November -- Black Catholic History Month / Please Include "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

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Q: Why November?
A: See this “Background to Black Catholic History Month”
bcimall.org/cawn/african/bchmat01.htm

I am in RCIA. And I am a member of a predominantly Black Baptist Church. February is Black History Month. In February my Baptist Church always sings “The National Negro Anthem” – “Lift Every Voice and Sing” written in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson. Every Sunday in February.
See africanamericans.com/NegroNationalAnthem.htm
If we never sing this song in my Catholic Church, I’ll always need to go back to my Baptist Church each February (but also go to Mass on Sundays in February as well). It is that important to me.

I hope “Lift Every Voice and Sing” can be added to the Catholic Hymnal (I didn’t see it). To me, the song is not only Black. When my Baptist Church congregation sings “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, I know that it is a very spiritual song.

The book of Esther does not mention God by name. However, God is very much involved in the story in the book of Esther.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” does not mention the word “cross”. But as Christians, the Cross and the Blood are very visible when we sing it.

I don’t recall hearing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” being sung in any White Church. Once, I heard it sung in a mixed-race setting. I think it was sung by a performing artist as part of the July 4th program at our nation’s capital celebration – Washington DC.
 
What is the Black Catholic Televangelization Network? Is that only available through cable? The piece on the Church in West Africa sounds like something I would want to see. Will it have Latin Church influences, or eastern Church influences, I wonder?

Getting your local Church to include the song as a hymn during Mass or service should not be a problem. Ever tried writing to the bishop? It sounds like a good recessional hymn.

God bless,

Greg

P.S. Could you possibly write the words down for us to view here?
 
A month to “celebrate” black Catholics? Now I have officically heard it all.
 
we sing patriotic “hymns” in church on national holidays, so it would be entirely appropriate so sing Lift Every Voice and Sing. I for one would join any movement to promote it as our new national anthem, much easier to sing, lyrics that say more about what our country should stand for, and both tune and lyrics are thoroughly American in origin. I am an old fat white lady from Detroit.
 
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asquared:
we sing patriotic “hymns” in church on national holidays, so it would be entirely appropriate so sing Lift Every Voice and Sing. I for one would join any movement to promote it as our new national anthem, much easier to sing, lyrics that say more about what our country should stand for, and both tune and lyrics are thoroughly American in origin. I am an old fat white lady from Detroit.
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If you want to change your National Anthem why not return to the original and best,

“God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen…”

You know it makes sense!
 
I hope “Lift Every Voice and Sing” can be added to the Catholic Hymnal (I didn’t see it).
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There’s no such thing as *the * Catholic Hymnal.
 
When are we going to Have Italian Catholic History Month?
 
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Maccabees:
When are we going to Have Italian Catholic History Month?
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Right after Italians come up with 500 years of history of slavery, wholesale disenfranchisement, and victimization by race-based terrorism in the United States?

– Mark L. Chance.
 
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asquared:
we sing patriotic “hymns” in church on national holidays, so it would be entirely appropriate so sing Lift Every Voice and Sing. I for one would join any movement to promote it as our new national anthem, much easier to sing, lyrics that say more about what our country should stand for, and both tune and lyrics are thoroughly American in origin. I am an old fat white lady from Detroit.
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No need to change our national anthem. And Lift Every Voice and Sing is already unofficially the National Negro [Black] Anthem.

Virginia still does not have a State Song. And I suppose Lift Every Voice and Sing would be so appropriate to also be our State Song. The dirt in Virginia is very red in many places. Perhaps it always was. But at least the red dirt can serve to remind us of so much blood spilled during slavery, during the Civil War and at other times. Even if we all forget, our dirt will continue to testify.
 
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mlchance:
Right after Italians come up with 500 years of history of slavery, wholesale disenfranchisement, and victimization by race-based terrorism in the United States?

– Mark L. Chance.
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These are partuculars with American History. THese are not actions that were condoned or approved of by the Catholic Church.
What does this have to do with Church history. THe Civil War and Jim Crowe are distincly american issues. THe catholic church is universal thus all of here peoples and all her traditions are celelbrated. We don’t have black saint month we have all the saints no matter what thier race in any given month. I don’t race is race in heaven so I don’t think the saints mind.
 
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Maccabees:
These are partuculars with American History. THese are not actions that were condoned or approved of by the Catholic Church.
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While it is true that Church proper did condemn chattel slavery, it is also true that individual Catholics in America and Europe were complicit in the slave trade at all levels. And since the OP is referring to the particulars of American history with reference to an American practice, I hardly see what pointing this out actually clarifies.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
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mlchance:
While it is true that Church proper did condemn chattel slavery, it is also true that individual Catholics in America and Europe were complicit in the slave trade at all levels. And since the OP is referring to the particulars of American history with reference to an American practice, I hardly see what pointing this out actually clarifies.

– Mark L. Chance.
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My point is more appopriate for a history class in school this is not how things are celebrated in the catholic church we don’t break donwn particular months to celebrate a particular race. The chuch is color blind in her views since it is universal. I don’t want us turning into a protestant denomination where they have the white methodist church and the black methodist church etc. We don’t have white saint month, spanish saint month or back saint month. This gets ridiculous rather fast this is typical american politcal correctness run amock.
And of course individual catholics were guilty of the sin of slavery.
But their was slavery of jews, chineese, cambodians, Indians etc etc this in a bigger sense is a universal problem. These problems should be reevaluated in a history class and not triumphed within a religious insitution in order to politcally correct.
 
When European immigrants came to the U.S., they were often treated worse than slaves! Not only were these hated for their “Papist” religion, they were often taken advantage of, left homeless, abused, etc.

Yes, slaves were true. But at least the slave was given some sort of food and shelter and clothing by his master.

This whole “victim” mentality is really stupid. Slavery happened. Tough cookie. Live with it. Move on.

Italians and Sicilians were able to move on and mainstream themselves; there’s absolutely no reason blacks shouldn’t be able to do the same. And stupid programs like “Black Catholic Month” are just plain rediculous, and further marginalize the Church. When Saint Paul said “there’s no Jew or Greek” he could just as well have said, “There’s no black or white.”
 
Yes, slaves were true. But at least the slave was given some sort of food and shelter and clothing by his master.
This whole “victim” mentality is really stupid. Slavery happened. Tough cookie. Live with it. Move on.

Yikes.:eek:
Is anyone else appalled by the historical ignorance and callous flippancy of this post?
 
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maendem:
Yikes.:eek:
Is anyone else appalled by the historical ignorance and callous flippancy of this post?
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No, why don’t you enlighten us ignorant masses.
 
We already do. Its called Columbus Day in my parish.

Lift Every Voice appears in a number of approved Catholic hymnals and is a wonderful and reverent song. It is one of my favorites.
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Maccabees:
When are we going to Have Italian Catholic History Month?
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ByzCath, if your ancestors were immigrants, as my grandparents (heck, my own father) were, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

(Both my parents’ families immigrated from Sicily.)
 
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DominvsVobiscvm:
ByzCath, if your ancestors were immigrants, as my grandparents (heck, my own father) were, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

(Both my parents’ families immigrated from Sicily.)
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I know exactly what you are talking about.

My reply was to maendem who was appalled “historical ignorance and callous flippancy” of your post.

I want maendem to enlighten those of us, like yourself and myself, who he/she thinks are ignorant.

Not only did my anscestors suffer am immigrants, they suffered in the Old Country (Eastern Europe), which is why they came here.

And then not only did they suffer in society, but (those who know the history of the Byzantine Churches) suffered in the Church from the likes of Archbishop Ireland
 
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
 
Yes, I think it is only an American thing (including both North and South America – not just USA).

I’m only in RCIA and I guess I didn’t know any better. I wasn’t in any Catholic Church at all last year (2003), so I didn’t know.

I read somewhere that November is Black Catholic History Month. So far, I haven’t heard any mention of it in a homily or Catholic Church bulletin. So I’m ignorant and didn’t know that it wasn’t celebrated. I started this post just hoping that if Catholics did have a month (and my RC Church recognized it) that we would sing Lift Every Voice and Sing. But I suspect that the hymn just won’t sound the same.

Of course in my predominantly Black Baptist Church we do observe the month of February as Black History Month. And why not. We want to educate our children. Virginia, like much of the American South, used to be segregated. We still have two barber shops right next to each other on Church Street. I don’t know much about the history of the Catholic Churches. But others were racially segregated.

The Hidden Life: thanks for posting the words.

maendem: Slavery was much more than just forced labor. Negros were not permitted to get marriage licenses. See page 4 of docsouth.unc.edu/jackson/jackson.html

“…where every child and feeble woman is at the brutal mercy of brutalised man; where marriage is a fiction, and five millions of people live practically in a state of unrecognised whoredom and polygamy.”

Or read other stories at
sciway.net/afam/slavery/firstperson.html

I dare not reflect too much on the topic of slavery right now. It will rile me up into a enraged sober stupor and I will be in no mood to go to mass tonight (First Friday). Besides that, this is a family friendly web site.
 
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