Blessed by the pope, found in a trailer. In Tennessee.

Boy Howdy. The Majesty of the Church.

(Use the full screen option when viewing the video. You can get more of the trailer in all it's glory!)

Catholicism in the South: Choctaw Catholics

If the Deep South is the Bible Belt and Mississippi is it's buckle, then we have a pretty good vantage point for observances of Southern Catholicism. In this region, we're seeped in the evangelical persuasion of Christianity (something with which I'm very personally familiar), so it's often easy to forget that the very first European settlers and Christian missionaries in the Deep South were Catholics (gasp!). In fact, Catholicism has the longest continuous history of any organized religious tradition in the South (we've been here since 1513!). This is the latest in a series of posts which highlight Catholicism in the South.

Since the subject of this post (Mississippi Choctaws) are largely home in Neshoba County, I have to begin with an aire of regret. Because it ends today. Well, tonight, really - midnight to be exact. I'm happy to say that I've attended at least once in my life. But another year has passed without my return. The week is unique. It's really, really hot (as all Mississippi summer events tend to be) but the fact that everyone is sweating and fanning themselves tends to add to the sense of camaraderie. There is the "fair" aspect for sure - replete with a midway, games,  rides (the safety of which I never can completely trust - thanks Mom), and lots of fried food. But that is not why people go to the Neshoba County Fair. Instead, the fair is just a unique experience - one more piece of the patchwork quilt that is Mississippi.

Reagan speaks at the Fair in 1980.

Many families have cabins on the fairgrounds and they'll happily invite you onto their porch for a glass of sweet tea and conversation (they don't call it Mississippi's Giant House Party for nothing). But in an election year like this, the main focus at the Neshoba County Fair is politics. Heck, the Fair is as legendary for its stump speeches as it is for its harness racing and the fairgrounds' Founders Square buzzes with as many politicians as mosquitos (and that's saying alot). Ronald Reagan gave his first speech as the Republican nominee for president in 1980 at the Fair.

So, I missed the Neshoba County Fair again. Oh well. It wasn't for a wont of being there. One day (I've vowed to myself) I'll return and I'll take my kids to experience that event like no other. And, truth be known, I've never quite gotten over my love of politics, though I'm more of a watcher than a doer these days. And a love of Mississippi politics makes the Fair into something like a Mecca for political junkies like me. So, my desire to go back is not wholly a selfless one of sharing the experience with my kids... I sort of enjoy it myself. Lord willing, I will return some other year. And I'll shake hands and mingle and listen to stump speeches, sweat a lot and drink sweet tea. But I won't ride the rides.

That's all well and good, you might be thinking, but what, exactly, does the Neshoba County Fair have to do with Southern Fried Catholicism... or with religion at all? Well, the Fair itself does actually have religious roots. It started in 1889 as the Coldwater Fair - a camp revival. What was a camp revival? Essentially, it was a meeting of evangelical Christians for a number of days where families would stay in tents and attend worship services outdoors. These camp revivals were especially known for hymn-singing and were meant to draw the local population in to a religious experience and in to a relationship with Christ. This new fair was immensely popular and eventually grew into the Neshoba County Fair. Now, over 120 years later, it still draws families from far and wide though its purposes are certainly more social now, than religious. But there certainly are outreach and missionary foundations for the Fair.

Choctaw bead work.

But the Neshoba County Fair wasn't the first annual fair in the area. That honor belongs to the Choctaw Indian Fair - an annual tradition rooted in the Choctaws' "new corn ceremony" each summer. It, too, is still an annual event, taking place the week before the Neshoba County Fair. The local Choctaw Indians would certainly have been invited to attend the early camp revivals in Neshoba County but that was not the first efforts to woo them to the Christian cause. In fact, Choctaws were the target of many Christian missionary efforts throughout the years. Like many Mississippians, I have some Choctaw ancestry, so I have an affinity for Choctaw history.  Interestingly, the precursors to the Choctaws and their then-chief Toscalusa are recorded as leading an army against the earliest Spanish (not to mention Catholic) explorer in the region, Hernando De Soto, as he and his men moved through present-day Alabama in 1540.

Choctaw altar boys from Holy Rosary Mission, c. 1910.

A Catholic missionary priest with Mississippi Choctaws in front of Holy Rosary Mission, c. 1934. Notice that the children are holding a picture of Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be beatified by the Catholic Church.

Throughout the centuries, Catholic missionaries made efforts (with some small success) to convert the Choctaws to Catholicism. Under the leadership of French Jesuit missionaries from New Orleans, small groups of Mississippi Choctaws embraced Catholic Christianity during the 18th century. In 1818 the American Board of Foreign Missions sent the first Protestant missionaries to the Choctaws, with the Methodists sending missionaries in the 1820s and the Baptists in the 1830s.

In 1883, the Catholics restarted their missionary efforts to the Choctaws by founding Holy Rosary Mission in Tucker, Mississippi (just south of Philadelphia). The mission was founded by a Dutch priest named Bartholomew Bekkers. Over the years, the Catholic missionary efforts led to the establishment of two more missions (St. Catherine's at Conehatta, Miss. and St. Therese in Pearl River, Miss.). Today, all three missions are run by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church today. Tucker, Mississippi.

"It is good to be here in the sunny south..."

So said Francis Xavier Seelos, the now-beatified Redemptorist priest when he was arrived in New Orleans in 1866. Indeed, it seems that many modern-day Catholics would agree.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Sardis, Mississippi.

Recent statistics released by the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership project show that while the number of Catholic priests and parishes has continually dropped in the U.S. over the past decade, the number of American Catholics has risen. This means that the average size of American Catholic parishes is growing, along with the number of weekend Masses offered at these parishes.

The 1964 research blog of Georgetown Univ. takes combines this information with recent census data which proves that the population of the U.S. is moving West and South (the so-called Sun Belt states). Once-bustling industrial states in the North are drying up as southern and western states grow by leaps and bounds. Michigan even went so far as to lose population at the last census (the only state to do so).

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Catholic Church is experiencing its greatest growth within our country in western and southern states. (You might say that Southern fried Catholicism is becoming more and more mainstream).

Once-thriving parishes in the population-impoverished regions of the North and Midwest are being merged and shuttered to match the changing demographics. But what will happen to the Church in the South, where there have never been many Catholic parishes? It's an interesting question to ponder and the 1964 blog predicts a building boom in Catholic churches in the region over the next century:

An equally challenging question for the Church is how will it address the needs for all the Catholics in areas where there really never was a “local” neighborhood parish? As we have shown in a previous post, there are not a lot of dioceses building new parishes in areas where the Catholic population moved and is growing strongly. I understand there are challenges to building a new parish including capital campaigns, planning commissions, architects, and construction companies to deal with. This was all I imagine much easier to do in the 19th century. But a parish building boom will likely be needed in the U.S. Sun Belt in the 21st century.

The migration trends I note above are long-term but just look at the short-term effects below of the recession on mobility for two counties. The top image is for those leaving (red) and coming to (black) the county which includes the city of Cleveland in 2008 (the source is IRS data and the image is generated from Forbes). The bottom image shows the same for the county including the city of Atlanta. As one can see some of Cleveland’s population loss has been Atlanta’s gain (note we do not know the religion of any of the individuals in the IRS data).

In 2001, the Archdiocese of Atlanta had more than 320,000 Catholics, 131 active diocesan priests, and 77 parishes (note in 1991, the Archdiocese had 176,000 Catholics and 65 parishes). Moving a decade ahead, the diocese now has 900,000 Catholics, 141 active diocesan priests, and 87 parishes. Thus, the number of Catholics increased by 181% in the last decade but the number priests only increased by 8% and the number of parishes by 13%. This means the number of Catholics per parish in the Archdiocese has grown from 4,156 in 2001 to 10,345 in 2011. Ten new parishes have been added to accommodate 580,000 additional Catholics. I certainly do not mean to sound critical in any way of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. In fact this Archdiocese is one of the few that has added significant numbers of parishes in recent years. Thus, even where the needs are recognized and growth is occurring, the arch/dioceses doing the most to focus on new construction still tend to be a bit behind the pace of the rapidly changing distribution of the Catholic population in the United States.

As a young, non-Catholic Christian growing up in small-town Mississippi, one of my strongest impressions of Catholics was that many of them were not from the South. Statistically speaking, this youthful observation is proving to have been providential. But these non-Southern Catholics moving into our "neighborhood" in the coming years will (Lord-willing) raise their children as Catholics in the "sunny south."

And what an exciting thought it is, to imagine a future American Catholicism infused with a healthy dose of  evangelical excitement for the Faith, a good-natured gentility and charm, topped off with a literary wit that could burrow into popular thought and imagination, seeding the minds of countless future generations with an admiration of the apostolic Faith.

Flannery O'Connor would certainly approve and that is a Southern fried Catholicism to which we can all aspire!

Catholicism in the South: Yellow Fever Martyrs

If the Deep South is the Bible Belt and Mississippi is it's buckle, then we have a pretty good vantage point for observances of Southern Catholicism. In this region, we're seeped in the evangelical persuasion of Christianity (something with which I'm very personally familiar), so it's often easy to forget that the very first European settlers and Christian missionaries in the Deep South were Catholics (gasp!). In fact, Catholicism has the longest continuous history of any organized religious tradition in the South (we've been here since 1513!). This is the first of a new series of posts which will highlight Catholicism in the South.

Yellow Fever Martyrs Museum in Holly Springs, Miss.

Holly Springs, Mississippi is a short drive from Oxford. Today, the town is perhaps best known as the birthplace of the Hill Country Blues. Alot of Ole Miss students also know that Holly Springs is home to Graceland Too (Mississippi's second-best-known Elvis attraction after this one) and they've tested the claims that the owner, Mr. McLeod, will give tours of this world-famous Elvis shrine any time of day or night. So Holly Springs has alot of music-related history. And any Civil War buff can tell you about Van Dorn's Raid in Holly Springs in 1862. But the town is also home to a peculiar structure on College Street, just a few blocks from the courthouse square: the "Yellow Fever Martyrs Museum."

The museum is housed in what was once St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a structure which dates to 1841. (Sadly, the local Catholic parish moved out of this uniquely beautiful and historic structure and into a sterile and indistinguishable 1980s building at the start of that decade.) Inside, a remarkable story of heroism and self-sacrifice is preserved. It dates back to a Yellow Fever outbreak in the town in 1878, an all-too-common chastisement suffered in towns throughout the deep south in this period (New Orleans and Memphis, to name only two, also suffered notable Yellow Fever epidemics in the latter 19th century). All who could afford to leave town during the epidemic did and Holly Springs never recovered, economically or population-wise. But among those who stayed were the local Catholic priest and the sisters of the local Catholic convent. They stayed only to nurse the sick and the dying, and they paid with their lives. The priest, Father Oberti, and six Sisters of Charity were all stricken with Yellow Fever themselves and died.



Detail from the memorial to the
Yellow Fever Martyrs in the local
Hillcrest Cemetery.

 The seven became known locally as the Yellow Fever Martyrs and were celebrated as heroes. Buried together in the local cemetery, the townspeople also raised money to construct a handsome monument to the seven, marking their sacrificial service to all in Holly Springs. Thankfully, the museum preserves the church in which they worshiped along with some of their personal effects. Perhaps one day, the church can be re-consecrated for its intended use (maybe as a chapel administered by the local parish) and the statuary and devotional items that fill it can again serve the purpose for which they were created. Hopefully, more will be researched and written about the lives and the service of this remarkable group. They deserve at least this much for they could very well be saints-in-waiting (think of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos of New Orleans, who died in a very similar manner).

The story of the Yellow Fever Martyrs of Holly Springs should be told and retold. Mississippi Catholics should learn of their heroism. All Mississippians should honor their sacrifice. And Ole Miss students: if you're considering a trip to Holly Springs that's not in the middle of the night, you might take a few minutes to stop by the Yellow Fever Martyrs Museum.

Catholicism in the South: A rare gem in Natchez

If the Deep South is the Bible Belt and Mississippi is it's buckle, then we have a pretty good vantage point for observances of Southern Catholicism. In this region, we're seeped in the evangelical persuasion of Christianity (something with which I'm very personally familiar), so it's often easy to forget that the very first European settlers and Christian missionaries in the Deep South were Catholics (gasp!). In fact, Catholicism has the longest continuous history of any organized religious tradition in the South (we've been here since 1513!). In this series of posts, we will highlight Catholicism in the South.

Image of Our Lady of Sorrows above the
main altar of St. Mary's Basilica in Natchez.



Okay. Maybe I shouldn't say "rare" because everyone knows that Natchez is full of architectural gems. The town is absolutely bursting at the seams with beautiful antebellum homes and buildings. But in the midst of them is one building of particular significance to Mississippi Catholics: St. Mary's Basilica.

Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we honor Mary as the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the cross (why the timing? remember, just yesterday we celebrated the Exaltation of the Cross). St. Mary's in Natchez was built as the original cathedral for what was once known as the Diocese of Natchez (Mississippi was later split into two dioceses: Biloxi and Jackson). The cathedral is dedicated to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows.

If you've never had the pleasure of visiting St. Mary's, you are missing what many call Mississippi's most beautiful church. The first Catholic parish in Natchez was founded in 1722 and the Diocese of Natchez (which included the entire state of Mississippi) was established in 1837. Work on the cathedral began a few years later (1843) and the building, though in use since the 1850s, was not officially completed until 1886.

The old adage "they just don't build 'em like they used to" is certainly applicable with St. Mary's. From the outside, there is no mistaking the fact that this spire-capped building is a church built to glorify God (thankfully, the concept of churches being built to look absolutely no different than any other cold, iconoclastic/utilitarian building was many years away when they designed this church). Walking inside, you know that you are in a sacred space and your eyes are immediately drawn upwards, through a maze of gothic arches. In the apse, the main altar is (as it should be) prominent and its focus is, again, verticle, emphasizing a large oil painting of Mary at the foot of the cross. There is no shying away from the concept of praying with the saints, either, as statues are prominently displayed on most of the interior columns of the nave.

The essence of the building is not utility but beauty. It is clearly built to honor God and anyone who has the opportunity to pray within its walls cannot help but be drawn into contemplation about the Lord's good, his truth and his beauty. Suffice to say, I highly recommend making an effort to visit St. Mary's. It truly stands out among the church buildings of our diocese because it never suffered the "wreckovation" that was mercilessly visited on many, many parish churches in Mississippi during the 1970s and '80s, when the teachings of Vatican II were twisted and weaponized in a remarkably successful campaign to gut the timeless beauty and treasures of our churches. Indeed, St. Mary's in Natchez stands to this day as a testament to the long history of Catholicism in our state and as a fitting offering to our Savior.