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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. cgn make you smile Scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamps & gifts Beth Dulohery 217-C Eisenhower Drive Savannah, GA 31405 912-355-0995 FAX 912-355-0997 www.acidfree.com “Christians and Muslims, while respecting different religious views, should place their skills at the service of the nation, at every level of soci ety,” he said. Sheik Tantawi, considered the lead ing spiritual authority for the world’s 1 billion Sunni Muslims, hosted the pope at his sprawling al-Azhar University complex, a major center of Islamic teaching. Sheiks and imams crowded around the stoop-shouldered pontiff to whisper a few words of greeting. 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