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Oct 20, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences, spoke of a new African era during a homily at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday for the 60th anniversary of the canonization of the Uganda Martyrs. The group of mostly young men was murdered for the faith by their king in the late 19th century. Hundreds of pilgrims from around the world, mostly Africans and some from the United States, gathered for the Mass, celebrated in English, Italian, and Latin.
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
ROME — An international group of Catholic Action advocates gathered at an ancient Roman gravesite over the weekend to renew the “Pact of the Catacombs,” an agreement by some bishops during the Second Vatican Council to “renounce the appearance and substance of wealth” to build solidarity with the poor. Members of the movement of lay-led worker, student, and youth organizations were in the Eternal City for the “Lay Mission and Vocation Conference,” which began on Wednesday.
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Oct 12, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
The Diocese of Jackson has published an update on the canonization cause of Servant of God Thea Bowman, one of seven African Americans currently on the path to sainthood in the Catholic Church. The information was released in the diocese’s newspaper on Sept. 9 in response to a request from Jackson’s Director of Catholic Schools, Karla Luke.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
Lee Daniels’ new release “The Deliverance” is a multi-faceted horror movie based on the true story of a family’s encounter with a demon-infested home in Gary, Indiana. When I heard about the movie, I’d already made up my mind that I wanted to watch it. I am certainly a horror movie fanatic. Yet what really fascinated me was that we were finally getting a faith-based supernatural film from the perspective of the Black community.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
An official investigation supports claims of incorruptibility concerning Mother Mary Wilhelmina Lancaster, the African-American Benedictine nun who made waves in April 2023 after her body was exhumed by her traditionalist order of nuns in rural Missouri. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, which enlisted the help of medical experts, released the results of their inquiry in late August of this year.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
The sainthood cause for Servant of God Martin Maria de Porres Ward has received approval from the Vatican to proceed to its next stages, according to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. Br Douglas McMillan, OFM Conv., shared that an official biography of the late African-American friar is now underway, part of the Roman Phase of the canonization process.
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Aug 5, 2024 | 
outreachmagazine.com | Ralph Moore
Our first church plant was full of conflict. My wife and I had parachuted into an empty church building in a town where we knew no one outside our own household and a few friends from neighboring communities. Most of our early members were “off-the-street” converts, brand new to the church scene. However, several people had a history in other churches. As the tiny congregation grew, we found ourselves attracting disaffected members from other ministries.
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Jun 22, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore |Samantha Smith
June 22 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Martin Maria de Porres Ward, a Boston-born Conventual Franciscan friar not yet well known as the seventh African-American Catholic candidate for sainthood. Since 2018, when the cause of Servant of God Thea Bowman was introduced, U.S. Catholics have gradually come to refer to the “saintly six” on the road to canonization.
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Jun 9, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Nathaniel Tinner |Ralph Moore
A new interactive graphic novel recounts the infamous trial of a young enslaved Black man whose suspected leadership of a 1741 New York City revolt has become an item of lore in colonial American—and Black Catholic—history. “Kofi’s Fire: A Spark of Resistance,” from Black comic book author Dr. Deirdre Hollman, design firm Blue Telescope, and the Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) nonprofit, was launched online in May.
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
blackcatholicmessenger.org | Ralph Moore |Nathaniel Tinner
Sitting in St. Pius V Church in West Baltimore waiting for Mass to begin, my eyes were wide open to the realization that nothing in the church looked anything like me or my people. Every picture of God the Father, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother was White. Every representation of angels and saints was White. It was 1971 and it hit me like a lightning bolt, striking me as quite odd. How could this be?
