Black Catholics: Young, gifted and self-determined

By Michael D.Wamble
Staff Writer

An estimated 1,500 students from Chicago archdiocesan schools, listened attentively as social activist and former Holy Angels pastor, Father George Clements, detailed a brief, but vivid history lesson.

“Thirty years ago, I remember learning of the murder of [former Black Panther leader] Fred Hampton in his bed in Chicago. Ninety-four bullets [were fired at] him because he was young, gifted and black,” said Clements.

The next day, at a Mass before 1,300 school children, Clements said he struggled to explain what Hampton’s death meant.

“I couldn’t talk. The words got caught in my throat,” he said.
It was then that a fifth-grader rose from the pew and said, “I am Fred Hampton.”

Then a seventh-, then eighth-grader echoed the little girl’s declaration, said Clements.

“Before you leave today, I want you to be able to say proudly, ‘I am Mother Lange’ or ‘I am Father Tolton,’” said the priest.

Lange, the founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, an order of black Catholic religious, and Tolton, the first recognized African-American Catholic priest in the United States, were but two of six black Catholics whose lives were celebrated as examples of Kujichagulia or self-determination, the second of the seven tenets of Kwanzaa, Feb. 1 at the 22nd annual African-American Heritage Month Mass at Holy Name Cathedral.

Students from elementary and secondary schools from across the archdiocese lifted high cloth banners of red, black and green honoring the contributions of these and other black Catholics from popes [St. Gelasius and St. Victor] to the dearly deceased within the archdiocese.

Seventh-grader Anthony Mormon carried a banner bearing a picture of Father Paul Smith, the only priest recently assigned to Holy Angels who was absent from the altar.

Fathers Kenneth Brigham, John Calicott and Dennis Riley all previously [or currently, in Calicott’s case] have served as pastor or associate pastor at the South Side parish.

Smith, Holy Angels school principal was murdered in 1996.

“We thought we’d add another name to the list of black Catholics of distinction that we remember,” said Sister Marita Zeller, a School

Sister of St. Francis and director of RCIA at Holy Angels.

The late Sister Thea Bowman’s smile glowed from St. Ethelreda school’s banner that followed Smith’s in procession down the cathedral’s center aisle.

Denise Spells, St. Ethelreda principal and archdiocesan chair of African-American Heritage Month, said her students chose Bowman out of list of black Catholics after watching a video and looking up texts on her life.

Two years ago, Spells said, a student died from leukemia.

“Her [Bowman’s] drive to continue to speak and visit dioceses despite her cancer touched many of our students who’ve been forced to deal with cancer in their families,” said Spells.

An important aspect of the Mass is its archdiocesan scope.

Young people from the city and suburbs reenacted the lives and work of Lange, Tolton, Bowman, civil rights’ Freedom Rider Daniel Rudd and Pierre Toussaint.

“Black Catholic young people are here learning about their heritage and church history. They shouldn’t be alone at this event. There is a need to have white and Latino students in Catholic schools engaged in historical exploration.

“But the cathedral might be too small for such an event,” Clements told The Catholic New World. “We’d probably have to move to a larger venue—like the United Center.”

Kimeon Cruikshank, who attended the Mass with fellow students from Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, said she sometimes feels “out of place” in terms of the numbers of Catholics of other backgrounds at her south suburban parish.

While Cruikshank said that the presence of so many black Catholics gave her “a sense of strength and unity,” the junior also agreed with Clements’ statement that more could be done to expose other Catholics to this history.

Clements urged black Catholics to support their black priests and bishops, such as Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry.

“Slowly—too slowly—walls of racism, intolerance and disrespect have begun to be taken apart, brick by brick. These [black] priests [on the altar] and our shining prince, Bishop Perry, have had to fight the battle of Jericho to remain here for you in the archdiocese,” he said.

“You must have self-determination—Kujichagulia—to achieve great things in your lives.”

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