The colored Catholics of this diocese number 15,000, or about half the
total Catholic population. Bishop Durrier is doing his utmost to extend
the work of Catholic education. The six schools within his diocese have
been founded through aid granted him by the Commission.
In a letter forwarded to the Commission the bishop writes: “I ask for
the same allocation as that granted me last year, $2000. This year I
did not succeed in doing for Catholic education all that I wished. I
hope to do better the coming year. I have re-opened the school at Bayou
Wallace which we were forced to close last year. The prospects of the
work hardly show a bright spot; yet the work can stand on the principle,
that the salvation of a single soul is worth both any amount of money
and any amount of labor. The work will keep going on. I have no special
observation to submit to the Commission. I simply surmise that in the
fight for the Catholic education of the colored people, the Commission
ought to give the honors of war, even to those who come out from the
battle field badly beaten, provided they ‘never despair of the Republic.’
The progress we have made is not so encouraging as I had expected. Still,
I believe in trying and trying again.”
This determination to succeed has the true ring to it; Bishop Durrier’s
motto will always bear him out. “What _ought_ to be done, _must_ and
_shall_ be done.”