Untitled - Digitizing America
Untitled - Digitizing America
Untitled - Digitizing America
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Mother Drexel's missions began with Negroes of<br />
the South and lndians of the Southwest, but soon<br />
became a proliferation of schools and convents<br />
scattered throughout the country. ln 1915 she<br />
opened Xavier University in New Orleans. lts rapid<br />
growth led to a beautiful campus dedicated by<br />
Dennis Cardinal Dougherty in 1932. Before her<br />
death at the age of ninety-six, she had seen her<br />
vast stores of money and love grow to forty-nine<br />
foundations in the Northeast, Middle West, and<br />
Deep South.<br />
ln 1893, an <strong>America</strong>n community of the St. Joseph<br />
Society of the Sacred Heart (Josephite Fathers),<br />
also dedicated to work among the Negroes, was<br />
founded. The Paulists and Glenmarys, and<br />
the Missionary Trinitarians. were also home<br />
missionaries.<br />
And in 1908, Pope Pius X finally terminated the<br />
mission status of the <strong>America</strong>n Church.<br />
Of NTar And Peace<br />
he <strong>America</strong>n Church had already<br />
proved capable of caring for its own and then<br />
some. Generations of immigrants had been embraced<br />
by brothers in Christ, even when there was<br />
little to share. And newcomers continued to swell<br />
the ranks of our parishes.<br />
ln the first five years of the 20th Century, threeand-a-half<br />
million ltalians came to our shores. By<br />
1930, one-fourth of our country's ltalian-<strong>America</strong>n<br />
population lived in New York City, giving that city<br />
more ltalians than Rome.<br />
Polish immigrants came in only slightly fewer<br />
numbers, peaking just before World War l. Having<br />
suffered Russian-German repression for so many<br />
years, they formed closely knit groups to retainand<br />
enjoy-their own cultural and lingual heritage,<br />
often establishing national parishes.<br />
The Titanic disaster in 1912, the opening of the<br />
Panama Canal in 1914 with its subsequent boost<br />
to our productivity, the declaration of war in 1917,<br />
the all-out support at home of "our boys over<br />
there" and the spirit of brotherhood it kindled<br />
throughout the War To End AllWars--capped by<br />
the great joy of Armistice Day were turbulent and<br />
exciting years for our country.<br />
lmmigration legislation of the Twenties stemmed<br />
the flood that had always looked to the Church for<br />
aid. No longer would the care of immigrants be the<br />
Catholic Church's major concern in this country.<br />
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