Funds sought for new memorial at St. Augustine
City’s oldest Catholic burial ground marks 200 years
It may seem like ancient history to some — but it wasn’t that long ago that anti-Catholic discrimination was rampant in the city of Boston.
Believers in the values and teachings of Jesus Christ were not only ridiculed in the press, but were actually outlawed in many areas of daily life. In those days, the Irish and other immigrants could only find work in dangerous labor and construction jobs, at hazardous chemical factories, or working as scrub women in downtown office buildings.
Listings for businesses seeking employees in Boston read, “Help Wanted, No Catholics Need Apply.”
I often wondered why we didn’t hear more about this dark period of Boston’s history when I was growing up. Every once in a while, we would read an op-ed in the Boston Pilot or Post about those early ugly days in Boston. But, like so many ugly periods in American history — like the removal and mistreatment of Native Americans, slavery and the internment of Asian-Americans during World War II — it wasn’t something people wanted to talk about.
Now more than ever, it’s important to remember that our country courageously fought through those painful days. For some, the history never leaves their minds — and nor should it. Just like our Jewish brothers would courageously and faithfully say in talking about the Holocaust in the early 1940s, “Never Again.”
And though much has changed since those dark days in Boston, local Catholics and concerned residents have the chance to remind people about how far we’ve come in September, when we commemorate the 200th anniversary of St. Augustine Cemetery in South Boston with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Sean O’Malley.
The cemetery is a sacred place of burial for many Catholics who couldn’t be buried in downtown Boston because civil authorities prohibited it. Some concerned residents, led by Father Robert Casey of Gate of Heaven and St. Brigid Church, are organizing a special memorial.
In order to honor this important and remarkable moment in our city’s history, it’s going to require the help and resources of many good people. An organizational meeting will be held March 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Gate of Heaven Church Hall. A fundraising event is being planned for sometime in June.
Everyone’s help is needed to show our love and support for our history and to make sure we never repeat these past injustices.