Black Catholics and the American Church

St. Katharine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, dedicated her life and family fortune of $20 million to educating black Americans. Her work helped these peoples take their rightful places in the Church and in society as a whole. The newly canonized saint's recent feast day (March 3) provided an opportunity to consider how today's Catholic Church is living up to her legacy.

There are 2 million black members of the Catholic Church.

According to some black leaders within the Church, thousands — if not millions — more would be inclined to join the Church if only they knew the treasures of its history and sacraments.

As Legionary Father Andrew McNair points out, black Americans are troubled by the social ills that plague many of their communities. The Register columnist says a considerable number are open to the Catholic faith as a way to respond to the high rates of abortion, unwed motherhood, drug use and crime they see around them.

“The black community is currently facing a serious social, cultural and moral crisis,” Father McNair says. “The traditional black-American value system based on the family, religious faith and self-reliance has been compromised by the liberal black-leadership establishment, with its emphasis on moral relativism and cultural secularism. The result is tragic: primarily the decline of marriage and the dissolution of the black family.”

Former presidential candidate and U.N. Ambassador Alan Keyes, another well-known and outspoken black-American Catholic, shares Father McNair's concerns.

“Black Americans make up 10% or 11% of the population, but they account now for [approximately] 40% to 45% of all the abortions,” he has said. “This is a privileged position that I'm not sure anyone in their right mind would aspire to, since it means folks are being killed off now at a faster rate, that people are voluntarily reaching into the womb and cutting off the life of the future. … I consider the people who champion it people who have declared war against the future of black America. It is an ugly and insidious war, but it has the same effect as if you mowed down literally millions of people on the battlefield.”

Universal Church

Alex Jones is a black former Pentecostal pastor who converted to the Catholic faith in 2000, leading his wife and 62 members of his former congregation into the Church with him. He believes the Church's positive message of hope and life is vital to winning the social war against the future of black America.

“Many blacks would be eager to embrace the treasures of the Catholic Church if only they knew about them,” he explains.

Jones currently works for Sign Me Up, a Catholic evangelical ministry that goes door to door in the neighborhoods of Detroit inviting people to explore the Catholic faith.

“Most people are surprised,” he says. “They say things like, ‘We didn't know Catholics did this!’ The perception is that the Catholic Church is a white man's church, but we let them know that they are welcomed. More Catholics need to share their faith [with blacks] — not just their food and money.”

Jones directly witnessed black people's participation in the universal Church during a recent trip to Uganda. He believes the Church's long and rich history of embracing people of every color and nationality can be especially appealing to black Americans.

“Around the world, people of color make up a large part of the Catholic Church,” he says. “When I was in Uganda, I was humbled by the simplicity and sincerity of the people's faith. The Eucharist is regarded with tremendous sacredness and solemnity and the people have such a great love for the Church, for the Holy Father, for the Blessed Mother and for the priesthood.”

Jones adds that many aspects of African-American spirituality are conducive to participation in the sacraments.

“I can't speak for all blacks,” he says, “but many of us are joyful, community-oriented, forgiving people. We can especially appreciate the immediacy of God's presence in the sacraments.”

“Black Americans are, in my judgment, very spiritual people,” he says. “They value deep spirituality.”

In particular, he believes “the key to evangelization among black Americans is to make known to them the treasure of the Eucharist. If taught well, the doctrine of the Real Presence would be very appealing to many black Americans. It was to me. Nothing is more beautiful and comforting than Christ's real presence in the Eucharist.”

Vocational Vault

Dominican Father Jesse Cox is founding director of the Sign Me Up program in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He contends that a predominantly white clergy can send the subtle message that blacks are not fully welcome in the Church and believes the promotion of vocations among blacks is a necessary part of encouraging black American participation in the Catholic Church.

“We try to educate people about black saints and black characters in the Bible,” he says of the Sign Me Up program. “We show them the Church's history of being open to all people, which is very appealing to people with a history of being excluded. But we could do more in terms of promoting vocations. If blacks could see themselves more in the liturgy and leadership of the Church, that would be a draw.”

Father Cox adds that, in his evangelization and ministry, he likes to emphasize the universality of the Church.

“Our liturgy is open to people of all different cultures,” he says. “It has been for 2,000 years. That's part of the genius of the Church.”

Like Jones and Father McNair, Father Cox also sees the sacraments as particularly attractive to blacks and compatible with African-American spirituality.

“We are a symbolic people and the sacraments are powerfully symbolic,” he says. “They are hands-on. They touch our lives, they take away sin and call us to holiness.”

Finally, Father Cox sees the potential relationship between black Americans and the Catholic Church as a mutually beneficial one.

“I believe the Church has a great gift to give the African-American community,” he says, “and the African-American community has a great gift to give the Church.”

Danielle Bean writes from Center Harbor, New Hampshire.