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Approximately 3,000 Black Catholics from 80 dioceses around the United States gathered for a four-day meeting called the National Black Catholic Congress . It included Masses, keynote addresses, breakout sessions for adults and youth, and a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The 13th National Black Catholic Congress occurred on July 23, 2023, The meeting took place at the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
LynnĂ© Gray, the director of music for the congress, led a combined choir that included singers from parishes across the United States. Gray is the music ministry director at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Washington. The combined choir had about 125 singers, many wearing traditional African dress with vibrant colors and patterns. They led the congregation in singing the opening hymn, which had the exultant refrain, “Rejoice! Rejoice! This is the day that the Lord has made.”
According to the Catholic Review, at the National Black Catholic Congress closing Mass, participants urged to keep flame of faith burning.
Sending forth the participants of the 13th National Black Catholic Congress at their July 23 closing Mass in the Washington, D.C., area, Bishop John H. Ricard offered them an admonition that he said he learned from his days as a youth camping in the woods – “Don’t let the fire go out!”
Bishop Ricard, age 83, is the superior general of his religious order, the Josephites, who formerly served as the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida. He was the homilist at the Mass, celebrated at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. He encouraged the congress participants to be inflamed by the Holy Spirit, and bring that spirit of faith back to their homes, parishes, dioceses and to the African American communities in their cities and towns.
Participants were encouraged to address problems like violence in their communities, the mass incarceration of people of color, and the challenge of reaching out to young adult Black Catholics raised in the faith who no longer go to church.
The procession to the altar included an honor guard of Knights of Peter Claver. The main celebrant of the closing Mass was Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., the president of the National Black Catholic Congress. He was joined by five other bishops, about 60 priests and nearly 50 permanent deacons. Joining the laypeople in the congregation were numerous African American women and men religious.
In his homily, Bishop Ricard praised the legacies of faith of the six U.S. Black Catholics being considered for sainthood whose portraits were in large banners hanging behind the altar, explaining that the Holy Spirit had come down on each of them.
Those candidates for sainthood include Venerable Henriette Delille of New Orleans, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Venerable Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange of Baltimore, the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious congregation of African American women; Venerable Father Augustus Tolton of Chicago, the first publicly known Black Catholic priest in the United States; Venerable Pierre Toussaint of New York, renowned for his charitable works; Servant of God Julia Greeley of Denver, known for her devout faith; and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and dynamic evangelist from Mississippi who died of cancer in 1990.
Sister Thea, who was known for her soaring style of singing, participated in the sixth National Black Catholic Congress held in 1987 on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington.
According to the Catholic Review, at the National Black Catholic Congress closing Mass, participants urged to keep flame of faith burning.
Sending forth the participants of the 13th National Black Catholic Congress at their July 23 closing Mass in the Washington, D.C., area, Bishop John H. Ricard offered them an admonition that he said he learned from his days as a youth camping in the woods – “Don’t let the fire go out!”
Bishop Ricard, age 83, is the superior general of his religious order, the Josephites, who formerly served as the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida. He was the homilist at the Mass, celebrated at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. He encouraged the congress participants to be inflamed by the Holy Spirit, and bring that spirit of faith back to their homes, parishes, dioceses and to the African American communities in their cities and towns.
Participants were encouraged to address problems like violence in their communities, the mass incarceration of people of color, and the challenge of reaching out to young adult Black Catholics raised in the faith who no longer go to church.
The procession to the altar included an honor guard of Knights of Peter Claver. The main celebrant of the closing Mass was Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., the president of the National Black Catholic Congress. He was joined by five other bishops, about 60 priests and nearly 50 permanent deacons. Joining the laypeople in the congregation were numerous African American women and men religious.
In his homily, Bishop Ricard praised the legacies of faith of the six U.S. Black Catholics being considered for sainthood whose portraits were in large banners hanging behind the altar, explaining that the Holy Spirit had come down on each of them.
Those candidates for sainthood include Venerable Henriette Delille of New Orleans, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Venerable Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange of Baltimore, the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious congregation of African American women; Venerable Father Augustus Tolton of Chicago, the first publicly known Black Catholic priest in the United States; Venerable Pierre Toussaint of New York, renowned for his charitable works; Servant of God Julia Greeley of Denver, known for her devout faith; and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and dynamic evangelist from Mississippi who died of cancer in 1990.
Sister Thea, who was known for her soaring style of singing, participated in the sixth National Black Catholic Congress held in 1987 on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington.
Bishop Ricard also noted the memory of Daniel Rudd, a pioneer Black Catholic journalist from Kentucky who founded the Congress of Colored Catholics that first met at St. Augustine Church in Washington in 1889.
That group, the bishop said, “is the granddaddy of the National Black Catholic Congress,” a movement that was revived in 1987, after Rudd’s group had held five earlier national gatherings around the turn of the century.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., the president of the National Black Catholic Congress, spoke at the July 23, 2023 closing Mass for that gathering, which was also held at the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
After Communion, Bishop Campbell spoke, noting that on his phone he has a photo from that first gathering of the nation’s Black Catholics in 1889, which includes Daniel Rudd and Father Tolton, who celebrated the opening Mass then.
The bishop also invited young people considering vocations to the priesthood or religious life to come forward, and several did, including young adults, teens and children. The congregation clapped for them, and Bishop Campbell offered them a special blessing, as the choir sang words that also reflected why adults from across the country had come together for the congress: “Lord I’m available to you.”
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., the president of the National Black Catholic Congress, spoke at the July 23, 2023 closing Mass for that gathering, which was also held at the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
After Communion, Bishop Campbell spoke, noting that on his phone he has a photo from that first gathering of the nation’s Black Catholics in 1889, which includes Daniel Rudd and Father Tolton, who celebrated the opening Mass then.
The bishop also invited young people considering vocations to the priesthood or religious life to come forward, and several did, including young adults, teens and children. The congregation clapped for them, and Bishop Campbell offered them a special blessing, as the choir sang words that also reflected why adults from across the country had come together for the congress: “Lord I’m available to you.”
Edited from Sources: Catholic Review.org
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