National Black Catholic Congress: A prophetic call to thrive
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. was filled to overflow both on July 21 and again on July 22. The gathering of the National Black Catholic Congress XIII (NBCC) on July 21 and the African National Eucharistic Congress IV (ANEC) on July 22 participated in Liturgy that was celebrated by the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory.
Both of these organizations are a testimony to the faithful witness and evangelizing spirit of African American Catholic Community and the African Catholic Community. The NBCC was formed in 1889 by a Black Catholic lay man Daniel Rudd. He was a former enslaved African who was baptized and evangelized into the Catholic faith by the witness and commitment of his parents who were. Daniel Rudd was a Black Catholic journalist. He formed the very first newspaper printed by and for Black Americans, the Ohio Tribune, later known as the American Catholic Tribune. He was a journalist who believed that the press played a large role in the advancement of the formerly enslaved and the African American community at large. He as well believed his publication was an important venture toward promoting the Catholic Church as a transformational institution that was capable of bringing equality and social justice for Black Americans.
Rudd also founded what was formerly known as the Colored Catholic Congress in 1889. Rudd’s devout faithfulness and commitment to the empowerment of the Black Community can be summed up in his belief, “The Catholic Church alone can break the color line. Our people should help her do it.” (American Catholic Tribune). There were five National Congresses from 1889 until 1894. The organization resumed the national gatherings in 1987 as the VI National Black Catholic Congress. Every five years the (NBCC) Congress is held. The pandemic of 2020- 2022 altered the schedule of Congress for 2022 and it was resumed on July 20- July 23, 2023.
Evangelization and Social Justice was the core foundation of Daniel Rudd, and it remains a fundamental characteristic of the National Black Catholic Congress. The Congress NBCCXIII was a clarion call to Write the Vision: A Prophetic Call to Thrive. This mandate of the Prophet Habakkuk (2:2-3) in the Hebrew Testament was embraced by over 3,000 Black Catholics who descended upon the National Harbor – at the Gaylord Convention Center in Maryland. Such a great number including the women and the children (youth) were counted as the largest number of participants. 80 Diocese/Archdioceses were represented at the Congress. So many more would have been in attendance, yet the registration was closed due to such an overwhelming number. There are over 3 million African-American Catholics in the United States of America and 3 thousand were among the Roll Call for the NBCCXIII.
Plenary Sessions and workshops were held that engaged the dialogue on evangelization, laity, catechesis, social justice, and the upcoming Synod. Matters of health mind body and spirit, vocations, and liturgy, and the sacredness of life and our spirituality and witness within our African American context were central to the Congress. Yet by far, the most impactful event was the portrayal of sacred life embodied in the Causes for Sainthood for the six African Americans who are on the road to sainthood and the witness and mission of Daniel Rudd. Young adolescent students from St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy portrayed the lives of Daniel Rudd, Venerable Augustus Tolton, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Venerable Henriette Delille, Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange, Servant of God Julia Greeley, and Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman. The students gave witness before the 3,000 attendees of the sacred mission and life of service exemplified in the lives of the Sacred Six and Daniel Rudd. They emulated the lives of the Sacred Six and Daniel Rudd portraying them in the character and costumes of their time. Sign and Symbol of what it means to be radically Catholic living the vision and thriving in the prophetic call that we are all baptized into through our faith. The guidance and direction of these adolescents was by Catholic vowed religious Sister Patricial Ralph, SSJ and her twin, Sr. Lynn Marie Ralph, SBS who invited their cousin Theologian Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley to portray Sr, Thea Bowman’s address that took place with the USCCB here at the Archdiocese of Newark in June 1989. The Ralph twins are the product of Catholic School education and formation here in the Newark Archdiocese at Blessed Sacrament Parish of Newark and Seton Hall University. The vocational seed for ministry and lay service for the Ralph twins and Dr. Lewis- Mosley were seeds of faith planted by their matriarchal ancestors, who were charter members, lay women who were involved in the formation of the Church of Christ the King Jersey in 1930- an apostolate for Black Catholics.
The Apostolate for the African American African and Caribbean Office of the Archdiocese of Newark was well represented at the NBCCXIII #nbcc13. There were sixteen in total including three of our teen-age participants. The youth participated in the social justice project of boxing food for the hungry “No Child Hungry Project” – so reflective of the mission of Servant of God Julia Greeley who fed the hungry. (Gabrielle Garlin of St. Patrick’s, Mariella and Amari Adolphus of Christ the King.
The parishes of Christ the King, and St. Patrick’s Assumption All Saints, of Jersey City and Blessed Sacrament- St. Charles Borromeo of Newark, Holy Spirit & Our Lady Help of Christians of East Orange, and St. Peter Claver of Montclair represented the Archdiocese of Newark. The Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver #297 Confraternity of Newark were also represented at the Liturgies celebrated during the gathering.
The closing liturgy was an opportunity for the President of the NBCC Bishop Campbell to call forth anyone who may have experienced a call to religious life. Eight youth and young adults came marching forward! This public testimony in the presence of the Cardinal, bishops, clergy, and religious and 3,000 of Black Catholic Laity- was evidenced that our witness and uncommon faithfulness even in the presence of adversity was a seed watered in the faith such as Daniel Rudd and the Sacred Six. The presence of the vowed religious from the Sisters of the Holy Family (Venerable Henriette Delille) and the Oblate Sisters of Providence (Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange) and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (St. Katharine Drexel) allowed the 3,000 attendees to meet the holy women of God who walk and serve in the footsteps of their predecessors, the saints of our times! The Archdiocese of Newark has been blessed in the history annals with the presence of two of these Sacred Six. Venerable Augustus Tolton celebrated his first Mass in the United States in Hoboken, New Jersey at a small chapel inside St. Mary’s Hospital July 7, 1886, when he arrived from Rome. Servant of God, Sr. Thea Bowman as noted above gave her historical talk to the USCCB “What Does It Mean to Be Black and Catholic” at Seton Hall University in June 1989.
May we continue to Write the Vision: A Prophetic Call to Thrive!
