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September 16, 2005
Black Catholics
I went to Catholic school. Twice. My mother was raised Catholic in New Orleans. You don't often hear much about African Americans in the Catholic Church. Then again you don't often hear much about blackfolks outside of the main media scripts anyway. George handed me a URL this week from The Tidings which reminds me again, that we are not alone.
Currently, I am an Episcopalian, but have considered moving towards either the Catholic Church or Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Much depends upon my future endeavors as Lucifer Jones, possible reforms to the sacrament of Matrimony and sense I make of the Gospel of Thomas.
In the meantime, I found the Tidings article a pleasant read:
African American Angelenos have a historical bond to the black families seen waving on rooftops, crowds of desperate blacks packed together outside the Superdome and the bloated black bodies floating face down in the flood waters that inundated New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities and communities.Ties run deep to Louisiana, starting with a migration in the late 1800s. Black Pullman porters on the Southern Pacific Railroad, who talked about a golden land out west, sparked a mass movement of southern African Americans who were desperate to leave behind the South's apartheid enforced by Jim Crow laws.
Following World War II, many more blacks fled Louisiana and Mississippi to Southern California, looking for work in federally funded industries like aircraft manufacturing that promised good pay and benefits and, most important, the elimination of racial discrimination.
Many of these African Americans --- especially from New Orleans --- brought with them their rich Catholic tradition. Mostly they settled in South Los Angeles and quickly enriched parishes, including Holy Name of Jesus, Transfiguration and St. Lawrence of Brindisi.
My sister and I both attended Holy Name of Jesus School on Jefferson Blvd in LA. These days, Holy Name is one of the biggest mixed brown congregations in the city. They could use a larger sanctuary if you ask me.
On occasions such as this, I wonder whatever has become of Bishop Stallings, but not too much because I am admittedly not particularly focused on ecumenical concerns. But maybe it's about time I started turning that corner.
Posted by mbowen at September 16, 2005 10:41 AM
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Comments
Mike, I've appreciated your recent comments on Katrina's impact. Once when I was very little I remember having the idea that if blacks didn't stick together as blacks but integrated into all white communities there would no longer be a problem. This was lived out by me when I travelled as a Covenant Player. More than once I was the only black. In all of my encounters of being the only black among whites did I encounter a racists who used the nigger word. He meant what he said and had no apologies to offer. It was a challenge to say the least to go back to stay with his family when we had to return to his area for another performance. Prior to leaving, however, I forced myself to try to find out what was hurting him. Someone had hit and kill his oldest daughter with a car. Since this was a small town everyone knew the identity of the driver. This many had never overcome the loss of his daughter and hated the man who did it because he never apologized. Though I tried to avoid going back there and tried to find alternative housing, it was not to be. So I returned to the place where I had slept on the floor to a beautifully decorated bedroom. Doing works! mom
Posted by: Anonymous at September 16, 2005 01:19 PM