The St. Peter Claver Church complex has seen its fair share racial injustices and now the state and beyond will be better aware of those after a memorial marker was placed at the site of the church in St. Inigoes.
A ceremony marking the event was held June 21 with dignitaries, musical selections and a walk down to the memorial, which sits on the corner of St. Peter Claver Church Road and Route 5.
“It’s important for the Catholic Church to recognize the inclusive contributions of everyone and in particular those who have omitted our history for so long,” Francine Hawkins, the parish’s assistant administrator, said after the unveiling of the marker. “For our parishioners themselves it’s important because it’s part of our identity. It strengthens the identity, it strengthens the faith, it strengthens one’s character.”
Hawkins attended St. Peter Claver Elementary School as did her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, but said she appreciated the segregated school more when she graduated and went to George Washington Carver High School.
According to the church’s website, “Around 1900, Father Tynan, S. J. organized two sodalities in the parish, one for Blacks whose patron saint was St. Peter Claver.”
It said the cornerstone for the first St. Peter Claver Catholic Church was laid in 1914, and was finished in 1918.
According to www.VisitStMarysmd.com, “St. Peter Claver Catholic School was opened in 1916, and was the first Catholic school to provide education opportunities to African-American children in St. Mary’s County.”
Building on the school was delayed as materials were needed for World War I.
“The school began to deteriorate and then the woodpeckers came in,” said the Rev. Francis Walsh, a former pastor of St. Peter Claver who is now a historian and spiritual advisor at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Philadelphia. “They started using brick and then the woodpeckers had a hard time.”
The school burned in 1928, was rebuilt, and remained open until 1965. The building, since renamed McKenna Hall, now serves as a museum.
“I missed the love of the nuns, and looking back I know how special it was because I had such a hard time adjusting when I got to [Carver],” Hawkins said. “[It was] just the transition from a private parochial school where everybody knew your name, to a place where you basically had to fend for yourself.”
The ceremony featured speeches by dignitaries, musical selections and remembrances of the complex.
“St. Peter Claver has been a beacon of life for this community and for Southern Maryland,” Archdiocese of Washington Director of Archives Stephanie Jacobe said. “We need to understand and learn our history to grow as an archdiocese.”
Janice Walthour, a parishioner and community activist, read a poem she had written for the event.
“Let not those memories be whisked away / Like these structures designed to create success,” Walthour read. “Build monuments within that reflect heritage, that create vision / build monuments that sing praises of love, encouragement to others.”
Hawkins said the church complex “has always played a big role in St. Mary’s County in the significance of its contributions.”
Walthour, who attended St. Peter Claver Elementary School for Grade 1, added, “We must continue this journey.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0