Katrina's Wind Integrates 2 Miss. Schools

Many Coast parents, teachers want integrated Catholic school to remain

The Associated Press

Rogelio Solis/The Associated Press Sister Bernadette McNamara, principal of St. Peter the Apostle Elementary School in Pascagoula, stands in the rubble of the former school.

PASCAGOULA — Two Roman Catholic elementary schools have served Pascagoula for nearly 100 years — one opened to teach the children and grandchildren of freed slaves, the other across town educating mostly white children.

But Hurricane Katrina's winds changed the incidental segregation when St. Peter the Apostle, built in 1907 as an African-American mission, was destroyed. Now blown together, 310 elementary students are integrated at Resurrection Catholic School's campus.

"If there is somebody who is now upset because there are more black children, we don't want them," said Laura Murray, a mother at Resurrection, as she helped prepare the water-damaged building for classes. "I don't think there is anybody like that. This community doesn't believe like that."

Given St. Peter's dire situation, school officials made the quick decision to get the students back on a regular schedule as soon as possible. All would attend Resurrection.

"It's a triumph for the biracial South," said Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Many parents and teachers want the integrated school to remain, but Sister Bernadette McNamara, principal at St. Peter, worries about her students retaining their culture and identity. She remains at St. Peter, where all that's left usable are three classrooms, where the school's youngest children arrive wearing neat plaid uniforms.

They stand when she enters each room and in unison say, "Good morning. God bless you."

Putting her hand to her forehead and nodding, she said, "It's always the black children who lose their school. I miss my school. I miss my children."

Father Mike Kelleher, pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which is affiliated with Resurrection, moved to Mississippi from Ireland 40 years ago during the civil rights movement. He talks of the storm as a catalyst for the strong feelings of acceptance that already brewed in the community.

"We do have a terrible name outside the Deep South," Kelleher said of Mississippi. "The hurricane certainly gave new impetus to us working together as an integrated community."

The united school is Kelleher's dream come true. "I would hope that it's going to be permanent," he said.

The Diocese of Biloxi has the final say, and officials are now sorting out insurance policies, what school buildings will stay and which will go.

After the storm, Resurrection was still standing, but flooded 52 inches with $1 million in damage. Classes resumed with donated cafeteria tables and chairs instead of desks. Even with their own homes lost, parents from both schools went to Resurrection to clean up and make the school functional.