by Darcel Whitten-Wilamowski
As long as I have been involved in ministry, which is more than 50 years, there has been The Tablet newspaper. Even before I had my first choir or became a leader of song, The Tablet was visiting parishes around the Diocese of Brooklyn, reporting events to help us all feel more connected to one another.
The Tablet was there to cover the Council for Black Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn. The old Tablet clips that I have help keep Father James Goode — the first chair of the Office of Black Ministry in the diocese — and the task he was called to live in my mind’s eye. Through those clips and his quotes, I can still hear his voice calling us together as we fought to create a space for ourselves at the “Welcome Table” of the Church and to be heard.
The Tablet was there when the Office of Black Ministry Board was formed under Bishop Francis Mugavero, with Carole Norris as its first director. The Tablet was there when African, Caribbean, and Haitian Americans celebrated Mass together for the first time, giving thanks for the establishment of that office.
It lifts my heart to say that The Tablet was there, at St. Peter Claver, for that Mass and was able to report that the music ministry was handled by “Joyful Noises Unto God,” Christ the King Parish Choir, and the first true gospel choir that I was able to establish and direct. That Mass also saw Msgr. Paul Jervis, who Bishop Robert Brennan described as a “pioneer of the black Catholic community in Brooklyn and Queens” following his death in 2023, at the beginning of his priesthood.
The Tablet, as usual and always, continued to be present throughout the golden years of the Office of Black Ministry’s Black History Month Mass of Thanksgiving.
Always reporting and ever documenting, The Tablet was there when our African American bishops came to celebrate, share the word, stand for courage, and be role models for our youth, especially our young men.
Bishop Joseph Howze, Archbishop Eugene Marino, Bishop Emerson Moore, and all other African Americans of history and excellence had their picture taken and their words recorded by The Tablet.
It was a blessing for the Office of Black Ministry that the Tablet was available to cover the workshops the office spearheaded in the diocese. The Tablet also witnessed a young Father Wilton Gregory become a bishop and Sister Thea Bowman evangelize.
And they were there when Father Martin Carter, founder of Kujenga, came into the Diocese of Brooklyn to become the second director of the Office of Black Ministry. The Tablet was also there when Father Carter became the first black pastor in the diocese.
The Tablet was there when the Vicariate Office for Black Catholic Concerns and the Office of Multicultural Diversity in the Diocese of Rockville Centre joined forces to present the Black History Month Mass of Thanksgiving in 2022, with Cardinal Wilton Gregory as main celebrant and homilist.
The newspaper’s reporting helps get much-needed information out to those of us who need it. That information also helps bring people back into the Church as a source of evangelization.
I continue to be grateful for The Tablet’s articles regarding the ministry of the “Sounds in the Spirit of Praise” Brooklyn Diocesan Choir, which, combined with the Office of Black Ministry Choir, formed the Sister Thea Bowman Mass Choir. You have helped us to maintain our history and keep our ministry alive.
The Tablet’s deep and abiding interest in our immigrant communities, along with Currents News (on NET TV), gives us much-needed insight into the new cultures that are joining our “People of God” mosaic.
They provide a window for us to look into, to see and receive information we can reflect on, nourish our souls, and open our hearts to what is new. While Currents News is new to me, I can see the extensive evangelization that has already taken place through that window.
Please God that this much-needed ministry will continue to flourish, grow, and fly on the wings of the Sankofa Bird.
Darcel Whitten-Wilamowski is the founder and director of the Sister Thea Bowman Mass Choir, the former coordinator of the Office of Multicultural Diversity in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and a former parishioner of Christ the King Church in Springfield Gardens.