Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, March 2, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Saint Pius X High School: source of nostalgia and pride
I n 1952, with segregation still
in force in Georgia, the pro
posed opening of a high school
for Savannah’s black Catholic
youths was greeted with
cheers by many members of
the community. To be con
structed at an Atlantic Avenue
and Anderson Street site donat-
Rita H. DeLorme f “ F ,f“ ati “ s H ssner ’
SMA, by the Society of
African Missions (Societe des Missions Africaines),
the new school was touted to be comparable to other
Catholic high schools in the area in its physical
plant and curriculum. Plans for the school, which
would be located on the northwest comer of a five-
acre plot, forecast expanded facilities: the addition
of a combination gymnasium and auditorium in the
not-too-distant future and possible constmction of a
football stadium.
Staffing the new school would be priests of the
Society of African Missions and Missionary Fran
ciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. With
a projected fall 1952 opening date, the high school
would contain modem classrooms, a library and a
science laboratory. A well-equipped playground
was also planned. Because Father Lissner of Saint
Benedict the Moor Church had provided land for
the school, the institution’s name was tentatively set
as “Saint Benedict’s High School.” An editorial in
the The Savannah Tribune, a black weekly, stated
that plans for the new school “could not have come
at a better time for both Catholics and Negroes”
and added that the move was “in line with what
Catholics have been doing all over the country.
Catholic universities and colleges have opened their
classes to Negroes without a great deal of fanfare”
and “have provided schools of equal rank with
those for white youth.”
On September 8, 1952, the new high school
opened, though its name was “Blessed Pius X High
School,” as it was known until Pius’ canonization
in 1954. Father James Harold, SMA, was principal.
Sister Mary Magdalene, MFIC, and Sister Mary
Agnes, MFIC, were assigned to the teaching staff,
and 60 students were enrolled. The building was a
brick stmcture, with a wide hallway opening onto
classrooms on either side. An outer glass wall made
the interior both light and bright.
Saint Pius X High School was off and running.
The years following its constmction saw a whole
generation of prominent African Americans emerge
from its classrooms, including: Floyd Adams, Jr.,
current mayor of Savannah; Charles Elmore,
Savannah State University professor; Orion
Douglas, Bmnswick judge; and Ormonde Lewis,
well-known Savannah public school educator.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the United
States Supreme Court also attended Pius X. A 1968
survey of the 135 graduates of the four previous
years from Pius X revealed that, 101 were enrolled
in schools of higher education, a fact which the
September 5, 1968, issue of The Southern Cross
observed should cause the faculty of the school
“just pride”.
In late 1969, the Southern Association of Schools
announced its accreditation of Saint Pius X High
School. Father Timothy Dwyer, former moderator
of Pius X and chief initiator of the accreditation
process for the school, spoke at a celebration of that
honor. Commenting on the school’s recognition,
Father Fred Nijem, school moderator, paid tribute
to the efforts of the Franciscan Sisters and the SMA
Fathers, Father Dwyer, and Sister Mary Donat,
principal. At the time of its accreditation, Saint Pius
X had an enrollment of 180 students and was
beginning to be integrated. The 1969 faculty
included 6 Franciscan sisters, 4 diocesan priests,
and 6 lay teachers.
Early in 1970, however, changes were in the
works for Pius X. Just two months after Pius’
accreditation, Father Ralph E. Seikel, Diocesan
Superintendent of Schools, announced that Saint
Pius X would be amalgamated with Savannah’s
other two high schools, Saint Vincent’s Academy
and Benedictine Military School. Saint Pius’s clo
sure reflected an effort to bring about “more mean
ingful integration” within Savannah’s Catholic
schools. The process of amalgamation would be
phased in over a two-year period and, during this
time, the students and teachers of Pius X would be
re-directed to the other two high schools. Officials
at Saint Vincent’s and Benedictine issued state
ments welcoming students from Pius X, with Sister
M. Jude Walsh, RSM, of Saint Vincent’s expressing
the regret that faculty, students and friends of Saint
Pius X School must feel “over the closing of a fine
high school which has prepared so many Savannah
boys and girls for the roles they now occupy as
valuable members of the community.” Father
Aelred Beck, OSB, Headmaster of Benedictine,
also paid tribute to the quality of education dis
pensed at Pius X while noting that its students “will
grieve at the passing of the school they love.”
(Continued on page 11)
At Vatican and in Egypt, pope begins Holy Year pilgrimages
By John Thavis
Cairo (CNS)
ith a three-day visit to Egypt
and a “virtual” journey to Iraq,
Pope John Paul II began a long-antic
ipated series of Holy Year pilgrim
ages to the roots of the faith.
In Egypt February 26, the pope
prayed at the foot of Mount Sinai,
where Moses received the Ten
Commandments, and said God’s law
was still the only hope for modem
society.
“The Ten Commandments are not
an arbitrary imposition of a tyrannical
Lord. They were written in stone; but
before that, they were written on the
human heart as the universal moral
law, valid in every time and place,”
he said.
Gazing over a desert mountain
landscape that evoked the severity of
the Bible, the pope said the world
needs to rediscover the “liberating
obedience” that prompted Moses to
answer God’s call.
The Mount Sinai pilgrimage capped
a historic visit to Egypt, where the
pope celebrated Mass for his tiny
flock of Catholics and reached out to
Muslims and Orthodox Christians.
“As-salamu alaikum—Peace be
with you!” he said in Arabic after
arriving at Cairo’s airport, then deliv
ered a pointed message against reli
gious intolerance.
“To do harm, to promote violence
and conflict in the name of religion is
a terrible contradiction and a great
offense against God. But past and pre
sent history give us many examples of
such a misuse of religion,” he said.
Egypt welcomed the pope with
state honors and interreligious
warmth. After kissing a bowl of
Egyptian earth at the airport, the pon
tiff was greeted by the leaders of
Egypt’s Muslim, Orthodox and
Catholic communities: Grand Sheik
Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, Coptic
Orthodox bishops and Catholic Cop
tic Patriarch Stephanos II Ghattas.
President Hosni Mubarak, who has
led a strong effort against Islamic ex
tremist groups in Egypt, praised the
pope as “a man of courage, wisdom
and tolerance,” and an ally in the
struggle against fanaticism and hatred.
At a series of meetings, Egyptian
religious leaders dwelt on the pope’s
efforts for peace and in particular his
defense of Palestinian rights. But the
pope’s focus throughout the visit was
spiritual, and his jubilee pilgrimage
actually began at the Vatican the day
before his arrival in Egypt.
Prevented by security concerns
from traveling to ancient Ur, the
birthplace of the patriarch Abraham
located in Iraq, the pope took a men
tal journey there instead, leading a
Vatican service filled with prayers,
songs and images.
The pope said Abraham, called by
God to move his family across the
desert to a new land, was a model of
“unconditional submission” to God’s
will, and in a sense a spiritual father
figure for Christians, Muslims and
Jews.
In Egypt, the pope’s Mass, celebrat
ed in front of 15,000 people at a
Cairo sports arena, was broadcast on
national television on a Friday, the
Muslim holy day. The pope pointed
out in his sermon that church-run
social and charitable agencies were
open to all, including Muslims.
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