Contributed by Toni Giudice
Black Americans have endured years of bigotry and racial intolerance in our country, in our social institutions and, at times, even our churches. Ruby Randall, Lauren-Hardee Chase and Lillie Fields will attest to that. All three of these local women are Black and, like other Black Catholics, they sometimes have been the object of hurtful assumptions, averted eyes and cool receptions.
On April 12-14, the All Saints Black Catholic Task Force is hosting a Convocation of Catholics of African Descent. The event will take place at All Saints Church, located at 1340 Lancaster Ave., in Syracuse. Bishop Douglas J. Lucia will open the convocation. The goal of the event, where all are welcome, is to gather Catholics of African descent and friends to celebrate the presence, culture, legacy and future of Catholics of African descent in the Syracuse Diocese. The convocation hopes to reanimate a diocesan-wide effort to advance a mission of inclusion and anti-racism.
The diocese historically tracks Mass attendance and participation in total numbers only, not by ethnic groupings. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), one finding of the National Black Catholic Survey, commissioned by the National Black Catholic Congress Office and the University of Notre Dame in 2011 stated that “attending a Black Catholic parish for African Americans heightens religious engagement.” Their data also concluded that only 24% belonged to Black Catholic parishes, while the majority (76%) were in predominantly White or multicultural parishes. Out of nearly 21,000 parishes in the country, approximately 800 were predominantly African American. Similar assimilation of Black Catholics into parishes across the diocese was the primary factor in the decommissioning of the diocesan Office of Black Ministry in 2011.
Dolores Brule worked closely with the Office of Black Catholic Ministry. According to Brule, the urban renewal projects that took a heavy toll on Black neighborhoods have had a ripple effect among the local Black community. As parishes lost attendance numbers and the number of parish Catholic schools contracted, evangelization of Blacks and other residents became more and more challenging to maintain.
“Nobody weighed the value of the church in those neighborhoods,” said Brule.
While a dismantling of Interstate 81 through the city is about to get underway, the sting of what happened to Syracuse’s 15th ward still lingers for Syracuse’s African-American population. In 1950, eight out of every nine African Americans in Syracuse lived in the 15th ward — a Black community of churches, homes and businesses. But the 15th ward became a casualty of 1960s urban renewal when 27 city blocks were targeted to make room for Interstate 81. The project personally affected 75 percent of the city’s African American population.
These are conversations the convocation hopes to have. The main question being: What can the church do to reach out to African Americans?
Keynote speaker for the weekend will be ValLimar Jansen, a highly regarded singer, composer, recording artist and inspirational speaker who has sung sacred music since she was five years old.
Jansen steeps her performances in African traditions and sounds, weaving Bible-based storytelling with music and song.
She trained as a fine arts major at Howard University in Washington D.C., and completed her BA at California State University, San Bernardino. She completed her master’s degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is near completion of her PhD, in dramatic arts, from the same institution. Jansen is a college/university professor, a leader of worship and prayer and a workshop presenter at conferences across the United States. Her speaking and singing tours have taken her all over the globe. She co-authored a one-woman musical about the life of Ethel Waters that received a special commendation from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is also well-known for her one-woman musical on the life of Sister Thea Bowman.
On the morning of April 13, Jansen will present a workshop on the six African Americans who are candidates for sainthood — devout souls who carried out great ministries despite experiencing the omnipresent pain of racial prejudice and discrimination within the church and society.
The afternoon will be devoted to networking and brainstorming designed to identify possibilities/directions for Black Catholic ministry in the diocese. It will conclude with a 4 p.m. Mass with the All Saints Gospel and African Choirs.
Ruby Randall said one of her dreams since coming to Syracuse has been to see a person who looks like her “proclaim the Word.” On April 13 and 14, she will get her wish. Jansen will offer reflections at all three All Saints Masses that weekend.
Preregistration information
Online registration: tinyurl.com/SyrBlackCatholic
All Saints Church: (315) 472-9934 ext. 4 (M-Th 9am-2pm) ; Email: parish@allsaintssyracuse.org
