BLACK HISTORY MONTH

SPRING 2019
UPDATED FEBRUARY 1, 2020

MORE THAN A MASS

BY ALL ACCOUNTS, THE ANNUAL ARCHDIOCESAN BLACK HISTORY MONTH MASS at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is an extraordinary gathering. The celebrants and other ministers of the Mass are passionate and uplifting; a magnificent choir, combined from various parishes, schools and other ministries, sings stirringly; and in the pews, pastors and parishioners from all corners of the Archdiocese of New York – and beyond – worship together as a single community made up of many local ones. 

Even so, there is more here than meets the eye. “It’s not about a one-day gathering,” says Br. Tyrone Davis, CFC, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Black Ministry, which organizes the annual event. “I tell people that it’s a culmination of 364 days of ministry, and a preparation for 364 more to come.”

This year's Mass, on February 6, will carry a special significance. "A month after our Mass and celebration in 2020, we began losing many of our loved ones and witnessing so much division in society," Br. Davis recalls. "This caused many of us to look to Church and community in new and different ways. The need for prayer, justice, and healing became evident."

In 2021, under pandemic restrictions, attendance at the Mass was far less then usual; aside from invited guests who observed social distancing and masking, the faithful were encouraged to attend virtually. The theme was “We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe.” This year, it is “Glad to Be in His Service.” “In addition to recognizing the fragility of our lives," Br. Davis says, "we are also recognizing and celebrating the call, and hopefully the response, to be of service to neighbors in need."

This theme is not new to the Black History Month Mass. In recent years, a Weekend of Service preceding the Mass has typically given participants an opportunity to take part in an array of projects. In 2019, the weekend began with a Friday-night Midnight Run from Kennedy Center in Harlem, where volunteers filled two vans with sandwiches, warm clothing, and toiletries and brought them to homeless people in Manhattan and the Bronx. The next day, hundreds of participants worked together at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx to assemble tens of thousands of meals for Rise Against Hunger, which delivers meals for families internationally. And these were only two of the service options available.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the approach is a bit different this year. "Our ministry continues to emphasize service, but current circumstances make it challenging to have volunteers serve people directly," Br. Davis says. "Therefore, throughout this month (and beyond), we will be engaged in various non-contact and limited-contact service programs."

Another focus of the Mass in 2022 will be the leadership of young adults in the Black Catholic community. Featured will be a young adult choir and liturgical dance troupe combining the music ministries of various parishes. Bronx native Fr. Kareem Smith – a young Black priest, ordained in 2018, who is parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Shrub Oak and chaplain of the Pierre Toussaint Scholarship program – will deliver the homily.

Br. Davis stresses the diversity of the Black community in the archdiocese, which includes Catholics from the United States, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, and other parts of the world. In February 2018, he recalls, "I went to the local Black History Month Mass at St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem, and for their gospel acclamation they were singing in Akan, the Ghanaian language." Though St. Charles does not have a Ghanaian community, many of the choir members had learned the song by participating in the combined choir for the archdiocesan Black History Month Mass a couple of weeks earlier. Now, Br. Davis says, "All the parishioners were singing in a foreign language – and enjoying it!”

This dovetails perfectly with the overall mission of the Office of Black Ministry to support Black Catholic communities and deepen their faith experience. The annual Mass is a centerpiece of that mission, a celebration of the community as well as a tool to energize ministry.

“The objective is not for people to say, ‘Oh, I went to that Mass, that was nice, now I can go home,’” Br. Davis says. “The objective is, ‘How might I take some of this back to my parish and my community? How might that experience of church and worship inspire and animate my local experience?’” 

To learn more, visit obmny.org.