Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School
Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School
	Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School
Address
	2010 Benson Street, Houston, Texas 77020
Coordinates	29°46′49″N 95°19′48″W / 29.7802°N 95.3299°W
Information
Type	Parochial, segregated
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Opened	1930 or 1931
Closed	2009
Grades	PreK-8 (initially 1-12)
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Website	omomschool.org
	Last updated: December 29, 2017

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church
Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church
Location	4000 Sumpter St, Houston, Texas
Country	United States
Denomination	Catholic
Religious institute	Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart
Website	https://www.ourmotherofmercy.net/
History
Founded	1928
Dedication	Virgin of Mercy
Dedicated	June 9, 1929
Consecrated
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	April 28, 1928
Completed
Clergy
Pastor(s)	Fr Rodney Armstrong, SSJ

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church is a Black Catholic church in Frenchtown, an area within the Fifth Ward of Houston. It was the second Black parish to be established in the city and the first established by Louisiana Creoles.^[1]^[2] It was also the first institution created by non-Anglophones in an African-American neighborhood in the city.^[3] It is a part of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and its membership has included both Creole and non-Creole African Americans.^[4]

History

For a period, the closest Black church to the Fifth Ward was St. Nicholas, located in the Third Ward,^[5] about 3 miles (4.8 km) away.^[6] In the 1920s a group of Louisiana Creole people attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Church because it was the closest church to Frenchtown.^[5] 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,^[7] the Creoles opted to build their own church.^[8] In order to acquire funds, Creole families hosted dinners, dances, and parties. They served Louisiana Creole cuisine, using the food to acquire the means to build the church.^[9]

In 1928 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston 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.^[10] On June 9, 1929, Galveston-Houston bishop Byrne blessed the church.^[10]

The school opened several years later.^[8] 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.^[11] A convent and rectory were established on the property.^[10] The school closed in 2009.

Works Progress Administration 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.^[3] By World War II, 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.^[10]

Other black churches in Acres Homes, Sunnyside, Trinity Gardens, and other communities used Our Mother of Mercy as a feeder church.^[10]

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.^[8]

School

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School opened in fall 1930^[11] or fall 1931,^[12] and closed in Spring 2009.^[13]

When it opened it served grades 1–12.^[12] The initial teaching force was the New Orleans–based Sisters of the Holy Family.^[11]

The school was consolidated with the St. Francis of Assisi School. As of 2009 the OMM school,^[14] which at that time was a PreK-8 school,^[12] had its annual tuition as $3,000 ($4260.59 when adjusted for inflation).^[14] That school closed in 2020.

Notable members

Joe Sample, was an American jazz, Jazz fusion 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 funeralized at the church.
Illinois Jacquet, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Mickey Leland, was an American politician and anti-poverty activist. He served as a congressman from the Texas 18th District and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was a Democrat.

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, October 24, 2013. ISBN 1603449485, 9781603449489.

Notes

^ 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).
^ Evans, David (2010-10-01). Ramblin' on My Mind: New Perspectives on the Blues. University of Illinois Press. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-252-09112-4.
^ ^a ^b Steptoe, Tyina L. Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City (Volume 41 of American Crossroads). University of California Press, November 3, 2015. ISBN 0520958535, 9780520958531. p. 117.
^ Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston (PhD thesis for a history degree). ProQuest, 2008. ISBN 0549635874, 9780549635871. p. 202. "Our Mother of Mercy Catholic church, began as a space of autonomy for Creoles but became a contact zone as a result of intermingling between the groups. Black Texans attended school and mass at Our Mother of Mercy and [...]"
^ ^a ^b Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston (PhD thesis for a history degree). ProQuest, 2008. ISBN 0549635874, 9780549635871. p. 195.
^ Pruitt, Bernadette. The Other Great Migration: The Movement of Rural African Americans to Houston, 1900-1941 (Issue 21 of Sam Rayburn series on rural life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce, Book collections on Project MUSE). Texas A&M University Press, October 24, 2013. ISBN 1603449485, 9781603449489. p. 115
^ Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston (PhD thesis for a history degree). ProQuest, 2008. ISBN 0549635874, 9780549635871. p. 195-196.
^ ^a ^b ^c Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston (PhD thesis for a history degree). ProQuest, 2008. ISBN 0549635874, 9780549635871. p. 196.
^ Pruitt, p. 78.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Pruitt, p. 115.
^ ^a ^b ^c "History of the Church." Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church. Retrieved on April 18, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "About Us." Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School. March 28, 2007. Retrieved on March 7, 2018.
^ "Archdiocesan Announcement Catholic Schools Plan^{[permanent dead link]}." Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. February 5, 2009. Retrieved on February 6, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b Murphy, Bill. "Four Catholic schools to be closed in Houston." Houston Chronicle. February 6, 2009. Retrieved on February 7, 2009.