Extension magazine - Spring 2024

16
BUILD Extension | Spring 2024 17
Roots
Religious priests served
emancipated slaves
in the South
Deacon James Bryant
preaches at Most Pure Heart of
Mary Church in Mobile, Alabama.
In 1909, Extension magazine
published the words of
one of the first Black priests
ordained in the United
States, Father John Plantevigne,
as he spoke at a
missionary conference in
Washington, D.C. “The Negro,” he
said, “shall be treated as a man and
not a problem.”
His statement, sadly, would have
been met with much skepticism
by many Catholics at the time.
The pastor belonged to St.
Joseph’s Society of the Sacred
Heart, better known as the Josephites,
who stood in solidarity with
the Black community. This order,
which was originally founded in
England, established its presence
in the U.S. shortly after the Civil
War to serve newly emancipated
slaves. In the late 1800s the Josephites
became an independent
American Catholic order.
For more than a century, Catholic
Extension Society has supported
the work of the Josephites
as they minister to Black
Catholics.
At a time when seminaries
refused to accept Black students
and Southern Catholic
churches followed Jim Crow laws,
which forced many indignities
upon Black Catholics, the Josephites
took an alternative approach.
Extension magazine printed letters
from Josephite priests, hoping
that their voices and perspectives
would help change people’s hearts.
For example, Father John J.
In back, parishioners at St. Therese of Lisieux in Gulfport, Mississippi, welcome visitors. Front,
from left to right: Father Tom Connery, pastor of St. Theresa in Belleview, Florida; visiting priest
Father Michael Trail from Chicago; Bishop John Ricard, superior general of the Josephites; Bishop
Louis Kihneman of Biloxi; and Marcia Wheatley, operations manager of St. Theresa in Belleview.
Why many Black
Catholics trace roots to
Josephite parishes
Albert, SSJ, in an article on how
the Church discriminated against
Black Americans, wrote, “The
Church should be what it professes
to be—Catholic. … It is not the private
property of a single race—it
is Catholic. As such, any tendency
toward exclusiveness should be
immediately booed. What right
have we to make pharisaical distinctions
in the House of God?”
Close to the altar
The Josephites established
churches specifically for Black
Catholics to provide worship
spaces free of prejudice. Father
Albert wrote that in these churches
“the colored Catholic gives free
scope to a growing Faith. The children
sing in the choir; the boys
serve on the altar and all of them
have equal opportunities of seeing
In 1909,
Extension
magazine
shared the
words of
Father John
Plantevigne,
SSJ, one
of the first
Black priests
ordained in
the United
States.
and hearing and praying to their
heart’s content.”
The vision of the early Josephites
came to fruition through their 150
years of tireless, faith-driven work.
They established parishes, schools,
a seminary and an interracial community
of priests. They founded
what has become the largest Black
Catholic fraternal organization of
men and women in the country, the
Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver.
Their current superior general,
Bishop John Ricard, SSJ, put
it simply: “If not for the Josephites,
there would be very few Black
Catholics.”
Catholic Extension Society has
been working in solidarity with
the Josephites, mostly in the Deep
South, by helping to build or repair
their churches, support religious
education for children, and simply
keep the doors of their vibrant
parishes open.
Empowering generations
Following the Emancipation,
millions of formerly enslaved people
were forced to continue to
labor in poverty in the fields without
the means to improve their
lives. “It was a huge challenge at
the time,” said Bishop Ricard.
In response, the Josephites
opened the first Catholic schools
for Black students. They worked
with orders of women religious
such as the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament, founded by St. Katharine
Drexel, to staff the schools.
The community has served over
170 parishes in over 35 dioceses
throughout the U.S. The education
and care provided in these missions
transformed entire families
and communities.
The churches and schools gave
their children, and their children’s
children, a chance at a better
life. Many prominent Black leaders
today come from families that
have been going to Josephite parishes
for generations. Archbishop
Shelton Fabre of the Archdiocese
of Louisville, Kentucky, a prominent
Black Catholic leader, grew
up going to St. Augustine Church in
New Roads, Louisiana. The church
was founded by the Josephites in
1922 and has been supported by
Catholic Extension Society.
The influence of the Josephite
missions, which were largely
based in the South, extends into
the entire country. As millions of
Black Americans moved north in
the Great Migration, they took their
faith with them. Today, Black Catholics
across the country trace their
roots back to Josephite-founded
parishes.
Passing the baton
Josephite parishes today are
places of light and joy in their
communities.
Bishop Louis Kihneman shepherds
the Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi,
which includes six historically
Black parishes, four of which
were founded by the Josephites. “I
just love to celebrate with them,”
he said. “They really bring a tradition
of faith, which I think in many
ways helps us as a Church at large
to stay alive in the spirit, because
they’re very spirit filled.”
In January of this year he celebrated
Mass at St. Peter the Apostle
Church. The parish’s church was
completely destroyed in Hurricane
Katrina in 2005. In 2018, Catholic
Extension Society helped construct
a new church—modeled after the