by Tablet Staff  

 SOUTH OZONE PARK — For 17-year-old Ruth Mekako, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Black History Month Mass of Thanksgiving, held Feb. 1 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, was as much about representation as it was about worship.  

“It’s often [where I see] the most black priests gathered at the same Mass,” said Ruth, a member of the Vicariate Office of Black Catholic Concerns Youth Leadership Ambassador Program. “When they bring in priests, like [Auxiliary Bishop Narh Asare of Accra, Ghana], then I get to see the perspective of Black History Month, not only from people in the Diocese of Brooklyn, but from all over the world.” 

Bishop Asare was the principal celebrant and homilist of the Mass, which was concelebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan and attended by 19 other diocesan priests. 

Bishop Asare was first introduced to Catholics from the Diocese of Brooklyn in July 2024, when youth ambassadors from the Vicariate Office of Black Catholic Concerns embarked on a mission trip to Africa, visiting Ghana, Senegal, and Morocco. 

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“He really treated us like dignitaries,” Father Dwayne Davis, project director of the Vicariate’s Youth Leadership Ambassador Program, recalled of the group’s meeting with Bishop Asare in Ghana. “He took all the questions that young people had for him — we even joked about jollof rice, and which country makes it the best.”  

Other attendees of the Mass included the Knights of Peter Claver and the Ladies Auxiliary — the nation’s largest and oldest historically black Catholic lay organization, with chapters in dioceses across the U.S. 

At the end of Mass, Bishop Brennan told parishioners that they are not only celebrating Black History Month but living it by bearing witness to the faith through their unity and heritage.  

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“It was great to be here today, especially for this 100th anniversary of Black History Month,” Bishop Brennan said. “It’s not just one group of people here and there, but it’s people from many nations, from many heritages, all coming together, sharing faith.” 

After Mass, parishioners gathered in the school gym at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy for a dinner featuring traditional African dishes. 

Father Alonzo Cox, vicar for the Vicariate Office of Black Catholic Concerns, who has celebrated Black History Month Masses for more than a decade, noted that the annual Mass offers parishioners a powerful reminder of the importance of unity. 

“It’s an opportunity for us to be able to come together,” Father Cox said. “It is so beautiful to have the bishop from Ghana here to talk about how we can unite, celebrate who we are, and [how we are] a part of history and continue to live history.”