Old St. Mary’s host site for Gospel Mass, food and fellowship
By Christina Gray
Old St. Mary’s Cathedral and Chinese Mission, a ministry of the Paulist Fathers, is the co-host for a Nov. 8 event celebrating Black Catholic History Month and the five-year anniversary of the Black Catholic Messenger Foundation.
The role of music in Black spirituality will be presented and discussed by Dr. Kim Harris in what will be the inaugural event for the Daniel Rudd Lecture Series. The series will be hosted by the Black Catholic Messenger Foundation, a San Francisco-based, online media nonprofit, which aims to amplify the voices of African-American Catholics. A grant by the Paulist Fathers helped bring the event to the historic cathedral at 660 California Street.
The event is free, and all registrants who reserve tickets at blackcatholicmessenger.org are welcomed. It begins at 5 p.m. with the Gospel Mass at Old St. Mary’s presided by Paulist Father Bart Landry. Food and fellowship follows the Mass before the 7 p.m. lecture.
Dr. Harris is the assistant professor of African American Thought and Practice in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. She presents lectures on the music of the Black Catholic experience, the spirituals of the Underground Railroad, and the freedom song of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Harris is a member of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium and the North American Academy of Liturgy. She is an academic member of the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as well as a liturgical consultant for the Archdiocese of New York Office of Black Ministry.
Nate Tinner-Williams, co-founder and president of the Black Catholic Messenger Foundation said it was launched in 2020 as a response to the underrepresentation of Black Catholics in Catholic media.
“The first person to address this issue lived roughly a century ago,” he said of Daniel Rudd, who founded the American Catholic Tribute in 1885. The newspaper was the first American newspaper printed by and for Black Catholics.
“Daniel Rudd represents for Black Catholics the recognition of a legacy, the acknowledgement that African Americans matter in the U.S. Catholic Church and bring a special contribution to its history,” said Tinner-Williams.
The Black Catholic Messenger Foundation is also planning a series of virtual events during the first week of Black Catholic History Month, in what they call Black Catholic History Awareness Week, Nov. 2-9. Included is a webinar for the feast of All Saints of Africa on Nov. 5., and a webinar for the founders day of the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary on Nov. 7. Visit blackcatholicmessenger.org for more information.
