Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-01-25
LAUDABLE.
Monastery Where NegrOs VIII
BE Cared For to BE
Erected.
Good sisters Have Worked For
Seventy Years in
Louisville.
Here Infants Will BE Taken
In as Well as the
Grown. Ups.
PRESENT QUARTERS CRAMPED

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd,
who have been performing a great
work of charity in Louisville during
the past seventy years, are now about
to begin a new undertaking, which
should appeal to every charitable
person in Kentucky, black and white,
Catholic and Protestant. Volun-
tarily the Sisters have placed this
new burden upon themselves. They
have confidence in Divine Providence
and feel assured that their new un-
dertaking-that of building a mon
astery and industrial home espe-
cially for the care of colored infants
and colored girls-will be success
fully carried out, though it will take
years of toll and much anxiety to
fully carry it forward.
The Sisters some time ago pur-
chased fifteen acres of land on the
Newburg road, not far from the
Passionist Monastery, and there
ground will be broken next week for
the new monastery to replace the
pioneer convent of the order now
located at Eighth and Madison
streets. This latter has become too
cramped to hold all of the inmates
offered. and a new building and
grounds had become a necessity even
had not the good Sisters about year
ago placed an additional burden
upon themselves by proposing TO
take care of children of the age OF
three years and upward. There are
quite a number of infants now in the
Eighth-street monastery, which has
a total of 100 persons including the
infants. There is no institution in
Louisville to take care OF infant
negro children who have no homes,
and without any solicitation upon the
part of the public the Good Shepherd
Sisters undertook the work and now
propose to carry il out upon large
scale. The fact that the Sisters are
to give especial attention to the
negroes. infants as well as grown
UPS, must not be taken as an indica-
tion that the whites are to be
neglected. On the contrary, they
will be looked after with more care
than ever; in fact the Sisters will
have better facilities for looking
after the white females of all ages
with the blacks all to themselves.
There is a colored population OF over
$4,000 in Louisville, but no one
seems to care for the poor negro
children of tender years. No one
thought of them until the sisters
took up the matter, and they intend
to solve II. 1t matters not that less
than 5 per cent. OF the negroes IN
Louisville are Of the Catholic faith
the Good Shepherd will look after
them. At no time during the seventy
years of activity of the Good shep-
herd Sisters in Louisville have they
inquired from those who knocked at
their convent doors whether they
were Catholic, Protestant, Jew or
unbelieyer. They rejoice to receive
all who are penitent.
The convent of the Good Shepherd
at Eighth and Madison streets is the
mother house of the order in the
United States. From this house
have gone forth thousands OF
penitents, and some have remained
as long as a half century or more,
one remaining until she passed
away at the age of eighty-three years
About a half hundred OF other con-
vents of the order have been estab-
iished in this country and Canada
since the monastery at Eighth and
Madison streets was built and
opened on September 8, 1S43. In
deciding to take care of the negroes
especially the Sisters have in mind
the admonition OF the Superioresi
General of the order, who, In ad
dressing the five Sisters who first
came from the mother house al
Angers, France, said among othei
things:
al need not remind you, my deai
daughters, to receive negresses al
we'll as white children. either al
penitents or young children-botl
have souls, for which Jesus Chris
shed his blood Moreover, ! can as
sure YOU. negroes are susceptible o
great affection and gratitude.
The Sisters have done the yer,
best they could for the colored chill
dren up to this time. but they hop
10 do better in the future. They vii
prevent many OF the negro race fron
becoming a menace to society an
will make those under their car
become useful citizens, teaching then
how TO save their souls ana at IN
same time learn how 60 make a
honest living when they go out INT M
the world The Sisters teach IN
little ones their letters ana Tn
grown ups various arts, sucn
painting, music, drawing, se"ihi
embroidery and cooking. There
no idleness in the convent OF tn
Good Shepherd. After over zoz year
OF experience In handling such III
fortunates the Sisters know Una
work Is the thing to keep their mlho
from evil things, and work "orl
work Is their motto. II must not 7
inferred, however, that II Is all "or
and no play In the convent Ihe u
mates Of all classes have their recr'
alton hours with music, singing
other diversion.