TheBlack Catholic Movement (orBlack Catholic Revolution) was a movement ofAfrican-American Catholics in theUnited States that developed and shaped modernBlack Catholicism.

From roughly 1968 to the mid-1990s, Black Catholicism would transform from pre–Vatican II roots into a full member of theBlack Church. It developed its own structure, identity, music,liturgy, thought, theology, and appearance within the largerCatholic Church. As a result, in the 21st century, Black Catholic Church traditions are seen in mostBlack parishes, institutions,schools, and organizations across the country.

In 1962,Pope John XXIII convened the most recent Catholicecumenical council,Vatican II. It eliminatedLatin as the requiredliturgical language of theWestern portion of the Church.^[1]

This change opened the door forinculturation in both new and historic areas of practice. As early as the 1950s, under the creative eye of Black Catholics such as FrClarence Rivers, the fusion of Protestant-originatedBlack Gospel music withCatholic liturgy had been experimented with on a basic level.^[2] Rivers's music (and musical direction) was used at the first officialEnglish-language Mass in the United States in 1964, including his watershed work,"God Is Love".^[3]

Alongside this nascent inculturation came a second boom in Black Catholic numbers, as they increased by 220,000 (35%) during the 1960s, and more than half were converts.^[4] In 1966, FrHarold R. Perry became the first known Black bishop to serve in the US when he was namedauxiliary bishop of New Orleans.^[5]

Following theassassination of Martin Luther King andassociated riots (includingMayor Daley'sshoot-to-kill order in Chicago), Black Catholics inaugurated a number of powerful new organizations in early 1968. These included theNational Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCC), organized by FrHerman Porter, and its sister organization, theNational Black Sisters' Conference (NBSC), organized by SrMartin de Porres Grey.^[6]

The larger movement (or "revolution") broke out thereafter as Black Catholics increasingly latched ontoBlack Power andBlack Consciousness as appropriate means of expressing their right to be "authentically Black" in their expression of the Catholic faith.^[6]

At the inaugural NBCCC meeting inDetroit, caucus members declared in the opening line of their statement that "the Catholic Church in the United States is primarily a White, racist institution."^[6]

The statement made waves throughout the Church. It provided perspective on the riots that were so intensely discomfortingWhite American (and White Catholic) sensibilities, and was part of the demands for change in the Catholic Church—including an active commitment to Black self-oversight, freedom, and vocations. More specifically, they demanded a Black vicariate, an episcopalvicar, a Black-led office for Black Catholics, Blackdiaconate, Black liturgical inculturation, inclusion ofBlack history andculture in seminary education, and diocesan programs for training those who intended to shepherd Black Catholics. Without such changes, the caucus claimed, the Catholic Church would soon become irrelevant to the Black community.^[7]

At least two of these requests were answered rather quickly. With the support of a WhiteJosephite superior general, who advocated for it as early as 1967, thepermanent diaconate was restored in the United States in October 1968, and theNational Office for Black Catholics (NOBC) was established in 1970.^[7]

The movement/revolution centered in Chicago, where numerous Black Catholics resided in the late 1960s, forming sizable Black parishes. But these were always under the leadership of White priests. FrGeorge Clements, one of the moreradical(ized) members of the inaugural NBCCC meeting, entered into an extended row withArchbishop John Cody over this lack of Blackpastors in Chicago and Black Catholic inculturation.^[8]

Unconventional alliances with local Black Protestant leaders and Black radicalactivists resulted in innovative (and defiant) liturgical celebrations known as theBlack Unity Mass, trans-parochial events where Black priests donnedAfrocentricvestments, decorated thealtar similarly, and celebrated the Mass with a decidedly "Black" liturgical flair. One such Mass in 1969 included New York activist-priestLawrence Lucas, an 80-voice gospel choir provided by theRev. Jesse Jackson, and security provided by theBlack Panthers.^[8]

One of the first parishes to engage in Black liturgical inculturation and establish a gospel choir was St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in New Orleans, in 1969. (It is now known as St. Katharine Drexel Church).^[9] One of the first musicians to experiment similarly wasGrayson Warren Brown, a Presbyterian convert who set the entire Mass to gospel-style music. FrWilliam Norvel, a Josephite, helped introduce gospel choirs to Black Catholic parishes nationwide (especially in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles). This "Gospel Mass" trend quickly spread across the nation.^[10]

Even as these new changes swept through the emerging "Black Catholic Church", so too did the backlash and general unease with which many Black Catholics held their faith. As they embraced a more robustBlack nationalism, it often clashed with all they knew Catholicism to represent.^[11] This sentiment was not limited to laypeople nor did was it contradicted by White reactions to the movement/revolution, as many dioceses, religious orders, parishes, and lay groups reacted negatively to both the Civil Rights and Black Power movements on the whole.^{[citation needed]}

In 1970, theNational Black Catholic Lay Caucus (NBCLC, or NBLCC) was founded. It partnered with the NBCCC, NBSC, NBCSA, and NOBC in combating themarginalization of Blacks. At their first meeting in August of that year, they drafted a resolution echoing the demands of the inaugural NBCCC meeting two years prior. In addition, they added new demands, such as four Black bishops, greater lay and youth decision-making power, and "hierarchical support in developing an African-American liturgy".^[12]

In summer 1971, the NBCLC staged asit-in at the Josephites' headquarters, demanding similar changes.^[13]

After the NOBC was allotted only 30% of their requested funding for 1970 by theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and afterCardinal O'Boyle (a staunch supporter of Civil Rights) announced his retirement, a delegation of Black Catholics led by the NBCLC president brought their grievances to theVatican in 1971. They informed Deputy Secretary of State AbpGiovanni Benelli that the American bishops had been "lying" to Rome about the state of Black Catholicism (which was bleeding members and "dying"). They demanded that a Black man be appointed as the next Archbishop of Washington, D.C., an African-Americanrite be created, and an African-Americancardinal be named.^[14][15]

That same year, the NBSC, NOBC, and various Black Catholic laypeople spearheaded a national campaign to stop the mass closings of Catholic schools inurban and predominantly Black communities. In many cases, neglected and/or to-be-shuttered Black Catholic schools were adapted as community-led institutions. Much like the period some 125 years prior, Black nuns led a movement to educate Black children in a time when the American and Catholic White hierarchy did not seem to care to.^[16]

During this same period, Black Catholic ministries began to pop up in dioceses around the country, often in response to hostile conditions and with pushback from many Black Catholics themselves.^[17]

The unrest extended into seminaries as well. At the Josephites', tensions between the more race-conscious Black students/members and their White peers, as well as with teachers/elders (Black and White) boiled over into open hostility. Many students left the seminary and a number of Josephite priests resigned. By 1971, the seminary had closed for studies. To this day, Josephite seminarians study at nearby universities, and their vocations from Black Americans has never recovered.^[18][19]

A wave of resignations by priests occurred across Black Catholicism in the 1970s and coincided with a generalnadir of American Catholicism overall (the latter being more or less unrelated to race issues). Catholics of all races beganlapsing in droves. Between 1970 and 1975, hundreds of Black Catholic seminarians, dozens (~13%) of Black Catholic priests, and 125 Black nuns (~14%) left their posts, including NBCS foundress Sr. Martin de Porres Grey in 1974. Up to 20% of Black Catholics stopped practicing.^[20][21]

Even with the decline in vocations and lay practice during the 1970s, various new national Black Catholic organizations emerged by the end of the decade.

During the early to mid-1970s, the various (and largely informal) Black Catholic diocesan offices/ministries began to gain official recognition and approval. In 1976 their leaders formed aconsortium known as theNational Association of Black Catholic Administrators.^[6] The next year, the NOBC became a member, and eventually the NABCA subsumed the NOBC altogether.^[17]

TheBlack Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS), a yearly gathering dedicated to the promotion of Black Catholic theology, emerged in 1978 in Baltimore. From it has come some of the leading voices not only in Black Catholic theology, but inWomanist andBlack theology as well: a founder of one of the watershed organizations of the latter movement (theNational Council of Black Churchmen, or NCBC) was the aforementioned Fr Lucas. Writers such as DrDiana L. Hayes, DrM. Shawn Copeland, SrJamie T. Phelps, FrCyprian Davis, and Servant of GodThea Bowman have had an immeasurable influence in advancing the cause of Black Catholichistory,theology,theory, and liturgy.^[22][23]

The next year in 1979, theInstitute for Black Catholic Studies was founded atXavier University of Louisiana. Every summer since, it has hosted a variety of accredited courses on Black Catholic theology, ministry, ethics, and history, offering aContinuing Education and Enrichment program, as well as aMaster of Theology degree. It is "the only graduate theology program in the western hemisphere taught from a Black Catholic perspective".^[24][25]

That same year, the USCCB issued apastoral letter dissecting and condemning racism, entitled "Brothers and Sisters to Us", for the first time addressing the issue in a group publication.^[26]

FrGeorge Stallings, a Black Catholic priest known for his fiery activism and no-holds-barred demands of the Church, pressed for a Black Catholic rite (complete with bishops and the associated episcopal structure) during the 70s and 80s; this bold request was intended to give Black Catholics the kind of independence many were calling for at the time.^[27]

In 1974Eugene A. Marino was named auxiliary bishop of Washington, andJoseph L. Howze became the first recognized Black Catholic bishop of a diocese when he was named Bishop of Biloxi in 1977.^[28] Marino would become the first-ever Black Catholicarchbishop in 1988, following an open demand made to the USCCB in 1985.^[29] Marino resigned from his archbishopric two years after his appointment, following a sex scandal related to his secret marriage (and impregnation) of a Church employee.^[30]

Between 1966 and 1988, the Holy See would name 13 Black bishops. In 1984 they would issue their own pastoral letter entitled "What We Have Seen and Heard", explaining the nature, value, and strength of Black Catholicism.^[31][32] The next year, the United States Catholic Conference (a predecessor organization to the USCCB), with the help of Servant of God Thea Bowman, issued a document titled "Families: Black and Catholic, Catholic and Black", encouraging Black Catholics to maintainBlack cultural traditions.^[33]

In 1987, theNational Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) emerged as a purported successor to Daniel Rudd's Colored Catholic Congress movement of the late 19th century. It was founded as a nonprofit in conjunction with the NABCA and under the name of FrJohn Ricard, future bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee and future Superior General of the Josephites.^[34][35]

In September 1987,Pope John Paul II visited the United States, notably making a stop in New Orleans, which is considered one of the genesis points of Black Catholicism. There he engaged a number of cultural groups, including during a Mass at theSuperdome, wherejazz andgospel stylings were featured (including a rendition of "Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" sung by Servant of GodThea Bowman).^[36][37][38]

The next day, the Pope held a private audience with a group of 2,000 Black Catholics from all over the country (including all the nation's Black bishops), speaking to many of their social concerns and praising their "cultural heritage".^[33][36][39] During this meeting, a Black Catholic gospel choir sang at least one tune from the previous day's Mass.^[40]

Also in 1987, the first and only Black Catholichymnal was published; entitledLead Me, Guide Me, it integrates numerous traditional Black Gospelhymns alongside a number of traditional Catholic hymns. The preface was penned by noteworthy Black Catholic liturgists BishopJames P. Lyke, future Archbishop of Atlanta; and Fr Norvel, then-president of the NBCCC. The foreword was written by Servant of God Thea Bowman, covering the development and value of African-American Christian worship. FrJ-Glenn Murray, a Black Jesuit, wrote an introduction explaining the compatibility of said worship with theRoman Rite of the Mass.^[41][42]

Two years later in 1989,Unity Explosion was founded inDallas as an annualconference celebrating Black Catholic liturgy and expression. As of 2020, it has developed as a more general Black Catholic advocacy conference sponsored by the USCCB, and is preceded annually by a pre-conference, theRoderick J. Bell Institute for African-American Sacred Music.^[43]

That same year, Bowman, by then a celebrity of sorts (having appeared on60 Minutes as well asThe 700 Club) but ailing from cancer, was invited to address the USCCB on Black Catholicism. Dressed in adashiki, she addressed the bishops on the history, legitimacy, and ongoing struggle of the Black Christian patrimony (interspersing the speech with her renditions of a variety of historicBlack hymns). She ended the event by having the assembly link arms and join her in singing "We Shall Overcome".^[44][45]

Despite offers in 1989 from two Black bishops (namelyTerry Steib and future ArchbishopWilton Gregory) to sponsor and oversee Stallings's plans for an independent Black Catholic rite, the proposals of the late 80s were not developed.^[46] In early August 1989 theWashington Post reported that the NOBC had endorsed the formation of an independent rite, but subsequent reports indicated that no such decision had been officially made.^[47]

Fr George Stallings established an independent church in 1989, and was declared in February 1990 by the Archbishop of Washington to have excommunicated himself by his actions. He started a quasi-Catholic denomination, calledImani Temple, at first with one location.^[48] In 1989–1990, theWashington Post reported allegations by youths of having had relationships with Stallings when they were underage.^[49][50] In 2009 the archdiocese reached a $125,000 settlement with Gamal Awad, who said he was sexually abused at 14 by Stallings and a seminarian.^[51]

Fr Cyprian Davis published hisHistory of Black Catholics in the United States (1990), covering Black history fromEsteban's expedition in the 16th century to the period of the late 1980s. It remains the primary text for the general history of Black Catholics.^[52] That same year in July, he and his fellow Clergy Caucus members establishedBlack Catholic History Month, to be celebrated each year in November.^[53]

In 1991, theNational Association of Black Catholic Deacons began operations, and that same year, Sr Dr Jamie Phelps helped to revive the annual meetings of the BCTS.^[54][55] TheInterregional African American Catholic Evangelization Conference (IAACE), a ministry training conference, also began meeting during this period (co-sponsored by the NABCA).^[17][56]

St Joseph's Black Catholic Church in Norfolk, having been merged with St Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Towson) in 1961, was renamed asBasilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Norfolk, Virginia). It was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1979. After being restored in 1989 (its 100th anniversary as an independent parish), it was named aminor basilica in 1991: the first "Black basilica" and first minor basilica inVirginia. This was technically the parish's 200th anniversary, as St Joseph's had split off from a segregated White parish (Saint Patrick's) founded in 1791.^[57][58]

Around the same time, twin Divine Word priestsCharles andChester Smith, with their fellow VerbitesAnthony Clark andKen Hamilton, established theBowman-Francis Ministry. This is a Black Catholic youthoutreach ministry that also holds an annualSankofa Conference.^[59]

At the behest of theBlack Catholic Joint Conference, the annual meeting of the NBCCC, NBSC, NBCSA and NABCD (including the deacons' wives), a survey was taken of Black Catholics in the early 1990s to gauge the need for and interest in an independent rite. The NBCCC formed anAfrican American Catholic Rite Committee (AACRC) and in 1991 published a monograph entitled "Right Rites", offering a proposal for a study that would be presented at the next year's Black Catholic congress. Their plan was much like the one earlier proposed by Stallings. Black Catholic theologian (and future bishop)Edward Braxton proposed an alternative plan, but neither was developed.^[60]

Though the 1995 results of the lay survey were ambiguous about a desire for an independent rite, debate ensued. Activists were concerned that the respondents may not have understood that such a rite was intended to be in full and unmitigatedunion with the rest of the Catholic Church, and wondered if they had been accurately informed about the prospect in general. Some also wondered whether the nation- (and Church-) wide emphasis onmulticulturalism during that era had soured the prospect of a Black-centered endeavor.^[61]

Since theplenary councils of Baltimore in the 1800s, the bishops had floated similar proposals, but no action had been taken. The NBCCC's AACRC disbanded after the results of the survey were released.^[61][47]

While its more radical factions and experiments (especially the various ordeals in Chicago) were met with plenty of opposition, the movement on the whole was received well by the Church, as seen in the rapid acceptance of Fr Rivers' Black liturgical innovation level after Vatican II. The broad ecumenical (and interfaith) support for even Chicago's most boundary-pushing Black Unity Masses also displayed how much support existed for Black liberation at the time.^[10]

That said, the association withBlack liberation (and the Black Panthers) did attract the attention of the Chicago Police Department, who surveilled at least one Panther-secured Black Unity Mass in Chicago, noting its uniqueness relative to the average Catholic liturgy (and dismissing it as such).^[10] A few months after Clements was named pastor of Holy Angels, theCPD and FBI assassinated his close friend and spiritual menteeFred Hampton. Clements would celebrate the Funeral Mass.^[62]

Hierarchical opinions about Black liturgy notwithstanding, demands from Black Catholics for parishes, pastors bishops, archbishops, and cardinals of their choosing certainly rankled higher-ups from local dioceses all the way to theVatican. Ambivalence was the most common response.^[15]

While most of the requests were eventually granted in one way or another, the resulting pendulum-swing away from radical activism—mirroring the larger decline of Black radicalism toward the end of the 20th century—has left Black Catholicism in something of a holding pattern since.

While racism continues to be an issue in American Catholicism, the Black Catholic Movement's legacy of inculturation and institutions continues to provide a buffer of sorts, providing previously nonexistent outlets for advocacy, protection, preservation, and perseverance.

With the exception of the NBCLC (now arguably replaced by the NBCC), the major national Black Catholic organizations and conferences continue to meet regularly, 52 years after the movement began and a quarter-century since it informally ended.^[6] The NBCC continues to issue a "Pastoral Plan of Action" periodically, and the various organizations have issued a number of statements—together and independently—concerning various issues of importance in the Black (and Black Catholic) community.^[63]

Roughly a quarter of Black Catholics worship in historically-Black parishes, and these institutions almost without exception preserve the form ofBlack Catholic worship and spiritual life developed during the Black Catholic Movement, mostly from the model of the larger Black Church.^[64]

In 1987, Black Catholic theologian, historian, and liturgistThea Bowman was profiled on60 Minutes byMike Wallace, whom she at one point famously persuaded to utter the phrase "Black is beautiful."^[65] This appearance caught the eye ofHarry Belafonte, who eventually bought thefilm rights to her life story and recruitedWhoopi Goldberg to portray her in abiopic.^[37] Bowman died soon after in 1991 fromcancer and the film never materialized.^[66]

A year later, however, Goldberg portrayed a gospel-singing Black nun in the 1992 American musical comedySister Act. Its1993 sequel featured a similar story, with Goldberg's character helping an interracial group of urbanCatholic high school students form a choir and perform various forms of African-American music (especially gospel). Asequel is currently in the works forDisney+.^[67]

• National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC)
  • National Black Catholic Seminarians' Association (NBCSA)
• National Black Sisters' Conference (NBSC)
• National Association of Black Catholic Deacons (NABCD)
• National Association of Black Catholic Administrators (NABCA)
  • Interregional African American Catholic Evangelization Conference (IAACEC)

• Black Catholic Joint Conference (annual meeting of the NBCC, NBSC, NBCSA, NABCD, and the deacons' wives)
• National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC)
• National Black Catholic Men's Conference
• National Black Catholic Women's Gathering
• Archbishop Lyke Conference
• Unity Explosion
• Bowman-Francis Ministry
  • Sankofa Conference

• Institute for Black Catholic Studies (IBCS)
• Black Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS)

• Fr Herman Porter
• BishopJoseph Francis
• FrGeorge Clements
• Sister Martin de Porres Grey, RSM (now Dr. Patricia Grey)
• SisterMary Antona Ebo
• Sister Mary Shawn Copeland, OP (now Dr. M. Shawn Copeland)
• SisterJamie Phelps, OP
• FrClarence Rivers
• Servant of GodThea Bowman
• FrCyprian Davis, OSB
• Rawn Harbor
• ArchbishopJames Lyke
• Fr J-Glenn Murray, SJ
• BishopHarold Perry
• FrLawrence Lucas
• Fr William Norvel, SSJ
• Fr Charles Smith, SVD
• Fr Chester Smith, SVD
• Fr Anthony Clark, SVD
• Fr Ken Hamilton, SVD
• Roderick J. Bell
• BishopJohn Ricard, SSJ
• ArchbishopWilton Gregory
• BishopTerry Steib
• FrGeorge Stallings
• Charles Hammock
• Joseph Dulin
• Estelle Collins
• Brother Joseph Davis, SM
• Fr Edwin Cabey
• BishopJoseph L. Howze
• ArchbishopEugene Marino
• Fr Charles Burns
• Fr Albert McKnight

• Black Catholicism
• National Black Catholic Congress
• Institute for Black Catholic Studies
• Black Catholic Theological Symposium

• Davis, Cyprian. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. United States, Crossroad, 1994.ISBN 9780824514952
• Hayes, Diana L., and Davis, Cyprian. Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States. United States, Orbis Books, 1998.ISBN 9781570751745
• Copeland, Mary Shawn. Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience. United States, Orbis Books, 2009.ISBN 9781608333585
• Phelps, Jamie Therese. Black and Catholic: The Challenge and Gift of Black Folk: Contributions of African American Experience and Thought to Catholic Theology. United States, Marquette University Press, 1997.ISBN 9780874626292
• Davis, Darren W., and Pope-Davis, Donald B.. Perseverance in the Parish? Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective. United States, Cambridge University Press, 2017.ISBN 9781108127561
• McGreevy, John T. Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North. United States, University of Chicago Press, 2016.ISBN 9780226497471
• Johnson, Karen J.. One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2018.ISBN 9780190618971
• Hayes, Worth Kamili. Schools of Our Own: Chicago's Golden Age of Black Private Education. United States, Northwestern University Press, 2019.ISBN 9780810141209

• National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus
• National Black Sisters Conference
• National Association of Black Catholic Seminarians
• National Black Catholic Congress
• National Association of Black Catholic Deacons
• Institute for Black Catholic Studies
• Black Catholic Theological Symposium

• African-American Catholicism
• African-American Christianity
• Catholicism in the United States
• Catholicism in North America
• Christianity in the United States
• Religion in the United States
• African Americans and religion
• African-American history in Los Angeles
• African-American history in Baltimore
• African-American history in the Southern United States
• African-American history of Louisiana
• African-American history of California
• History of Christianity in the United States
• History of Catholicism in North America
• History of African-American civil rights
• Black Power
• Social movements
• History of social movements
• Social movements in North America
• History of the Catholic Church
• Folk Christianity
• Christian worship and liturgy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Christianity in North America
• Religion in North America
• Western Christianity
• African-American history of Washington, D.C.
• African-American history of Maryland
• African-American history in New Orleans
• African-American history of Illinois
• African-American history in Detroit
• History of Christianity in North America
• History of Catholicism
• History of Catholicism in the United States
• Social movements in the United States
• Folk Catholicism
• Catholic liturgy
• Catholic spirituality

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