Touchy Subject

[socalscout]

i'm still curious about bruce s. ........

If it is not him then it is a perfect twin who rants AntiCatholic conspiracy theory.

[M.SIGGA]

I think this is probably an unfair statement.

Living in the south, you see a lot of Protestant churches that are racially divided. For example, you could walk into an all white Baptist church a couple miles from me, and literally, about four blocks down, there is an all black Baptist church. In my area, the Catholic churches are not like that. There's a fairly good mix of races in every Catholic church around here (well, except for the all Viatnamese Catholic church--and that's because of language). I'm sure a lot of Protestant churches around here have a good mix of people too--it's just that around here it's more common to see an all black or all white Protestant Church--and it's rare to see a Catholic church like that--that's all.

But, it's probably more regional than anything. I don't know. But I think that's what the statement was getting at.

What you are describing is true to your region. In New Orleans, there are dozens and dozens of Catholic Churches all around the city, many of them overlapping parish boundries. This is because of a few factors:

1. an inflow of different immigrants from around Europe called for churches uniquely for Italians, Spanish, Sicilians, Croats, Germans, Irish, Poles, etc. so they could worship in their own culture and with thier own popular devotions, tradition, and language.

2. French was only spoken in the Cathedral. Whites, free people of color, and slaves all spoke French.

4. It became illegal for the Church to allow blacks and whites to worship together unified in the same building when Jim Crow laws were first inacted in LA during Reconstruction. Blacks were required by law to sit in segregated pews or in balconies by law. Southern bishops established black parishes, religious orders, and schools.

In New Orleans, there are still predominatly black and white parishes that still exist mostly because of the old segregated neighborhoods, segregated religious orders, and segregated schools that existed until the early 1970s. New Orleans is a city where integration didn't really work, so it all depends on region and where you live in the South.

[mulls]

thank you.