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1 week ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Alexander Walton |Efran Menny
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has set a Houston-area special election for Tuesday, Nov. 4, to fill a vacant U.S. House seat formerly held by the late Sylvester Turner before his unexpected death in March. The long-awaited decision was announced April 7, after Democratic officials demanded for weeks that the governor act. After failing to meet a deadline to hold the election in May, Abbott released the news with a sharp criticism of local election officials.
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3 weeks ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Alexander Walton |Efran Menny |Tamika Royes |Nathaniel Tinner
In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Ezekiel excoriates the leaders of Israel with the following words:“You shepherds of Israel are doomed! You take care of yourselves while ignoring my sheep. You drink their milk and use their wool to make your clothes. Then you butcher the best ones for food. But you don't take care of the flock! You have never protected the weak ones or healed the sick ones or bandaged those that get hurt.
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3 weeks ago | 
ncronline.org | Mickey McGrath |Michael Sean Winters |Efran Menny
Members of the Mixed African Choir of St. Augustine-Our Lady of Victory Parish in the Bronx, N.Y., sing during the annual Black History Month Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York Feb. 5, 2017. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) Last summer, I was invited by the director of the Texas Southern University's Catholic Newman Center to experience a concert of the Psalms with a gospel influence. They sang plenty of songs I had heard at Mass over the years, but their renditions were soul-stirring.
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3 weeks ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Efran Menny
Events — Conferences — Washington DC — Thea Bowman — Black women — Black sisters — Holiness — #Venerablack — Franciscans — NBSC — Catholic University of America The event was held at Servant of God Thea Bowman's alma mater, the Catholic University of America, and highlighted her remarkable life and legacy.
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3 weeks ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Efran Menny
Mia Love, a former U.S. representative from Utah and the first Black female Republican in Congress, has died after a yearslong battle with cancer. She was 49 years old. Her family announced the news on March 23, the day of her passing, with a statement on her social media accounts. “In the midst of a celebration of her life and an avalanche of happy memories, Mia quietly slipped the bands of mortality and, as her words and vision always did, soared heavenward,” they wrote.
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4 weeks ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Paula Langford |Efran Menny |Tamika Royes
An event meant to honor the descendants of African Americans enslaved at Saint Louis University has been postponed, following alleged deviations from a full reckoning on the part of university officials. The erstwhile Wednesday gathering, “A Path Towards Reconciliation,” was to include a prayer service and a public apology for the university’s involvement in human trafficking.
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1 month ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Efran Menny |Tamika Royes
A long-lost opera from the Black Creole composer Edmond Dédé had its world premiere this year in New Orleans, including a series of performances in Louisiana, Washington, and New York. “Morgiane,” a tale of political resistance set in Persia, is the oldest extant opera by a Black American. Its score had been lost since the late 19th century, when Dédé composed the work while living in France amid rising tensions in his native United States.
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1 month ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Efran Menny |Tamika Royes |Nathaniel Tinner |Sara Chinakwe
Last summer, I was invited by the director of the Texas Southern University’s Catholic Newman Center to experience a concert of the Psalms with a gospel influence. They sang plenty of songs I had heard at Mass over the years, but their renditions were soul-stirring. Inspired by their uplifting melodies and lustrous voices offering praises to God, I longed for my former days experiencing Black gospel music as a Protestant.
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1 month ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Tamika Royes |Nathaniel Tinner |Efran Menny |Sara Chinakwe
Participating, organizing, or attending Black History Month celebrations in February provided great opportunities to connect with the community. The opportunity to see our culture reflected in all its glory obviously should not only be relegated to one month of the year. However, the reality is that Black history continues to face erasure in various spaces, including schools and even within our Catholic Church.
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1 month ago | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Efran Menny |Sara Chinakwe |Daryl Grigsby
With the 2025 Academy Awards come and gone, one obvious snub from the nominations was for Best Animated Feature. Behold, “Piece by Piece”: a LEGO-animated documentary on music producer extraordinaire Pharrell Williams. The film, which includes voiceovers from the real-life figures depicted therein, follows Williams’ from his inner-city upbringing in Virginia to his ascent to music megastardom in the early 2000s.
