Where do people get the idea that Black Catholics don’t exist and the church has been silent on issues of race?

[Lea101]

Only about 3.3% of Catholics are black. The majority of religious blacks are Protestant. The majority of Black Protestants attend traditionally black churches.

TBH, her mother’s hesitation isn’t surprising when you look at this.

Black Americans attended traditionally Black spaces and throughout the years they continued because of the sense of community and culture they have (and the history behind it).

Generally, when people leave a church, it’s to leave due to a lack of faith or to opt for a better church. At the end of the day, it’s not surprising that very little joined the Church.

If you look at Africa where they don’t have to create their own Black churches, you’d see Catholicism thriving.

 

[Mrchatsworth]

I live in Idaho. We are in the eighties in percentage white. Far less if migrant workers are counted. People need to use common sense.

 

[glencor63]

African-Americans tend to be VERY religious and VERY Protestant. The idea of statues, rosaries, scapulars, etc., is anathema to traditional Protestants. African-American Christianity is about a personal encounter with God. It’s decentralized. It’s not authoritarian, although it’s highly patriarchal. It’s a curious mix of African and European. I wouldn’t say that anti-Catholicism is taught explicitly. It’s implicit. I never heard anything about Catholics not being Christian growing up. I knew about the emphasis on Mary. I knew about the Pope. I just picked up on the implicit belief that Catholicism was White, very ethnic, very European and therefore not for African-Americans. Ironically, many African-American parents send their kids to Catholic schools because of the quality. The family generally doesn’t convert. Now, African-Americans in Louisiana, Missouri, and Maryland have their own unique histories with the Catholic Church.

 

[Annie]

She always tells me how she went to mass with a Jewish lady she was taking care of back in the 90s

Someone else asked about this, and I have to admit, I am still curious. Why did the Jewish lady go to a Catholic Mass?

 

[phil19034]

She always tells me how she went to mass with a Jewish lady she was taking care of back in the 90s and how our of place she felt because she was the only Black person there and they all were staring at her which, prompted her to wait for the woman she was with in the car.

This part is confusing me… she was at mass with a Jewish lady. Is it possible that everyone was staring at the Jewish lady?

 

[phil19034]

The White ethnic groups that settled in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region have a very turbulent history with African-Americans. Irish, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, etc., immigrants often clashed with African-Americans in major urban areas like Chicago, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. They assumed the identity of “Whiteness” and everything that went along with that, including racism and discrimination against African-Americans.

You are leaving out A LOT here.

Those groups not only had a “turbulent” history with African Americans, they also had a VERY TURBULENT history with each other.

Germans, Italians, Pols, Lithuanians, etc all had to have their own Personal Parishes (also known as informally known as “National Parishes”) because the Irish didn’t want any of them attending “their” parishes.

The schematic “National Polish Catholic Church” was founded because some Polish Catholics believe that the Irish Bishops in America were neglecting the Polish Community (some of it was true & some was misunderstood)

These ethic areas didn’t adopt “whiteness” as much as they were really xenophobes. Only Irish people were welcomed in an Irish ghetto & at an “Irish Church” in the Irish ghetto. Only Italians were welcome in the Italian ghetto, etc.

While it’s very possible that African-Americans viewed it as solely racism, it was really more xenophobia than anything else. Because if an Italian dared entered into an Irish church, there would be hell to pay (and vice versa).

• BTW - the Irish hatred of Italians was always confusing to me since the Pope was always Italian for all of American history until St. Pope John Paul II.

A 21st century example is the town my father was born in:

3 parishes in a coal town in PA all merged into one parish around 2011 or so. One parish was the Italian Parish, one was the Irish Parish & the 3rd was the Slovak Parish.

When they merged, you could read a TON of xenophobic comments being made on the online newspaper article in the town.

Because the parish could never cooperate, the merged parish was closed & merged with another parish outside of town. So in 2010, this small town had 3 Roman Catholic Parishes (plus 1 Byzantine Catholic Church). Today, the 3 Roman Rite parishes are gone and the only the Byzantine Rite parish remains.

And this wasn’t in the 1800s or early 1900s. This was the 2010s.

My point: sometimes, what seems like racism is really xenophobia (not that it’s any better). Plus, a bunch of this xenophobia was pushed by gang leaders, who back then still went to Mass. Catholics who would have been open to African Americans and/or other European nationalities were often afraid of the gang leaders/members.

 

[phil19034]

twf:

I just can’t think of the Catholic Church as a “white” church.

It is commonly held that the headquarters of Catholicism in America is St. Patrick Cathedral in NYC. That says a lot.

Yeah, that’s just not really true. Mostly, it’s just New Yorkers (and the New York based news media) that think St. Patrick’s is the “headquarters” of Catholicism in American.

Did you know that Jesuits did not even allow black applicants until the mid-sixties?

Let’s keep in mind that the Jesuits have a VERY controversial history, and were even disbanded once.

 

[otjm]

Did you know that Jesuits did not even allow black applicants until the mid-sixties?

;The Jesuits (a favorite punching bag of many) were by no means at all the only part of the Church which did not accept black applicants. There were numerous diocesan seminaries which did not, and I would be shocked beyond all manner to find that there were no other orders who did not accept African Americans.

If you want to point fingers, I would suggest that rather than finding an order of a diocese which did so, that yhou do a wide survey to find all - most or the many.

There seems to be two mindsets.

One is shocked to find that members of the Church, including the ordained and the professed, have sinned.

The other seems to take an almost delight in pointing out the sin.

Racism is a sin. And like just about any other sin one can name and catalog, there is no law which will turn people’s hearts to the good and away from sin.

There are, however, a never ending supply of utopianists who appear to presume that somehow, this sin or that sin (including racism) is somehow going to be done away with and we will all sit around the campfire strumming our guitars and singing “Kumbaya”.

I am not saying that sin cannot be overcome and that hearts cannot be changed in any given individual, but I suspect that if each of us looks deep within ourselves we understand how hard that can be. Not impossible, but definitely hard.

I am all for eliminating sin.

I also am of the opinion that all sin - including but not limited to racism (or family violence, or… name your pet issue) will be overcome at the Second Coming.

And not before.

So we are in constant need of working on the matter(s).

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

I know tons of black Catholics. They absolutely exist and there’s more of them out there than you think.

 

[angel6288]

She says it’s because Jews and Catholics are pretty much the same and both are extremely wealthy

 

[angel6288]

My mom won’t listen to anything that has to do with the church. It only will upset her and cause an argument. Trust me I’ve tried constantly for the first two years of my journey and she said I wasn’t who she raised and I was trying to be White and that I was a follower and that the devil got in me and how the devil lives to separate families and cause confusion.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Just keep loving her, let her see Jesus in you.

 

[KyPerson]

One of the parishes here has 4 priests. One from Kentucky, one from Nigeria, one from Burma, and one from India. They refer to the rectory as IHOP (International House of Priests). I grew up in Kentucky and I new quite a few Black priests. They were Benedictines. Some areas such as New Orleans have a lot of Black Catholics and some areas in the deep south don’t have many Catholics Black or White. If you want an interesting book get The History of Black Catholics in the United States by Cyprian Davis. Father Cyprian was a Black Catholic priest who lived in the Archabbey of St. Meinrad. I knew him.

 

[glencor63]

Very SAD! I don’t know how people reconcile White Supremacist ideology and Christianity. Many people have lost their soul for the sin of not loving their neighbor. You cannot love God whom you cannot see and hate the neighbor you can see!

 

[glencor63]

Racism and in particular, White Supremacist ideology will condemn a soul to hell! You cannot love God whom you cannot see and hate the neighbor whom you can see! It doesn’t matter how many sacraments you receive this is a non-negotiable. Jesus was VERY clear about loving your neighbor being a prerequisite for eternal life in heaven. Forgiveness is another non-negotiable. This is why I strive to forgive those that have harmed me. It’s a non-negotiable for eternal life with Jesus. The Catholic Church, indeed all of Christendom needs to make it abundantly clear that racism, White Supremacist ideology, anti-Semitism, indeed any form of hatred is a pathway to hell!

 

[marybobo]

Thank you for sharing and for the picture. I am in the process of learning about my Irish side of the family and I am finding some very interesting occupation.

 

[TC3033]

Most Americans aren’t aware there exists a world outside the US. They have no concept of history before 1776, and even then they just harp on about “winning” two world wars and saving Europe.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[ralfyman]

A related point:

Pope Francis in Africa: Is the continent the Catholic Church's great hope?

 

[esieffe]

My mother has so many false beliefs about the Catholic Church and one is they don’t embrace or allow blacks

Tell her how Catholicism is growing in Africa more than any other place on the globe.

She refuses to anything that contradicts what she believes.

This suggests to me anyway that she is scapegoating the CC. People who refuse to hear evidence prefer the comfort of their punching bag. My thoughts on that anyway.

Kudos to you for your efforts to help your mother.

 

[marybobo]

I suggest too many Americans have no concept of history at all.