Blacks Account For..........
Less than 1% of all Catholic Priests (300 Black
priests out of 46,341 total priests) and less than
one half of 1% of all Catholic sisters (300 Black
sisters out of 82,593 total sisters) [CARA 1999]
4% of diaconate candidates; of the 11,868
permanent deacons in the United States in 1996,
approximately 3.2% or 380, are Black. [The
Secretariat for the Diaconate 1999]
1.2% of lay parish ministers, and 3% of students
in lay ministry formation [Murnion and DeLambo 1999]
Without actual statistics, there is the
unofficial count of about six hundred or more
African priests. There is approximately the same
number, if not larger, of African sisters. Many
African priests are political refugees; others are
students who also do parochial work; some are
missionaries particularly in black parishes, like
the Missionaries of St. Paul from Nigeria. Many
bishops are recruiting African seminarians to work
in the States - as was the case of Irish recruits of
yesteryear.
The Josephites, the Spiritans, and the Divine
Word Missionaries are bringing over African members
of their respective congregations to work in the
States. The African sisters have come also to work
in schools and other ministries in black
neighborhoods as well as to do studies. [Rev.
Cyprian Davis, OSB]
Of the 134 dioceses that responded to the Offices
of Black Ministry survey, 44 or 32.8% claim to have
a separate diocesan department that oversees Black
ministry. Among the 81 dioceses that report not
having a separate Office of Black Ministry, only
27.2% report not having ANY diocesan office that
oversees Black ministry. The remaining 72.8% report
that Black ministry in the diocese is handled either
by a "Multi-Cultural Affairs" or "Ethnic Affairs"
office (13.6%), by the Pastoral Center of the
diocese (12.3%), or by some other diocesan office or
one of the local parishes (45%).
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