The Black Catholic Experience in Virginia... 1866 Second Plenary Council encourages establishing schools and orphanages for African Americans; to establish separate churches or invite African Americans to existing churches 1880 Black lay catechists, graduates of the Josephites Epiphany Apostolic College of Baltimore, opened a school for blacks in Jarratt 1884 St. Joseph's Parish founded for Black Catholics 1885 Bishop Keane signed deed for property to be consecrated for church on Shockoe Hill 1887 Wales R. Tyrrell and Joseph Griffin enter the seminary for the Mill Hill Fathers at St. Peter's College near Liverpool England. 1893 St. Francis Colored Foundling and Orphan started 1894 1,600 acre-estate purchased in Rock Castle on the James River in Powhatan County to establish St. Emma's, an industrial and agricultural school for boys. 1894 St. Joseph's Charity Circle organized to do charity work 1895 St. Emma's Industrial and Agricultural College for boys dedicated. 1897 St. Joseph's Cemetery for Colored Catholics established 1899 St. Francis de Sales for girls opened at Rock Castle 1905 Ladies Sodality organized at St. Joseph's Parish 1910 Van deVyver school of Richmond opened 1913 Holy Name Society organized at St. Joseph's Parish 1917- 1918 1,600 Black Catholics in Virginia, 11 churches for Black Catholics and 12 schools for African Americans 1925 Thomas Wyatt Turner, a professor at Hampton Institute, organized the Federated Colored Catholics of the United States 1937 Bishop O'Connell dedicated St. Augustine Church in Fulton area of Richmond 1945 St. Alphonsus mission opened in Newport News 1945 Holy Family Church started in Petersburg 1946 St. Gerard Church opened in Roanoke 1948 Chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help started as a mission of St. Gerard's 1949 Richmond diocese actively participate in voter registration drive of the NAACP. W. Lester Banks of NAACP asked Bishop Ireton's cooperation, support and guidance 1951 Mrs. Lydia Elizabeth Nicholas, first woman in the diocese to receive the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal. She served 47 years in Columbia. She taught in a one-room school in Columbia. 1953 St. Margaret Mary mission established in Charlottesville 1953 Holy Rosary established in Richmond 1954 Bishop Ireton desegregated diocesan schools on the eve of Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme court decision 1956 Father Theophilus Brown, O. S. B. said his first Mass at St. Joseph's. Fr. Brown was the first parishioner of St. Joseph's to be ordained a priest. 1963 Brother Martin de Porres Smith of Holy Rosary took his final vows as a Redemptorists. 1969 St. Joseph's of Richmond, the oldest parish for Black Catholics formally closed and financial assets were transferred to Holy Rosary. The stained glass windows went to St. John's church in Woodstock, Virginia. 1970 St. Francis de Sales School for girls closed 1971 Black Catholic Youth Choir started 1972 St. Emma's for boys closed. 1975 Fr. Walter Barrett ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond May 3,1975 1977 Fr. Walter Barrett becomes first Black Pastor in Diocese of Richmond 1979 Black Experience Retreats begin 1980 Fr. Lloyd Stephenson ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond Aug. 16,1980 1980 Office for Black Catholics established in diocese of Richmond. Brother Matthias Newell served as the Director. 1982 Father J. Stephen Hickman ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond May 8,1982 1982 Sr. Cora Marie Billings, RSM, becomes Director of the Office for Black Catholics 1983 Father McKinley Williams ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond.May 14,1983 1984 Office for Black Catholics become involved in Haitian Ministry 1987 Father Matthias Newell ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond May 16,1987 1988 Father John Boddie ordained to Priesthood in diocese of Richmond May 14,1988 1990 Sr. Cora Marie Billings, RSM, becomes The First African American Nun to Head a Parish in The United States; becomes the First African American woman to serve as Pastoral Coordinator in the diocese of Richmond, Virginia 1996 Kujenga Retreat for African American high school students begins. 2002 Mr. Calvin Bailey and Dr. Marshall Banks ordained as Permanent Deacons