Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
September 11, 2002
African-American Catholics strive for `solidarity in action'
By Amisu M. Estrada
CHICAGO (CNS) — Approximately 3,000 African-American Catholics from across the nation celebrated the Labor Day weekend in downtown Chicago at the first National Black Catholic Congress of the 21st century.
The theme of National Black Catholic Congress IX was "Black Catholic Leadership in the 21st Century: Solidarity in Action."
Initiated in 1889 in Washington by Ohio newspaperman Daniel Rudd, the congress has been held every five years since 1987. Chicago last hosted the event in 1893, during which discriminatory actions in Catholic schools were condemned.
Although much has changed since the congress was initiated in the 19th century, the event's agenda remains strikingly similar. The 2002 congress listed spirituality, parish life, youth and young adults, Catholic education, social justice, racism, Africa and HIV/AIDS as issues of greatest concern to African-American Catholics.
According to Therese Favors, Congress IX facilitator and planner of Congress VIII, the same core issues have taken on different nuances from congress to congress.
"In 1889 we were calling for desegregation of Catholic schools and trying to make sure there were Catholic schools in our communities," she said. "Now, we are fighting for the schools to stay alive in our communities."
She said Rudd believed in social justice and saw the Catholic Church as the primary agency to address the needs of the people.
"(Similarly,) we believe that the only way we are able to address these issues is as a collective body," said Favors.
Adrian Dominican Sister Jamie T. Phelps, a veteran teacher and one of the presenters for the congress, said black Catholics are concerned "that Catholic schools are closing in black communities and some parishes are being merged and closed."
"We know that education is key to the black community in general, and research shows that black children who attend Catholic schools perform better in school and in society," she added.
Fellow presenter and seasoned educator Rosalind Hale stressed the importance of an educational experience that makes religious education a focal point of the curriculum.
"We may be focusing on the wrong thing," she said. "Students are going to get the academics, but the Catholic education, particularly the black Catholic education, is lost" when Catholic schools close.
She suggested finding creative ways to keep schools viable, such as soliciting the help of religious orders, creating charter schools and combining resources among several different parishes and opening one school to support the whole community.
In an interview with the Catholic Explorer, Joliet diocesan newspaper, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago, one of the 11 active African-American Catholic bishops, discussed the unique characteristics of African-American Catholic spirituality.
"African-American spirituality, I think, is fed or inspired a great deal by the sagas of capture, enslavement and discrimination," he said. "When the slaves were brought to this country, they already had a vibrant spirituality. When the missionaries gave them the Gospel, they found narratives in the Bible akin to their experience — Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers, Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. These were very impressive narratives for people who had experienced anything similar."
Bishop Perry, the homilist for the event's opening Mass Aug. 29, said that in today's Catholic Church, African-Americans can offer the gift of a "very vibrant faith and spirit."
"Faith and religion — they don't take it for granted," he said. "It was used as a tool of higher consciousness and freedom, even when society did not give (that freedom) to them. This is the kernel of black religion across the board, Catholic and Protestant."
Both Bishop Perry and Sister Phelps said that although Protestant ministers were the most active in evangelizing the former slaves after their emancipation, it would be inaccurate to assume that all African-Americans are Protestant, noting that there are presently over 2 million African-American Catholics.
"The earliest foundations of the United States had black Catholics," said Sister Phelps. "Catholicism is not culturally foreign to the black experience. ... (Despite the fact that) Catholics don't think we're Catholic enough and blacks don't think we're black enough. We occupy a middle ground, but it's been a fertile ground, we've made significant contributions to both the Catholic Church and the black community."
In a keynote address Aug. 30, Bishop Charles G. Palmer-Buckle of Koforidua, Ghana, discussed the rapidly increasing population of Catholics in Africa and the large number of newly ordained priests in his diocese alone.
"I know sometimes some of my brother bishops are a bit jittery about taking some of our priests; they may have their good reasons," the bishop said. "What I would ask you to do is to help us form them and then we can give them good to you to send."
He also asked Catholics in America to "become the voice of Africa" by lobbying their government officials for increased developmental aid to Africa.
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, the first African-American to be elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged study of the U.S. bishops' 2001 statement, "A Call to Solidarity with Africa."
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