In the State of Mississippi the negroes out-number the whites. The
Catholic population of the whole State numbers but 15,000, out of which
1838 are colored. There is perhaps one colored Catholic in every seven
hundred of the population. Five colored schools are kept open with an
average attendance of about two hundred children. These schools are in
charge of religious. Bishop Heslin has a wide field for work. One of his
priests, a very zealous man, is engaged exclusively in Negro Mission
work. This priest, the Rev. A. N. Peters, has just purchased a plot of
ground in a locality easily accessible to the colored people. “This
will entail additional expense,” writes Bishop Heslin, “as almost every
building that is required will have to be built new, and the old place
cannot be disposed of at once. The Rev. Father will have to seek help to
enable him to erect church, school, convent and parsonage and to provide
himself with a means of livelihood.”