History

Historic Timeline

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

1937	Missions Founder Father Frank Casey, S.S.E., was a "hands-on minister," here roofing one of the ministry buildings. Edmundite Southern Missions founded by Fathers Francis Casey and John Paro who came to Selma with only a Pontiac and $50. They arrived on July 6^thand quickly responded to the poverty by establishing mercy ministries of feeding, clothing and healing the poor.
1938	Building of St. Elizabeth's Church, African-America Catholic parish.
1938	All Saints Mission, Anniston, founded.
1940	Sisters of St. Joseph, Rochester, NY, join the Missions.
1941	St. Elizabeth's School opens, begins with Kindergarten and adds a grade a year through eighth grade.
1943	Holy Infant Inn opens, nursing home for the aged and chronically ill. At Father Casey’s invitation, Discalced Carmelite Nuns from Philadelphia arrived October 7 in Mobile to pray for the success of the Southern Missions.
1944	Good Samaritan Hospital opens, only hospital in Selma that accepts African-American patients.
1947	The Don Bosco Boys Club was founded in Selma by Father Nelson Ziter providing recreational and educational opportunities for African-American young men and women.
1950	School of Licensed Practical Nursing opens, first of its kind, educating men and women of all races. First graduating class of LPNs. With the assistance of the local Elks Lodge, a credit union for Blacks (now Selma-Dallas County Community Federal Credit Union) was opened.
1952	New St. Elizabeth's School built. The school is now home to a Selma Headstart Program.
1957	Good Samaritan Nursing Home opens (formerly Holy Infant Inn).
1961	Selma floods, Edmundites aid hundreds of flood victims with food, shelter and clothing. Father Ziter delivers potatoes to families after the flood.
1962	Good Samaritan Hospital expands to four floors, tallest building in Selma.
1965	Civil Rights March (“Bloody Sunday”). Good Samaritan Hospital wins national acclaim for its treatment of victims of brutality. On February 7^, 1965 Father Crowley published a full-page statement, “The Path to Peace in Selma” in the Selma Times Journal, which attracted national attention. In March 1965 Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Selma to lead efforts to secure the civil rights of Black Americans and visited Missions Director Father Crowley and Good Samaritan Hospital.
1970-71	Catholic parishes unite to make one integrated church: Queen of Peace Church, with an Edmundite priest as pastor, Catholic Schools unite as Queen of Peace Catholic School.
1970	Nursing School closes.
1976	Queen of Peace Catholic School closes with school integration.
1977	Catholic Social Ministry opens, provides social outreach and emergency assistance to poor and health care for the elderly.
1978	A.M. Hayden Health Center, Uniontown, founded health care for medically underserved and poor population of rural Perry County.
1979	Grace Busse Memorial Health Center, Pine Apple, founded health care for medically underserved and impoverished population of rural Wilcox County, one of the poorest counties in the nation.
1982	Lowndes County Catholic Center, Mosses, founded, educational programs to children in rural Lowndes County and outreach to the elderly. Community Health Center of West Wilcox County, Alberta, founded health care for the poor in medically underserved and geographically isolated communities.
1983	Don Bosco Nutrition Center, Selma, opens, serves hot meals free daily, 365 days a year. Selma’s own African American priest Father Anderson is consecrated a bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Father Roger La Charite, S.S.E., Missions Director from 1980 to 2006, and Rev. Houston Anderson, St. Paul's C.M.E. Church, visit the new Bosco Food Kitchen they started in east Selma in 1983.
1984	St. Edmund's Learning Center, Selma, opens, educational program offers G.E.D. classes, teen parenting courses, after school program and summer enrichment. Pine Apple Learning Center opens, educational program includes preschool classes, after school program, G.E.D. program and summer enrichment. Vredenburgh Health Center founded, health care provided for the poor in a medically underserved rural area.
1986	Pine Apple Community Center, Wilcox County, founded, center provides daily adult day care for seniors and hot lunch program. Edmundite priest assigned to St. Peter Claver Parish, New Orleans Father Michael Jacques, S.S.E.
1988	St. Joseph Education Center, Vredenburgh, opens, educational program includes preschool classes, after school program, G.E.D. classes and summer enrichment.
1992	Edmundite Missions Corps founded, year-long volunteer program for college graduates to serve in housing, education, recreation, and other outreach to poor communities. Edmundite priest assigned to St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Marrero, LA. Father Paul McQuillen, S.S.E. assumes post at the church/school.
1994	Bishop Perry Middle School, New Orleans, opens, Catholic school provides small classes and individual attention to young male students from poor inner-city neighborhoods. Mary's Food and Fashion, Pine Apple, opens thrift Store and snack bar provides clothing, household accessories and low-cost meals in rural Wilcox County.
1995	Edmundite priest assigned to St. Joseph's Parish, Tuskegee, Father Charles McNiece, S.S.E. assumes post at church/school.
1997	Uniontown Community Center opens, Perry County, center provided adult day care for the elderly, hot lunch program and a clothing give-away opens.
2000	Rebuilt Vredenburgh Community Center after its destruction by fire.
2001	St. Peter Claver Church, New Orleans, named top parish in the U.S. Excellent Catholic Parishes by Paul Wilkes, names the church one of the top eight parishes in the country.
2002	Missions helps found and support the Selma AIDS informational and referral office.
2003	Bosco Food Kitchen in Selma, which serves meals to the hungry 365 days a year, serves its one-millionth meal.
2004	Through a generous benefactor to the Missions, the Ana Maria Food Pantry opens in Pine Apple, providing the only source of nutritious food for the hungry poor in eastern Wilcox County. Hurricane Ivan roars through Selma and Wilcox County, damaging several Missions buildings and homes of those served by the ministry.
2005	Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast, sending hundreds of homeless victims of the storm to the Selma community. The Bosco Food Kitchen offers two meals a day for several months to accommodate the need. The Missions offers refuge through emergency assistance and other ministries to the hurricane victims in its four service counties. The Lowndes County catholic Center reopens as the Good Shepherd Catholic Center offering a variety of educational and outreach programs to children and seniors, a food pantry and jail ministry.
2006	A large expansion of the outreach center in Wilcox County at Pine Apple is built that includes a new Ana Maria Missions Kitchen, serving meals to the poor and the homebound, and an expansion of the Ana Maria Food Pantry. A laundromat was also added.