Bishop Fitzgerald, of Little Rock, feels sanguine of the future success
of Catholic Missionary work in his diocese. “There is at the present
time a somewhat better prospect for conversions than existed last year,
as the colored people begin to see that we mean them good, not harm. The
most flourishing school is at Pine Bluff. Here the usual common-school
branches are taught, together with music, vocal and instrumental. The
girls are taught sewing, domestic work, etc., and the boys, carpentry.
Three Sisters of Charity are employed as teachers; and also an instructor
in carpentry and building. The Hot Springs’ School is also doing well. In
our five schools we have four hundred and fifty pupils enrolled. On the
whole, I feel more encouraged than when I last wrote. We have not as yet
been able to open a school at Little Rock. The colored people here are
superabundantly supplied with schools, public and private. The Colored
Industrial School, although but three years, founded, is a pronounced
success. The attendance is much larger than usual, and promises to reach,
when cotton picking time is over, two hundred and fifty pupils. In a few
years it is hoped that a farm will be procured, and a full course of
trades and farm work gradually developed.”
“It is desired by the Directors, Teachers and Patrons of the school to
commemorate the great centennial year of 1892, by the erection of a home
for the Sisters of Charity, a little church for the people and a small
house for the pastor. There are 350,000 colored people in Arkansas,
the greater part in the cotton Belt Region, of which Pine Bluff is the
centre, and there is not one Catholic church for colored people in the
whole State. Before the war many of the colored people were Catholics,
but have fallen away from the church through want of that attention,
which the poverty of the diocese could not grant them. A great number
would now gladly return if a proper chance was offered. At present, Mass
is held every Sunday in St. Joseph’s Church for their special benefit.
While they have always been invited to attend the regular services of the
church here and elsewhere in the State, they have, as a rule, refused to
do so, owing to the fear of feeling on the part of the whites, and the
demands of the regular congregation. With the great success of the school
and the sympathy of both colored and white citizens, we feel, that we are
offering a rare opportunity to the charitably disposed. We, therefore,
most earnestly request all friends of the colored people to send us a
donation, large or small, to aid us in this great work. The usual masses
and prayers will be offered for all benefactors.” An interesting history
of this school will be found in last year’s report of “The Negro and
Indian Commission.”