Postponement

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision against segregation in the public schools, Joseph Francis Rummel, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, and onetime (1924-28) pastor of a Harlem congregation, seemed destined to be the man to set his state an example. Last February he issued a pastoral letter condemning segregation as sinful, appeared ready to start general integration of the archdiocese's 75,000 parochial-school pupils* this fall. Last week the archbishop was forced to revise his schedule.

His troubles began when a group of Catholic segregationists formed the Association of Catholic Laymen to fight integration. The archbishop ordered the group to disband, but the association appealed to higher church authority (the case is still pending). Though a few parochial schools did begin to hold mixed classes, it became obvious that if integration proceeded any further, hundreds of Catholic parents might withdraw their children and send them to public schools. For the archbishop, the threat was too serious to be ignored. Last week he announced that further integration would be postponed--"at least until September 1957."

* Who represent about one-tenth of Louisiana's school population.

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