THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL BLACK CATHOLIC SEMINARIANS ASSOCIATION
Vol. 2 No. 3
The Church Crossing Over
“I will give you shepherds…”
P ASTORES D ABO V OBIS
MAY/JUN 2011
A Message from the Editor IN THIS, THE YEAR OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY of the priestly ordination of Father Augustus Tolton, the Church in the United States expresses a renewed interest in this holy priest whose life and ministry typifies the necessary and graced occasion of Eucharistic commu‐ nity amid social disorder. The purifying aspect of the Eucharist is made plain as one considers what was at that time a most exceptional case. Unjust social arrange‐ ments and unfounded opposition notwithstanding, Fa‐ ther Tolton’s vocation was brought to fulfillment by the grace of Almighty God. Today, through the eyes of “the faith that the dark past has taught us” (to borrow from James Weldon Johnson), we must make ourselves aware of the struggles that con‐ front systemically marginalized individuals and commu‐ nities. In terms of the associated moral, political, and reli‐ gious dimensions, we cannot help but to consider the notion that yesterday’s slaves are today’s undocumented immigrants—especially the young people who were brought into this land as suckling babes as their parents pursued honest work. Because of arbitrary laws based on unjust social arrangements, Blacks in the United States were denied full citizenship rights during and even after slavery. When we listen to the tone of the immigration debate today, although the cir‐ cumstances are different, we cannot help but say, “we’ve been here before.” As a young boy, Augustus Tolton escaped slavery with his mother and two siblings by cross‐ ing the Mississippi River from Missouri into Illinois. What we consider now to be a heroic, just, and necessary effort was an illegal action at the time. Today, migrant families across the world cross borders of all kinds to escape economic oppression. Undocumented immigrants in our country remind us of the Black slaves who illegally escaped their hell on earth in pursuit of an alternative unknown except for the fact that they would no longer be slaves. They and those who helped them and stood with them in solidarity faced hostility and suspicion. It is time for us to happily face hostility and suspicion as we seek the common good for the millions of young people in our land who, like Father Augustus Tolton, were carried across a border as children as their parents sought hope. The Catholic bishops of the United States have made their stance clear in this regard, and we should support them. Father Tolton is certainly present in our midst today in ways that we may not readily notice. We, the Church, must get it right this time! Ω
Editor
Jeremiah 3:15
Desmond W. Drummer
‐ Α ‐ PASTORES DABO VOBIS The Newsletter of the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association PRESIDENT Kareem R. Smith Archdiocese of New York
VICE PRESIDENT Dwayne Davis Diocese of Brooklyn
SECRETARY Michael Trail Archdiocese of Chicago
TREASURER
NOTES: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS Seminarians, clergy, and diocesan administrators who are inter‐ ested in sharing reflections, commentary, or ideas in PASTORES DABO VOBIS are encouraged to contact the editor. Ω
JUSTICE AND IMMIGRATION
www.justiceforimmigrants.org The bishops and faithful of the Catholic Church in the United States continue to advocate for a just, humane response to the broken immigration system in this country, with particular con‐ cern for migrant families. Visit the U.S. bishops’ Justice for Im‐ migrants campaign online to learn more about Catholic social teaching and advocacy on this critical issue. Ω
Vacant
ARCHBISHOP LYKE MILESTONE PASTORES DABO VOBIS is published bimonthly and is available to subscribers, free of charge, by electronic mail. ISSN 2159-1806 EDITOR Desmond Drummer Archdiocese of Atlanta To receive a subscription or to offer comments and story ideas, send an email to the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association.
NATIONAL BLACK CATHOLIC SEMINARIANS ASSOCIATION The NBCSA is an affiliate of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus
CONTACT THE NBCSA Kareem R. Smith St. John Neumann Seminary College 201 Seminary Avenue Yonkers, NY 10704-1896
nbcseminarians@gmail.com
‐ Ω ‐
Twenty years ago, on June 24, 1991, the Most Reverend James P. Lyke, OFM was installed the fourth Archbishop of Atlanta. He first arrived in Atlanta as apostolic administrator in the summer of 1990 after having served as auxiliary bishop of Cleveland since 1979. Among Archbishop Lyke’s significant contributions to the Church in the United States is LEAD ME, GUIDE ME: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CATHOLIC HYMNAL (GIA Publications, 1987), a ground‐breaking project he coordinated. Archbishop Lyke died in Atlanta on December 27, 1992 at the age of 53, leaving behind his peaceful imprint upon a Church—local and national—in great need of renewal and healing. Ω
THE FATHER AUGUSTUS TOLTON CAUSE
www.toltoncanonization.com Confident in his heroic virtue, many are asking for the interces‐ sion of Father Tolton. Please keep the Cause itself and all those involved in promoting the Cause in your prayers. Bishop Jo‐ seph N. Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago and diocesan postu‐ lator for the Cause, continues his work of nurturing the devel‐ opment of the Father Tolton Cause. Visit the website established for the Cause to learn more about Father Tolton and this historic prayerful effort. Ω
STORY AND SONG Part One: Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA Jared T. Anderson, SDB (Nov.) | Salesians of Don Bosco—USA West
“LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU, O BEAUTY EVER ANCIENT, EVER NEW, LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU! YOU WERE WITHIN ME, BUT I WAS OUTSIDE, AND IT WAS THERE THAT I SEARCHED FOR YOU.” —Saint Augustine
IT ISN’T EASY BEING A MINORITY—cultural, reli‐ gious, cognitive, whatever the circumstance. It’s even more difficult being a double minor‐ ity. In a culture where having large families and having unfettered access to each other is the norm, making the conscious decision to respond to a call planted in us from the mo‐ ment God called us into being, the call to take on a second family, the call to make ourselves available to the whole of God’s people isn’t easy. I am a part of a religious congregation, and in this novitiate, I am the only Black mem‐ ber of my community. Often I find myself quite capable and ready to quote some funny quip from a Madea movie, but fall silent when it comes to speaking up about cultural expres‐ sion in prayer and spirituality. We hear the above quote from Saint Augustine repeated and used as a reference to God. For our sake, let’s use this quote as a ref‐ erence to our heritage of story and song, our African American heritage. It is within this Artist: frame of reference that I offer a series of arti‐ Marshall Bouldin (1988) cles: “STORY AND SONG.” Over the next few months, it is my intention to present models for Black Catholic seminarians (religious and diocesan), for if we lose sight of our ancestors in spirit, if we lose the ability to tell the story, to sing to life our tradition, we will never become good shepherds for the People of God. The first holy example I present is a woman who worked tirelessly for the Black Church and who, even now, offers us a model for what it means to be a Black Catholic, entirely consecrated to God and the service of His People: Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA. In the interest of keeping this article more reflective than biographical, you will not find herein the de‐ tails of her life. There are books to read for that. My interest is in the way she lived out her vocation—how she, as an African American woman, was able to move the Church in such a way that got people thinking. Continued on next page
Story and Song: Sister Thea Bowman (continued)
“...after my own heart.”
Sister Thea was someone who was intensely rooted in her heritage as a Black woman. She was also grounded in her charism as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. She was a story‐ teller, a teacher, someone who through her struggles, trials, and happiness was able to emerge as someone “fully formed,” as she would put it. Here was a woman who was not ashamed in any way of her own storied background. She struggled in her formation being the only Black person in her congregation at the time, and it was a major trial for her. But when she emerged she came out in full force. I would like to draw your attention to a speech that Sister Thea gave to the U.S. Conference of Bishops at Seton Hall University in June of 1989. She was less than a year from her death, in major pain, and yet able to stand before the bishops of the U.S.—most of them white men—and weave a tapestry of story and song in such a way that moved many of them to tears. It was through this embracing of her own culture that she was able to clearly convey to them that the Black Church needs help, that the Black Church needs young men and women to step forward and assume positions of leadership, that we need education opportunities, that the Black Church needed so dearly those opportunities that were given to her in her formative years. Sister Thea wasn’t just talking to the bishops. She speaks to us today—we who are studying and striving to serve our Church, we who have been raised and gathered from among our own communities to be shepherds of God’s people. We need to take our place. We will only do that when we embrace our own cultural and ancestral heritage. We will only be able to be true lead‐ ers and pastors of the Church universal when we have embraced our story and song. Ω
Prayer for the Cause of
Father Augustus Tolton O God, we give you thanks for your servant and priest, Father Augustus Tolton, who labored among us in times of contradiction, times that were both beautiful and paradoxical. His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time. We stand in the shadow of his ministry. May his life continue to inspire us and imbue us with that confidence and hope that will forge a new evangelization for the Church we love. Father in Heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your Will, O God, glorify your servant, Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now request through his intercession (mention your request) so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved. Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are our God, living and reigning forever and ever.
Amen. (2010) Bishop Joseph N. Perry Imprimatur
Francis Cardinal George, OMI Archdiocese of Chicago
To report any spiritual or physical favors granted through prayer in Father Tolton’s name, please write:
Office of the Cardinal Archdiocese of Chicago 835 North Rush Street Chicago, Illinois 60611