Black History Month: Servant of God, Sister Thea Bowman

There are many wonderful folks who have visited the Archdiocese of Newark. A few of them, such as Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II, are canonized saints, some are on the way to canonization, and some probably should be on the way to consideration for canonization.

Bertha Bowman was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, on Dec. 29, 1937. Maurice J. Nutt, C.Ss.R., her biographer writes, “At age nine, Thea decided to become a Catholic.” At age nine, Thea already was focused and determined. These qualities would remain with her for her entire life. By the way, her parents gave her permission to convert.

Six years later, at age 15, she decided to enter the convent of the Franciscan sisters of La Crosse, Wisconsin, the only African American in the community. She took the name Thea in honor of her father, Theon. In 1972, Sister Thea earned a Ph.D. in English from The Catholic University of America. After travels in Europe and further studies at Oxford University, Thea began to teach English at Viterbo College, now Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Her studies and travels stimulated a desire to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the riches of her Black heritage, especially the Black Catholic spiritual and cultural experience. She soon discovered that her vocation was to speak and write about the significance of Black spirituality, Black history and culture, Black song, the Black family, and on being Black and Catholic. Her audiences across the country clamored for her to return again and again.

In 1984, both of Thea’s parents died and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She vowed “to live until I die” as the cancer spread into her bones. In June 1989, Thea addressed the Catholic Bishops of the United States at their summer meeting held that year at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. Thea spoke of the Church as her “home,” as her “family of families,” and her journey to her final home. Frail, wheelchair bound, she exhorted the bishops to embrace the Black Catholic experience. At the end, she asked the bishops to stand, link arms, and sing together “We Shall Overcome.” Amazingly, they did.

The best way to experience Sister Thea is to listen to her. Here is a link to her talk to the American bishops. https://vimeo.com/61552777

Second best is to read her words. Here are a few quotes form this remarkable woman.

“What does it mean to be Black and Catholic? It means that I came to my church fully functioning. That doesn’t frighten you, does it? I came to my church fully functioning. I bring myself, my black self, all that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to become, I bring my whole history, my traditions, my experience, my culture, my African American song and dance and gesture and movement and teaching and preaching and healing and responsibility as a gift to the Church.” — Excerpt from Sister Thea to the American Bishops, June 17, 1989

“Old folks used to say, “God is bread when you’re hungry, God is water when you’re thirsty, God is shelter from the storm. God is rest when you’re weary. God’s my doctor. God’s my lawyer. God’s my captain who never lost a battle. God is my lily of the valley.”

“My mother and father would say, ‘they don’t understand; if they hate you, return love for their hatred.’ I grew up in a community that said we must return love, no matter what.”

“We all have multi-cultural people in our families…We need to know the histories and cultures from which we come, to claim all, to use all, all the experience, all the survival and coping mechanisms, all that we need if we’re going to get over to that Promised Land, to the new Jerusalem, where there won’t be anybody hungry, or lonely or poor, because we’re walking together as brothers and sisters in Jesus’ Name.”

“Can you see yourself in a Church where there are people who are black, where there are people who are white, where there are people who are brown, where there are people of Asian heritage and people of Australian heritage and people of Native heritage? Where we all come together really being ourselves and sharing our sorrows and our joys, sharing our goals and our determinations? How rich we would be!”

“I think the difference between me and some people is that I’m content to do my little bit. Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle we’d have a tremendous light.”

“Remember who you are and whose you are.”

“I know that God is using me in ways beyond my comprehension.”

“Part of my approach to my illness has been to say I want to choose life, I want to keep going, I want to live fully until I die.”

“I believe that there are kinds of healing. People are praying for healing for me. I want to be healed. I don’t know what that means in God’s infinite plan, but it’s not problematic for me. If it means to heal the body, thank you, God. If it means to heal the spirit, thank you, God. And I know the healing is already happening.”

“Time really doesn’t matter. When it is over, it will be all over. I want people who love me to know that I tried to choose life, and I did it for myself, but I also did it for them.”
 

“I say what I want on my tombstone is, “She tried.”

Sister Thea was interviewed for 60 Minutes by Mike Wallace. Afterward, Wallace, who interview hundreds, if not thousands, of the most famous people in the world, wrote: “I don’t remember when I’ve been more moved, more enchanted by a person whom I’ve profiled, than by Sister Thea Bowman…You couldn’t come away from a session with Sister Thea without sensing the special sense of joy she seemed to bring to everything she turned her hand to. ‘But there aren’t enough Sister Theas around, I told her. ‘One’s enough,’ she promptly answered. You ask my friends; they’ll tell you that’s plenty.’ She was wrong. For I was one of her friends, and we need so many more like Sister Thea.”

One of the greatest privileges of my life was to help carry Sister Thea into the meeting room at Seton Hall the day she addressed the American bishops in 1989. I carried a saint; now it is her job in heaven to carry me along to meet her again.

Msgr. Robert J. Wister, Hist.Eccl.D. is a retired professor of churchMsgr. Robert J. Wister, Hist.Eccl.D. is a retired professor of church history at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University, and writes historical articles for the publications of the Archdiocese of Newark.history at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University.