Black Catholic Ministry Reflection

A Reflection on
BLACK CATHOLIC MINISTRY

by Most Reverend Ferdinand J. Cheri, OFM
Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 4:32-37 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
The Word of God

If anybody ask you who I am, who I am, who I am.
If anybody ask you who I am
Tell them I’m a child of God

My Father is rich in houses and land.
He holds the world in the palm of His hand.
Rubies and diamonds, silver and gold
Just tell them I’m a child of God.

If anybody ask you who I am, who I am, who I am.
If anybody ask you who I am
Tell them I’m a child of God

If you don’t believe I’ve been redeemed
Just follow me down to that old Jordan stream.
Stepped in the water, the water was cold,
Chilled my body but not my soul.

If anybody ask you who I am, who I am, who I am.
If anybody ask you who I am
Tell them I’m a child of God

As I stand before you my brothers and sisters, my hope and dream for you who are Black and those who minister in the African American Apostolate, is that people will say of you, “not in any diocese, not in any religious community, not even in the Catholic Church, have I found such great accompaniment in ministry as witnessed by Black parishes in this Archdiocese.

Like Paul, who found in Joseph, also known as Barnabas, a defender of his Christian conversion, his benefactor for his ministry and a fellow missionary disciple to the Gentiles, I look to you, “THE MAINSTAYS” (the persons on which something is based or depends) as being so proudly and so profoundly Black and Catholic, so intentional and so richly endowed, rooted in your Black Catholic tradition, I call you to hold fast to the faith and join me in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord. I pray that your testimony will be so forcefully Black and Catholic that all will see A NEW PENTECOST: HARVEST TIME IN THE BLACK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY!!!

I appeal to you for the Black Catholic Community, whom I have begotten in my episcopal ministry. I am souled out - that's S-O-U-L-E-D OUT - my mind is made up. See, highly favored, justly proud, intentionally convicted as a Black Catholic Bishop, daring to offer “who I am and whose I am” to build up the kingdom of God. I look to you to courageously vouch for our testimony as children of God. For in building the kingdom of God, THE BLACK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY CAN NO LONGER BE THE STONES THAT THE BUILDERS REJECTED!!!

Affirming Black Catholics, you shine not only as being consistent, faithful, brilliant and dazzling, but you are sensitive, thoughtful and deliberate. You found the African American Catholic Community to be advantageous, living up to its heritage and the faith it professes; as you demonstrated the love of Christ in worship, willing to risk who people see you to be. You are instigators of God’s justice, agents endorsing African American spirituality, not only with intellectual prowess, but also with cunning investment of resources and deep respect of the African American community. Yet, we have much more to do!!!

As a Black Bishop, one of 8 still active in the Catholic Church with over 440+ bishops, I must confess, and, like each African American, I can attest,

I been through the fire, been through the flood,
Broken in pieces and left all alone,
But through it all God blessed me,
And through it all God kept me,
And I still have a praise inside of me.
Yes, I still have a praise inside of me.
Although I’ve been wounded, and I’ve been scorned,
I never gave up. I trusted in God.
But through it all God blessed me,
And through it all God kept me,
And I still have a praise inside of me.
Yes, I still have a praise inside of me.

There's a praise in my spirit, a praise down in my soul.
A glory hallelujah that cannot be controlled;
And I still have a praise inside of me.
Yes, I still have a praise inside of me.

I Still Have a Praise Inside of Me – Georgia Mass

Dismissed and discounted at every level, yet we can say like St. Paul in the second letter to the Church at Corinth

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Cor 4:8-10)

So, let’s look at what state the African American Catholic Community presently exists in the Catholic Church:

The African American Catholic Community is not on the agenda and has no influence in our church. We are a people, who settle for being able to drink the Kool-Aid of being Catholic, for getting Eucharistic lollipops and having family get-together as Catholics. We have returned to the “Negro” position of trying to “fit-in,” a posture of assimilation; a position of being “missioned to;” and worst, a stance of taxation without representation as fellow Catholics.
The African American Catholic Community is talked about, ‘buked and scorned; and the Catholic Church does not advocate for us. We are not at the table as our churches are closed, our schools are lost, when health care is denied and education fails to provide hope.
The African American Catholic Community is pinned against one another, in competition with each other or surviving in a state of denial. We accept and are glad to receive Halloween candy affirmation that just patronizes us; or Mardi Gras bead relics of devotion from our church leaders and society; because, if we say Black too much, we are invited off the diocesan board, the church commission or the parish committee. We don’t have a voice. We are put in an auxiliary position, but only as an extreme necessity.
A group of African American Catholic leaders, who represented Black Catholic national organizations and Black Catholic institutes and institutions met in New Orleans in January 2019. The African American Bishops, who called for the meeting, were challenged to pull the community together, be supportive and advocate for justice, voting rights, the education of local leadership in the Black community, and more importantly, to bring about collective work and responsibility of Black Catholic leaders. You see, no two Black Catholic organizations worked together. No Black Catholics are in charge and decide aright about money for Black Catholics, except the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver. We can apply for money but we don’t decide, not even about the Black and Indian Mission Fund. The Catholic Church tells us that we can be missioned to, but we can’t be in charge. I wonder what it would be like for all the mission groups to be treated that way.
I know of a diocese in the U.S. where the Black Catholic population makes up 27% of the diocesan Catholic population and 25% of the parishes are predominantly Black. Yet, the Office of Black Catholic Ministry operating budget – salary, benefits and programs make-up .2% of the operating budget of the entire diocese. The office clearly offers services to the diocesan offices, as well as to the parishes, especially in the Black Catholic community. Priests of that diocese are clamoring that the office be closed to save expenses.
The African American Catholic Community is in a state of colonization where white folks let us but we don’t have a voice. You let me sing my gospel song, have a good time, but we have no voice. And the real crazy thing about this is that black folks themselves participate in this behavior because we want to blend in and be supported. We can’t bring all our gifts as they are to the fellowship table – we can’t sing too long, play our drums too loud, rattle our tambourines too much, sing our spirituals too often, and move with the Spirit too freely because we just might address the trauma that plagues us and heal the wounds that cry out.
The African American Catholic community’s existence is not accepted for who it is and for whose it is. We are in a position of being nice – Bishops and church leaders want us to be “nice Catholics.” We need to get rid of NICE – Jesus was never nice – I dare you to find that in the Bible.

THE BLACK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY, celebrating a New Heaven and a New Earth, just might bring about the transformation that leads all to the kingdom of God!! Let’s believe it!! Let’s achieve it!!!

I am challenging you to be Barnabas for us. Barnabas’ ministry and effectiveness was to empower leaders to preach God’s Word with God’s heart and empower pastors to train others in the Scriptures as well. While praying, fasting and worshiping, Barnabas was called to straighten out Jew/Gentile tensions. Can you pray, fast, and worship to relieve African American/ Catholic Church tensions, not just as a worship site, but as missionary disciples sticking up for what is truly Black and authentically Catholic? We need a new awakening, a new mindset for 2020 with the Holy Spirit as our driving force.

OUR BLACKNESS AND CATHOLICISM IS THE FIRE SHUT UP IN OUR BONES. Like the Prophet Jeremiah, we are growing weary holding it in. The Black Catholic Community's Sanctified Spirit and Sanctified Mind demands that we speak; demands we act!!!

THEREFORE, I PROPOSE:

The theme and thrust must be A NEW PENTECOST: Harvest Time for the Black Catholic Community
Our agenda based on Catholic social teachings and the Nguzo Saba (the Black Value System) are clear:

An accurate accounting of Black Catholic DEMOGRAPHICS – KUJICHAGULIA (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves. – Let us get an accounting of our churches, schools, institutions and leaders - where we demonstrate self-determination and direction of the African American Catholic community.
Responsible EDUCATION – KUUMBA (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful than when we inherited it. – Let us provide religious formation, academic formation, health formation and political formation - where we are the educators of a new heaven and a new earth where human dignity is affirmed in every situation and every occasion.
Explain the BLACK FAMILY – UMOJA (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race. – Let us offer the reality of the Black family demarcated, redefined and relevant today; the circumstances addressing the Black Lives Matter Movement and going deeper; addressing Black Young Adult/Youth concerns and advocating for them; connecting with the broader African Diaspora in the U.S., and the promotion of just economic and health care rights as the primary RIGHT TO LIFE issue of our church.
Promotion of INSTITUTION BUILDING – UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. – Let us administer economic endowment initiatives for Black Catholic scholarship and Black Catholic institutes; where we support and fund African American Catholicism, effectively and particularly, in the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans; the Tolton Program of Catholic Theological Union, Chicago; and the Sankofa Institute of African American Pastoral Leadership at Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio. Let us call for each council and court of the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver, as well as each parish, each diocese to enroll at least one person in one of these institutes of Black Catholicism each year.
Raising up RESTORATIVE JUSTICE – UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and to make our Brother’s and sister’s problems, our problems and to solve them together. – Let us endorse racial equity, advocacy, and incarceration reform. Where we initiate moral reform and advocate restorative justice in the African American community; for too many black women die during childbirth, too many Black young men and women are targets of law enforcement brutality, too many systems of justice are contaminated against us; and, too many white nationalists go unchallenged.
Claiming and strengthening VOCATIONS – NIA (Purpose) – To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. Let us demand the rightful roles of the laity; where the baptized are supported; and bishops, clergy and religious are fostered. Where we sustain men and women called to consecrated life with mentors and scholarship. Where we are actively and proactively involved in training these men and women in the ways of our culture, spirituality and history. Where we promote missionary discipleship with other African Americans and other Catholics, advocating our companionship as the Body of Christ.
Embracing WORSHIP – IMANI To believe with all our hearts in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. – Cultivating, celebrating and commissioning leadership to develop effective Black Catholic Worship, where we are the promoters of Black Catholicism that reflects our spirituality and culture as a vital gift to the life of the Catholic Church.

Barnabas left a tremendous legacy as a man of faith that left a lasting heritage and stored up for himself a lucrative inheritance in heaven. I appeal to you for my people and my church to be “THE MAINSTAYS” of Black Catholicism not only in worship, but in these seven Black values, the Catholic Social teachings and the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ – the way, the truth and the life. As Paul said to the church at Philippi, I say to you:

"In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing; prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, children of God beyond reproach in the midst of a twisted and depraved generation - among whom you shine like stars in the sky." (Phil 2:12)

Call for A NEW PENTECOST: HARVEST TIME IN THE BLACK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY!! Be “THE MAINSTAYS” of Black Catholicism so encouraging that you become the name of Black Catholicism in the U.S. What a legacy to leave! What an example to follow! Can we contend with divine and human beings and prevail like Jacob in the desert? (Gn 32:29).

What would people re-name you – as the Angel re-named Jacob into “Israel”?

Let us pray, fast, work and worship professing with conviction: