Charleston, South Carolina— When leaders of four black Catholic clergy groups chose Charleston as the location for their 2015 joint conference more than a year ago, they did not expect to gather in a city rocked by a shooting that shocked the nation.
On June 17, a man walked into the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and participated in a Bible study for about an hour before he began firing a handgun, killing nine people and injuring another. Dylann Roof, 21, was arrested and charged with federal hate crimes. He reportedly confessed, saying he had hoped to incite a race war.
A little over a month later, July 27 to 29, the National Conference of Black Sisters, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons, the National Association of Black Catholic Seminarians and the National Caucus of Black Catholic Clergy held their annual joint conference. Each group has its annual conference at the same time and place as the others so they can come together for common fellowship and inspiration.
The conference came with an inspiration that no one expected. One morning, the attendees went to Mother Emmanuel, as the church is known, and toured the building – the first visit since the shooting.
“It was such a powerful feeling to be there,” said Franciscan Sister Jannette Pruitt. “We prayed for people, their families, ourselves and our churches, and then we sang. For me, the most powerful part was singing ‘Blessed Assurance’.”
Others agreed that holding the conference in Charleston was no accident.
“It is an important sign of the times that our organization is here to witness and pray with them,” said Sr. Patricia J. Chappell, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. “I think that has had an impact on our gathering here: it reminds us that we still have to continue what we have been doing. It is very powerful that we are here at this time.”
Deacon Joseph Connor of Seattle, president of the Deacons Group, was not only impressed by the location, but also by the news that family members of the victims had forgiven the shooter.
“The fact that we’re here and able to pray and support this community after this horror — that’s just God,” Connor said. “What touched us all was [that] these Christians forgave this young man. There is nothing more powerful than forgiveness, because that is what God calls us to do.”
Sr. Barbara Spears of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary said it was clear during the tour that they were in a “most holy and sacred place”.
“I found myself holding back tears as we headed out that door,” Spears said. “As black Catholic men and women, we realized their pain and our response was to stand in solidarity with them.”
She said she was again shocked when she saw a black cloth draped over the chair of the pastor, who was killed in the shooting.
Sr. Roberta Fulton said one of the reasons the shootings resonated so deeply for black people is the importance of the church in daily life.
“In the African-American community, the church is where we go for just about anything we need,” said Fulton, a sister at Sainte-Marie de Namur.
That makes gatherings like the joint conference especially important, several attendees said, because most serve in predominantly white wards or congregations and lack that piece of community they may have grown up with. Others say they need the gatherings anyway.
“I come from a predominantly African-American community, but this conference is a source of strength for me that I need to carry on,” Fulton said. “I’ve been going there for over 30 years.
Spears said being black is a gift, but she also needs to recharge sometimes.
“I am the only African American in my congregation, and my church is predominantly white. In this situation, my response is to bring my gift of blackness and black spirituality and witness to that in these times,” Spears said. . “But there are times when I need refueling. There are times when I choose to go to a multicultural church that is more like the real world. I look for places where I can be who I am So this conference is like a family reunion – I can be nurtured, but also challenged.”
Several participants mentioned the need to educate the larger church about black Catholics and the fact that they are not a new and rare phenomenon, but date back to the beginnings of the Christian church. Many struggle with the perception that they must bend their spirituality to conform to a white culture.
“We need to dispel the myths – Catholicism is not a European institution,” the Franciscan father said. Robert Seay of Lafayette, La. “Young women and men still struggle because the culture doesn’t change, we have to move to the majority culture.”
But none of the participants say the struggles are too tough and no one is ready to give up.
“No one is going to kick me out of my church,” Holy Cross Br. says Ray Smith. “It’s who I am. I was raised in a Catholic cradle. It’s mine. It’s not like I’m a visitor.”
[Dan Stockman is national correspondent for Global Sisters Report. Follow him on Twitter @DanStockman or on Facebook.]
