SUMMER NEWSLETTER

Kim Reid

Racial Harmony Committee Member

When I first heard about the National Black Catholic Congress not long after I entered the Church, I thought it was some kind of meeting only specially appointed people could attend.  I was absolutely delighted when I learned that anyone could attend, and I signed up for my first Congress in Indiana in 2012.  I went again in 2017, and after the postponement, again this year.   I have gone to the Congress to hear speakers I wouldn’t normally be able to hear or see, and to meet people from all over the country.  I took a picture of a group from another state, so they could all be in the picture together.  After I took their photo, they suggested I have mine taken and they directed me on the photo pose, shown above.  You have so many happy and friendly encounters over meals, bus rides, discussion, and breakout groups, etc. Thankfully, anyone who did not have the opportunity to participate in person, can reap the benefits from the conference by visiting the Congress YouTube channel. Of particular interest for me was the premiere of the Congress’ new video on the history of the Congress, highlights from Congresses of the past, and reflections from people today on their love of their Catholic faith.

Desiray Taylor

St. Louis Chapter NBCC Implementation Team Member

What the National Black Catholic Congress meant to me.

I thank God for the opportunity to go to the National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC). I am not a cradle Catholic, and I did not attend Catholic schools. I did grow up knowing the power of Jesus and how He is head of our lives. Becoming Catholic was a personal choice I made as a teen/ young adult. 

So, seeing the many people that looked like me was a joy and even seeing the Caucasian people in attendance that support NBCC was a blessing. I enjoyed the roll call. I even exchanged information with people from other cities.  The information is good to have if I am ever in their city and want to attend Mass, LOL.  There were so many good sessions. Some information was good for our work within the parish and some information was even great knowing for my personal life outside of the Church. I am disappointed that I couldn't attended them all. I enjoyed the Unity Mass with the various cultures.  I have never heard Mass in multiple languages at once. I loved how we even had time for a service project. I honestly can say it didn't feel like "work" we were mixed with different people and we laughed like we had known each other for years.

I know it takes a lot of hard work to put the Congress together, but it was such an AMAZING experience!  I wish we did not have to wait another 5 years to get to enjoy it. 

Again, I am so thankful for the opportunity.

Office of Racial Harmony

The Archdiocese of St. Louis held the second annual “Forgive Us Our Trespasses” Maafa procession and prayer service June 17 in Downtown St. Louis...

Archdiocese of St. Louis

Welcome Father Jeff Harvey

On Saturday, August 19, 2023, the Vincentians Western Province welcomed Fr. Jeff Harvey to St. Louis as the director of their new Mission House located at 3259 Lafayette Avenue in south St. Louis city.  The house will serve as the center for vocation and formation programs for the Western Province.  Prior to the dedication of the house and the installation of Fr. Jeff, Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski.  The event closed with a tour of the house and a fellowship luncheon.

WHY CELEBRATE JUNE 17TH?

From United States Department of the Interior  & the National Park Service: 

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom

Juneteenth is the oldest known US celebration of the abolition of the chattel slave system, and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas. Celebrated on June 19, it became an official national holiday known as Juneteenth National Independence Day by law on June 17, 2021.
 
The question of slavery divided the nation during the decades leading up to the Civil War. But by September of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln made abolition a formal position of the US government when he announced the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that enslaved people in states or areas of “rebellion against the United States” would be free effective on January 1, 1863. However, the proclamation was not enforceable in those slaveholding areas for which it applied.
 
 Nevertheless, as Union troops moved through the South, they brought the news of emancipation with them and the ability to enforce the order through military might. Further encouraged by the proclamation, large numbers of enslaved African Americans self-liberated, escaping chattel slavery to seek refuge behind Union lines when geographically feasible. Many of these freedom seekers joined the US Army and Navy to fight as United States Colored Troops throughout the remainder of the Civil War.
 
 Two years later in April 1865, Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee surrendered to Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant of the US Army after the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. While this is often viewed as the effective end of the US Civil War, in parts of the Trans-Mississippi West the war had yet to conclude. Well into May 1865, battles between federal troops and Confederate forces continued in Texas. It was not until June 2, 1865, that Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith finally surrendered the Trans-Mississippi West to US forces.
 
 On June 19, 1865, US Brigadier General Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston, Texas confirming the news that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved African Americans were now free. Prior to Granger’s arrival, the US military presence in Texas was too weak to enforce President Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Two months after General Lee’s surrender in Virginia, Union forces were strong enough to act as a liberating force for enslaved African Americans throughout the state.
 
 In the years before Granger’s landing, news of the proclamation was slow to reach Texas, and did not reach some quarters at all. In other places, the news was hidden by slaveholders to preserve slavery. One of Granger’s first acts was to announce freedom for African Americans; many left Texas immediately for the North or to search for family in other slaveholding states. Even freedom seekers with no fixed destination left their place of bondage, if for no other reason than to grasp freedom for the first time.
 
 The Juneteenth celebration grew during the years following the Civil War, with many formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants making annual anniversary pilgrimages to Galveston.
 
 Although the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1865 ultimately abolished slavery in all areas of the nation, Juneteenth captured the jubilation of the end of slavery in the Confederacy. In 1980, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas and has since been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.

For More Information visit: https://www.nps.gov

and https://nmaahc.si.edu