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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
CATHOLIC MISSION WORK AMONG THE
NEGROES OF GEORGIA
By FATHER A. J. LAUBE.
Never perhaps has the assertion that “God’s work
is carried on quietly’’ been more fully justified than
in regard to the Mission Work of the Catholic Church
among the negroes of this State. To many it will be
a revelation to know that for the last fifteen years
the Fathers of the African Mission Society of Lyons,
France, have been at work in most of the larger cities
of Georgia, establishing schools and churches for the
benefit of the colored people.
When the Rt. Rev. Benjamin J. Keiley, Bishop of
Savannah, entrusted the work of evangelization of
the negroes of his Diocese to these missionaries, he
fully realized that the field was an extensive one,
and that every inch of ground had to be cleared of
various prejudices before any encouraging results
could be expected. Accustomed to plow their path
through all sorts of difficulties which many of them
had experienced at the West Coast of Africa, the
Fathers of the Lyons Mission Society stuck to their
task in Georgia with a tenacity that refused to be
come discouraged in the midst of untold hardships and
opposition.
As years went by, it became evident that the col
ored man showed little or no hostility against the
Church, and that his prejudices against it were not
of the bitter kind which not only refuses a fair in
vestigation, but a priori places the ban on everything
that comes within the narrow boundaries of its in
tolerance. It is long since Cardinal Gibbons, who has
ever shown the liveliest interest in the conversion of
the colored man, discovered in him a spirit of friend
liness towards the Catholic Church, and ventured
the statement that on the day the negroes will realize
what the Catholic Church means to them, its doors
will not be wide enough to receive all who would beg
for admission. Thus in Savannah, where a few years
ago only a limited number of negroes were members
of the Catholic Church, there are now three flour
ishing missions. Between seven and eight hundred
children attend the Catholic schools taught by the
self-sacrificing Missionary Franciscan Nuns, who also
conduct orphanages for colored waifs both in Savan
nah and Augusta.
Twelve years ago, Very Rev. Ignatius Lissner, the
valiant pioneer of the Georgia Missions, established a
center in Augusta. Only two colored Catholic fam
ilies were to be found at that time in this city where
the negroes number more than 20,000, and on the
Feast of Easter in the year 1909, the congregation
at mass consisted of five members. Today a hand
some church, a modernly equipped school and a rec
tory, besides a vast parish hall, make up the splendid
Augusta Mission. Over 350 pupils visit the school
and the congregation of approximately 450 church
members is rapidly increasing.
In 1912, Father Lissner established the Atlanta
Mission, a splendid structure on North Boulevard.
Here the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament of Corn
wells, Pa., an order founded by Mother Catherine
Drexel, of Philadelphia, are in charge of the school,
which has a daily attendance of about 300 children.
Every year a larger number of pupils is being en
rolled, due to the popularity which the Sisters enjoy
on all sides.
Untiring in his efforts to provide every one of the
larger Georgia cities with a Catholic school for col
ored children, Father Lissner, in 1915, directed his
steps towards the fast-growing town of Macon. For
a number of years a Jesuit Father had been attending
to the spiritual needs of the few colored Catholics
scattered over the city. After securing a desirable
location for a mission on Ward Street, Father Lissner
at once began the erection of a combination “school
and church’’ brick building, a priest’s house and a
beautiful Convent for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacra
ment. A separate church building is under con
struction, and when it is completed, the Macon plant
will be one of the finest in the State. Last May,
this mission suffered a great loss through the untimely
death of its self-sacrificing incumbent, Rev. J. Dahlent,
who had endeared himself in the hearts of the colored
people of Macon.
Several other Georgia towns are under considera
tion for the establishment of a Colored Catholic Mis
sion, and I venture to say that at least a dozen of
such plants would even now be in operation had this
work been given the proper support, which it un
doubtedly deserves. However, as it was, many people
failed to believe in the hopefulness of Catholic Mis
sionary work among the negroes, and assumed an at
titude of watchful waiting. It is only of late years
that they have opened their eyes to the reality, and
at the present time even the most pessimistic onlook
ers have come to the conclusion that the Catholic
Church, with its golden rule of true Christian charity,
is easily winding its way into the hearts of the colored
man. How could it be otherwise? Has not the negro
a human heart that is craving for the paramount
spiritual consolations which the Catholic Faith is ex
tending to suffering humanity? Deprived as he is
to a great extent of every temporal comfort, it is in
no way surprising to see him reach out for the su
perior spiritual comfort offered by the Church, in
the name of Christ, who said, “Come to me all ye
that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.”
If the last ten years of Mission Work among the
negroes of Georgia have been crowned with aston
ishing success, it is ample proof that the colored man
begins to realize that the Catholic Church has his
interest deeply at heart, and that within the arms of
such a devoted Mother there is hope for the future of
his race.