[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 175 (Monday, November 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING ST. MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 14, 2022

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
staple of the City of Vicksburg and Warren County community, St. Mary 
Catholic Church. St. Mary Catholic Church and its members have shown 
what can be done though hard work, dedication, and a desire to serve 
the Vicksburg/Warren community.
  For 116 years, St. Mary Catholic Church has been a source of 
spiritual guidance and education for African American Catholics in 
Vicksburg and Warren County. Its importance to the community will be 
remembered on Oct. 16th with a ceremony dedicating two historic 
markers--one for the church and another for the elementary and high 
school. St. Mary's parish was founded in 1906 by the Rev. Aloysius 
Heick. The first church was on Holly Street. The Sisters of Mercy 
provided the altar for the first church, the candlesticks, and the 
priest's vestments; and the priests at St. Paul Catholic Church 
provided a place for Heick to stay until St. Mary's moved to its 
present location at Main and Second North streets later in 1906, which 
is when an elementary and high school was also started, The present 
church was built in 1923.
  The congregation at St. Paul's collected $279.80 that they donated to 
Heick to buy the land, and philanthropist Catherine Drexel, who was 
later canonized as a saint, provided half of the money necessary to get 
the property.
  A two-story Greek revival building was built in 1908 and was later 
used for the high school. The nuns who taught the children at St. 
Mary's were members of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit.
  The elementary school closed in 1970, and the high school closed in 
1964. When the schools closed the children who wanted to continue 
attending Catholic school had to go to Yazoo City.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing St. Mary 
Catholic Church and its members for their passion and dedication to 
offer the spiritual and educational needs of the City of Vicksburg 
community.

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