Friday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
Black History Month Mass
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
February 9, 2024
Welcome to the Cathedral
Good morning! It is a joy to welcome all of you here to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. The Cathedral is a special Church for everyone in our Archdiocese, the Cathedral is where you find the Bishops chair, “the cathedra”, the place from which I lead the liturgy and teach the faith. The Cathedral is spiritual home for every member of the Archdiocese, and a place where we can all come together for special celebrations.
I am so happy to see students from the School of the Cathedral and students from nearly a dozen other Catholic schools present here this morning to celebrate Black History Month. This month is a special time to celebrate and acknowledge the many contributions that African Americans have made in our country and the wonderful things that they have done even in the face of racism and prejudice.
African American Heroes in American History
When we look back in history, what we often think about are great figures. Many people who lived a long time ago we will never know, but there are some people who we do know about. Usually these people accomplished something great or broke down some barrier and did something special. These people are often seen as heroes, people that we want to imitate.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we think of great heroes in the black community, People like Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois.
African American Heroes in American Church History
But as Catholic we have another group of heroes, people we want to follow, people that we admire: we call these people saints. Saints are people who lived lives of heroic virtue, People who lived entirely for Christ and for others. The saints are the true heroes of history.
As we celebrate Black History Month here in the United States, we are proud to remember six black Catholics who are on their way to sainthood, six people who lived lives of heroic virtue, six black Catholics who are true heroes of history.
Their names are Pierre Toussaint, Henriette Delille, Augustus Tolton, Julia Greely, Thea Bowman and our very own (Venerable) Mother Mary Lange – and their images are before us, in front of the altar.
They lived in different times and had different callings: Three of them were called to be religious sisters, two were lay people, and one was a priest. All of them sought to follow Jesus and serve the Church and did just that in the face of discrimination and racism. Each of them gave everything they had to serve Christ and his people. Each of them is a hero, a role model for us.
How To Celebrate Black History Month
I hope you have already heard about these heroes. Maybe you know some of them better than others. Maybe this is the first time you are meeting them. So my challenge to you this Black History Month is this: Learn about these Saintly Six. Learn about their lives. Learn about the obstacles they faced. Learn how they responded to what God called them to do even in the face of those obstacles. Learn about what is they can teach you about how to love Jesus and to love your neighbor.
History has times that are good and times that are bad. People who helped make the world a better, more just, and more loving place, and people who misused their power to keep others down. The true heroes of history are those who follow Jesus, those who use their gifts to help lift others up and to break down walls, those who live lives of great virtue. The true heroes of history are the saints. We know that God has raised up saints from the Black Catholic community. So this month let’s get to know these women and men, Perhaps the best way we can celebrate black history month is by coming to know these heroic black women and men and following their example.