Jesuit Bend, Louisiana
Jesuit Bend is an unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. History. Members of the Society of Jesus settled at this location in the early part of the 18th century, a bend in the Mississippi River, hence the name "Jesuit Bend". The Jesuit settlers brought with them from Asia the satsuma, a loosely skinned seedless tangerine. Satsumas have been farmed at this locale ever since. At one point, Jesuit Bend had a station on the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grand Isle Railroad line. It also is the location  of the Jesuit Bend Wetland Mitigation Bank, an effort to return open water to a fully functioning freshwater marsh, to help reverse the longstanding problem of wetlands erosion in the Mississippi River Delta. Jesuit Bend Incident. In 1955, Rev. Gerald Lewis, an African-American Catholic priest, was stopped by parishioners from celebrating Mass in Jesuit Bend because of his color. The chapel was thereupon placed under interdict by the Archbishop of New Orleans, Joseph Francis Rummel. This lasted for two years before a priest, reportedly via subterfuge (promising to never again send a Black priest), obtained signatures from a number  parishioners promising to accept whatever priest was sent to them. Abp Rummel approved the reopening of the chapel before eventually discovering the ruse, but wished to save face and not renege on the order. Fortunately for him, the chapel was destroyed by a hurricane soon after. He refused to allow it to be rebuilt.