A few years ago, Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant, established a career by encouraging people to declutter.
“What gives me joy?” she told us to ask ourselves. If it doesn’t give you joy, out it goes.
I’ve repeated that little mantra, often with a touch of sarcasm, as I prepare our old house for a major interior paint job. Everything comes off the walls and shelves, nothing remains on the counters.
Effie Caldarola
We’re stripping rooms to only the furniture the painters can easily cover. Everything else migrates to the attic, where I ask the inevitable question, “Where does all this stuff come from?” Photos, clothes, knick-knacks, piles of books, souvenirs. Gifts, family memorabilia.
Moving everything around has propelled me to want to declutter. Organize. Get rid of “stuff.” And deciding — what’s treasure and what’s “stuff?”
During this season leading up to Thanksgiving and Advent, this project becomes spiritual as well as material.
I have a spot by the window where I pray in the morning, and the approach of autumn — and now winter — stirs something within me.
Maybe in part it’s the turmoil in our country and world right now. It’s a time of seeing things pass, of letting go, of feeling a sense of uncertainty. I watch the lush green foliage that climbs up my neighbor’s garage. It turned bright red, then its leaves wilted and fell. Now only the naked stems remain.
This is the cycle of life, I remind myself. Things pass away. I feel that cycle now more clearly as I get older. I don’t say that in a gloomy way; I see opportunity in the paring down, the digging through the junk to the essentials, whether in my overburdened attic or in my overburdened soul.
And my faith teaches me to remember that seeds are falling into the dormant soil, seeds of rebirth. Lately, I have begun praying each morning with the day’s Scripture. I read slowly, and I stop when something touches me specifically. Some days, I find the readings less inspiring or more difficult than other days, but I dig for the nuggets, and I let the prayer follow.
St. Paul tells me, “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
I sense that groaning as the darkness encroaches and the air grows colder. I sense it as I peruse my attic room. How can I connect my morning prayer to this room, this collection of my life? How can I know what to let go?
Just this morning, I gave a friend some old issues of a Catholic magazine. I still had them tucked away as I was going to “finish” them — someday. She was delighted. Move on, I remind myself. The next issue will be in the mailbox soon.
Simplify, my prayer tells me. As Christmas beckons, I face the inevitable shopping list, and I pray about how to pare down, to simplify, to make gifting more about experiences than about more plastic and more stuff. This is an environmental and moral issue.
Sort, throw, save, give away. Make room for those things valued most. As I write these words, I see how they pertain both to the clutter and detritus of my material goods, but also to the clutter of my interior life, my soul.
Buy less. Give more. Worry less. Pray more.
There’s peace in sitting in the morning silence, seeing the naked stems of a once flourishing plant and realizing this, too, brings me joy.
(Effie Caldarola is a wife, mom and grandmother who received her master’s degree in pastoral studies from Seattle University.)
AUSTIN, Texas (OSV News) — The Texas Catholic bishops Nov. 4 issued a warning about the effects of a soon-to-be-released plan to implement a federal appeals court order that will result in the loss of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protections for an estimated 86,000 immigrants in the state.
The implementation “is imminently expected to change” the presence of DACA beneficiaries “from lawful to unlawful,” they said in a statement issued by the Austin-based Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, the church’s public policy arm in the state.
“We, the Catholic bishops of Texas, firmly resolve to respond with compassion and a call for justice for those who, through no fault of their own, are now being forced to abandon their homes, their livelihood and their communities,” the statement said.
Commonly known as DACA, the program has been the focus of a seven-year back-and-forth legal battle in federal courts since 2018, with numerous rulings, appeals and modifications to its status.
The latest development came on Jan. 17 of this year, when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order after its review of a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas that declared the DACA program to be unlawful.
Beatrice Cruz of Arizona holds a sign in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy after a hearing on the DACA program, outside the federal courthouse in Houston June 1, 2023. Texas Catholic bishops say a federal court is poised to change lawful presence of 86,000 DACA recipients in Texas to unlawful; this means, they say, anyone who has DACA or is eligible to receive it would need to consider implications of moving to or from Texas. (OSV News photo/Adrees Latif, Reuters)
“While largely affirming the lower court’s ruling, the Fifth Circuit narrowed the ruling to apply only to Texas,” according to an Oct. 30 memo issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It also separated the issues of protection from deportation and work authorization. The case was returned to the lower court for implementation of the Fifth Circuit’s order, and further guidance from the district court is expected soon.”
The case is now before U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, who will determine how to apply the appeals court ruling.
On May 1, 2018, Texas — joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia — filed suit in the district court challenging the legality of the program. The suit, Texas v. United States, accused then-President Barack Obama and his administration of unlawfully and unilaterally granting what amounts to “citizenship” to “otherwise unlawfully present aliens” when it approved the DACA program in 2012.
The plaintiffs argued that DACA recipients increase state costs for education, health care and law enforcement; the district court ruled that Texas had standing to challenge the program and that it was unlawful. The 5th Circuit affirmed that Texas had standing to challenge DACA “based on the financial burden imposed by the presence of DACA recipients” and also found the program to be “substantively unlawful.”
Launched by an executive order from Obama, the program enables employment authorization and temporary protection from deportation to immigrants (commonly called “Dreamers”) brought into the U.S. by their parents as minors without legal authorization. Those eligible must have arrived before age 16, resided continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007, and have been under age 31 as of June 15, 2012.
According to KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation), as of Sept. 30, 2024, there were about 538,000 DAC recipients from nearly 200 different countries of origin in the U.S.
Federal officials proposed an implementation plan of the 5th Circuit’s order on Sept. 29, the USCCB memo said. Briefing by the parties has been scheduled through Nov. 24, with the district court’s detailed plan expected shortly after that.
Under the government’s plan, DACA recipients living in Texas who have a two-year renewable work permit would be given 15 days’ notice that the authorization is being revoked.
Similarly, according to data from the USCCB, “those with a work permit based on DACA who lived in other states and moved to Texas would be given that same 15 days’ notice going forward. However, the district court may introduce a different timeline for any changes to take effect.”
The 5th Circuit’s order “undermines each of these persons’ basic human right to seek work and to support a family,” the Texas bishops said. “It is contrary to the facts to claim that our state is harmed by DACA recipients lawfully working here. Instead, this kind of unprecedented and disruptive action by our government will harm our communities by fomenting fear, severing relationships, disrupting business and removing some of the most upstanding individuals from our community.”
“This decision will impact virtually every community in Texas by removing the lawful presence for DACA recipients who live in Texas,” they said.
DACA recipients would still be allowed to find employment in other states, according to The Texas Tribune. The news outlet also reported that Judge Hanen will also review a Department of Justice plan “that would see the government start accepting new DACA applications for the first time in four years,” though those applicants could not apply for work permits in Texas.
“The present distress in our country regarding immigration is the result of decades of unwillingness on all sides to enact reasonable and meaningful immigration reform, reform which respects both national security needs and the human right of each person to work and raise a family in peace,” the bishops said.
Implementation of the 5th Circuit’s order, they continued, “will harm our communities by fomenting fear, severing relationships, disrupting business and removing some of the most upstanding individuals from our community.”
Across the U.S., Christians account for approximately 80% of all of those at risk of Trump’s mass deportation effort, with the single largest group of affected Christians being Catholics, according to a joint Catholic-Evangelical report published by World Relief.
The report found one in six Catholics (18%) are either vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is.
The Catholic Church’s Latino community is the most potentially affected by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. According to Pew Research Center data released in June, more than four out of 10 Catholics in the U.S. are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%); but eight out of 10 Hispanic Catholics are either born outside the U.S. (58%) or are the children of immigrants (22%).
ICE enforcement methods have become a major flashpoint with the Catholic Church, as various groups have charged ICE treatment of detained migrants is violating their human dignity, and that the rights of detained Catholics to receive the Eucharist and other sacraments have not been respected. The Department of Homeland Security has rejected such claims.
The Texas bishops reminded federal and state authorities “of the importance of proper training and supervision” for agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“No violent actions should ever be taken or justified to harm law enforcement officials or their families,” the bishops said. “The human dignity of law enforcement officers themselves is violated when they are expected to consider brutal and inhumane methods to enforce these decisions.
“We are pastors of ICE agents and DACA recipients, undocumented persons and families whose security is threatened,” they said. “This decision will only exacerbate fear and distrust, pit community members against one another, and cause significant economic disruption for many communities.”
The bishops added, “We want to say unequivocally to all our immigrant sisters and brothers, and in a particular way to those who arrived as children: We have heard your cries. We are with you in these difficult days.”
(OSV News) — The Mexican bishops’ conference has condemned the murder of a mayor, who was assassinated after pleading for federal assistance in combating drug cartels — which extort avocado growers in his municipality in western Michoacán state.
Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, was shot dead at a candlelighting ceremony for Day of the Dead on Nov. 1. Manzo was shot seven times, according to Mexico’s public security secretary, Omar García Harfuch, while photos from the event in the town square showed him holding his young son in his arms. Two suspects were arrested in the case, García Harfuch added.
Manzo’s slaying “adds to a series of murders of people who have dared to speak out and confront the absence of the rule of law in their communities, businesses and other spaces. Today, it is no longer enough to apprehend the killer: We must resolutely combat the root causes of all these murders,” the bishops’ conference said in a Nov. 2 statement.
“The ordinary presence of armed groups, which control the public life of citizens in various regions of the country, is the real crime to be faced: the roadblocks, the dispossession of lands, the constant threats to producers, merchants and rulers reflect a serious weakening of the constitutional order that the governments at the municipal, state and federal levels, are obligated to guarantee.”
The brazen murder sparked outrage in Mexico, where drug cartel violence has plagued swaths of the country for nearly two decades. The violence has especially plagued Michoacán, which has a long history of marijuana growing. But analysts say that now criminal groups now extort the growers of avocados and limes, illegally log forests and import chemical precursors for synthetic drugs through the port of Lázaro Cárdenas.
A priest in Michoacán described a desperate situation in the state with criminal groups colluding with politicians and fighting each other to control lucrative crime territories.
“The people are saying, ‘Enough, padre,” the priest, who ministers in a conflictive part of Michoacán, told OSV News. The priest, who previously lent spiritual support to self-defense groups that formed to fight drug cartels in 2013, asked for anonymity to speak candidly. “Believe me: We’re just a minute, a moment away from Michoacán burning,” the priest said.
Manzo became known for accompanying police as they patrolled Uruapan. He spoke out against organized crime and urged President Claudia Sheinbaum to take action.
“This country has already slipped out of the president’s control,” Manzo told Mexican media outlet Latinus. “The country is slipping away from us. Crime has become part of the landscape. … We are facing crime alone. There is no strategy, there is no state.”
Confronting criminal groups can be perilous. Bernardo Bravo, head of a citrus growers’ association in the city of Apatzingán, was recently found murdered after he organized a protest by citrus growers tired of paying extortion.
“These crimes wound Mexican society and demand an immediate and coordinated response from the authorities to rebuild peace in Michoacán,” said a Nov. 2 statement from the National Dialogue for Peace, an initiative to pacify Mexico, sponsored by the bishops’ conference, the Jesuits and the Conference of Religious Superiors of Mexico.
Sheinbaum condemned the killing of Manzo, who previously served in Congress as a member of her ruling Morena party and won the mayor’s office as an independent. She drew controversy on Nov. 3, however, for saying at her morning press conference that violence in Michoacán originated with former President Felipe Calderón — who she insisted stole the 2006 election and started cracking down on drug cartels in Michoacán to “legitimize” his win.
“And we have always said it is about addressing the causes and zero impunity, intelligence, investigation and prosecutions,” Sheinbaum said.
Calderón’s crackdown on drug cartels shortly followed his taking office in December 2006. It was preceded by a drug cartel known as La Familia Michoacana bursting into a bar in Uruapan and tossing five human heads onto a dance floor.
Manzo’s murder captured international attention and came as U.S. pressure on Mexico to stop the flow of drugs like fentanyl has mounted.
“The U.S. stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on both sides of the border,” Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of state, said on X. “May his soul rest in peace and may his memory inspire prompt and effective action.”
(David Agren writes for OSV News from Buenos Aires.)
(OSV News) — For Americans, the term “Thanksgiving” conjures up images of turkey and cranberry sauce, parades and football games. These are “traditions” that have come to mark an event made a perpetual institution of American life by President Abraham Lincoln.
But why did Lincoln proclaim the last Thursday in November as a national holiday? Because it was clear to him that the blessings of food, land, family and freedom enjoyed by Americans are all gifts from the Creator. But Americans, he realized, had forgotten this. A special day was needed for us to forget our differences and remember our blessings. And from remembering naturally follows giving thanks to the source of those blessings.
Marcellino D’Ambrosio, seen in this undated photo, is the co-creator of a new online study course and accompanying book titled “What We Believe: The Beauty of the Catholic Faith” from Ascension. And author of several books and articles, he currently is a professor of theology at Catholic Distance University, a private online Catholic university based in Charles Town, West Virginia. (CNS photo/courtesy Ascension)
The Israelites had an annual thanksgiving feast, as well. It was really a combination of two feasts, Passover and Unleavened Bread, and occurred in early spring. This is when the first crop, barley, began to be harvested and when the ewes gave birth to their lambs. The pagan Canaanites had already celebrated the feast of unleavened bread at this time to thank the gods for the harvest and offer them the first fruits as a sacrifice of gratitude. The pagan bedouins — wandering from place to place with their flocks — celebrated the spring gift of lambs by sacrificing some of them to the gods in gratitude for the gift of fertility.
The ancients did not need divine revelation to know that divine forces brought about the world and all its creatures. That’s just plain common sense. That we owe these divinities a debt of gratitude is justice, pure and simple.
But for the Jews, Passover was not just giving thanks for the blessings of creation. For them, God was not just the author of nature, with its seasons and life cycles. No, God was also the master of history. Among all ancient peoples, only the Jews believed that God entered into human history, manifested his love and power, and acted decisively to save his chosen people.
So while the pagans thanked their gods for the blessings each spring for food and fertility, the Israelites thanked the Lord for food, but even more, for freedom. They remembered not only that creation comes from him, but that salvation from slavery comes from him as well. This remembering happens each year in a solemn way at a special Passover meal that is the climax of the Jewish year.
On the night before he died, Jesus celebrated this solemn memorial by deepening its meaning yet further. Liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression was certainly something to celebrate. But there was a crueler slavery that a change of geography and regime could not alter. This slavery to Satan was kept in force through the shackles of sin. Just as he acted through Moses to free his people from Pharaoh, God was now about to act decisively to liberate his people from the ancient curse. He would act personally, not through proxies.
But this liberation would be costly. The only way that it could be won would be if God were to give not only his blessings, but his very self. To do this, God had become man, capable of offering the supreme sacrifice. And before he did it in actual fact, he did it in sacrament by offering himself under the unassuming forms of bread and wine. Before delivering himself into the hands of the Romans to be their victim, he delivered himself into our hands to be our nourishment.
For his aim was not just to open the way to future bliss in heaven. His aim was to pour into our wounds the balm of Gilead that would begin the healing process here and now. The bite of the serpent had injected venom. His body and blood would be the antidote, the “medicine of immortality,” in the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Blood brings nourishment and life to every cell of our bodies. It also carries away impurities that poison our system. The Eucharist offers us a transfusion — we put aside our old life and receive his ever-new life, his divine vitality for our tired, toxic blood.
The life of a thing was in its blood. It was poured out at the foot of the altar and could never be consumed, for it belonged to God alone. But here God pours out his own blood at the altar of the cross and gives it to us as our drink, for the transformation of our lives.
“Do this in memory of me.” We are commanded to remember the supreme love of Christ for us that holds nothing back, that gives everything for our freedom. So naturally the sacrificial banquet of remembrance is called the Eucharist, or “thanksgiving.” The priest introduces the great central prayer of the celebration with these words: “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” And we respond, “It is right and just.”
During the Eucharistic Prayer, I always silently add in thanks for my personal blessings. I think of the natural blessings of home and work, of food on the table and the health of my family. I also thank God for my own salvation history, especially for plucking me out of danger as a teenager, running with a wild crowd. I thank God for bringing me together with a woman who loves him and loves me, and for having kept us faithful to him and each other for many years. I thank him for our own family’s salvation history.
If you haven’t already established the habit of adding your personalized thank-yous to the priest’s Eucharistic Prayer, try it next time you’re at Mass. It’s a very appropriate mode of participating in that part of the Eucharist.
But true thanksgiving is not just a matter of words and warm sentiments. Gratitude for a gift means offering a gift in return. He gave his whole, entire self to us — his body, blood, soul and divinity. The only adequate response would be to offer ourselves.
Note what Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).
So thanksgiving cannot be separated from sacrifice. The Mass is a celebration of his love and the freedom it won for us through his sacrifice. Through it, the love of God is poured into our hearts and enables us to love with his love. In the power of that love, we offer ourselves back to him and enter into that sacrifice which we celebrate. True thanksgiving means self-giving. This is the meaning of Eucharist.
(Marcellino D’Ambrosio is a speaker, author, pilgrimage director and theologian who directs the Crossroads Initiative.)
At St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Clarksdale, faith is growing strong among the parish’s young people thanks to Catelin Britt’s “yes” to God’s call – and the vital support of the Catholic Service Appeal (CSA). For the past eight years, Catelin has served the parish in various ways and now leads as the Coordinator of Religious Education. Her journey in ministry began long before she joined the Catholic Church.
“It started when I was in ninth grade,” Catelin said. “I was asked to be a WYLD Life leader for middle school students. Sharing faith with them and walking through life together really shaped me.”
When she entered the Catholic Church in 2017, Catelin jumped right into parish life. “I was asked to help with Vacation Bible School and said yes right away,” she recalls. “It was chaotic, tiring, but so fulfilling!” That experience led to more opportunities – teaching First Communion prep, Sunday School, and eventually youth ministry. “Whenever I’ve been asked to share my faith, I’ve always said yes. God calls us to use our gifts to evangelize.”
Serving youth has also deepened her own faith. “I spend a lot more time in prayer now, especially for each child in our program,” Catelin said. “It’s also pushed me to keep learning about my faith so I can better guide them.”
Over the past few years, Catelin has witnessed incredible growth among the parish’s youth. “We’ve seen more participation not just in youth group, but at Mass,” she said. “We even have several young men discerning entering the church, inspired by their peers’ love for the faith.”
Thanks to support from the Catholic Service Appeal, ministries like Catelin’s continue to thrive. “The CSA eases financial burdens and allows us to focus on the kids,” she said. “Every dollar helps create opportunities for them to grow in faith. Generosity truly changes lives – and it’s helping form the church of today and tomorrow.”
To support youth ministry and other vital diocesan programs, visit jacksondiocese.org and make your gift to the Catholic Service Appeal today.
The annual Catholic Service Appeal unites Catholics across the Diocese of Jackson to support 14 vital ministries that serve local communities. From faith formation and youth ministry to seminarian education and clergy healthcare, these initiatives help carry the Gospel’s message to those in need throughout the diocese. Give today to help these ministries thrive.
CLARKSDALE – Catelin Britt (far left), coordinator of religious education at St. Elizabeth Parish, stands with the parish’s 2024 Confirmation class on April 6. Pictured with Catelin Britt, Bishop Joseph Kopacz and Father Raju Macherla are Kevin Elias, Angel Zuniga, Dominic Birdsong, Priscila Lopez, Bella Favi, Ayden Lutts and Bailey Martin. (Photo courtesy of the parish)
MERIDIAN – Father Carlisle Beggerly blesses rosaries for students during a Friday assembly at St. Patrick Catholic School. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)
HOLY SPRINGS
HOLLY SPRINGS – Holy Family Catholic School students D’Anthony Snow, Christian Buffington and Torris Brown examine different types of rocks during science class. Using what they learned about each rock’s characteristics, they worked to identify them as igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. (Photo by Kim Nolan)
FLOWOOD
FLOWOOD – Pre-K4 teacher Jackie Hoey leads a “Sink or Float” science activity with her students at St. Paul Early Learning Center. From left: Aiden Scarbrough, Evie Fox, Elliott James Hannah, Millie Simmons, Carson Fede, Maggie Baker, Finley McCoy and Kinsey Rome. (Photo by Wendi Murray)
COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS – Annunciation Catholic School first graders Luke Thomas and Livy Windham dissect plants after learning about roots, stems, leaves and flowers. (Photo by Jacque Hince)
By Joanna Puddister King MACON – Middle school youth from across the diocese gathered at Lake Forest Ranch in Macon, Oct. 18–19, for the All Heart Fall Retreat. The weekend, led by the Life Teen Missions Outreach Team, invited students to connect, recharge, and discover how their hearts can make a difference. Throughout the retreat, participants enjoyed group games, outdoor activities, and a lively bonfire, as well as moments of reflection and prayer. Father Tristan Stovall celebrated Mass, encouraging youth to love the Lord “with all your heart, soul and mind.” The weekend offered a joyful blend of worship, fellowship and faith-filled fun – all centered on growing closer to Christ with all heart.
By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV thanked the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem for supporting the Christian communities in the Holy Land, especially during the “tragic days of war.”
“In a world where arrogance and violence seem to prevail over charity, you are called to bear witness that life conquers death, that love conquers hatred, that forgiveness conquers vengeance, and that mercy and grace conquer sin,” he told members of the ancient Catholic chivalric order.
The pope met with more than 3,000 knights and dames of the Holy Sepulchre in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall Oct. 23 during their Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, grand master of the order, was also present.
The order, a lay institution under the protection of the Holy See, supports the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem with prayers, financial assistance and regular pilgrimages. There are more than 30,000 members around the world.
Pope Leo thanked them for “the considerable help you give, quietly and without publicity, to the communities of the Holy Land, supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in its various activities: the seminary, schools, charitable work and assistance, humanitarian and educational projects, the university, aid to churches, with special interventions in times of greatest crisis, as was the case during COVID and the tragic days of war.”
Pope Leo XIV greets members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Oct. 23, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) Inset: Father Mark Shoffner, pastor of St. John Parish in Oxford, who attended the audience, said the pope looked directly at him and waved. (Photo courtesy of Father Shoffner)
With concrete and varied assistance, he said, “you show that safeguarding the tomb of Christ does not simply mean preserving a historical, archaeological or artistic heritage, however important, but is supporting a church made of living stones, which was born around it and still lives today as an authentic sign of Paschal hope.”
“To pause at the Lord’s tomb means, in fact, to renew one’s faith in God who keeps his promises, whose power no human force can defeat,” the pope said.
“How often, thanks to your work, a glimmer of light reappears for individuals, families and entire communities who risk being overwhelmed by terrible tragedies at every level, particularly in the places where Jesus lived,” he said.
Pope Leo encouraged the order’s members to continue with their “task of being guardians of the tomb of Christ” with “the confidence of expectation, the zeal of charity and the joyful enthusiasm of hope.”
FAITH ALIVE By Cecilia A. Moore From the 1920s through the 1960s more than 300,000 African-Americans across the country chose to enter into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Their choices to become Catholic set them apart from most African-American Christians who were members of Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Holiness traditions.
Cecilia A. Moore is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio. (CNS photo/University of Dayton)
However, in choosing Catholicism, African-Americans were returning to the earliest Christian traditions of their ancestors. African Christians figured prominently in shaping the Catholic tradition, making their imprint on Catholic theology, doctrine and religious practices.
St. Augustine’s teachings on grace and sin, monasticism and traditions related to intercessory prayer are just three examples of African influence on Catholicism. Christian kingdoms flourished for more than four centuries in Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan before Christianity had durable roots in Western Europe.
And, although Muslims were successful in establishing their faith throughout North Africa and in parts of sub-Saharan Africa by the ninth century, Christianity did preserve in parts of Africa and by the beginning of the 16th century, Catholicism was reintroduced to Africa by way of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Twentieth-century African-Americans who chose to become Catholic were rich, poor, middle-class, famous, infamous, ordinary, eccentric, well-educated, poorly educated, Southern, Northern, Midwestern, Western, raised as Christian, religiously unaffiliated, politically engaged, apolitical and so much more.
No matter their individual characteristics, they had their own reasons for choosing Catholicism. Some did so to answer a call to religious life. Some felt an internal spiritual call to Catholicism. Some joined the Catholic Church because they were married to Catholics, and others were attracted to the faith because they had Catholic friends.
There were women and men who found Catholicism to be the truest expression of Christian faith, finding themselves deeply attracted to the rituals and theology of Catholicism. Many were children who learned about Catholicism while attending Catholic schools. It was not uncommon for these children to bring their entire families into the church with them.
Some became Catholic because the church reached out to them when they were in need. The Catholic stance on political and social issues drew others in. There were also 20th-century African-Americans who converted who said they experienced a sense of equality in the church that they didn’t experience in other aspects of their lives.
Whatever their reasons for were for choosing Catholicism, African-Americans changed the look and the experience of American Catholicism in the 20th century.
November is Black Catholic History Month. Use this month to learn about some of these 20th-century African-Americans who chose Catholicism and made great contributions to the American Catholic experience. Here are three that you might consider.
African-American children’s book author, Ellen Tarry, became a Catholic when she attended St. Francis de Sales, a Catholic boarding school for African-American girls run by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in the early 20th century. As a young woman she got involved in the Harlem Renaissance and in Catholic interracial justice work.
Tarry’s books for children featured aspects of Catholicism and African-American life. She also published frequently in Catholic publications on issues that pertained to African-Americans. Her autobiography “The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman” is a fine way to begin learning about her and her contributions to American Catholicism.
Several of the more famous African-Americans who joined the Catholic Church in the 20th century were in the performing arts. Mary Lou Williams is one of the most famous and interesting. Williams was a renowned jazz pianist and composer. Becoming a Catholic in 1957, Williams came to regard jazz as a gift that God gave her to give the church. Jazz inspired her composition of dozens of hymns.
Finally, an especially fitting way to celebrate Black Catholic History Month would be to read “The History of Black Catholics in the United States” by the late Benedictine Father Cyprian Davis. Father Davis’ work was integral to bringing attention nationally and internationally to the ways that people of African descent helped to develop Catholicism from the earliest days up through the middle of the 20th century.
Though trained in monastic history, Father Davis is most well-known for developing black Catholic history as a distinctive field study and scholarship around the country, but especially at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.
(Cecilia A. Moore is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton.)
JACKSON – Author Monica Walton returns with “Advent Reflections for Our World Today,” a weekly devotional designed with the busyness of the Advent season in mind.
“This pocket-sized weekly devotional offers readers a rich and meaningful experience for the season of Advent, drawing us closer to Jesus by exploring His message for us at this time,” Walton said. “Written in the style of Lectio Divina with a focus on the Sunday Gospel readings for liturgical year A, it inspires readers to reflect on one powerful Scripture passage each week and explore God’s Sacred Word through a contemporary lens, making the material more relatable and manageable during this busy time.”
The author of “Lean Into Lent” and “Advent Reflections for This Day” (which focused on Year B readings), Walton now lives in Ocean Springs and attends St. Alphonsus Church after 31 years at St. Paul in Flowood.
“At first glance, the cover draws us into the story of the Birth of our Savior, and the material within helps all Christians prepare for His Second Coming,” Walton said.
“So many of us have the best of intentions when it comes to Advent study, but we get behind – and often give up – because of Christmas shopping, holiday parties and travel,” said publisher Joe Lee, an active member of St. Francis of Assisi in Madison.
“Advent Reflections for Our World Today offers all the spiritual nourishment of a daily Advent study, and the modern-day parables are timely and will stay with you.”
Bishop Joseph Kopacz endorsed the book, saying, “In a most creative way, this book enfolds the richness of the church’s wisdom to prepare the way of the Lord. The power of God’s Word to change lives, the inspiration and comfort of traditional prayers, weekly modern day parables, practical guidance, and much more all combine to offer a season of hope and peace that the world cannot give. Embrace this remarkable treasure and welcome the Lord!”
Priced at just $8.95 per copy with generous discounts available for group purchases, “Advent Reflections for Our World Today” is ideal for church-wide study, prayer and Bible study groups, or individual study.
Monica’s work can be found in The Word Among Us and on her blog, sacredandsensible.com. For signed copies of “Advent Reflections for Our World Today,” or for more information about bulk discounts for parishes, visit dogwoodpress.com.
