Patrick Ervin
patrickervin@ddtonline.com
Members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church gathered Saturday to commemorate a century the 100-year anniversary of the St. Augustine Seminary which began in Greenville 103 years ago. Bishop Joseph Kopacz explained the social climate that diverted the original establishment of the seminary from Greenville to Bay Saint Louis. “Sinking roots in the Mississippi Delta was no easy task,” he said. “There was a school that had already been established but there was strong opposition to an institution that would accept African American seminary students. So, Bay Saint Louis where there were more Catholics and greater support was where the seminary really got firmly established and started to thrive.” “And you typically find more Catholics where there are beaches and water,” Kopacz joked. “I don’t know why but that’s typically the case.”
As the seminary started to hit its stride on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there was still a strategic and slow-moving effort to institute this part of the church in Greenville. “One event that helped reverse the way Catholics were viewed in the Delta was the Great Flood of 1927,” he explained. “While many were swimming and paddling for their lives, the church provided a safe haven from the flood on the third floor of the school. And many began to think, ‘these Catholics aren’t so bad after all.”
The genesis of the St. Augustine Seminary and its eventual establishment at Sacred Heart fit firmly in line with the historical movement of the church at the time. Sacred Heart is part of the Society of Divine Word, an organization flowing from its founder Arnold Jansen using his father’s great love of the Trinity to form a mission around the Great Commission. “More than 147 years ago, Arnold Jansen did exactly what the Gospel of John espouses-he has pitched his ten among us,” Kopacz said. “The SVD is now in more than70 countries with more than 64,000 priests among our brethren.”
The ceremony celebrating a century of inclusive seminary was marked by song, prayer, visiting of priests and the reading of Scripture. Longtime congregant Lewis Slay read about Moses in the Old Testament verses from Exodus three followed by Angela L. Mack’s New Testament reading from 1 Corinthians 12 which mentioned the spiritual gifts such as wisdom, knowledge, prophecy and speaking in tongues for the purpose of edifying the church and spreading the gospel. “As we commemorate 100 years of the St. Augustine Seminary, we see how God used Moses for such a monumental occasion,” Kopacz said. “Moses was 80 years old-about Father (Thomas) Mullaly’s age. Moments like these make all the difference.”
As the congregants laughed at the bishop’s analogy, Mullaly responded with a rousing, “Amen!”
The undertone of Kopacz’s homily suggested that the Society of the Divine Word is never to be afraid to do the challenging work of the gospel and rest assured that the saints called into places where resistance exists are well-equipped for the task at hand. “The promise of the Lord is that he would be with us always,” Kopacz said. “Jesus breathed His Holy Spirit of His disciples and that Spirit has carried us forward for more than 2000 years.”
