Black Catholic Messenger

"Many Republicans have resorted to personal attacks and racist dog whistles to undermine Harris’ credibility as a challenger. Whether they are official party members or average American voters, many of these people are Catholics, and their assaults against Harris have rehashed deeply entrenched White stereotypes and caricatures of Black Americans," writes Efran Menny.

Dr. Ronald E. Smith on how to interpret Pope Francis' recent voting guidance for Catholics in the United States.

On Thursday, JD Vance published a swing-state op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette arguing that Harris has a long "record of bigotry" towards Catholics. Yet it was just this week that one of Trump’s own operatives falsely maligned a group of progressive nuns for voter fraud. Vance and Trump have also spent much of the past month vilifying and threatening Ohio’s Haitians, one of the most Catholic demographics in Black America.

Briana Jansky says the new Lee Daniels flick integrates the African-American experience with a positive view of Christianity that's all too rare.

Fr. Norman Fischer Jr., a veteran Lexington, Kentucky, priest and the president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, died in Delaware July 14. He was 50 years old and had been on sabbatical. 

Martha Hennessy, Dorothy Day's granddaughter, will be "a voice crying out in the wilderness" with "a different message, a new commandment" at the National Eucharistic Conference, writes Nate Tinner-Williams.

One of the beauties of the Black Catholic experience here in America is that we can look at the past for a road map on how to impact our future in our increasingly inhospitable church.

The 96-page document covers several centuries and various episcopates in the diocese, which predates the United States.

The longtime administrator departed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in April as the highest-ranking lay African American in the Catholic Church.

Joe Mazzulla and Jason Kidd will lead their respective teams on basketball's biggest stage this month, starting Thursday night in Boston.

30 churches will shutter in the newly finalized plan, released on May 22 and sparking varied reactions from African Americans.

Ralph E. Moore Jr. says this year should be the start of a direct campaign for the sainthood of the first six African Americans up for canonization.

The veteran labor organizer succeeds a fellow Catholic in Mary Kay Henry as head of an international union boasting of nearly two million members.

Matthew Cressler's vision for an accessible throughway to the nation's thorny history of race and religion has resulted in a uniquely modern initiative.

The Jesuit Antiracism Sodality will hold a retreat, "The God of Us All: Praying with Black Spirituality," this summer in Illinois, part of an effort to respond to African American issues within the Society of Jesus.

More than 100 Catholics and allies attended a gathering at "Women & Synodality: Where Do We Go From Here?", held at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University from May 3-4.

The founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Venerable Mary Lange, was raised in Cuba before coming to America. A 2021 film explores the Oblates' work there after Lange's death. 

The nation's highest civilian honor, bestowed by President Joe Biden, went to the 93-year-old activist, former attorney, and businessman on May 3.

Firebrand conservative commentator Candace Owens has announced her conversion to Catholicism, describing it on social media April 22 as a "decision to go home."

Louisiana's extension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse has been ruled unconstitutional in a split decision hinging on the due process clause of the state's constitution.