Black Catholic Messenger

More than 100 Catholics and allies attended a gathering at "Women & Synodality: Where Do We Go From Here?", held at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University from May 3-4.

The founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Venerable Mary Lange, was raised in Cuba before coming to America. A 2021 film explores the Oblates' work there after Lange's death. 

The nation's highest civilian honor, bestowed by President Joe Biden, went to the 93-year-old activist, former attorney, and businessman on May 3.

Firebrand conservative commentator Candace Owens has announced her conversion to Catholicism, describing it on social media April 22 as a "decision to go home."

Louisiana's extension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse has been ruled unconstitutional in a split decision hinging on the due process clause of the state's constitution. 

Sr. Mary Roger Thibodeaux, a veteran member of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and a leading Catholic light of the 20th-century Black freedom struggle, has died in Pennsylvania. 

The 100-year-old school is one of several small, significantly Black Catholic colleges to announce closure recently due to long-term financial struggles.

Tevin Williams writes about his hope that this Lenten season, "Black Catholics will recognize that in spite of the injustices and odds against us and the standard of perfection often required of us, we will prevail just as Jesus did."

This book contributes a thoughtfully and collectively crafted starting point for the importance of preaching racial justice, moving toward how the church might begin to respond — by speaking directly to its people. 

For years, a Baltimore group has been petitioning the pope to make a move regarding the first six African American Catholics on the path to sainthood. In October, they finally received a meeting with the Vatican's saint-making office.

If we want to have serious discourse about being pro-life, it's imperative that we as church put the issue of Black maternal health at the forefront of the movement, and address structural racism in our medical system.

Briana Jansky of Tyler, Texas, explains how Bishop Joseph Strickland — removed from his post this month by the Vatican — led her flock astray and nearly sabotaged her faith.

Catholic Religious Organizations Studying Slavery (CROSS) met in St. Louis recently for two days of presentations, prayer and possibilities at the intersection of Catholic archives and the nation's original sin.

A new film from Matthew Heineman centers a Black Catholic musician and his complexities as he navigates fame and family at an artistic apex.

A fun ride through music history, featuring the ethnoreligious community that seems to have made it all possible. In the history of American music, the Black Catholic influence is, quite simply, off the charts.

The nation's largest Black Catholic organization honed in on Gov. Ron Desantis' defense of new public ed standards that characterize slavery as beneficial.

The 6-3 decision said that the practice violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The payouts are intended to support programs benefiting descendants of those enslaved by U.S. Jesuits in the years before Emancipation.

The April 28 birthday event in New Orleans for the rap mogul Master P, a Black Catholic, honored his daughter Tytyana Miller, who died in 2022 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

The famed singer and actor, whose financial support helped sustain the Civil Rights Movement, succumbed to heart failure in New York.