African American Sacred Music in Catholic Worship
By Kevin P. Johnson D.M.A.
(Article: Page 3 of 8)
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Universal Appeal

The power of God at work through music in African American Catholic worship has consistently proven its universal appeal. Worshippers of all races are attracted to the powerful sincerity and witness of this music when executed appropriately. As McGregor notes, “Martin Luther King Jr."s observation that Sunday mornings were the most segregated time in America did not apply to St. Augustine"s, whose congregation at Sunday masses and vespers was fully integrated during the long reign of Jim Crow in Washington.”⁸

African American music and worship breaks down the walls of race, gender and class and promotes the unity of minds. These black churches that were once neighborhood churches remain in communities were demographic shifts have occurred. Now the Sunday morning worshippers may drive 50 miles to come be a part of this Black Catholic worshipping community.

Fr. John Adamski, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Atlanta, Georgia, commented: African American music seems to have a quality of engaging people in ways different from much of Catholic church music today. Perhaps it"s the rhythmic difference that contributes to making the music feel accessible. Whatever the musical uniqueness, people seem to respond with more than a simply vocal or intellectual reaction. Somehow, the heart and, indeed, the whole self, our soul, seems touched or moved. Thus, many Lourdes' members appear to be engaged and responsive in a manner that is different than in most American, Euro-centric parishes.

The appeal of music in the African American idiom is not limited to African Americans, but is also attractive for white people. This may include some sense of participating in something that feels new and different, something out of the ordinary experience of the average white Catholic, but it also appears to touch common human experience. For African Americans, there seems to be a sense that some part of their cultural tradition is being incorporated into Catholic worship, so the whole worship experience isn"t simply a “white” experience. Since part of Catholic identity is a celebration of diversity, this musical style functions as an easy way for people who are from different backgrounds to feel connected to each other and, thus, a positive element in building a church community today.⁹

The History of African American Sacred Music in Catholic Worship

The late 1970"s and 1980"s marked a period of discovery for black Catholic musicians. Catholic musicians in the twentieth century were able to create, within the context of this new black Catholic genre, a type of universal music that was both black and Catholic. National workshops and conferences offered musicians an opportunity to learn and share their excitement and work in Catholic worship taught by the best and the brightest musicians the church had to offer. Black composers such as Clarence Rivers, Leon Roberts, Grayson Brown, Robert Ray, Rawn Harbor, Kenneth Louis, and others contributed to the Black Catholic choral repertoire primarily through self-publication, mainstream Catholic publishers such as GIA and OCP and, of course, the Lead Me Guide Me Hymnal. ¹³Black composers have over the years contributed a wealth of service music that has helped define African American Sacred Music written specifically for Catholic worship.

During this period, many responsorial psalms were composed, such as Leon Roberts" soulful Let Us Go Rejoicing and Rawn Harbor"s forward-looking All the Ends of the Earth. These compositions are both uniquely African American and Catholic. Service music abounded as early as Clarence River"s Mass “Dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man,” and later Leon Robert"s “Mass of St. Augustine,” Grayson Brown"s “Cast Your Bread Upon the Water” and others. Avon Gillespie, Rawn Harbor, Roger Holliman, Roderick Bell, Kenneth Louis, Kevin Johnson, Ray East, Timothy Gibson and many others contributed African American Sacred Music for Catholic Worship to the repertoire. This period also inspired Black composers to write African American Sacred music for the concert stage such as Robert Ray"s Gospel Mass and others.

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