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Malia_Belen
Guest
Wow, these images are beautiful : )
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Methodi
Guest
they were discussing the amount of black catholics in the church, which in my country, usa, I dont see many black folk in Catholic churches,& It has been said By I cant say by who cause i dont remember , that the catholic church is a white supremacy organization, it was probably said by one of them racist people, & yes I am quite a cop out, & guess what I dont care what color Jesus was, & I was not trying to slip in any agenda. Thank God I get my spiritual nourishment from the Church That I attend & not from here
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AngelaBarbara
Guest
Hi Malia,
I was really nervous about going to Mass, too, and I’m white! I felt nervous because I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do, the responses to the prayers, etc. I was raised in a family of sporadic Protestant churchgoers, and never had any exposure to a Catholic service (except a brief stint attending an Orthodox church, where the service is very similar.)
I very nervously went to Mass for the first time on the 2nd Sunday of Advent. I expected people to be warmer, but after talking to another lady in my parish, she told me that Catholics (unlike Protestants) don’t really socialize before or after Mass. They tend to do their socializing at church social events. So don’t be put off by the lack of socializing after Mass, or attribute it to prejudice or standoffishness. It’s just that Catholics are really there to pray and not to socialize. They respect people’s privacy at Mass and will give you your “space.”
If you don’t know what to do, look in the Missal. It has the service and readings for every Sunday, right there in that convenient little book. The responses to the prayers are in there, too.
I hope that this helps you on your Catholic journey. May God – who loves all his children, of whatever color, and commanded us to do the same – bless you!
I was really nervous about going to Mass, too, and I’m white! I felt nervous because I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do, the responses to the prayers, etc. I was raised in a family of sporadic Protestant churchgoers, and never had any exposure to a Catholic service (except a brief stint attending an Orthodox church, where the service is very similar.)
I very nervously went to Mass for the first time on the 2nd Sunday of Advent. I expected people to be warmer, but after talking to another lady in my parish, she told me that Catholics (unlike Protestants) don’t really socialize before or after Mass. They tend to do their socializing at church social events. So don’t be put off by the lack of socializing after Mass, or attribute it to prejudice or standoffishness. It’s just that Catholics are really there to pray and not to socialize. They respect people’s privacy at Mass and will give you your “space.”
If you don’t know what to do, look in the Missal. It has the service and readings for every Sunday, right there in that convenient little book. The responses to the prayers are in there, too.
I hope that this helps you on your Catholic journey. May God – who loves all his children, of whatever color, and commanded us to do the same – bless you!
S
SAMitch89
Guest
The city I live in is 60% Black and overwhelmingly Protestant, but there are still lots of Catholics. I’ve seen black people in every parish i’ve been to in the diocese (Memphis) I can think of at least 3 predominately black congregations. Our bishop, Terry Steib is black. Every time I visit the Cathedral, I see a nice mixture of people from all over the diocese. I’d say 15%-25% of the people are black.
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Methodi
Guest
Christ is for all who want him,& We can see that in different parts of the country how things vary,In my part of the country I see very few blacks in The Catholic Church. Even My visits to the Cathedral Of Imaculate conception in Washington DC, which is huge, I didnt notice many blacks.Also about 20 miles from me, there is a Catholic Church which sets right in the middle of a black community, & when I go there all I see is white folks, so we can again see how things vary across the country & the world
We have only one Black Monsignor in our diocese that I know of
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Matariel
Guest
Actually, He was. The Bible said He was a Jew. Jew’s aren’t Caucasian, but they are White. All Whites are Caucasian, but all Caucasians aren’t White.
That’s why “Caucasian supremacist” would be a more accurate term.
But it doesn’t matter anyway, Christ was a human being, that’s all that matters, not this or that race, He came to save all people.
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pamnbam
Guest
Hi, Malia Belen!
I PM’d you with some words of wisdom from a fellow Black Catholic young woman. I felt the same uneasiness you did when I first started attending Catholic Masses, but the very first Mass I attended, I knew that all those years of searching for the “correct” church had ended for me. The Catholic Church was where I belonged.
My parish doesn’t have a lot of Black families. We’re probably 1 of about 20 or so Black families out of a parish total of 4,000 people. Still, we have always felt welcomed whether we’re at Mass, the parish festival, visiting the school, etc.
I taught at a parish school about 20 minutes from here and it was more ethnically diverse. So, I agree that it depends where you go if you want to attend Mass with other minorities.
Growing up in a “Southern Black” family, you do feel pressured sometimes to “go to a Black Church” or hear “where are all the Black people?” My maternal family is from New Orleans, so even though my grandmother and aunt are Catholic, it took awhile for my grandmother to get used to seeing more Whites in my parish than Blacks in hers.
Being one of the few Black families in my parish doesn’t bother me so much anymore because that’s not what’s important to me. Sometimes, I do get a surprised glance from fellow non-Black Catholics, but maybe my shoes are untied or something.
And when I’m around Protestant Blacks, I’m confident that I can remain strong in practicing and defending my faith because I know I have the fullness of truth.
I hope it helped you to meet some other fellow Black Catholics. PM me if you want to talk or share experiences!
I PM’d you with some words of wisdom from a fellow Black Catholic young woman. I felt the same uneasiness you did when I first started attending Catholic Masses, but the very first Mass I attended, I knew that all those years of searching for the “correct” church had ended for me. The Catholic Church was where I belonged.
My parish doesn’t have a lot of Black families. We’re probably 1 of about 20 or so Black families out of a parish total of 4,000 people. Still, we have always felt welcomed whether we’re at Mass, the parish festival, visiting the school, etc.
I taught at a parish school about 20 minutes from here and it was more ethnically diverse. So, I agree that it depends where you go if you want to attend Mass with other minorities.
Growing up in a “Southern Black” family, you do feel pressured sometimes to “go to a Black Church” or hear “where are all the Black people?” My maternal family is from New Orleans, so even though my grandmother and aunt are Catholic, it took awhile for my grandmother to get used to seeing more Whites in my parish than Blacks in hers.
Being one of the few Black families in my parish doesn’t bother me so much anymore because that’s not what’s important to me. Sometimes, I do get a surprised glance from fellow non-Black Catholics, but maybe my shoes are untied or something.
And when I’m around Protestant Blacks, I’m confident that I can remain strong in practicing and defending my faith because I know I have the fullness of truth.
I hope it helped you to meet some other fellow Black Catholics. PM me if you want to talk or share experiences!
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Apryl
Guest
LOL… that’s actually kinda cute.
I think a bit skewed, but cute, all the same.
Jesus was a Jew. But He was in a part of the country where there were people of a darker hue… the people there wouldn’t have called Him White, though… nor would they have called Him Black, or any other such description.
That’s like saying that Thomas Edison was a geek or a nerd. It could have fit him, but that wasn’t the vernacular of that world or that time.
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Volodymyr_988
Guest
It would seem that there is actually no Caucasian “race”
raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/
From what I have read, *Homo Sapiens * came from one set of parents (Adam and Eve?) who lived in Africa about 100,000 years ago. Depending on whether or not you are a 6 Day Creationist or not, this seems to be the best science of human origins.
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Bob1
Guest
you mean you are like everyone on this forum but happen to have a better sun tan than the rest of us, you are always welcome in church.
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JPUSC
Guest
I don’t know who brought up terms like “Caucasian supremacist” in this thread, but Volodymyr is right. All people came from one set of parents, Adam and Eve. The Catholic Church confirms this. It is also highly probable that Adam and Eve are from Africa. If so, we all have an African heritage.
It is utterly ridiculous to be a “supremacist” of any kind since racial features and characteristics are products of geographical conditions. Everyone of every race is essentially the same.
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Lead_Me_Home
Guest
I’m happy you wrote this. I too am Black and on the verge of conversion. There are many Black Catholic Churches all around America. Xavier University in Louisiana as well as many other colleges and HCBU’s are Catholic or even founded by the Catholic church such as Xavier (founded by the nuns of the Blessed Sacrament). I understand your hesitations though I wanted to visit a Catholic Church that was not predominantly Black and I never got the nerve to go mainly because I did not want to go alone but I understand your concern. It really depends on the congregation it may not even be the ethnicity of a church that makes you feel comfortable. Some people like Latin mass, others mass in Polish,I like some gospel music. Visit Churches and when you find one that you feel love, joy, and the presence of God when you attend join that one. You also want a Church that will steer you in the right direction and lovingly tell you what’s right and what’s wrong after all we go to Church and depend on the Church to get us to Heaven. Look up churches on the internet some times you find a tour and a mission statement of the particular parish. Type in the diocese you live in on google for example; Diocese of Chicago.
May God Bring us home.
May God Bring us home.
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brotherhrolf
Guest
obcm-no.org/articles.php
Please check out the Jan. 2008 newsletter which has a nice article on Xavier.
Please check out the Jan. 2008 newsletter which has a nice article on Xavier.
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Thunderbird
Guest
Speaking as a Black Catholic here, I can assure you that we are very much present in God’s church!
Welcome home, sis. We’ve been waiting for you.
Welcome home, sis. We’ve been waiting for you.
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GTAsoldier
Guest
SAY IT LOUD!
I’m black, I’m Catholic, and I’m proud!
I’m black, I’m Catholic, and I’m proud!
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Apryl
Guest
Wow! Eight pages! 
I think it’s pretty fair to say that Black Catholics DO exist, and that in most cases, we have no reason to wonder if a Black person is welcome in the church.
… but in some cases, and some of them are pretty recent, too, some people have been made to feel less than comfortable within the walls of the church because of their appearance.
Fortunately, most folx that are Catholic do not attend mass because of the PEOPLE, but because of the SACRAMENTS.
But being there for the sacraments, and being pushed out by people is very possible.
I hope that this thread serves as a reminder to all of us that whenever there is a new face in church, ‘there walks Jesus’. Whether the person if of another race, ethnicity, needs assistance moving around, has a drug or alcohol problem, dresses funny, or whatever, ‘there walks Jesus’. We have to be ready to embrace that person (if not literally, at least figuratively) and we have to be examples of the church that Jesus Christ created.
This is what the church is about. Period.
And I know, as a Black person, a Black Practicing Catholic, that sometimes, it’s a challenge to practice my faith because I don’t look like the people on the advertisements for the church throughout the world. I realize this. I don’t dwell on it, but I accept it. Just like I accept that I never took Honors Classes even though I know I would have excelled in those classes!
I also know that there are so many that try to find ways to be Catholic with one foot IN the church, and one out. So sad.
I think it’s pretty fair to say that Black Catholics DO exist, and that in most cases, we have no reason to wonder if a Black person is welcome in the church.
… but in some cases, and some of them are pretty recent, too, some people have been made to feel less than comfortable within the walls of the church because of their appearance.
Fortunately, most folx that are Catholic do not attend mass because of the PEOPLE, but because of the SACRAMENTS.
But being there for the sacraments, and being pushed out by people is very possible.
I hope that this thread serves as a reminder to all of us that whenever there is a new face in church, ‘there walks Jesus’. Whether the person if of another race, ethnicity, needs assistance moving around, has a drug or alcohol problem, dresses funny, or whatever, ‘there walks Jesus’. We have to be ready to embrace that person (if not literally, at least figuratively) and we have to be examples of the church that Jesus Christ created.
This is what the church is about. Period.
And I know, as a Black person, a Black Practicing Catholic, that sometimes, it’s a challenge to practice my faith because I don’t look like the people on the advertisements for the church throughout the world. I realize this. I don’t dwell on it, but I accept it. Just like I accept that I never took Honors Classes even though I know I would have excelled in those classes!
I also know that there are so many that try to find ways to be Catholic with one foot IN the church, and one out. So sad.
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jmm08
Guest
I disagree a little. If I go to the National Shrine of Immaculate Coneption in DC on a weekday morning (other than a holy day), there is usually a very good representation from many different cultures – including Black. There have been many important (in Mary’s eyes) Black Catholics who frequently attended there. For example, Willa ___, who very often for years led us in the daily saying of the Rosary in the Crypt Church at around 11:40 AM. Willa died a few years ago on August 26th.
Yet on this topic of Blacks in the Catholic Church I do want to say something else.
After Obama was elected, our weekly diocese newspaper had a wonderful article about how many Blacks were happy to have a first Black President. I took a three copies of the weekly paper home to share with friends and save. And when I got home I found that the Obama article had been defaced in each of the newspapers. I was quite sad about it. It seemed obvious to me that somebody (and perhaps they are not even Catholic) had some unresolved racial attitudes.
And at a recent visit to the National Shrine this happened. After the saying of the Rosary just before noon, we all say a prayer dedicating the United States of America to Mary Immaculate. In the hymnal that I was reading from, someone had crossed out the words asking God to be merciful to the President. I thought this too was because of Obama perhaps at least in part because somebody has unresolved racial attitudes. I took the hymnal to the sacristy and they promised to replace the prayer in that hymnal.
The National Shrine cannot go through everything all the time. A spokesman there told me they have sometimes had hymns torn out from a hymnal perhaps because somebody thought the hymn was not Catholic enough.
Let us all try to have Charity (Christian love) towards others, even if they disagree with our stand against abortion, or if their skin is a different color, or if they are a bad sinner, or if they are from a different country of origin.
jmm08
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jmm08
Guest
Frankly, I suppose that many years ago, many Blacks received their religion from their slave-owners. And not so many Catholics were slave-owners in the United States – in part perhaps because of the papal bull against owning slaves, but perhaps more so because Catholics had only immigrated to the United States in limited numbers until the 20th century. And perhaps in many cases, the conversion to Christianity by slaves was not voluntary.
Regardless, prior to the Civil War in many southern states there was not even an ability for Blacks to obtain a civil marriage certificate. And slaves were considered property rather than as human beings. Inequality was rather extreme in the South.
Even if they became Christians, Blacks were not permitted in White Churches until more recent decades. And predominantly, it has been my observation that many Christian Black families have strong family ties and often attend the same Church that their parents, grand-parents and great-grand-parents also attended. My First Baptist Church in Manassas Virginia is a few years older than my All Saints Church (Catholic). I joined First Baptist over 10 years ago but went through RCIA a few years ago. I do ache somewhat about this topic (of how it seems there is so ineffectual Catholic outreach to Blacks in my community). However, some very intelligent young white Catholic priests disagree with me and say that enough is being done. I think they are just not old enough or had enough experience in life to know a better opinion.
I was informed by a Catholic Priest that in not-so-distant Richmond – that for many years Blacks were segregated in the Catholic Church. They were only allowed to sit in the balcony.
And here in Manassas when the Catholic Church was first built, our own Catholic history book tells us that many Blacks from the community attended the first Mass (they remained outdoors). Perhaps it was obvious to many that that first small Catholic Church was only large enough for those who built it.
It is also the case that there are many heroic White Catholics who supported Civil Rights movement in very meaningful ways (for example the march in Selma Alabama).
And perhaps most important of all – consider the Black Madonna. If you are unaware of Our Lady of Czestochowa please read about her. None of us can stand on higher moral ground than Our Lady. She knows and feels the pain concerning Blacks in America – far more than I could possibly understand. Our Lady appeared as Black as anyone I know.
The picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa is undoubtedly more accurate in its depiction than “Our Lady of America” (who seems a bit chubby if you ask me). I think it is quite likely that Our Lady fasted every Wednesday and Friday during her whole life. She didn’t look the slightest bit overweight like an American.
jmm08
Regardless, prior to the Civil War in many southern states there was not even an ability for Blacks to obtain a civil marriage certificate. And slaves were considered property rather than as human beings. Inequality was rather extreme in the South.
Even if they became Christians, Blacks were not permitted in White Churches until more recent decades. And predominantly, it has been my observation that many Christian Black families have strong family ties and often attend the same Church that their parents, grand-parents and great-grand-parents also attended. My First Baptist Church in Manassas Virginia is a few years older than my All Saints Church (Catholic). I joined First Baptist over 10 years ago but went through RCIA a few years ago. I do ache somewhat about this topic (of how it seems there is so ineffectual Catholic outreach to Blacks in my community). However, some very intelligent young white Catholic priests disagree with me and say that enough is being done. I think they are just not old enough or had enough experience in life to know a better opinion.
I was informed by a Catholic Priest that in not-so-distant Richmond – that for many years Blacks were segregated in the Catholic Church. They were only allowed to sit in the balcony.
And here in Manassas when the Catholic Church was first built, our own Catholic history book tells us that many Blacks from the community attended the first Mass (they remained outdoors). Perhaps it was obvious to many that that first small Catholic Church was only large enough for those who built it.
It is also the case that there are many heroic White Catholics who supported Civil Rights movement in very meaningful ways (for example the march in Selma Alabama).
And perhaps most important of all – consider the Black Madonna. If you are unaware of Our Lady of Czestochowa please read about her. None of us can stand on higher moral ground than Our Lady. She knows and feels the pain concerning Blacks in America – far more than I could possibly understand. Our Lady appeared as Black as anyone I know.
The picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa is undoubtedly more accurate in its depiction than “Our Lady of America” (who seems a bit chubby if you ask me). I think it is quite likely that Our Lady fasted every Wednesday and Friday during her whole life. She didn’t look the slightest bit overweight like an American.
jmm08
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Methodi
Guest
I envy You cause You get to go to the Cathedral so often
If anyone has`nt been there yet & they get a chance, dont pass it up. Of course, when I say I envy You I am kidding, but You are lucky to get there so often. We have many different cultures in Our local catholic church, But I see few Blacks. St Matts, a black church not catholic tho, is about 1/2 a mile from our church & I think is has a bigger membership than our church. Our church has almost 5000 membership. I have no problem with Blacks in Our Church- Status