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Mother’s school at the ‘Mother Church’ By Michael D. Wamble The names have changed but memories have lingered. When St. Monica, the first black Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Chicago, officially merged into St. Elizabeth Parish 1924, it carried with it the mission of Blessed Mother Katharine Drexel. While there’s no longer a St. Monica School on the Near South Side, Drexel’s saintly legacy still serves as a reminder of the days of the mother church of black Catholics in Chicago. On her feast day, March 3, Chicago Catholics honored the saintly foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament religious order, who will be canonized this year, likely on Oct. 1. From its start, Drexel’s ministry was a welcome anomaly among Catholics of color throughout the United States, who faced racism outside and inside the Catholic Church. “At that time, local churches [dioceses] weren’t reaching out to African-Americans and Native Americans, something she [Drexel] recognized,” said Helen Rhodes, a former professor at Chicago State University and local church historian on black Catholics. “Somebody had to do it, so she did it.” In her doctorate dissertation, an historical analysis of the establishment and development of St. Monica Church, Rhodes wrote about Drexel’s contributions. When Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized African-American priest, asked that his congregation of black and white Catholics, who met in the basement of Old St. Mary Church—where they were effectively barred from fully joining—receive their own parish, he sought and received Drexel’s support. Drexel, Rhodes wrote, developed “a personal friendship with Father Tolton sending him financial support and spiritual solace as he built St. Monica’s parish, and … he [Tolton] regarded her as without peer among Catholic clerics working on behalf of American blacks.” Rhodes continued, “After Tolton’s death it was Katharine Drexel and her order of sisters who established St. Monica’s school.” Pauline Williams, 89, a graduate of St. Monica’s last class, said she is “thankful” for Drexel’s commitment to teaching lessons beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. “In St. Monica’s Catholic School we [also] were taught ... art, dance, embroidery and Indian beading,” said Williams. “By the time I came out of elementary school I knew as much as children who had graduated from public high schools because the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament exposed us to so much.” But St. Monica didn’t expose Williams to everything. “I never knew what segregation meant while I was there because that was never a topic discussed in school. You weren’t subjected to that. “What you were taught was that if you were a good person and if you kept God’s commandments, God would take care of you. They built up your hope and your faith and created an attitude inside you where you looked for the better angels in others,” said Williams. Though the present-day St. Elizabeth, like the rest of the church, has felt the shift of roles from religious to the laity within Catholic education, six Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continue to carry forth Mother Drexel’s work. Sister Maureen Carroll, who served eight years as St. Elizabeth principal before becoming director of development, said Drexel’s life should serve as an example to young Catholics of all cultural backgrounds. “We must continue to teach students the value of completely dedicating one’s life and investing one’s resources towards eradicating racism,” said Carroll. Sister Roland Lagarde, who works in St. Elizabeth’s development office, called her foundress “a saint for our times.” Lagarde said she finds it interesting that both miracles that led to Drexel’s canonization announcement involved the faithful with hearing maladies. “My mother and aunt, both of whom knew Mother Katharine, said she had hearing problems and used to push the bonnet back on her habit to hear what someone was saying,” said Lagarde, originally from New Orleans. Lagarde believes the connection is more than coincidence. “She’s probably trying to tell us we need to listen to the cries of the poor.” St. Elizabeth School, 4052 S. Wabash Ave., welcomes over 400 students to class every day. During her life, Drexel used up to $20 million of her family inheritance to build schools and missions. That financial support ended when Drexel died in 1955. In Chicago, the order remains viable thanks to the fund-raising efforts of a national alumni association of Blessed Sacrament students. Two years ago the order started an associate program that has lay members locally from Chicago and the Diocese of Gary. Many associates are former students of Blessed Sacrament schools that include St. Monica, the former St. Elizabeth High School in Chicago and St. Anselm School in Gary, all no longer in operation. Lagarde said she is hopeful that the attention given to Mother Drexel, a result of the canonization announcement, will draw women to her order and its mission. “As Catholics, we all should follow Mother Katharine’s example to empower and evangelize African-Americans and Native Americans and to bring us all together through the centrality of the Eucharist.” For more information on future fund-raising events for the Sisters of Blessed Sacrament contact Sisters Maureen Carroll and Roland Lagarde at (773) 373-8630.
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