In Memoriam
Rev. Paul Bernard Smith – legendary Principal of Holy Angels School
Life-Dates
Born
September 29, 1931 (in Baltimore MD)
Education
Frederick Douglas High School in Baltimore
Undergraduate
work at Loyola College of Baltimore, and Boston College
University of Scranton from 1967-69, earning a Masters in English and
Administration
Studied
in seminary in Louisiana (Alexandria Diocese)
Ordained
Baltimore on May 26, 1962 (for the Diocese of Alexandria, LA)
25th Jubilee Mass on June 21, 1987 at St. Pius V Church in
Baltimore MD (his home church)
Assignments
St. Anthony’s (Cottonport, LA); Holy Ghost (Marksville LA); St.
Mary’s Assumption (Scranton, PA);
Holy
Saviour (Alexandria, VA)
Chicago
Came to Holy Angels School as Principal in 1970
English Teacher at Malcolm X College (1974-1994)
Holy
Angels Church fire – spring 1986
Received
St. Ignatius College Prep’s Dei Gloriam Award August 1, 1988
Final
Years
Car accident leaving him paralyzed - 1994
Died
November 23, 1996 in Chicago IL
Funeral
November 30, 2000 in Chicago IL (Bishop George Murray presiding)
Buried
in Alexandria, LA
The early years
Paul Bernard Smith was born in Baltimore MD on
September 29, 1931. Segregation was very much alive in Baltimore where he was
raised, and would affect his life. He was rejected by all three Catholic high
schools there – 2 turning him down outright because of race, 1 saying his
“application was too late”. (A
side-note to this childhood experience is that his sister’s 5 sons later
attended each of the 3 Catholic high schools that rejected him!). As a result,
Smith attended a public high school, Frederic Douglas High School. As a young
man, he worked summer jobs in Baltimore at the Maryland Dry Dock, Bethlehem
Steel and Domino Sugar Company.
But throughout his early years, Paul Smith always
maintained an interest in becoming a priest. Despite the prejudice that had
denied him a Catholic high school education, he was blessed to meet a Jesuit
priest associated with Loyola College in Baltimore MD. Paul was granted a
scholarship to attend there, and in 1958 became one of the first black graduates
of that college. He received a bachelors degree in English. After numerous
rejections by various seminaries, Paul was finally accepted by the Bishop of
Alexandria, LA, and left MD to attend seminary there.
Paul returned “in triumph” to his hometown of
Baltimore on May 26, 1962 for his ordination at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
He was the first black man from Baltimore to be ordained a diocesan priest.
20 years later, in 1982, Fr.
Paul Smith would be honored by his alma mater, Loyola College in Baltimore, with
its Carroll Medal for Outstanding Achievement. The awards ceremony would say of
him “Father Smith’s life and work are a living embodiment of the spirit
of Loyola College – ‘Strong Truths – Well Lived’.”
After his ordination and several early parish
assignments in Louisiana (Cottonport LA, and teaching in Marksville LA), Fr.
Smith moved to PA to attend the University of Scranton from 1967-69. While
living at St. Mary Assumption Church in Scranton (and helping in the parish), he
earned his Masters Degree in English and Administration at the University.
After receiving his degree, the Bishop of Alexandria LA asked Fr. Smith
to become the principal of a recently integrated school there (Menard High
School). Racism reared its head
again at this decision, as whites balked at this decision, even though Fr. Smith
was the only priest in the diocese with the academic credentials for this job.
Shortly after that, the legendary Fr. George Clements
of the Archdiocese of Chicago contacted Fr. Smith. Clements asked Fr. Smith to
come to Holy Angels Church in Chicago to run the school there. Clements pulled
no punches with Fr. Smith, telling him “like it was” in that inner-city
neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side. The school was located in the middle of
a inner-city ghetto, with 5 federally subsidized housing projects as its
neighbors. Fr. Smith came to look Holy Angels over, decided to accept the job,
and never looked back. He would spend the rest of his life there.
The “Chicago years”
In his 24 years as Principal, he made Holy Angels
School a byword for excellence in values, discipline and education.
Fr. Smith’s educational philosophy (like his traditional Catholicism)
was unabashedly old-fashioned. Students still formed lines. Silence and tidiness
ruled in classrooms. “The King’s English” governed student’s speech.
Discipline was strict. Parents had to attend religious instruction classes.
Fr. Smith used to say “We don’t believe in re-inventing the wheel.
This works. Just look at the products of the traditional Catholic schools today.
They are successful people leading our city and businesses. If your children do
as well, And we hope they do better, we’ve done our job.” The school
year was expanded to 220 days a year (11 months) instead of the usual 176
required by law in the 1970’s. Fr.
Smith’s regular comment when asked about this was “ A three-month summer
recess dates back to the time in America when children had to have time off to
work on their family’s farms, harvesting crops. The only crop the inner city
produces is failure.”
Holy Angels was (and continues to be) the largest
black Catholic grade school in the nation, with a consistent enrollment of
1200-1300 students. Though the school buildings were run down, classes
oversized, and inner city problems abounded outside its doors, Holy Angels
School continued to flourish under Fr. Smith. He helped make Holy Angels School
a spring of hope in the educational desert of Chicago public schooling, offering
children a chance to succeed and achieve. Students were taught to be confident
and proud through actual accomplishments. Parents knew that their children were
expected to do well, and were offered things they could not get at public
schools: strict discipline, sound moral values and a Catholic education.
Students had tons of homework each night, and could expect to get paddled if
they were out of line. Smith was once quoted as having a “ketchup bottle”
approach to discipline: “when all else fails, hit it on the bottom”.
One newspaper said of his school “Holy Angels
School has been put under a microscope by numerous educational, civic, social
and religious organizations. They all go away amazed at a school in the midst of
a low socio-economic area that is doing a top-notch job of educating
youngsters.” [Chicago Courier, Feb 9, 1974]
Fr. Smith used to proudly state that “ a person is proud of what he
does, and proud that he IS somebody. At Holy Angels, we spell pride two ways.
P-R-O-D-U-C-E and A-C-H-I-E-V-E.
These are the cornerstones of Holy Angels School”. The motto of the Holy
Angels under Fr. Smith’ leadership was “where proud black youngsters
produce and achieve.”
Fr. Smith’s educational philosophy
In giving speeches about his work, Fr. Smith used to
comment about Holy Angels School that “Our school’s greatest contribution
is not just to the Church but to the entire field of education.
We have demonstrated that inner city youth can achieve at academic levels
equal to suburban youth in elitist schools. More particularly, we’ve shown
that survival is not dependent upon handouts from the Archdiocese or upon large
doles from the parish.”
In a 1979 interview with a Scranton, PA newspaper,
Smith spoke proudly of the achievements and accomplishments of “his
children”. “The children achieve at the national average or better on
standardized tests of basic skills. Our truancy rate is minimal. More than 20
absentees in one day would concern us. This is an indication that our children
are happy and want to come to school. Our students are able to go to the best
Catholic high schools in the city without any remedial work.
Our expectations are high. We expect more and that’s why we get
more.”.
Fr. Smith said that once in the turbulent 1970’s,
he addressed an auditorium of black fists raised in pride. He asked everyone who
had straight A’s to raise their
fists. No hands were raised. He then asked everyone with straight B’s to raise
their hands. Again there were no hands. Smith then added “ What we’re
saying to our children is ‘don’t tell us what you are. Don’t simply say
I’m proud because I’m black. Be proud of what you have done’. We
are the most inner-city of all inner-city schools, yet we’re producing the
best black students in the city of Chicago.”
At the same time, Fr. Smith realized the vital
importance of education in faith and religious catechesis on young people.
“We stress the necessity of attending Sunday Mass for all our students. If
they are not Catholic, we tell their parents that it’s illogical to submit
your child to us and not know what we’re all about. Therefore, it is
consistent and reasonable to require that non-Catholics accept instructions in
the Catholic faith without baptism being required. Parents must know what we are
about, but they must also be involved. They must demonstrate their interest in
their child’s academic progress. It has been our experience that, while not
all accept the Catholic faith, most are impressed by the presentation of its
systematic body of truths. Many freely convert. We’ll have baptisms of over
100 or so after about three months of convert classes held twice a week.”
In one talk, Fr. Smith offered the following advice
to those who work as spiritual leaders in the African-American communities of
Chicago and other cities. “ Don’t apologize for your faith! Proclaim it
vigorously and persistently. To go into the inner city and proselytize with the
idea of sacrificing your life and saving your soul is a myopic view. The real
worker wants to share with those he serves and respond to their needs. He must
be motivated by their love. Don’t
try to change the black community culturally but try to share with them the God
who transcends our cultural differences. You have to have your head on straight.
Know who you are and why you’ve come to the inner city. Deal with that before
you make the commitment to serve in the black community. You can expect your
commitment to be tested.”
Other avocations
Fr. Paul Smith had a beautiful singing voice. The
faithful early Sunday morning parishioners of Holy Angels Church recall with
great love his breaking into song in the middle of the Mass. Many people
remember as well the great gusto with which he enjoyed his weekly Sunday morning
breakfast with Holy Angels people in the church basement. Smith was also a fine
cook, skilled especially at making gumbo.
While in Chicago, one of Fr. Smith’s “side
jobs” was working in the Communications Department at Malcolm X College,
teaching English. In one
professor’s Literature class, he used to be a guest speaker, reciting Paul L.
Dunbar non-stop for 15-20 minutes for enthralled students. When he left the
class, students would discuss his powerful recitation and want to know which
classes he taught, so they could enroll in them.
Tragedy in his later years
In the summer of 1994, Fr. Smith was doing what he
loved to do – thinking of his school and students first. He traveled to PA by
van to pick up some desks for the school. Unfortunately, the driver at the wheel
with him ran off the road, resulting in a horrible accident. As result of that
accident, Fr. Smith was partially paralyzed for the rest of his life, confined
to a wheelchair. Despite his
intense desire to stay in contact with the school, his injuries prevented him
from ever again taking an active role in school leadership, and he was forced to
step down as Principal from his beloved School.
Fr. Smith lived at the time in a condominium on
Dorchester Street in nearby Hyde Park. Following his accident, he had a number
of caregivers who stayed with him throughout the day and night to care for his
needs. Always a gentle and kind man who was sensitive to the needs of the less
fortunate around him, he would occasionally get taken advantage of by people who
abused his gentleness and kindness. Perhaps it was this kindness that allowed a
caregiver who was a drug user into his apartment in late November 1996, or
perhaps he simply did not know the man’s history.
The funeral for Fr. Paul Smith took place a week
later, was celebrated by the Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago George Murray, and was
jammed with his friends and former students. He was survived by his sister Mrs.
Agnes Dorsey (Baltimore MD), a brother Leonard Smith (Chicago IL) and his
adopted mother Mrs. Hazel Smith (New Orleans, LA). The multitude of tributes
published at that time about him could never capture the heart of this gentle
giant, a man of immense conviction and compassion, a priest of deep faith and
passion. Fr. Paul Bernard Smith was priest, educator, prophet, preacher, mentor
and friend to thousands.
On September 27, 2001, Burrell Geralds, 41, was
convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Rev. Paul Smith by a jury that
took less than three hours to deliberate. Frederick Carter, 37, was also
convicted of the murder of Father Smith by a separate jury the next day
(September 28, 2001); each of these individuals was sentenced to 114 years in
prison.
Written by: Reverend Robert Miller, Co-pastor, Holy Angels
Church
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