Essay: A brief history of the Black church’s diversity, and its vital role in American political history

JASON OLIVER EVANS, a scholar of Christian theology and African American religion, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation, at the history and influence of the Black church in the United States…
Black Catholics in US are a tiny minority increasingly drawing on immigrants, study finds

Durham, North Carolina, US RNS The congregation at Holy Cross Catholic Church is an anomaly in one sense: a historically Black congregation led by Rev Pius Wekesa, one of just 250 or so Black priests in the United States. Many Black Catholics, a minority within a minority, rarely see a Black priest celebrate Mass at […]
Amid Black exodus from Catholic Church in US, young Catholics are pushing the church to address racism

RNS Byron Wratee recalls the silence among white Catholic priests after the killing of Trayvon Martin. Since then, he said, he’s made a conscious decision to attend only Catholic parishes that are majority Black. He’s remained critical of the church’s response to racism and racial justice in the aftermath of numerous police killings of Black […]
Black Catholics’ history: Will US Catholic schools teach it?

DAVID CRARY, of Associated Press, reports on calls for Catholic schools to teach more about the church’s past links to slavery and segregation, and how Black Catholics have persevered…
New US coalition seeks sainthood for five African-Americans

RNS The founders of two religious orders and an African-American priest who had to train in Rome because no US seminary would accept him are among five candidates being supported for sainthood by a new coalition of black Catholic organisations. The initiative was announced on Tuesday at Xavier University in New Orleans, where a new […]