Catholic identity of Irish Channel is focus of exhibit

   An exhibit of memorabilia from the three religious communities that established the cluster of schools, churches, convents and orphanages in New Orleans’ Irish Channel is open to the public at St. Alphonsus Church, 2025 Constance St.
   The exhibit, housed in the church’s narthex, to the right of the main entrance, includes items of interest from the Sisters of Mercy, who came to the neighborhood to serve Irish immigrants; the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who ministered to German residents; and the Redemptorists, whose priests and brothers served the neighborhood’s three Catholic churches: St. Alphonsus, St. Mary’s Assumption and Notre Dame de Bon Secours, now demolished.

Film on Irish Channel

   The habits of the two communities of religious women and the Redemptorists lead off the exhibit, the latter’s modeled after vestments worn by diocesan priests in Naples, Italy, during St. Alphonsus’ time. Nearby, one of the church’s original confessionals has been retrofitted into a screening area for viewing a 45-minute film on the history of the Irish Channel.
   Other items in the three-part exhibit include:

   • A student handbook from Mercy Academy; large shields that once hung at Mercy High School and Mercy Hospital, the former sporting the Mercy Sisters’ red bars of “courage” and the white cross of “purity and sacrifice”; and photos and news clippings of the Sisters of Mercy carrying out their two main ministries: as educators, dressed in the black and white habit; and as healthcare workers, wearing the all-white habit. The Mercy Sisters also grace the exhibit’s official poster, which shows them moving their belongings from their original New Orleans hospital on Annunciation Street to their new medical facility on Bienville Avenue and Jefferson Davis Parkway.

   • The portion of the exhibit spotlighting the School Sisters of Notre Dame includes a photograph of the sisters processing in double-file down Constance Street; school and confirmation records from St. Mary’s School; and two dolls dressed in the Notre Dame Sisters’ pre- and post-Vatican II habits. This section also boasts one of the exhibit’s most poignant artifacts: a “crown box” – or the container that would be made by each postulant in anticipation of her initial profession of vows at the motherhouse in St. Louis. The crown of roses worn by the postulant on “reception day” would be placed in the box and given to her parents after the ceremony.
   • The area dedicated to the Redemptorists contains photographs of Father John Duffy, who built St. Alphonsus Church, and Father William Grangell, a popular pastor and administrator of St. Alphonsus Parish. A drawing of the neighborhood’s most famous Redemptorist priest, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, also is on display.

Vintage photos abound

   An interactive station in the exhibit area invites visitors to thumb through albums of vintage photographs.
   “We are asking people either to identify (people in the photos) or make comments,” said Armand Bertin, president of the Friends of St. Alphonsus, noting that George Groetsch, a volunteer archivist and former member of the Friends of St. Alphonsus board, has been collecting and cataloguing items connected with Irish Channel priests and religious since 1990. Bertin said the collection is in the process of being digitized by Tulane students under the supervision of Dr. Laura Kelley, an adjunct faculty member in Tulane’s history department.
   The free exhibit is open during St. Alphonsus Church’s regular opening times of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., through fall 2013. Donations are welcome. The exhibit was funded through a generous gift from the Mercy Sisters and Sister of Mercy Marie Jeanne Mouledoux, and curated by the art committee of the Friends of St. Alphonsus, chaired by Claudia Kheel. For more information, visit www.stalphonsusneworleans.org or call 524-8116.
            Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].