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Bay St. Louis:
Continued from page 17
?cosmopolitan? character of the community. In addition to those who moved from New Orleans, there are those who came with the installation of the NASA test facility in Hancock County and with federal rehabilitation programs following Hurricane Camille. The most recent influx of ?new blood? is resulting from the relocation of the Naval Oceanographic Office to the area. Unlike other small Mississippi towns, Bay St. Louis has escaped the isolation that tends to narrow and solidify mores and attitudes.
AS in neighboring Louisiana, in Bay St. Louis a large percentage of the population is Roman Catholic, and that church has been a major factor in the development of the city?s unique character. For example, no other community in the country can boast of the fact that it has been the home since 1923 of a seminary the primary purpose of which is to train black youths for the priesthood. Until very recently, St. Augustine Seminary at Bay St. Louis was the only seminary for blacks in the United States. Among its gradu-
ates are Bishop Harold Perry, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and Bishop Joseph Francis, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.
St. Augustine?s has played an active community role; its facilities have been used by groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Mental Health Association. Its gym has been used for dance recitals, plays, karate classes and beauty contests. The seminary has sponsored fairs and flea markets, and local Catholics, black and white, regularly attend Mass there. Integrated long ago, St. Augustine's now has six Vietnamese seminarians in addition to its 30 black and white ones.
Oddly enough, the city?s two Catholic elementary schools had remained segregated de facto until last fall, despite non-discriminatory policies of the school administration. White parents automatically sent their children to Our Lady of the Gulf, and black parents automatically sent theirs to St. Rose de Lima. Finally, Bishop Joseph Brunini, in response to a directive from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare,
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issued an order that the two schools be merged in order to end segregation.
There was grumbling from both blacks and whites. Neither group wanted to give up ?their? school. Blacks didn?t think whites would accept their children, and whites feared for their children?s safety in an all-black neighborhood. (At most,
Police chief?s daughter, Mrs. Ro-sine Jushaway, is coordinator of town?s senior citizens program.
four city blocks separated the two schools!)
Such fears proved imaginary.
Sister Mary Celeste, of the St. Rose faculty, was named principal of the combined schools, designated Bay St. Louis Catholic Elementary. She thinks she was chosen because she was acceptable to both blacks and whites ? to the former because she had already taught at their school, to the latter because she is white.
A joint school board was formed, with three members being elected from each parish and the two pastors serving as ex officio members. Sister Celeste says there has been no friction at all ? "They are all working with only the good of the children in mind. It must be the hand of God.? Both school plants are being utilized on a grade-grouping basis.
OF course, Bay St. Louis isn?t paradise, and there have been minor difficulties ? public accommodations and housing being two areas in which have occasioned isolated examples of resentment.
But in the fields of law enforcement and education ? two areas often cited as key indications in a community?s race-relations success or failure ? Bay St. Louis thus far has proved a shining example of a Mississippi town that is willing to change if the change can be shown to work for the benefit of all.
Father Aubespin, pastor of St. Rose de Lima, summed up the situation this way: "I wouldn?t say that we are where we should be in terms of race relations, but we are a lot better off than many other places. We are working things out. Together.?
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