year, we will not apply again. We are insuring our crops this year
for fear of hail and storms.”
Bishop Zardetti, of St. Cloud, endorses the foregoing letter in these
words, “I remit to you the enclosed petition, endorsing it from my heart.
The Sisters in Morris who are very poor, do much for the Indians in their
care, and are, I think, entitled to a subsidy from the Negro and Indian
Commission.”
SANTA FÉ.
Archbishop Salpointe has 8,000 Catholic Indians in his diocese. The total
Indian population aggregates 25,000. There are 18 churches and 11 schools
in the diocese exclusively for Indians. These schools have an enrollment
of 433 pupils. Three priests devote nearly their whole time to Indian
missionary work. “We intend to carry out our school work on a better
plan,” writes the Most Rev. Archbishop. “The agents of Commissioner
Morgan are doing all in their power to ruin our schools and to pervert
our poor Catholic Indians, by means fair and foul. Their efforts are
especially directed against the faith and Catholic allegiance of the
Pueblos. If we could maintain our schools and especially if we had the
necessary means to maintain two more missionaries to attend the Pueblos
of Santa Jamingo, Saguna, Acoma and Zuni, we could arrive at splendid
results, because those Indians are better affected now towards the
Church, than they have been in years past. Moreover the several thousand
Navajoes (the tribe numbers over 20,000, most of whom reside in this
archdiocese,) are in sad need of missionaries, since the Gospel has never
been preached to them. They need schools, as we have absolutely none for
them. They are intelligent, and doubtless, many of them would be won over
easily to Catholicity.” Bishop Chapelle of the same diocese writes “I
trust that the amount asked for in the names of the Most Rev. Archbishop
and my own, will be allowed us. Our Indians are very poor indeed and
the resources of the archdiocese, I may say, are _nil_, for the work of
evangelizing these poor people.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
This diocese contains 1500 Indians, 800 of whom are Catholics. There are
two Churches and four schools for these Catholic Indians. Both schools
and churches are in charge of the Franciscans.
SIOUX FALLS, S. D.
There is a large Indian population in the two Dakotas. In the diocese of
Sioux Falls there are over 25,000. Of these, 5,400 are members of the
church. Ten churches are open to them. These are under the charge of
seven Benedictine and six Jesuit Fathers. The schools, twelve in number,
with an enrollment of 938 pupils, are directed by the above mentioned
fathers. “The year has been a most prosperous one,” writes Bishop Marty,
“both in conversions and in the formation of new Catholic centres
among the Sioux. Especially at the Standing Rock, Cheyenne and Rosebud
Agencies. A beautiful new church and parochial residence has been built
at Cheyenne Agency, and was dedicated, July 3rd, on the occasion of the
Catholic Congress. On the 19th the church was blown down and the house
partly destroyed by a cyclone. Only 50 per cent. of the lumber can be
used again for building. Five petitions were presented for new churches
on the different reservations. Each of these churches would cost one
thousand dollars, as building material, as well as labor, is dear at a
distance of fifty miles from railroad or river. There is no building
material on the prairie. I also have to maintain the missionaries at
Grand River and Cheyenne.”
VANCOUVER ISLAND, ALASKA MISSIONS.
There are about 35,000 Indians on Vancouver Island and in Alaska. Only
4000 of these are Catholics. These Indians have thirteen churches and
seven schools open to them. Some idea may be had of the extent of the
territory within which the Indian Missions are comprised, when we reflect
on the vast area, (593,000 square miles) which is included within its
limits. Fourteen zealous priests are here engaged in missionary work.
According to Bishop Lemmens the prospects for the future are bright. “We
have good hopes that all the Indians on the West Coast will ultimately
be Catholics; the majority are so now. The Missions on the Yukon River
and in the south-west of Alaska are very successful. In all this diocese
there are only four churches, in which it is possible to take up a
regular Sunday collection. The Cathedral is the only church which brings
in any pew rent. All the churches, except four, have to be entirely
supported from the general funds of the diocese.”
With the Alaska missions of the diocese of Vancouver Island we bring our
report to a close. The foregoing reports from the Bishops of the South
and Northwest speak louder than comment on them. The Negroes and Indians
stand in need of priests, of churches and of schools. Much good could be
done among them if the men and the means were available. A rich field
is here open to zealous missionaries, and to the charitably disposed.
Let all praise be meted out to the noble few, both priests and sisters,
who have consented to consecrate their lives to this laudable work. May
heaven continue to bless their labors and to furnish them the meagre
pittance of which they stand so sorely in need.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Mission Work among the Negroes and the Indians: - What Is Being Accomplished by Means of the Annual Collection Taken Up for Our Missions" ***
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