Black Catholic - The National Black Catholic Congress

News coverage of the appointment by various media outlets:

REUTERS VIDEO CRUXNOW.COM article
NCRONLINE article CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY article

SISTER THEA BOWMAN BLACK CATHOLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Sister Thea Bowman Foundation seeks an Executive Director who is an experienced fundraiser-administrator to direct its Chicago office. Must be a person of vision with non-profit experience and a knowledge of Catholic higher education, the Catholic intellectual tradition and the African American intellectual tradition. Individual must be faith-filled and one who exhibits an ability to work with, advise and mentor African American college students. If interested, please find a complete job description at theabowmanfoundation.org. All resumes should be sent to theabowmanfoundation@gmail.com. Review of applications is ongoing.

Click the button below to download a detailed description of the position:

Now Available:

Pastoral Plans of Action from Past Congresses

These instruments, issued shortly after each Congress, provide action steps for addressing the topics of concern presented during the Congress events. To download copies of the different Pastoral Plans, click button below.

Use of NBCC Copyrighted Material
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Nation’s first black priest from Quincy moving closer

to sainthood

By Tamara Browning
Staff Writer

"Tolton, who escaped slavery in Missouri during the Civil War and later lived and ministered in Quincy, is moving closer to being canonized."

The Rev. Augustus Tolton escaped from slavery as a child and went on to become the nation’s first black Catholic priest.

His life shows students how they can also live a life of purpose, actor Jim Coleman told students of local Catholic schools during a recent presentation about Tolton’s life. Read more...

Help support NBCC programs

Date: February 5, 2019

Position: Title IX Investigator
Position Reports to: Director of Campus Safety and Compliance
Schedule: Full-time, Mon.-Fri., 8:30am-4:30pm (Occasional weekends
& evenings)

Please apply online: Franciscan University Staff Positions

POSITION SUMMARY

The Investigator assists in resolving complaints related to the University’s Policy on Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct. The Investigator will conduct prompt, thorough, and impartial investigations of complaints and grievances filed by students, staff, and faculty and issue a detailed report regarding the findings of such investigations.

The devastation of Cyclone Idai has inspired homegrown aid efforts with help from the diaspora

By Lynsey Chutel

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Idai battered southeast Africa, leaving more than 750 dead, rescue operations are still overwhelmed with the scale of the unfolding disaster. They’re appealing to the world for help.

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe now has more than 220 campaigns to help victims of Cyclone Idai. Many of them are organized by Mozambicans and Zimbabweans living abroad. Read more..,

The month of April (Overview - Calendar) is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified." (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

The Holy Spirit is the Person of Love in the life of God. He is also like a breath, an aspiration of infinite Love, from which we draw the breath of life. Read more...

Racism and Racial Justice Resources for Catholics

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
1-800-537-2238
www.nrcdv.org and www.vawnet.org

Futures Without Violence: The National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence
1-888-792-2873
www.futureswithoutviolence.org

National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health
1-312-726-7020 ext. 2011
www.nationalcenterdvtraumamh.org

Pope names first African-American to highest U.S. post

by Philip Pullella | Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis named the first African-American to the Catholic Church’s most senior U.S. position on Thursday, seeking to end a period of upheaval in a job whose previous two occupants were caught in sexual abuse scandals.

Calendar of Events

The National
Black Catholic Congress

MOUNT ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Positions Available:
Dean of Students - The dean of students coordinates the administration of the Dean of Students Office, serves as an advocate for students, and shares

shares information with students, colleagues, and other interested parties that

Black Catholic News

$29.95 SKU: R681DF

Resources for Divine Mercy Sunday

Pope Francis' Prayer Intention for April: Doctors and their Collaborators in War Zones
For doctors and their humanitarian collaborators in war zones, who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

Journey through Lent with
Daily Messages of Hope

Join us for 40 days honoring the wonder of God's infinite love! Each day of Lent, we will provide ways to nourish your spirit with Scripture readings, prayers, and meditations on this holy season from Fr. Richard Rohr's book Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent. This series also includes video, audio, and content in Spanish, offering more ways for you to observe Lent than ever before.

Would you like to receive daily Lenten reflections in your inbox? Click the button below—and don't forget to forward this e-mail to others you know who might want to participate!

The National Black Catholic Congress | 320 Cathedral St. Baltimore, MD 21201 | 410-547-8496
© 2019 The National Black Catholic Congress, All Rights Reserved

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CATHOLIC STUDIES

We welcome you to submit your upcoming events!

We would love to include your parish activities, upcoming organizational conferences, or arch/diocesan events. Please email your information to: nbcc@nbccongress.org and feel free to attach a pdf of your flier, advertisement, or logo for us to include.

Sr. Thea Bowman: on the path to Sainthood

A self-proclaimed, “old folks child,” Thea Bowman, named at birth, Bertha Elizabeth Bowman, the daughter of middle-aged parents, Dr. Theon Bowman, a physician and Mary Esther Bowman, a teacher. She was born in 1937 and reared in Canton, Mississippi. As a child she converted to Catholicism by the influence of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity who were her teachers and nurtured her faith. Growing up, Thea listened and learned from the wit and wisdom of the elders. Ever precocious, she would ask questions and seek new insights on how her elders lived, thrived and survived. She learned from family members and those in the community coping mechanisms and survival skills. She was exposed to the richness of the African-American culture: the history, the stories, the music, the songs, the rituals, the prayers, the symbols, the foods, the customs and traditions. Moreover, she was cognizant that God was indeed the God of the poor and oppressed. Her community instructed her, “If you get, give—if you learn, teach.” She developed a deep and abiding love and faith in a God who would make “a way out of no way!” Read more...

A panel of nationally recognized leaders will discuss how to create and foster constructive conversations about race and prejudice in Catholic schools, churches, homes and communities. In a time of heated secular politics, tragic current events and a backdrop of historical prejudice, the panel will share practical insights drawing from the best of the Catholic Social Thought tradition. This conversation aims to build capacity among Catholic school and pastoral leaders to lead conversations about racism and other biases. Participants are invited to ask questions. We look forward to a very active conversation.

USCCBClips Podcast: Episode 20 - Open Wide Our Hearts- The Pastoral Letter Against Racism, With Danielle Brown, listen by clicking here.

Ascension is hiring!

We are a company built around the call to help people enrich their lives through the fullness of the Catholic Faith. We’re passionate, mission-driven professionals and we’re looking for talented people to join our team.

Our four current openings:
General Manager / Marketing Manager / Product Manager / Accounts Payable Clerk

promote student success, retention, and graduation. For more information about the position or to apply, please click here.

Assistant Dean of Students/Director of the Center for Student Diversity-

Mount St. Mary’s University is eager to serve an increasingly diverse student body and to better articulate the value of diversity as rooted in our mission as a Catholic, liberal arts university. To that end, the University is searching for an enthusiastic and dynamic individual to serve as Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Center for Student Diversity. For more information about the position or to apply, please click here.

Gilmour is seeking a collaborative and innovative Religion teacher
for the 2019-2020 school year. Respectful, inclusive faith development is integral
to how Gilmour teaches the whole child. We seek an experienced educator, with
Upper school classroom experience, who embodies Gilmour’s mission and vision. Responsibilities include teaching students in grades 9-12 and collaborating with members of the department to plan and facilitate grade level retreats. The successful candidate connects with students, families, and colleagues across disciplines and divisions, is committed to implementing the diocesan curriculum as guided by our Holy Cross identity, demonstrates the capacity to grow professionally, and will be equipped to stretch all students on their individual faith journeys. Candidates should be eager to support co-curricular initiatives, facilitate learning beyond the classroom, and participate enthusiastically in the life of the school.

As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.

-- St. Peter Damian

His Mercy and 'Tough Love'

By Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is one of the Church's greatest theologians. The following is the second of a two-part series on the saint who explained in the greatest depth why Divine Mercy is central to the faith of the Church. Read part one. This series is extracted from the book by Robert Stackpole, STD, Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI (Marian Press):

Saint Thomas argues that in God's nature, Divine Mercy and Divine Justice coincide: They are one in the simplicity of God's essence. God is always and everywhere just and merciful, at one and the same time. When God acts mercifully, He does not act against justice but, in a sense, goes beyond it. In other words, God's justice always furthers His work of mercy, and never detracts from it. Aquinas writes: "The work of divine justice always presupposes the work of mercy and is based on it" (I.21.4). For example, if God chastised the people of Israel by letting them be taken captive to Babylon, it was only so that they might be brought to repentance and national conversion. In a sense, His justice permitted them to suffer because they deserved it, but His underlying plan was not merely to "get even" with His wayward people, but ultimately to restore them to a right relationship with Himself. In this case, His mercy took the form of "tough love."

In his essay "Disputed Questions on Truth," St. Thomas explains that God is more properly merciful than punitive. To articulate this truth, St. Thomas draws upon a distinction made by St. John Damascene: a distinction between God's "antecedent" and "consequent" will. Antecedently, that is, from all eternity, God's will "before the foundation of the world" is to make us all His adopted children and sharers of His divine life. His antecedent will is that "all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4).

God's consequent will, however, is what He wills as a response to the choices made by His human creatures. He gave human beings the freedom to reject His love and spurn His mercy. If we choose to do so, then God's consequent will is to forgive the penitent and punish the hard-hearted: temporal punishment in this life, and for the stubbornly impenitent, eternal punishment in the life to come. Hence, God's antecedent will is grace and mercy for all, while His consequent will is punishment for the wicked. However, even divine punishment, St. Thomas claims, is a work of mercy as well as of justice, because God rewards the righteous and penitent far beyond their merits, and punishes the impenitent far less than they deserve. Read more...

Lenten Issue

USCCB Pastoral Letter on Racism was approved on November 14, 2018. The full text of the letter can be downloaded by clicking on the image to the right. For resources for parishes and schools published by the USCCB to accompany the Pastoral Letter, click here.

Name: *

When I was in college, there was a group of students who didn’t always practice their faith, but when Ash Wednesday rolled around, all decided to band together in giving up a few particular sins common among college students.

At first this seemed like a noble pursuit in holiness and accountability. However, once Easter rolled around, there were “celebrations,” which were merely opportunities to commit these same sins all over again. Read more...

Every April, child and youth serving organizations, including Catholic dioceses, parishes, and schools, participate in National Child Abuse Prevention Month to highlight the importance of protecting minors from abuse. These efforts are part of the ongoing work of the Church in the United States to carry out the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

We encourage you to partici-

pate throughout the month.

Contact your diocesan Safe

Environment Coordinator to

learn more about opportunities

to participate in your diocese.

Click here for resources.

Using Ash Wednesday as a kick-start
to holiness
By Father Geoffrey Brooke Jr. | Catholic News Service

Need more Lenten Reflections?

Join Dynamic Catholic for the

BEST LENT EVER

and take an incredible forty-day journey
toward the-best-version-of-yourself.

Click here to register for free.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

from Catholic Online

Oh Holy Spirit, You are the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. You are the Spirit of truth, love and holiness, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and equal to Them in all things. I adore You and love You with all my heart. Teach me to know and to seek God, by whom and for whom I was created. Fill my heart with a holy fear and a great love for Him. Give me compunction and patience, and do not let me fall into sin.

Increase faith, hope and charity in me and bring forth in me all the virtues proper to my state of life. Help me to grow in the four cardinal virtues, Your seven gifts and Your twelve fruits.

Make me a faithful follower of Jesus, an obedient child of the Church and a help to my neighbor. Give me the grace to keep the commandments and to receive the sacraments worthily. Raise me to holiness in the state of life to which You have called me, and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Grant me also, O Holy Spirit, Giver of all good gifts, the special favor for which I ask {name special petition}, if it be for Your honor and glory and for my well being. Amen.

CHA Position Available:

The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) is s seeking an innovative, bold and mission-driven executive to serve as its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). CHA represents many of the people and organizations that carry out the Church’s health ministry in the United States. The President and CEO will be responsible for leading the organization and its efforts to promote the future of the Catholic health ministry in the United States. For more information about the position or the procedure to apply, please click here.

Address *

https://www.ourrichhistory.com

Click image above to access Devotional Guide.

In Times Like These... A Pan-African Christian Devotional for Public Policy Engagement. . . is a weekly devotional guide that invites deepened relationship with and among Pan-African people and elected leaders in the mission to end hunger and poverty.

Prayers for April

Month of the Holy Spirit

by Catholic Culture

Download Pastoral Plans

2019

Summer Schedule

August 2019

August 4th through August 9th

The Devil's Role in the Spiritual Life

This years' Summer Conference will be centered around Fr. Cliff Ermatingers' book "The Devil's Role in the Spiritual Life: St. John of the Cross' Teaching on Satan's Involvement at Every Stage of Spiritual Growth."

LEARN:
- If the devil can read your mind or knows the future.
-How to distinguish between divinely inspired visions and

those inspired by the devil.
-Common pitfalls for beginners in the spiritual life - as well

as those of the most advanced.
-How the devil adapts his strategy according to where you are

in the spiritual life: purgative, illuminative, and unitive stages.
-How to grow in prayer.
-What are the most effective weapons in combatting the

devil - as well as those the devil uses against you to halt

your progress.

To be held at the University of St. Mary of the Lake

Conference Center, Mundelein, IL

For more information, click here.

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Wearable Black Catholic Art!

Let the Church Say Amen
Jesus Christ is asking each of us to invite more people to a true encounter and lifelong relationship with Him as His disciples. It is an element of our own baptismal rite to do so. Our evangelization efforts will require us to identify new, outward-reaching ways to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world given significant societal shifts over the past decades.
Read more...

Understanding Our Faith

Date: March 4, 2019
Position: Customer Service Representative
Position Reports to: Director of the Bookstore
Schedule: Full-time; Mon.-Fri. 8:30am-4:30pm; Occasional evenings
& weekends
Please apply online: Franciscan University Staff Positions

POSITION SUMMARY
The Customer Service Representative in the Bookstore is responsible for accurate and efficient fulfillment of website and phone orders, for organizing shipping areas to maximize usage of space and for providing fast, friendly customer service at the textbook window, on the sales floor, and at the cash register.

34001 Cedar Road / Gates Mills, Ohio 44040

(440) 473-8003

Download Position Listing by clicking here.

Congratulations to Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Newly Appointed to Washington, DC

More Upcoming Events

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POSITIONS AVAILABLE

National Center for Victims of Crime
1-202-467-8700
www.victimsofcrime.org

National Human Trafficking Resource Center/Polaris Project
Call: 1-888-373-7888 | Text: HELP to BeFree (233733)
www.polarisproject.org

Gift Shop

What Does 'Divine Mercy' Actually Mean?
By Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD

The following is an excerpt from the book Divine Mercy:
A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI, by Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD, and published by Marian Press.

Before we can walk through the story of God's merciful love for the human race, we need to have some knowledge of what "Divine Mercy" actually means. The phrase presents us with a semantic problem right from the start. After all, the word "mercy" in contemporary English has a very restricted meaning. It is usually used to refer to an act of pardon, as in "Let me off, judge; have mercy!" or "He threw himself on the mercy of the court." In the Catholic tradition of theology, however, mercy means more than just the cancellation of punishment, far more than that.

Divine Mercy is God's love reaching down to meet the needs and overcome the miseries of His creatures. The Bible, the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Pope John Paul II all assure us that this is so.

The Old Testament provides us with many images of human misery and of God in His mercy seeking to relieve it. One of most poignant images of such misery is that of a woman suffering the aching loneliness of having no husband and no children — of being completely bereft in the world. This is the spiritual plight of all of us without God. It was used by the Old Testament prophets to signify Israel being reduced to utter misery because of her sins and unfaithfulness to the Lord. But this is not the end of the story. The Lord Yahweh Himself has compassion on the woman by marrying her and making her fruitful. He reaches down to the woman in her misery and raises her up. Where there was only despair, loneliness, and heartache come joy, fruitfulness, and abiding love.

An inspiring example of such steadfast divine love relieving human misery is found in the Old Testament prophet known as Second Isaiah. Read more...

Employment Opportunities

The National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)
www.ndvh.org

National Dating Abuse Helpline
1-866-331-9474
www.loveisrespect.org

Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center
International Toll-Free (24/7)
1-866-USWOMEN (879-6636)
www.866uswomen.org

National Child Abuse Hotline/Childhelp
1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)
www.childhelp.org

National Sexual Assault Hotline
1-800-656-4673 (HOPE)
www.rainn.org

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255 (TALK)
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

We hold ourselves accountable
to our baptismal commitment to
witness and proclaim the Good News
of Jesus Christ.

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Black Catholic News

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