A new certificate program in African American Ministry recently began at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

As the need for lay pastoral ministers increases, "the purpose of the LMU program is to prepare African Americans for significant roles in the Catholic Church," said Josephite Father Robert Kearns, pastor of St. Brigid Church in Los Angeles and an advisor to the program, at the recent Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Breakfast. "To have a good church we have to have good leadership --- people who are empowered and trained to lead."

The program is designed so that participants attend an all-day, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday class several times each semester. The first class Jan. 20 focused on African American history from a religious perspective.

Sister of Social Service Eva Marie Lumas will teach the March 17 class on the impact of racism within the U.S. Catholic Church. The session will identify the practical consequences of racism on pastoral planning and ministry development within diocesan and parish settings and how African Americans and others can address and overcome racism's debilitating effects.

Sister Lumas is assistant professor of Faith and Culture at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.

Benedictine Father Cyprian Davis will facilitate the April 14 class on the History of African American Contributions to the Catholic Church in the U.S. Father Davis published "The History of Black Catholics in the United States" (New York: Crossroad, 1990) and has received honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

The certificate program will assist people "to become competent to minister in black Catholic churches," said Andrew Shaw, director of the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization. "It's important to be versed in African American history and to understand the struggle in the Catholic Church."

The program will take about 18-months to complete, and students can join throughout. Tuition is $75 per class. For more information, contact the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization at (323) 777-2106, the Center for Religion and Spirituality, LMU Extension at (310) 338-2799, or see ww.lmu.edu/extension/religion.

---Ellie Hidalgo