Why do you see so few black people at the Traditional Mass?

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This is a question that has bugged me for awhile…it seems you almost get one sort of class of people at the Traditional Mass and I don’t think I ever seen a black person at the Traditional Mass in the US.
 
I have seen black people at the TLM…granted they were older, but their numbers are definitely not as high as other races…but I think you were mistaken when you said “one class”…while there may be more white people at a TLM, there is definitely a motley crew of classes…some are extremely wealthy, some upper blue collar, some blue collar, some lower blue collar, some in poverty, and some that are homeless…but neither class and social status, or color matter, because we are all Catholic 😉
 
Michael is right, but I think maybe it depends on what region of the U.S. you are in. If it’s NYC, or New Orleans, you might see more African Americans at the mass because Catholicism is a staple of that region. In some southern states you may see less, depending on how “new” Catholicism is to that specific area…Does that make sense?
 
Here is a relevant comment:

Please pray for a happy resolution to this situation:

I was minding my own business the other day and a black person came over and said they wanted to return to the Catholic Church. They had stopped going years ago because there were no black people at their local churches.

I said, “there have been a lot of changes; come on back”.

There was more to it. Obviously.

But, please pray over this situation.
 
In San Diego prior to the establishment of the traditional Parish one of the Priests who celebrated the Mass was African American as were many of those who attended the Mass itself. In New Orleans quite a few of the regulars at the traditional Mass are African American. True you do not see as many African Americans as you do caucasians but I think that is primarily because there are fewer African American who are Catholics percentage wise…
 
I think it depends on what city you live in. In my last city we had a lot of Nigerian parish members because Nigeria has a large (and, arguably, still traditional) Catholic population.

About 1/3 of the congregation at my TLM parish here in the UK are from either Britain, Africa or Jamaica. I’d say that’s because we don’t have the same “racial tension” or “awkwardness” here that might keep some African-American people away in the United States.

But in the end it is all speculation. I’ve noticed that a lot of TLM parishes seem to attract a more diverse congregation (racially and economically) than many of the diocesan parishes.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
Here is a relevant comment:

Please pray for a happy resolution to this situation:

I was minding my own business the other day and a black person came over and said they wanted to return to the Catholic Church. They had stopped going years ago because there were no black people at their local churches.

I said, “there have been a lot of changes; come on back”.

There was more to it. Obviously.

But, please pray over this situation.
Click to expand...
Praise God, I will pray for that definitely.
 
I’ll chime in with an agreement to the “it probably depends on where” position. There are quite a number of black people who are regulars at the EF where I normally attend. Most (though not all) are West Indian (or of West Indian background), including both English and French speakers. And they’re not all fossils: actually they’re mostly 30s-40s and a surprising number of the younger boys are altar servers. 🙂
 
A better question might be 'what is the percentage of African-Americans who are Catholic? A lot has to be taken into consideration, such as American history and what particular religion brought them to the New World to begin with, and why they felt the need to start their own churches before the Civil War. Granted, some of these questions answer themselves.
The Catholic Church is most racially harmonious.
 
Actually, we have several familes of blacks that attend the FSSP parish north of us. In fact I have been very impressed with the multiracial make-up of the parsh. Lots of Viets, Hispanic, a number of blacks and of course Caucasians.
 
it doesnt matter if they are worshipping god then it doesnt matter not trying to be mean btw,
i’ve seen a lot of black people in mass 👍
 
i_need_helpp said:
it doesnt matter if they are worshipping god then it doesnt matter not trying to be mean btw,
i’ve seen a lot of black people in mass 👍
Click to expand...
Good to hear! I think there is a problem in some places that the Latin Mass is not well-known in general. If you don’t already belong to a parish that has one and get their bulletin, you might not know it is there at some odd time. Mine, for example is at 3:30 in the afternoon (which I love!) but I didn’t know about it until someone emailed me because I was going to a different parish.

I was just showing my Missal to an African-American friend who was amazed that we do this, and she has been going to another parish for a long time. She told me about the Cameroonian Mass that she attends and I never heard of it, and I am anxious to go. I went to a Ghana baptism once that was just wonderful. I think we all tend to move in our own circles and really don’t know what else is out there unless we look for it.
 
This post is along the same lines as a previous post “why are some traditionalists anti-semetic?” Nonetheless, I thought I would contribute by saying you should go to St. Catherine of Sienna Church in South Phoenix (Laveen) where the TLM is said and the sermon is in spanish.

It’s all about location, location, location.
 
This is how I see it. Blacks are already a minority that’s not particularly large…only make up about 10% of the US, I think. What percentage of those are Catholics? I’m guessing not a whole lot compared with some branches of protestantism…At that point black Catholics are laready a minority of a minority Then when you add “traditional” to “Catholicism”, which is also a tiny minority of Catholics in this country, I think the chances are pretty good that you’re not going to see a lot of black trads…That’s just a guess since I haven’t looked up figures. There are several at my SSPX church (though “several”, aka, like 10, is pretty small considering there are probably 700 parishioners at my church)
 
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