A Black American priest who left his country because prejudice wouldn’t allow him to practice his ministry in the United States is ironically the seventh and most recent African American to be considered for beatification. The Servant of God, born in 1918 as Matthias DeWitte Ward in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood to an interracial couple, grew up as a Methodist. During his childhood, he, his parents and 11 siblings moved to Washington, D.C., where he experienced prejudice from both whites and Blacks. Read More

By Vatican News: Pope Francis at Rome's Gemelli Hospital continues to receive high-flow oxygen therapy during the day and non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night. Also today he followed the spiritual exercises taking place at the Vatican. Physical and respiratory therapy continue. Read More

Deviating from the traditional music often heard during the weekly televised Mass from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, in Phoenix, the Umoja Gospel Youth Choir from St. Josephine Bakhita Mission Parish led attendees and viewers in worship, singing music derived from African-American spirituals as part of the Diocese of Phoenix’s first-ever Black History Month Mass celebrated on Feb. 9. “Enslaved people denied earthly freedom still found the liberation in the Gospel. Their spiritual songs like ‘Wade in the Water’ and ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot,’ and our closing song today, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,’ they were not just points of music,” said Bishop John Dolan in his homily. “They were prayers, affirmations of faith and cries of justice.” Read More

OAK PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- An Oak Park church is honoring the life and legacy of a former Chicago priest during Black History Month. Father Augustus Tolton was the first Black Catholic priest in the United States. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch Saint Giles Catholic Church showed a documentary Sunday named "Tolton Speaks: The Life and Letters of Father Augustus Tolton." Father Tolton was born a slave. He was a devout Catholic, and eventually became an ordained priest. Read More

On a bright but cold Saturday morning, Catholics from across The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington gathered at the Church of the Incarnation in Washington, D.C., for the annual Mass celebrating Black History Month. The church’s rainbow-colored stained-glass windows cast multicolored light across the sanctuary, while images of seven U.S. Black Catholics on the path to sainthood – known as the “Saintly Seven” – were displayed at the altar. Read More

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BlackCatholicMessenger.com: Drexel Village, an affordable housing project sponsored by a Black Catholic parish in Boston has received approval from the city’s planning department, clearing the way for a refreshed look at the corner of Ruggles and Raynor in the Roxbury neighborhood. The decision, made in early December, was announced on Jan. 19 following an application and public comment process that first began in 2022. Read More

The Catholic Standard: Then-Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s appointment as the seventh archbishop of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington was announced on April 4, 2019, which also happened to be the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Read More