Authentically black, truly Catholic

...In all of their efforts black Catholics are called to be authentically black, truly Catholic...

...They soon departed...

...It is significant that the African Methodist Episcopal Church which has fewer members than our 1.2 million black Catholics has over 4,000 ordained clergy in comparison to our 350 black priests...

...This constitutes less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total number of religious women in the U.S...

...White priests and sisters seemed to be very knowledgeable of their Catholic faith and proud to be Catholics...

...When South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he said that the American government considers black people to be expendable in South Africa as well as in America...

...The black preacher linked together these otherwise broken experiences...

...Black Catholics are urged to take creative initiatives in preaching the Gospel and working for more vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life...

...Among them: the church's middle-class cultural and educational presuppositions...

...It challenges religious and laity alike to take up their responsibility as active evangelists in Christ's church...

...In spite of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, black Americans continue to be the object of blatant racism and economic, social, and political discrimination that, in some places, is as systematic as the apartheid of South Africa...

...If certain very real problems can be solved, this office could join with the Black Clergy Caucus, the Black Sisters' Conference, and the Black Seminarians' Caucus to provide invaluable help for coordinating efforts to develop practical programs that will give flesh to the ideals put forth in the two historic pastoral letters...

...Black Catholics must become leaders of a new missionary presence of the Catholic church in the black community...

...Then came the radical changes of the 1960s: Vatican Council II, the Civil Rights Movement, the white flight from the cities, the emergence of black consciousness, theological and liturgical pluralism...

...In many cities in this country the style of Catholic presence in the black community gradually changed to one exclusively devoted to education and social services, while the traditional black Protestant churches and the fast-growing black Muslims met the religious needs of the community...

...Black Catholic laymen are able and willing to lead...

...Such papers convey not only information but create networks, points of linkage for people from California to Washington, D.C...

...Many believe that the present policies of the United States government are systematically overturning the social programs of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and rejecting the moral vision of Dr...

...the fear that celibacy will impede the needed growth of the black community...

...What We Have Seen and Heard" and the final draft of "Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S...

...There is a very real need to turn our attention to extensive programs in black Catholic adult education and formation...

...In 1916 Thomas Turner, a black Catholic layman, aware of the impact of black clergy in black Protestant churches, labored long and hard to foster an indigenous Afro-American clergy...

...When the letter asks who are the unemployed, it answers...

...In spite of all these obstacles there is a small group of well-educated black religious (with Ph.D's in theology and other disciplines) who are making important contributions to the life of the church in the black community and to the larger church as well...

...After approximately 250 years of bondage, the legal condition of Africans in America was changed...

...Black Americans left the agrarian, personal, informal, slower-paced society of rural Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama for the elevated trains of Chicago and the subways of New York...

...With strong black leadership, black Catholics will come to take pride in these pioneers of the past and labor willingly for a black Catholic future in America...

...Only 1.2 million of these, however, are Catholic...

...Every human person, no matter what her or his race or status, is equal before Jesus Christ...

...Many black Americans are at the point of desperation and are searching for spiritual guidance...

...concentrated among black Americans, and especially among families headed by black women...

...Who can better reach the heart of a black housewife looking for meaning and direction than another black woman who feels she has found that direction in the church...

...They are disproportionately black...

...Amidst all the tensions, many religious women left the convent and fewer came to consider the religious life...

...There is much that this country and the Catholic church can and should do that would enhance the lives of black Americans...

...They are women of deep faith and traditional Catholic values...

...The fact that Turner did not succeed in opening the doors of more seminaries is a central reason why black Catholics today do not have large numbers of black priests to serve them the way that black preachers serve in the Protestant traditions...

...Others felt estranged and unwelcomed...

...This is also the time for the clergy and religious, white and black, who serve black Catholic communities to do all they can to enable black Catholics to become missionaries to themselves...

...Some of these sisters have prospered and become very happy, dedicated women religious...

...Convert classes became smaller or nonexistent, and it seemed to be understood that neither black students in the parochial schools nor their parents were likely to become Catholics...

...There are approximately 850 black religious women in America...

...They eagerly learned Catholic practices and traditions...

...What We Have Seen and Heard'' builds on Pope Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiandi and the 1979 U.S...

...If the Catholic church is to have a future in the black community in America, conversion and education need to be united again in a radical new way...

...At the same time there must be a renewed emphasis on evangelization and the seeking of new converts...

...Who can better convince black teenagers of the importance of developing to their full potential, of sexual responsibility and family loyalty than other black teenagers who esteem these values in the church...

...If the pastorals on the economy and ' 'What We Have Seen and Heard" are to take root in the black community, the inevitable emergence of lay leadership must not be merely accepted...

...But if black Catholics are to contribute significantly to the impact of the church upon the larger black community, it must not be assumed that this will be primarily through religious and clergy...

...There are certainly black Americans who agree with Tutu's judgment...

...The Roman Catholic church is in a position to have a profound impact upon the black community in the United States in the next twenty years...

...More and more the church began to look at its schools in black communities as a service to those in need, since the public schools in the areas were often so inadequate...

...But whatever the reasons for the lack of vocations, we cannot prudently plan for the future of the church on the assumption that somehow the trend will change and we will be blessed by a great influx of black Commonweal: 74 candidates into our seminaries...

...it must be enthusiastically welcomed and cultivated...

...This service of education came to be seen more as a witness to the Gospel ethic of charity and neighborly concern than a way of bringing people into the Catholic church...

...Black people make up about 12 percent of the entire population but 62 percent of the persistently poor.'' Though many black Catholics are a part of the middle class, many can also be found in these discouraging statistics...

...We should steep our people in the best of the Catholic tradition by using the Xavier Institute for Black Catholic Studies in Louisiana and similar resources which would allow parishes without black priests, deacons, or sisters to hire full-time and part-time qualified black Catholic staff persons...

...Who can better challenge the black laborer or businessperson who is being irresponsible than another black who has found responsibility in the Gospel...

...This is the time to encourage young black Catholics to develop competencies and skills in those areas of public and economic life in America that lack a strong black presence...

...Yet black Catholics cannot help but note with appreciation that if the "Policy Applications" of the document were even partially adopted, black Americans would be among the key beneficiaries...

...No one...

...Only in this way will the often ignored talents of black Catholics begin to have an impact upon a whole diocese...

...Economy" have the potential for a significant impact on black Catholics and the larger black community in America...

...They must share the gifts of black cultural values, the holistic Afro-American view of reality, the abiding presence of joy and hope even in the face of suffering, and the strengths and blessings of the black family...

...Some black Catholics probably agree with the views of columnist Carl T. Rowan that by withholding the publication of the economics pastoral letter until after the presidential election, the long-term and short-term impact of the document was significantly decreased...

...One of the consequences of this tumultuous period of transi8 February 1985: 75 tion was that by the 1970s and 80s the link between convert classes and general education was undone...

...For a people who had had their lives and their cultures shattered, fragmented, and torn asunder so often and so abruptly, this linkage figure was very important...

...Both documents call our attention directly or indirectly to the plight of black Americans, and in particular to the experience of black Catholics...

...Who can better explain the differences in Catholic and Protestant beliefs and practices to a black Protestant than a black Catholic who was once a Protestant...

...This was the beginning of the discussion of the role of religious women in the church...

...For the foreseeable future the majority of clergy and religious serving black Catholics will continue to be white as they are today...

...The role of the black preacher was not unlike that of the Irish, Italian, Polish, or German priest serving the impoverished Catholic immigrants from Europe...

...they do listen to the radio...

...Such training programs could be used to develop husband-wife teams, teams of college students, and teenagers who could share their faith with knowledge and confidence...

...the rites of adult Christian initiation, the breakdown of familiar Catholic structures, the increased impact of the mass media, the decline of many urban public schools...

...After all, many Americans, especially the poor, do not read newspapers and magazines...

...The pastoral goes on to say: "Long-term poverty is...

...Such programs should study in depth the pastoral on the economy and "What We Have Seen and Heard," applying them to the concrete issues addressed by these pastoral letters...

...Unfortunately, this remains true today for white and black women...

...The Black Clergy Caucus and the Black Seminarians' Caucus sponsor special programs of support and formation for black seminarians...

...But their average age is approximately fifty, and they are not attracting many new postulants...

...At the time most Catholic seminaries did not accept black candidates...

...In spite of the gosts and difficulties faced by the National Office for Black Catholics, its journal Impact and the secular black paper The National Leader, have both made it clear that there is a definite need for some form of national black Catholic journal...

...The estimated 1.2 million black Catholics in this country seem invisible in comparison to the over 50 million white Catholics...

...They generously passed this enthusiasm on to their new black converts...

...There are also a few black women in contemplative orders...

...What can be said about a diocese that publishes the pastoral on the economy which laments the high unemployment rates for black men and women when their own hiring policies contribute to those statistics...

...The priest does not have the same impact in the black community, for many reasons...

...The church would do well to explore popular black radio stations around the country...

...In Rowan's judgment it seems unlikely that those who have been elected are about to be moved reverend edward K. braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D., recently completed a five-year term as the personal theologian of Archbishop James A. Hickey of Washington, D.C...

...Many reasons can be given...

...Adult Catholics who know and love the church can bring many others to the faith...

...The opposite is also true...

...Among these goals should be the insistence that qualified black Catholic lay people be considered for responsible positions in the local church that are not directly related to black Catholic affairs...

...There are many talented black Catholic lay women as well, more than able to contribute to black Catholic leadership...

...During the 1940s and 50s many black people who had migrated from the South to the great northern cities were attracted to Catholic schools famous for their discipline and value formation...

...As one black Catholic layman put it: "Before the election the message of the church seemed to be 'Vote for Reagan and end abortion.' Now the letter on the economy seems to say 'Vote for Mondale and help the poor!' But it is too late...

...But he faced insurmountable odds...

...But this will require systematic efforts to eradicate racism at every level of the church...

...With the exception of Nigeria, there are more black people in America than in any country in the world...

...When we hear that the church is the source of values, culture, community, solidarity, and political influence in the black community, the Catholic church is not meant...

...by appeals for compassion and generosity on behalf of poor Americans — black, white, or brown...

...This is the time for black Catholics to be active, aggressive, and informed...

...It is not possible to speak of the poor and deprived in this country without thinking of the majority of black Americans...

...The growing number of black married deacons may be a providential development for leadership in the church...

...The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur began to accept a few black applicants in 1959 and 1960...

...But the former slaves were not given "forty acres and a mule," and they were not given sufficient support in the art of surviving in their new, unprotected condition...

...He wrote to bishops and seminary rectors, but usually his overtures were ignored or termed imprudent...

...Another important experience was the change from slavery to freedom...

...and the ambiguity of the priesthood as a vocation in a time of change and development...

...The majority of black Americans are 8 February 1985: 73 Protestant, mainly Baptist...

...This means that the church must deepen its appreciation of the social implications of the mystery of the Incarnation...

...But to implement'' What We Have Seen and Heard'' as well as to contribute significantly to the formulation and application of the final draft of the economics pastoral will not be easy...

...Today there is probably no bishop and no seminary that would not welcome black candidates...

...Most black Catholic parishes are located in the inner cities of major metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., Detroit, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Newark, Cleveland, and Boston...

...The letter places special emphasis upon the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Catholic education, and the liturgy adapted to the black experience as important for future black Catholics...

...Martin Luther King, Jr...

...Special convert classes were developed by almost every urban parish with a significant black population...

...The emergence of the Permanent Diaconate is of particular importance...

...This provided a natural opportunity for inviting these parents and their children to join the Catholic faith...

...The heroic achievements of Father Augustus Tolton, the father of black Catholic priests in America, are all but unheard of...

...But, they could just as easily end up as two further contributions to the paper deluge...

...It was at this time, however, that so much change, tension, and controversy began to emerge in American convents in general...

...By their mere presence and continued leadership, black preachers offered a steady figure with which the people could identity...

...But there may be much more that black Catholics can and should do to enhance the country and the church...

...If all they are to produce is heated exchanges in think tanks, erudite letters to the editors in sophisticated news journals, and poignant photo essays in human interest picture magazines, we can be sure that ten years from now the plight of black Americans in the economic order and the plight of black Catholics in the church will be no better than it is today...

...It is clear, in spite of the dedicated labors of so many white and black priests and religious, and the growth of the black Catholic community against great odds, that when Jesse Jackson speaks of the black church and its power and impact he does not mean black Catholics...

...This is not the time for black Americans or black Catholics to be passive...

...Local diocesan offices for black Catholics must be funded and staffed in such a way that they will have the resources needed to accomplish their goals...

...This is a time for black Catholics who are trained in business, economics, law, and public policy to illuminate their knowledge with the light of the Catholic faith and come forward as responsible agents of economic development...

...Black Catholics are seen as a negligible minority in the larger white Catholic community...

...But the number of black Catholic men entering the seminary each year is too small for us to envision an indigenous black clergy in the near future...

...The most obvious is that most priests who served the black community were not from the black community...

...Indeed, it will be worse...

...The pastoral on the economy states its basic concern in the form of a question: "Will this decision or policy help the poor and deprived members of the human community, enabling them to become more active participants in economic life...

...But this need not mean that there will be no further increase in black leadership...

...Perhaps the focus of educational efforts must not be so much on children as on adults...

...A church that truly believes this will work to enable black Catholic sisters, bishops, deacons, priests, and laypeople to contribute to the life of the church at every level...

...The large, traditionally white orders of religious women did not begin to accept black applicants until the 1960s...

...During this period convert-making and education were linked together, and the church was equally proud of both activities...

...The first occurred when Africans were captured and sold into slavery and transported thousands of miles to a new land, a new language, and a radically different way of life...

...Black people in the United States have been subjected to many traumatic experiences involving abrupt social and cultural changes...

...Is it feasible to produce brief educational announcements that would inform black Catholics and other black Americans of the central themes in the two recently published pastorals and advise them of local resources for applying them in their neighborhoods...

...Many millions are unchurched, and a surprisingly large number are turning to Islam and other non-Christian religions...

...He is currently the director ofCalvert House, the Catholic student center at the University of Chicago...

...Some may feel uncomfortable about the quality of certain popular black TV and radio evangelists...

...In many cases they have neither known nor appreciated who they are and what they have done...

...For all the ethnic and cultural pluralism that are the hallmarks of the over 50 million Roman Catholics in America, when there is talk of the Catholic church as an important religious, educational, cultural, and political force in our land, we do not mean black Catholics...

...I Economy," the first draft of the National Confer-^Fence of Catholic Bishops' pastoral letter, was released on November 11, just two months after the publication of "What We Have Seen and Heard: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization from the Black Bishops of the United States...

...They need only the help, encouragement, and acceptance of white and black clergy...

...They felt that they were a part of something very special...

...The new Catholics in turn took great satisfaction in their Catholic identity...

...The majority of black sisters are in the historic all-black orders: the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the Sisters of the Holy Family, and the Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary...

...IN THE UNITED states the conversion and evangelization of new black Catholics has, until recently, been directly tied to the ministry of education...

...Black Catholics are reminded of the pivotal role that they could play in ecumenical relations with the larger black Christian community...

...the widespread criticism of the Catholic church by Catholics, the exodus of priests and sisters from the ministry, the disillusionment of many of those who remained, and the development of the ecumenical movement which made Catholics more appreciative of the value of other Christian traditions, and which indirectly tempered the earlier enthusiasm for active, even aggressive con vert-seeking...

...This is not the time to stand with open hands waiting for the nation to provide employment and economic justice, or waiting for the Catholic church to prove its cathoCommonweal: 76 licity...

...Black Catholics must not keep to themselves what they have seen and heard...

...What We Have Seen and Heard'' invites black Catholics to meditate upon and appropriate the richness of their historical experience and spiritual heritage...

...Black Catholics live a shadow existence in the larger black community and in the Catholic church...

...A creative use of the media is also essential for the future of the Catholic church in the black community...

...Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that we must find imaginative uses for television, radio, magazines, and newspapers if black Catholics are to become visible and reach many black Americans who would be well disposed to a Catholic church which is providing a voice to the voiceless...

...bishops' pastoral "Brothers and Sisters to Us" which condemned racism in the world and the church as a sin and heresy...

...A third experience was the mass movement of black people out of the South to the North, beginning during World War I, accelerating during the inter-war period, and reaching its peak during and after World War II...

...The Catholic church, as a major "corporation" in this country, must be the first to model the compassionate ideals of the economic pastoral if it expects its teachings to be taken seriously...

...While black clergy and religious have played and continue to play a crucial role in the life of black Catholics, the history of black Catholics in this country places a special responsibility on the shoulders of the laity...

...The same is true of black brothers...

...Black Catholics need to feel their unity with one another and share in the joys and sorrows of other black Catholics wherever they may be...

...The lack of a large number of black priests and religious has been a long-standing challenge in the history of black Catholics in America...

...They do not feel their lineage with Jean Baptist Du Sable, a founder of the city of Chicago, Mother Elizabeth Lange, foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, and Henriette Delille, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family...

...But black Catholics themselves are in a position to change this...

...There are nearly 30 million black Americans...

...These sisters are primarily in educational ministries...

...In the same way we need the sincere efforts of black laity if we are to resolve the conflicts and confusion surrounding the nature, purpose, authority, and accountability of the National Office for Black Catholics in Washington, D.C...