Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church is a Black Catholic church in Frenchtown, an area within the Fifth Ward of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. It was the second Black parish to be established in the city and the first established by

Louisiana Creoles Louisiana Creoles (french: Créoles de la Louisiane, lou, Moun Kréyòl la Lwizyàn, es, Criollos de Luisiana) are people descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana before it became a part of the United States during the period of bo ...

.Catholic Youth Organization, Diocese of Galveston. Houston District. ''Centennial: The Story of the Kingdom of God on Earth in that Portion of the Vineyard which for One Hundred Years Has Been the Diocese of Galveston''. Catholic Youth Organization, Centennial Book Committee, 1947. p
76
"Our Mother of Mercy Church, the second Negro parish to be established in Houston, was founded in June, 1929. Bishop Christopher E. Byrne purchased two city blocks, on Sumpter Street, and ground was .. ("Negro" is an outdated term for African-American). It was also the first institution created by non-Anglophones in an

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...

in the city.Steptoe, Tyina L. ''Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City'' (Volume 41 of American Crossroads).

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...

, November 3, 2015. , 9780520958531. p
117
It is a part of the

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and its membership has included both Creole and non-Creole African Americans.

History

For a period, the closest

Black church The black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as their ...

to the Fifth Ward was St. Nicholas, located in the Third Ward,Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

). ''Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston'' (PhD thesis for a history degree).

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

, 2008. , 9780549635871. p
195
about away. In the 1920s a group of Louisiana Creole people attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Church because it was the closest church to Frenchtown. Because the church treated the Creole people in a discriminatory manner, by forcing them to confess and take communion after people of other races did so and after forcing them to take the back pews,Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (

). ''Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston'' (PhD thesis for a history degree).

, 2008. , 9780549635871. p
195196
the Creoles opted to build their own church.Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (

). ''Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston'' (PhD thesis for a history degree).

, 2008. , 9780549635871. p
196
In order to acquire funds, Creole families hosted dinners, dances, and parties. They served

Louisiana Creole cuisine Louisiana Creole cuisine (french: cuisine créole, lou, manjé kréyòl, es, cocina criolla) is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana, United States, which blends West African, French, Spanish, and Amerindian influences, as well as in ...

, using the food to acquire the means to build the church.Pruitt, p
78
In 1928 the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

purchased two city blocks along Sumpter Street: the 4000 block and the 4100 block. On April 28, 1928, the groundbreaking occurred. The building was completed in the spring of 1929. The Josephites helped finance it.Pruitt, p
115
On June 9, 1929, Galveston-Houston bishop Byrne blessed the church. The school opened several years later. The church became a diocesan church on June 30, 1930. The school, Our Mother of Mercy School, opened as a school for grades 1 through 12 in the 1930s.
" Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church. Retrieved on April 18, 2014. A

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

and rectory were established on the property. The school closed in 2009.

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

employees wrote about the church in the 1930s. Tyina L. Steptoe, author of ''Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City'', stated that they "noted the centrality of the church" to area residents. By

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, over half of Houston's black Catholics had attended the church, and over 4,000 black children, both Catholic and non-Catholic, had attended its school. Other black churches in

Acres Homes Acres Homes is a neighborhood located in northwest Houston, Texas. The mile area is loosely bounded by the city limits and West Gulf Bank Road to the north; Pinemont Drive to the south; North Shepherd Drive to the east; and Alabonson Drive to t ...

, Sunnyside,

Trinity Gardens Trinity Gardens is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The name is taken from '' Holy Trinity Church''. History On 28 March 1840 the trustees of Holy Trinity – Osmond Gilles, Charles Mann and James Hurtle Fisher – were given approximat ...

, and other communities used Our Mother of Mercy as a feeder church.

Recreation

Historically the church sponsored bazaars and dances. Alcohol was sold at the bazaars. The practices of drinking alcohol and dancing communities differed from those of Protestant communities in Texas, which had historically prohibited drinking alcohol and did not have dancing to popular music during church events.

School

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School opened in fall 1930 or fall 1931,About Us
" Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School. March 28, 2007. Retrieved on March 7, 2018. and closed in Spring 2009.
" ''

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

''. February 5, 2009. Retrieved on February 6, 2009. When it opened it served grades 1-12. The initial teaching force was the

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

-based Sisters of the Holy Family. The school was consolidated with the St. Francis of Assisi School. As of 2009 the OMM school,Murphy, Bill.
Four Catholic schools to be closed in Houston
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. February 6, 2009. Retrieved on February 7, 2009. which at that time was a PreK-8 school, had its annual tuition as $3,000 ($ when adjusted for inflation). That school closed in 2020.

Notable members

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained ...

, famed jazz musician funeralized at the church

References

* Pruitt, Bernadette. ''The Other Great Migration: The Movement of Rural African Americans to Houston, 1900-1941'' ( Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce).

Texas A&M University Press Texas A&M University Press (also known informally as TAMU Press) is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States. Overview The Texas A& ...

, October 24, 2013. , 9781603449489.

Notes

External links

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church
* * * {{Fifth Ward, Houston African-American history in Houston Roman Catholic churches in Houston Louisiana Creole culture in Texas Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston African-American Roman Catholic churches African-American Roman Catholic schools Sisters of the Holy Family (Louisiana) Josephite churches in the United States

History

Recreation

School

Notable members

See also

References

Notes

External links