Vincentian Heritage Journal Volume 17 Issue 3 Article 2 Fall 1996 Segregated Catholicism: The Origins of Saint Katharine's Parish, New Orleans Douglas Slawson C.M. Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj Recommended Citation Slawson, Douglas C.M. (1996) "Segregated Catholicism: The Origins of Saint Katharine's Parish, New Orleans," Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 17 : Iss. 3 , Article 2. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol17/iss3/2 This Articles is brought to you for free and open access by the Vincentian Journals and Publications at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vincentian Heritage Journal by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 141 Segregated Catholicism: The Origins of Saint Katharine's Parish, New Orleans B DOUGLAS J. SLAWSON During the ante-bellum period and the era of Reconstruction, the religious life of black Christians in New Orleans cast in sharp relief the general experience of their urban counterparts throughout the South, namely, the tendency toward separate Protestant churches for blacks versus the nearly universal practice of integration in Catholic ones. New Orleans highlights this contrast because there the demography of black denominationalism was reversed. In the South, the majority of black Christians, slave and free, belonged to the various Protestant denominations; only a handful belonged to the Catholic body. In the Crescent City, however, the majority of blacks were Catholics, while the minority were Protestants. Black Catholics in New Orleans at- tended racially mixed churches down through the first decade of the twentieth century.