Nat’l Black Catholic Congress Convenes

About 3,000 Black Catholics from around the country attended the National Black Catholic Congress July 20-23 in the Washington D.C., area where they examined their role in the Church, how to share their unique gifts and rise above ongoing challenges. 

Black Catholics Gear Up for Upcoming Congress and Conference

Marc Guess, a parishioner at St. Monica Catholic Church in Indianapolis, attended the first National Black Catholic Men’s Conference in Memphis 20 years ago. He has been to almost every one of the annual events since and plans to attend this year’s conference in October in Louisville, Kentucky. 

NYC Woman’s Mid-19th Century Letter Asks Pope for ‘Salvation of Blacks’

On Oct. 29, 1853, Harriet Thompson took pen to paper, wrote a letter to the pope, and started a fight for equality for blacks in the Catholic Church. Thompson was unhappy with the treatment she and her fellow African Americans were receiving not only from society but from the Church as well.