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Posted: November 26th, 2007 at 2:00am By: Kevin Considine
The Roman Catholic Church is my home.
Even though there are aspects of it that drive me a little crazy. Even though I'm in an ecumenical marriage and have spent time in Evangelical-Pentecostal Christianity.
I was born Catholic and remain Catholic to my core. It's the faith community that is my home. It's part of my culture, thinking and worldview.
But that doesn't mean that I turn a blind eye to the church's shortcomings. Yes, the church does carry on the ministry of Jesus and does direct us into relationship with the Holy Mystery of God. But the church is also packed with people who often are all too human. The members of the church have participated in sin just like anyone else. And this is especially true when it comes to the church's history with African-Americans in the United States.
For many years black Catholics could not be ordained. Moreover, some religious communities were hesitant to admit them. And many parish priests were wary about embracing black Catholics in their congregations or administering the sacraments to them. This is part of the shame of our American-Catholic history.
But there were also women and men who stood in opposition to this sin of white racism in the midst of the pilgrim people of God. And two of these individuals who lived their lives in prophetic critique of this sin were Father Augustus Tolton and St. Katherine Drexel.
Father Tolton (1854-1897) was born into slavery in 1854 in Missouri to Peter Paul and Mary Jane Tolton. When the Civil War broke out, his father joined the Union army and was killed. His mother then collected her four children and crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois and to freedom.
As he attended Catholic school as a boy, he began to discern a call to serve the Church as a priest. But there was a problem with this. During the mid- to late 19th century Catholic seminaries would not admit black seminarians. So his parish priests at St. Boniface in Quincy, Ill., began to tutor him themselves until they could secure his status as a "special student" at Franciscan College, also in Quincy.
On Aug. 24, 1886 Augustus Tolton was ordained as the first known and recognized black priest in the United States of America. Now there may have been others ordained before Father Tolton. But he was the first black man fully recognized as a priest by everyone.
After ordination he was assigned to the Diocese of Alton and became a parish priest who gave such good sermons that the Germans and the Irish began attending mass with black Catholics. Father Tolton's prowess was a double-edged sword, however, for racist animosity from Catholic clergy and others in the area eventually compelled the church leadership to transfer him to the South Side of Chicago, to what is now St. Monica's parish.
During his time in Chicago he became nationally renowned for his preaching, pastoral leadership and hard work. The black Catholic ministry that he started continued to be the focal point for black Catholic life for years. In the process, Father Tolton touched the lives, hearts and minds of many in Chicago and around the nation.
Unfortunately, on a hot day in July 1897 he suffered a stroke while stepping off the streetcar on Chicago's South Side. He was only 43 years of age. One of the many programs in Chicago that continues to minister in his name is the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union (where I attend graduate school), a program that provides scholarships and spiritual formation for black Catholic laywomen and laymen as they pursue a graduate degree and prepare to serve in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) has a much different story from Father Tolton's. She was a privileged white woman born into an affluent family in Philadelphia who ended up dedicating her life to serving African-Americans and Native Americans in the United States. In the process her life and ministry became a prophetic witness against the entrenched sin of white racism in church and society.
St. Katharine worked to address what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eventually would call the intertwined evils of poverty, ignorance and hopelessness. In 1891, St. Katharine founded the order then known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, a religious community that is now known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
To our ears the original name is politically incorrect. But in the context of the late 19th century, when the United States was turning back the gains of Civil War Reconstruction and while a frenzy of Manifest Destiny was leading us to conquer the American West, St. Katharine's order was ahead of its time. And the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continue to live out this calling to social justice and Catholic spirituality today.
To this end, St. Katherine opened schools around the nation to mentally and spiritually educate young people of color. And she donated her life and her personal fortune of $20 million to the cause.
In 1915, she founded what would become the pinnacle success of her life — Xavier University in New Orleans. To those who haven't heard of Xavier U, it was then and remains now the only historically black Catholic college in the United States. At first Xavier was a high school, but by 1925 Xavier had established a College of Arts and Sciences. From then on Xavier flourished and although St. Katherine died in 1955 her religious order and Xavier University carry on her work and have made it their own.
There is much more that could be said about these two people of faith and the communities that they served. And the plight and triumph of black Catholics and those who struggled to hasten their liberation are still mostly unknown. Especially among white Catholics.
So this column is a hesitant step in remembering that history. Even though it's challenging for a white person to tell it correctly. And even though history retold in such a short space can only be a snapshot — only an imperfect peek into a rich black Catholic history that is an integral part of the entire history of the American Catholic Church.
But it's a start. And in starting to remember this history, we work to help our church to continue to be a home for all of our sisters and brothers. Our remembering becomes a first step in racial reconciliation.
Now that's something to be thankful for. That's a gift from God. So let's keep remembering.
— — —
Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the largest Roman Catholic school of theology and ministry in North America. He is married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and makes sure his thoughts make sense. He and his wife live on the South Side of Chicago. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Kevin Considine.
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The Roman Catholic Church is my home.
Even though there are aspects of it that drive me a little crazy. Even though I'm in an ecumenical marriage and have spent time in Evangelical-Pentecostal Christianity.
I was born Catholic and remain Catholic to my core. It's the faith community that is my home. It's part of my culture, thinking and worldview.
But that doesn't mean that I turn a blind eye to the church's shortcomings. Yes, the church does carry on the ministry of Jesus and does direct us into relationship with the Holy Mystery of God. But the church is also packed with people who often are all too human. The members of the church have participated in sin just like anyone else. And this is especially true when it comes to the church's history with African-Americans in the United States.
For many years black Catholics could not be ordained. Moreover, some religious communities were hesitant to admit them. And many parish priests were wary about embracing black Catholics in their congregations or administering the sacraments to them. This is part of the shame of our American-Catholic history.
But there were also women and men who stood in opposition to this sin of white racism in the midst of the pilgrim people of God. And two of these individuals who lived their lives in prophetic critique of this sin were Father Augustus Tolton and St. Katherine Drexel.
Father Tolton (1854-1897) was born into slavery in 1854 in Missouri to Peter Paul and Mary Jane Tolton. When the Civil War broke out, his father joined the Union army and was killed. His mother then collected her four children and crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois and to freedom.
As he attended Catholic school as a boy, he began to discern a call to serve the Church as a priest. But there was a problem with this. During the mid- to late 19th century Catholic seminaries would not admit black seminarians. So his parish priests at St. Boniface in Quincy, Ill., began to tutor him themselves until they could secure his status as a "special student" at Franciscan College, also in Quincy.
On Aug. 24, 1886 Augustus Tolton was ordained as the first known and recognized black priest in the United States of America. Now there may have been others ordained before Father Tolton. But he was the first black man fully recognized as a priest by everyone.
After ordination he was assigned to the Diocese of Alton and became a parish priest who gave such good sermons that the Germans and the Irish began attending mass with black Catholics. Father Tolton's prowess was a double-edged sword, however, for racist animosity from Catholic clergy and others in the area eventually compelled the church leadership to transfer him to the South Side of Chicago, to what is now St. Monica's parish.
During his time in Chicago he became nationally renowned for his preaching, pastoral leadership and hard work. The black Catholic ministry that he started continued to be the focal point for black Catholic life for years. In the process, Father Tolton touched the lives, hearts and minds of many in Chicago and around the nation.
Unfortunately, on a hot day in July 1897 he suffered a stroke while stepping off the streetcar on Chicago's South Side. He was only 43 years of age. One of the many programs in Chicago that continues to minister in his name is the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union (where I attend graduate school), a program that provides scholarships and spiritual formation for black Catholic laywomen and laymen as they pursue a graduate degree and prepare to serve in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) has a much different story from Father Tolton's. She was a privileged white woman born into an affluent family in Philadelphia who ended up dedicating her life to serving African-Americans and Native Americans in the United States. In the process her life and ministry became a prophetic witness against the entrenched sin of white racism in church and society.
St. Katharine worked to address what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eventually would call the intertwined evils of poverty, ignorance and hopelessness. In 1891, St. Katharine founded the order then known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, a religious community that is now known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
To our ears the original name is politically incorrect. But in the context of the late 19th century, when the United States was turning back the gains of Civil War Reconstruction and while a frenzy of Manifest Destiny was leading us to conquer the American West, St. Katharine's order was ahead of its time. And the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continue to live out this calling to social justice and Catholic spirituality today.
To this end, St. Katherine opened schools around the nation to mentally and spiritually educate young people of color. And she donated her life and her personal fortune of $20 million to the cause.
In 1915, she founded what would become the pinnacle success of her life — Xavier University in New Orleans. To those who haven't heard of Xavier U, it was then and remains now the only historically black Catholic college in the United States. At first Xavier was a high school, but by 1925 Xavier had established a College of Arts and Sciences. From then on Xavier flourished and although St. Katherine died in 1955 her religious order and Xavier University carry on her work and have made it their own.
There is much more that could be said about these two people of faith and the communities that they served. And the plight and triumph of black Catholics and those who struggled to hasten their liberation are still mostly unknown. Especially among white Catholics.
So this column is a hesitant step in remembering that history. Even though it's challenging for a white person to tell it correctly. And even though history retold in such a short space can only be a snapshot — only an imperfect peek into a rich black Catholic history that is an integral part of the entire history of the American Catholic Church.
But it's a start. And in starting to remember this history, we work to help our church to continue to be a home for all of our sisters and brothers. Our remembering becomes a first step in racial reconciliation.
Now that's something to be thankful for. That's a gift from God. So let's keep remembering.
— — —
Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the largest Roman Catholic school of theology and ministry in North America. He is married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and makes sure his thoughts make sense. He and his wife live on the South Side of Chicago. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Kevin Considine.
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