Avenard, Father John Baptist, Alexandria, Louisiana, to Bishop Francis Xavier Leray, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881 April 7

Avenard writes about a problem which he very much dislikes touching upon. Father Leonard Ménard has criticized him several times for waiting so long. It concerns their relations with the Sisters of Mercy . Mother Mary Aloysius Oliver, S.M., is very independent of priests; she left Natchitoches without attending a retreat which Bishop Augustus Mary Martin required many others to attend and without any letter from Martin. When Avenard asked her what their relation would be, she replied that he would be only the community's confessor and that he would not have anything else to do with them. She has an exclusively Irish group of advisers and she organizes fairs and lotteries without consulting Avenard. She is frequently absent from the school. By pleading the cause of the sisters and their school before the congregation, Avenard has succeeded in maintaining them until now. He proposed to Ménard that he construct a school at Pineville . Ménard succeeded. As their confessor, Avenard should know what the bishop permits them to sell or to acquire. Furthermore, he is pastor of Alexandria and, at least in a small way, the judge of its resources. He wonders if Aloysius has the right to admit and solicit support for them without consulting him. A lay sister whom Leray had given the white veil left the convent and took employment with a Jewish family. She is now with J.A. Williams whose wife is a good Catholic raised at the convent of St. Michael. The last incident to occur is the plan to erect a convent for the entire community at Pineville. A little more than a year ago, Aloysius, along with Sister Joseph, S.M., came to see him and inform him of their plan. He warned them that there were only around 100 Catholics at Pineville, that they were poor, and that the sisters could not count on sympathy from the population at Alexandria, who would not be very flattered by their emigration to Pineville. Avenard believed it all forgotten, but later Ménard at learned that the sisters had bought six acres of land at Pineville from E.J. Barrett who made them a gift of almost two acres more, and that various individuals at Pineville and Alexandria had promised them wood. It has been nine months and still Avenard sees no progress being made. If they do succeed in building, the future will still not be assured, for they have offended various people. When classes began Aloysius demanded $30 per month from Ménard for Pineville. When Ménard replied that he wished to pay according to the number of pupils, Aloysius declared that, if he did not accept her conditions, she would open a school for Negro children at Alexandria. Avenard pointed out the difficulties: the poverty of the blacks, the small number of Catholics among them, and the necessity of renting a house. Several days later she advertised in the "Louisiana Democrat" that she was going to open a school for colored children. At first given an abandoned house, they were later obliged to leave and today are holding the classes in their old refectory. In all their schools the boys and girls are mixed pell mell in the same room. At present they have as pupils 25 to 30 white children and 25 to 30 blacks at Alexandria, and 15 to 20 whites at Pineville. Since the total of Catholics is only 500 to 525 the number is quite satisfactory, but Avenard does not know what proportion of the pupils are Catholics. Aloysius is unable to humble herself and apologize. Avenard believes she was raised up too high too early. The daughter of a wealthy father, she brought a considerable dowry to the convent. Soon after recovering from a dangerous illness she was made mistress of novices. Sister Joseph made her noviciate under her and has been her admirer ever since. Avenard has often thought that if the system of the Jesuit Fathers could be applied to her, requiring a change of position and reduction to a simple religious, it would be very useful for her sanctification. The independent status of the Sisters of Mercy is not suited for schools for poor and small populations. He leaves it to Leray to decide what is best. He visited Aloysius this morning and she seemed tired and ill. She keeps to her room. Sister Joseph conducts the schools for white children and Sister Rose, S.M., the one for blacks at Alexandria. Sister Evangelist, S.M. , accompanied by the lay Sister Alphonse, S.M. , goes every day to Pineville. He would like to have a mission at Pineville but could not pay the missionary more than $100. Father P. Felix Dicharry wants an extraordinary confessor for Natchitoches at the Easter season. Between Alexandria and Pineville there are about forty persons to be confirmed. At Alexandria he hardly has one child old enough and instructed sufficiently for first communion. He has 50 children signed up for Catechism. Ménard would like 3 or 4 altar stones. They wonder when they will have a pastoral retreat. :: VI-3-c A.L.S. French 14pp. folio 16