Clarence Rufus Joseph Rivers Jr. (September 9, 1931 – November 21, 2004) was an AmericanBlack Catholic priest and well-knownliturgist. His work combinedCatholic worship withBlack Gospel music, making him an integral part of theBlack Catholic Movement. He also wrote several books on music and spirituality.^[1]

Clarence Rufus Rivers Jr. was born inSelma, Alabama, to Clarence Rufus Rivers Sr. and Lorraine (Echols) Rivers, with his family moving toCincinnati when he was young.^[1] He became Catholic as a young child in Catholic grade school, eventually taking "Joseph" as his confirmation name. It was in Cincinnati that he began study for priesthood, becoming the first black man to be ordained for thearchdiocese. He did graduate work atXavier andYale universities, as well as theCatholic University of America and theCatholic University of Paris. He eventually earned a PhD in African-American culture and Catholicliturgy from theUnion Institute in 1978.

Rivers was ordained to the priesthood in 1956 by ArchbishopKarl J. Alter. He was the first African American ordained in theArchdiocese of Cincinnati.^[2]

Early after his ordination, he worked at St. Joseph Church, a historically black parish in Cincinnati'sWest End neighborhood. He was also an English teacher at Purcell High School in theEast Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati.

He began to gain notoriety for his music during theCivil Rights Movement, beginning with his "An American Mass Program", which combinedGregorian Chant with the melodic patterns and rhythms ofNegro Spirituals.^[3] (He was influenced in this tradition by SisterMary Elaine Gentemann, who had composed such a Mass in 1945.)

Rivers' most beloved hymn was "God Is Love", which he first performed at the first officialMass in English in the United States after theSecond Vatican Council (which had opened the door incanon law forvernacular Mass rather thanLatin).^[4] The song was used as the Communion Hymn during the Mass, which was held during the 1964 National Liturgical Conference inSt. Louis.^[5] It received a 10-minutestanding ovation.^[3]

In 1965, Rivers formed a corporation named “Stimuli Incorporated” so that he could “share his gift of Blackness” with other Catholics. Cincinnati based designer David Camele was his primary partner in virtually every visual representation of Rivers' work. Camele designed very musical octavo, every book and journal, and original vestments, including Rivers' "Black Spirit Dove" that later became the basis for a set of episcopal pectoral crosses created for all the African American bishops in the 70s and 80s.

Rivers collaborated with many musicians to arrange his music like Edward Stanton Cottle, William Foster McDaniel, Henry Papale, Frank Porto, and Rawn Harbor. Harbor became a longtime collaborator and friend following in Rivers' footsteps as a full time pastoral liturgist. Rivers was responsible for backing young Grayson Warren Brown's musical career, by producing his first album under Stimuli, Inc. Much of Rivers' life's work culminated acting as chief liturgist for the Black Heritage Mass at the 1976 International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia, PA.^[6] Cardinal Maurice Otunga, Archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya presided and then Auxiliary Bishop Eugene A. Marino of Washington, DC preaching a ghostwritten homily written by Father Rivers.

He became the founding director of theNational Office for Black Catholics' Office of Culture and Worship during theBlack Catholic Movement, and there organized various conferences and workshops in addition to spearheading the NOBC's cultural journal, "Freeing the Spirit" (a motif Rivers would re-use in various other contexts, including as the title of a short memoir). During this time, he added to his team one Robert Ray, penman of the "Gospel Mass" choral setting sung by choirs worldwide ever since.

Rivers received theNorth American Academy of Liturgy's prestigious Berakah Award in 2002, an association of which he had been a founding member.

He died unexpectedly at the age of 73 on Sunday, November 21, 2004, theSolemnity of Christ the King.

Rivers was passionate about the drama of public worship, as well as the music that was the "soul" of worship.^[1] He was equally devoted toAfrican American culture and was known for his lavishvestments and distinctive jewelry.^[1]

In addition to being a gifted composer, he had an acclaimed vocal style.^{[citation needed]} But it was his personal faith and belief in theliturgy as a place where one encounteredGod that motivated all of his work.^[1]

• 2004 deaths
• Musicians from Selma, Alabama
• American male composers
• Catholic University of America alumni
• African-American Catholics
• African-American Roman Catholic priests
• Xavier University alumni
• Yale University alumni
• 1931 births
• 20th-century American composers
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests
• 20th-century African-American musicians
• 21st-century African-American people

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2011