African american Catholic Church

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excaliber

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I want to learn all I can about the African American Catholic Church.
I have visited and it looks like a normal latin style mass. There is a different choir style. And the peole get up and walk to the basket to put there donations in.Then walk back to there seats.

Then after mass, visitors are asked to stand…welcomed and encouraged to come again.

The African American people normaly dress very nicely for church.

What are your thoughts of The African American Catholic Church?

All the traditions seem the same as the latin rite.
 
It would also be nice to discuss the
history of the African American Catholic Church. And how African Americans became such a small part of the Catholic Church.
 
Are they a separate Rite? A breakaway? Or is it merely a Latin Rite Catholic church that has a membership primarily comprised of African Americans?

As for African Americans being a small part of the Church. Remember that those in the Caribbean and those in Latin America who have African ancestry are also ‘‘African American’’.
 
excaliber said:
It would also be nice to discuss the
history of the African American Catholic Church. And how African Americans became such a small part of the Catholic Church.
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:confused: I suppose it depends on your location. There are a a fair number of African-American Catholics in my part of the US (the Atlanta area). There are three (I think) historically black parishes in and around the city. My own parish, which is big - several thousand families - is probably at least a third black. The local “trad” FSSP parish always has many African Americans in attendance. Of course, Atlanta has a very large African American population anyway, so that could be part of it.
 
LDNCatholic said:
Are they a separate Rite? A breakaway? Or is it merely a Latin Rite Catholic church that has a membership primarily comprised of African Americans?

As for African Americans being a small part of the Church. Remember that those in the Caribbean and those in Latin America who have African ancestry are also ‘‘African American’’.
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Look up St.Benedict because he is the Saint of the Church close to me. He was Catholic as far as I can tell.

I think it is Latin rite…but I could be wrong.
 
ibkc said:
:confused: I suppose it depends on your location. There are a a fair number of African-American Catholics in my part of the US (the Atlanta area). There are three (I think) historically black parishes in and around the city. My own parish, which is big - several thousand families - is probably at least a third black. The local “trad” FSSP parish always has many African Americans in attendance. Of course, Atlanta has a very large African American population anyway, so that could be part of it.
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Atlanta dose have a lot of african americans. But if African Americans were not a small part of the church why would there be an “African American Catholic Church”?
 
excaliber said:
Atlanta dose have a lot of african americans. But if African Americans were not a small part of the church why would there be an “African American Catholic Church”?
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See, I’m confused. I Googled this phrase and couldn’t find anything specific. So maybe you could explain? Is there a church near you that carries this name?
 
I believe I have found the website of the church in question:

unitedinhope.org/

St. Benedict The Moor Catholic Church

“We are a community of FAITH, GRACE, and SERVICE within the Roman Catholic Church. We have a unique charisma of parishioners and the African-American culture, creating a community of hospitality witnessing to the redeeming Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Here’s a link to the rather interesting history of the church:
unitedinhope.org/saintbenedictthemoor.htm

Excaliber, this sounds like the perfect location for you! Yes, it is a completely legitimate Catholic Church in union with Rome.
 
There are tons of African American Catholics here in south Louisiana and many African American parishes - including historically African American parishes (e.g. St. Augustine in New Orleans). There is a good number in my cathedral parish and there was a significant number in my parish growing up in New Orleans.

Could you be thinking about the group of African American Catholics who left HMC and founded their own church, Imani Temple?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imani_Temple_African-American_Catholic_Congregation

We had one of their churches here in Baton Rouge but I believe it failed.
 
By the way, Excaliber… the list of Faith Ministries on that website includes the contact number for the RCIA director. Now would be a good time to call them, since RCIA will be starting in about 6 weeks.

I know you’ve been struggling with your conversion to the Catholic Church and trying to meet parishoners and fit in better… If this isn’t proof that God is trying hard to help you to seek him, I don’t know what is…
 
There are several churches which use the title of either African American Catholic or African Orthodox Catholic or African Catholic Church. These churches are part of the Old Catholic movement . These Churches I believe trace their ancestry to the Jansenist Church of Utrecht in the Netherlands, which separated from Rome in 1724.

The Old Catholic Churches started after the First Vatican Council in 1870. The primary issue that led to their separating from Rome was opposition to the doctrine of papal infallibility. These churches claim apostolic succession in their orders and further claim that Rome recognizes their orders as valid. They are not in full communion with Rome and generally consider themselves as independent Churches loosely grouped under one of several Bishops, somewhat as are the Orthodox.

I don’t know if the Church you attended was one of these but it sounds like it could be. There are also many predominately African American Catholic Churches down here in south Louisiana and the best African American Schools both male and female are Catholic, St Augustine and Xavier Prep among others.
 
excaliber said:
It would also be nice to discuss the
history of the African American Catholic Church. And how African Americans became such a small part of the Catholic Church.
Click to expand...
Ok, here’s why there aren’t very many African American Catholics…

MOST African Americans lived in the South before the Civil War. The South, with the exception of New Orleans, was almost exclusively Protestant before the Civil War. Slave owners forced their slaves to convert to Protestantism when they brought them to the United States. So, when the slaves were freed, most set up their own Protestant churches and denominations. As a result, American blacks are overwhelmingly Protestant. There are, however, a large number of black Catholics in New Orleans, and major cities in the North developed populations of converts. (Most blacks did not come to the North until the so-called Great Migration at the beginning of the twentieth century. Especially during the depression, many blacks left, and realized once they were in the North that there was no segregation, racism was generally better, and they were even allowed to vote. This encouraged more movement to large cities, like New York, Chicago, Detroit, and LA.) As a result, only about 2% of American Catholics are black, although that number is growing due to some pretty good efforts at conversion lately.
 
Rolltide said:
Ok, here’s why there aren’t very many African American Catholics…

MOST African Americans lived in the South before the Civil War. The South, with the exception of New Orleans, was almost exclusively Protestant before the Civil War. Slave owners forced their slaves to convert to Protestantism when they brought them to the United States. So, when the slaves were freed, most set up their own Protestant churches and denominations. As a result, American blacks are overwhelmingly Protestant. There are, however, a large number of black Catholics in New Orleans, and major cities in the North developed populations of converts. (Most blacks did not come to the North until the so-called Great Migration at the beginning of the twentieth century. Especially during the depression, many blacks left, and realized once they were in the North that there was no segregation, racism was generally better, and they were even allowed to vote. This encouraged more movement to large cities, like New York, Chicago, Detroit, and LA.) As a result, only about 2% of American Catholics are black, although that number is growing due to some pretty good efforts at conversion lately.
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So most people in the south were baptist etc…
Which probably started a rotation of people that were born outside the Church.

Interesting…forced to free labor…then forced into protestantism.

I wounder if many African Americans are even aware of this.

Ok so then people move to the north…but by then the Catholic Churchs were probably predominantly white or latino…and
probably seemed completely foreign to blacks.

Mass may have been in latin…am I write?
And that probably made it extremely foreign to blacks used to
baptist style worship.
 
excaliber said:
So most people in the south were baptist etc…
Which probably started a rotation of people that were born outside the Church.

Interesting…forced to free labor…then forced into protestantism.

I wounder if many African Americans are even aware of this.

Ok so then people move to the north…but by then the Catholic Churchs were probably predominantly white or latino…and
probably seemed completely foreign to blacks.

Mass may have been in latin…am I write?
And that probably made it extremely foreign to blacks used to
baptist style worship.
Click to expand...
Yes, Mass would have been completely in Latin until about 1965. Many blacks would have been Baptist, but also Presbyterian, Methodist, and any of the other Protestant denominations that were to be found in the South. A number of denominations have more members in the South than Catholics. (Overall, only about 3% of the South is Catholic, but that is increasing rapidly now due to conversions and Hispanic immigration.) Also, Protestants a couple of generations ago were much more anti-Catholic. Most Protestant groups believed the Catholic Church had been corrupted and held too much power, and feared “domination” by the church once more. So… even if they did change denominations, the odds of them changing to Catholicism were pretty slim.

Now, the exception to the rule, as I said, is Louisiana, which has a remarkably vibrant African-American community. Louisiana, of course, was originally founded by the French and Spanish who were Catholic, instead of the Protestant British. However, prejudice was also great in that state, and so many black Catholics that now live in the North had family members that moved from there.
 
Rolltide said:
Yes, Mass would have been completely in Latin until about 1965. Many blacks would have been Baptist, but also Presbyterian, Methodist, and any of the other Protestant denominations that were to be found in the South. A number of denominations have more members in the South than Catholics. (Overall, only about 3% of the South is Catholic, but that is increasing rapidly now due to conversions and Hispanic immigration.) Also, Protestants a couple of generations ago were much more anti-Catholic. Most Protestant groups believed the Catholic Church had been corrupted and held too much power, and feared “domination” by the church once more. So… even if they did change denominations, the odds of them changing to Catholicism were pretty slim.

Now, the exception to the rule, as I said, is Louisiana, which has a remarkably vibrant African-American community. Louisiana, of course, was originally founded by the French and Spanish who were Catholic, instead of the Protestant British. However, prejudice was also great in that state, and so many black Catholics that now live in the North had family members that moved from there.
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So African Americans are probably good ministry for the Church, because many probably know NOTHING about the Catholic Church.

African American Catholic Churchs
Probably help because there people know the unique challenges
African Americans have to face to convert.

Imagine trying to explain to your entirely baptist family, that you were becoming Catholic…YIKES!!
 
excaliber said:
So African Americans are probably good ministry for the Church, because many probably know NOTHING about the Catholic Church.

African American Catholic Churchs
Probably help because there people know the unique challenges
African Americans have to face to convert.

Imagine trying to explain to your entirely baptist family, that you were becoming Catholic…YIKES!!
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I think anyone regardless of color, would be good evangelists for the Church. There are many, again regardless of color, who know nothing about her.

There is no need to segregate evangelization. Whoever can teach the truth, let him teach. And whoever has ears to hear let him hear. Just as the Church wasn’t drawn down cultural lines between jew and gentile, you can’t draw racial lines, either.

I think “African American Catholic Church” is rather a misnomer, seeing as there are none that advertise as a “White American Catholic Church”. (Imagine the firestorm if that ever happened) There is only simply the Catholic Church.
 
I mean no malice toward anyone by this post, and maybe I am not understanding this correctly, but the African American Catholic Church does not sit well with me. Why does race have to become an issue with EVERYTHING?! Ultimately race should have nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Race is merely a social trait but means nothing in our quest to get to heaven. Am I being too touchy on this matter? 🤷
 
If you examine the parish website, you will see that the correct title is simply “St. Benedict The Moor Catholic Church”. It is not an “African American Catholic Church”, per se, although it is predominantly African American. The website goes on to say “The unique charisma of Parishioners of St. James, Resurrection, St. John the Baptist, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, The Holy Ghost Fathers and Brothers, and the African-American culture have created this community of hospitality witnessing to the redeeming Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Both of these religious orders are dedicated toward helping the “poorest and most abandoned people in the world” and “those who are poor and marginalised by society”. This particular parish most likely serves a poor, inner city neighborhood, and this church has undertaken a special mission to help out the predominantly African-American community there. It’s not that much different than the culturally Irish, Polish, and German Catholic Churches that exist in places like Chicago, Boston, and New York. Naturally, the church is open to all Catholics, not just African-Americans, but it is trying to reach the youth and community in unique ways in order to assist them.

Take a look at the “About Us” page on the parish website. Visit the sites of the two religious orders and look at their mission statements, and then look at the statement by the Archdiocese on their African-American missions. It might make a bit more sense then.
 
UndertheRadar said:
I mean no malice toward anyone by this post, and maybe I am not understanding this correctly, but the African American Catholic Church does not sit well with me. Why does race have to become an issue with EVERYTHING?! Ultimately race should have nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Race is merely a social trait but means nothing in our quest to get to heaven. Am I being too touchy on this matter? 🤷
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Race already was an issue.
If Blacks are less then 4 percent of
The Catholic Church…there is a problem.

The solution is “The African American Catholic Church”.

However if you are for example caucasian, TO YOU there is no problem, so you may not be as concerned as those that have a problem.

For example “equal opportunity employment”. You may say, well why dose race or gender have to be an issue. The answer is that if you are caucasian it was not an issue…However now with equal opportunity employment, its not an issue with blacks eather.

The same can be said about the Church. You may say, why dose race have to be an issue. Well FOR YOU it probably isn’t. And now that I have an African American Catholic Church near my home, Race dose not have to be an issue with me eather.
 
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