Authentically black and truly Catholic

[MugenOne]

CNN) – I come from a family with diverse religious traditions: Baptist, Methodist, Apostolic, Buddhist and nondenominational. My mother was a spiritual seeker, and when she became Catholic, I was baptized into the Catholic faith as a young child. Growing up, I attended a parish with Irish, Polish and black Catholics, and observed that the spiritual gifts of black Catholics were often diminished. When it was suggested that we include a gospel song in the liturgy, we were told that was not Catholic. “Ave Maria” was sung, but not “Mary had a Baby,” a Negro spiritual. I learned about St. Theresa the “Little Flower,” but not St. Benedict the Black. A Kwanzaa table was a no-no.
I learned while the word “catholic” meant “universal” and “involving all,” much of the gifts and experience of black Catholics were not included.
Black Catholics have a heightened awareness of what W.E.B. Dubois called “double consciousness.” This emerges from the tension between one’s awareness of self and how others perceive one. Dubois used this term to speak of the experience of black people within the segregated United States. Today, a particular form of double consciousness is experienced by black Catholics: as a religious minority within the broader black Church community, who defend our religious affiliation to our black Protestant brothers and sisters while also confronting discrimination and ignorance from those within our own Catholic churches.

edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/05/white.catholic.black/index.html?hpt=Sbin

My church has only one black person as church’s member. Black Catholics are as rare as endangered tigers.

 

[LDNCatholic]

CNN) – I come from a family with diverse religious traditions: Baptist, Methodist, Apostolic, Buddhist and nondenominational. My mother was a spiritual seeker, and when she became Catholic, I was baptized into the Catholic faith as a young child. Growing up, I attended a parish with Irish, Polish and black Catholics, and observed that the spiritual gifts of black Catholics were often diminished. When it was suggested that we include a gospel song in the liturgy, we were told that was not Catholic. “Ave Maria” was sung, but not “Mary had a Baby,” a Negro spiritual. I learned about St. Theresa the “Little Flower,” but not St. Benedict the Black. A Kwanzaa table was a no-no.
I learned while the word “catholic” meant “universal” and “involving all,” much of the gifts and experience of black Catholics were not included.
Black Catholics have a heightened awareness of what W.E.B. Dubois called “double consciousness.” This emerges from the tension between one’s awareness of self and how others perceive one. Dubois used this term to speak of the experience of black people within the segregated United States. Today, a particular form of double consciousness is experienced by black Catholics: as a religious minority within the broader black Church community, who defend our religious affiliation to our black Protestant brothers and sisters while also confronting discrimination and ignorance from those within our own Catholic churches.

edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/05/white.catholic.black/index.html?hpt=Sbin

My church has only one black person as church’s member. Black Catholics are as rare as endangered tigers.

Maybe in the US.

 

[ZxM]

A Kwanzaa table was a no-no.

During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an alternative to Christmas, that Jesus was psychotic, and that Christianity was a white religion that black people should shun.[7] However, as Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa

sounds like a wonderful thing to include at christmas.

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

My church has only one black person as church’s member. Black Catholics are as rare as endangered tigers.

Well, parishes differ. My parish celebrates Mardi Gras and had an Obama inauguration party. Folks’ experiences are different, too. A black priest who used to live in my neighborhood (and who I would see in the local grocery) is now the Atlanta archbishop.

What one should understand is that many practices in Catholic churches in the US (like Simbang Gabi) are not European traditions and thereby encounter a measure of opposition from the US Catholics of European descent who may be unfamiliar with them. While those folks comprise the majority of US Catholics, since it is a universal church, Europeans or those of European descent do not own Catholicism.

 

[JohnDamian]

In my area there is less than 1% ethnic minority (Black; Asian; European; American) yet the Catholic Church I attend has significantly more minority individuals; with a Parish size of around a hundred; we have at least ten minority practitioners.

However; Church is not a cultural event where we go to share our ethnic or cultural backgrounds; Church is a place we go to worship God and partake in the Sacraments. We don’t go there for a singalong; and quite frankly I am relieved that we never sing any of those accursible protestant songs; or for that matter cater for steryotypical minority groups – it’s tantamount offensive to try to cater for every individual; particularily to ethnic steryotypes.

I for one am glad most days we don’t sing hymns anyway. It’s distracting.

 

[rlg94086]

Strange article. Is Kwanzaa something that black Catholics celebrate? What makes a black person “authentically black?”

 

[Apollos]

My church has only one black person as church’s member. Black Catholics are as rare as endangered tigers.

I knew a black catholic guy in grad school who went to church with us. We kidded him about being the token black all the time. He always said, “I’m not black, I’m Kikuyu.” He never heard of Kwanzaa. But he knew all about the radicalization of American blacks and wanted nothing to do with them.

 

[bkayw]

I know, I’m German and they don’t sing any German spirituals either

Germans unite!

 

[MarianD]

Kwanzaa? You’re the first black person I met who celebrates or has any interest in celebrating Kwanzaa…and I’m black.

Granted, I do get excited when I see black people walk into my local Church. And I do get excited when I see black Cardinals, priests, bishops, brothers, sisters, etc. But I realize that Catholics are all members of Christ’s Body, a Body in which color doesn’t matter.

When I walked into my local Church for the first time a little over 2 weeks ago, I was afraid that I would be judged because I was black and 90% of everyone else there was old and white. Instead, I was greeted with open arms. People smile, people introduce themselves, they always say hi, hold doors, etc. And one prayer during Mass included: “May the world learn to not discriminate based on race or gender and may we all learn to love each other as Christ intended” (or something like that). That’s when I realized that Catholicism is bigger than race. That’s when I realized that I’m not classified as a “black Catholic” but simply as a “Catholic”, both in the Eyes of God and in the eyes of the parish.

So while I did have Dubois’ “Double Consciousness”, I never experienced the discrimination you speak of. And know this: God has no tolerance for discrimination. You can be Catholic and hate, but you best believe that in the Eyes of God (the only Eyes that truly matter), a hateful Catholic is a sinful Catholic, and he/she is not going to Heaven without taking a painful detour through purgatory unless he/she smartens up and repents.

 

[rlg94086]

Kwanzaa? You’re the first black person I met who celebrates or has any interest in celebrating Kwanzaa…and I’m black.

Granted, I do get excited when I see black people walk into my local Church. And I do get excited when I see black Cardinals, priests, bishops, brothers, sisters, etc. But I realize that Catholics are all members of Christ’s Body, a Body in which color doesn’t matter.

When I walked into my local Church for the first time a little over 2 weeks ago, I was afraid that I would be judged because I was black and 90% of everyone else there was old and white. Instead, I was greeted with open arms. People smile, people introduce themselves, they always say hi, hold doors, etc. And one prayer during Mass included: “May the world learn to not discriminate based on race or gender and may we all learn to love each other as Christ intended” (or something like that). That’s when I realized that Catholicism is bigger than race. That’s when I realized that I’m not classified as a “black Catholic” but simply as a “Catholic”, both in the Eyes of God and in the eyes of the parish.

So while I did have Dubois’ “Double Consciousness”, I never experienced the discrimination you speak of. And know this: God has no tolerance for discrimination. You can be Catholic and hate, but you best believe that in the Eyes of God (the only Eyes that truly matter), a hateful Catholic is a sinful Catholic, and he/she is not going to Heaven without taking a painful detour through purgatory unless he/she smartens up and repents.

 

[Califman831]

things were so much easier back before VII

 

[Apollos]

I am relieved that we never sing any of those accursible protestant songs; or for that matter cater for steryotypical minority groups – it’s tantamount offensive to try to cater for every individual; particularily to ethnic steryotypes.

LOL a man after my own spleen. I was teaching as a long-term substitute in a local parish school when we had a special-occasion liturgy for the school community one afternoon. We sang some song in what sounded like some African language and afterward in the teachers’ lounge I asked them about it and I think they said it came from Swaziland and they were celebrating the students’ cultural heritage. I said Swaziland is in southern Africa, but the kids are mostly descended from western Africans, aren’t they? Isn’t that like me walking into the Vietnamese parish and they start singing Polish hymns to celebrate my Irish heritage? Isn’t that kind of ignorant and condescending? It’s like, you poor little black kids you don’t have a culture of your own so we’ll make one up for you. By the way, we never sang any Italian hymns in Italian. I guess some cultural heritages are more celebrated than others…

 

[Apollos]

things were so much easier back before VII

What is this “seven” everybody keeps complaining about?

 

[MarianD]

^ lol I think he means “Vatican II”

We sang some song in what sounded like some African language and afterward in the teachers’ lounge I asked them about it and I think they said it came from Swaziland and they were celebrating the students’ cultural heritage. I said Swaziland is in southern Africa, but the kids are mostly descended from western Africans, aren’t they

Reminds me of how angry I used to get when people sang African songs as if they’re part of my heritage even though I’m Jamaican, Jewish, and white, all while being born and raised in the United States. My African ancestors are just as far up my family tree as most whites’ African ancestors.

Now when people start singing reggae songs, that’s when I start talking about “my heritage”

 

[Apollos]

I know, I’m German and they don’t sing any German spirituals either

Would love to hear a gravelly rendition of “Laß mein Volk ziehen”.

Germans unite!

We tried that. Not a good idea.

 

[Apollos]

I’m Jamaican, Jewish

♪♫ We be davening ♪♫♪

 

[bkayw]

Never put more than 10 Germans together in any one room!

 

[rlg94086]

Now when people start singing reggae songs, that’s when I start talking about “my heritage”

Ska hymns would be interesting…

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

Kwanzaa? You’re the first black person I met who celebrates or has any interest in celebrating Kwanzaa…and I’m black.

Like I said, folks’ experience differs. We fostered the principles of Umoja and Imani before there even was a Kwanza celebration (They mean unity and faith) in Swahili classes. Plus, at Kwanza its always fun to listen to folks try to pronounce Kujichagulia. It means ‘self-determination’. Personally, my youngest first walked (at 10 months!) at a Kwanza celebration so I do remember them fondly.

There are many ethnic celebrations within Church confines but folks tend to get all agitated about Kwanza. No one ever claimed it was an African celebration or that it began in Africa.

things were so much easier back before VII

One should note that pre-Vatican II there was at least one priestly order which did not even admit black applicants. And folks now wonder now why there are so few black Catholics.

 

[TMC]

Like I said, folks’ experience differs. We fostered the principles of Umoja and Imani before there even was a Kwanza celebration (They mean unity and faith) in Swahili classes. Plus, at Kwanza its always fun to listen to folks try to pronounce Kujichagulia. It means ‘self-determination’. Personally, my youngest first walked (at 10 months!) at a Kwanza celebration so I do remember them fondly.

There are many ethnic celebrations within Church confines but folks tend to get all agitated about Kwanza. No one ever claimed it was an African celebration or that it began in Africa.

One should note that pre-Vatican II there was at least one priestly order which did not even admit black applicants. And folks now wonder now why there are so few black Catholics.

It can be difficult for a Catholic whose background and culture do not match the majority of his parish to fit in anywhere. For example, I have worshipped at majority Filipino parishes, and I am sure many of those folks would have been uncomfortable in the all white parish I grew up in. I am even more certain that some of the practices and celebrations in those parishes would have seemed foreign in my birth parish. But I have always thought it must be most difficult for black Catholics. We should not forget that black Catholics were actively discriminated against by our brother Catholics in many parts of the US. In many places, Catholic parishes were segregated - black Catholics were not allowed to worship at the regular Catholic parishes, they had to found their own. The priests for those churches were not provided by the local bishop (at least not in Virginia) – they were provided by the Josephites (an English missionary group) and the Holy Fathers (a French missionary group). This is not ancient history - the practice continued until the early 1960s. With that background, combined with the natural discomforts and frictions that can come from different backgrounds, it is no surprise that many black Catholics might feel unwelcome or excluded in some parishes.