Father David Endres Honored

Father David Endres, Dean of the Athenaeum and Associate Professor of Church History and Historical Theology, received the Texas Catholic Historical Society’s Patrick Foley Award for the best article to appear in 2016 in the journal Catholic Southwest: A Journal of History and Culture.

The award was announced at the Texas Catholic Historical Society’s annual meeting in Houston on March 3.

Father Endres’ article, “Judge Leander Perez and the Franciscans of Our Lady of Good Harbor: A School Integration Battle in Buras, Louisiana, 1962-1965,” explores the tumultuous effort to integrate a Catholic school in Louisiana.

The church became embroiled in the fight for racial integration when New Orleans Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel mandated integration of the parochial schools beginning with the 1962-1963 school year. The most vocal opposition to school integration in Buras came from Leander Perez, a powerful political boss and district attorney in Plaquemines Parish whom Rummel had excommunicated in 1962 for provoking his fellow Catholics to rebellion. Through intimidation and violence, Perez and his allies successfully prevented the integration of the school despite the efforts of Franciscans friars and sisters.

The study was drawn principally from sources at the Archives of the Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist of Cincinnati and the CBS News documentary, “The Priest and the Politician” (1963).

Congratulations, Father Endres!