African American Catholics were challenged earlier this month to renew their commitment to serve as foot soldiers in the struggle to dismantle racism in society and in the Catholic Church, and to be included in all areas of church ministry at a recent national convention.
More than 2,200 Knights of Peter Claver (KPC) and Ladies Auxiliary and eight U.S. bishops gathered in Las Vegas July 31-Aug. 3 for the 90th Annual National Convention.
A full convention workshop on the 25th anniversary of the United States Bishops' Pastoral Letter "Brothers and Sisters to Us," a pastoral statement on the sin of racism, was facilitated by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry of Chicago. Panelists included Beverly Carroll, executive director of the National Office of Black Catholic Ministries; Teresa Wilson Favors, director of Black Catholic Ministries in Baltimore; and Father James Goode, of Black Apostolic for Life.
The panelists challenged the body to re-read the document and continue to press for inclusion of black Catholics in parish ministries and governance.
African American Catholics have much to contribute to the Catholic Church, said Anderson F. Shaw, Western states district deputy for the KPC and a member of Holy Name of Jesus Church in Los Angeles.
"This convention, more so than any other convention, emphasized the need for African American Catholics to become more involved in their individual parishes and in their church," said Shaw. "Now is a wonderful opportunity for us to renew our commitment to fight racism and renew our commitment to the church."
Shaw reflected on the challenges of demographic shifts in which many African Americans have moved from the cities to the suburbs. Today black Catholics are less concentrated in inner-city parishes and more dispersed throughout the region.
"Although our numbers may look like we're dwindling, we're really not," said Shaw. "The involvement of African American Catholics is just as strong as it's always been."
Shaw, who also directs the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization in Los Angeles, said he was committed to finding ways to "keep the vitality, vision and involvement of African Americans in the parishes no matter where they are located."
During the KPC convention delegates donated another $30,000 as part of their pledge to raise $300,000 towards the Katherine Drexel Chapel on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the country's only historical black Catholic college. The chapel will serve as a center for a black Catholic studies program that will focus on training for religious vocation. The Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver have raised $190,000 to date.
Father George Clemmons, a 60-year KPC member, also introduced his program "One Church One Child," with expansion plans to include outreach to the children of incarcerated parents.
Leading a large Western states delegation to the convention were Shaw; Micaela LeBlanc, Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary (KPCLA) Western states district deputy and a member of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Los Angeles; and Jesuit Father Gregory Chisholm, Western states district chaplain and pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church.
Representing more than 1,000 Los Angeles members, including Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark, were KPC Western states district presidents Greg Warner of Transfiguration Church and Bettye Brown of Holy Name of Jesus Church with the coordinating council and courts president, Andrew Knox of St. Brigid Church. Also included were members from St. Agatha, St. Albert the Great, St. Anselm, St. Eugene, St. John the Evangelist, St. Lawrence of Brindisi, St. Paul, and St. Raphael Churches.
In addition to Bishop Perry, the bishops present at the convention were Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, Ala., Bishop Joseph Pepe of Las Vegas, Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Ill., Bishop Curtis Guillory of Beaumont, Texas, Auxiliary Bishop Dominic Carmon of New Orleans, and Auxiliary Bishops Martin Holley and Leonard Olivier of Washington, D.C.
Following the convention, Supreme Knight Arthur McFarland and Anderson Shaw continued on to San Francisco to "exemplify" and bestow the honor of 4th degree knight in the Knights of Peter Claver to Bishop William Levada, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. |