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6 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.