African American & Black Catholic Resources

Black Catholicism or African-American Catholicism comprises the African-American people, beliefs, and practices in the Catholic Church.

The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus serves as a fraternity for the Black Catholic Clergy and Religious to support the spiritual, theological educational, and ministerial growth of its members. Our membership is composed of Black Catholic ordained Clergy (bishops, priest and deacons), religious brothers and seminarians. We stand on the shoulders of our founding fathers that birthed this organization during the civil rights movement in 1968.

We are a fraternity which nurtures and supports our membership. We provide leadership training and mentoring for our seminarians and deacon candidates and religious brothers in their formation process. We are committed to taking care of the spiritual needs of our African-American brothers and sisters. Our celebration is holistic and this is expressed in the joy and spirit of our liturgies and the character of our ministries. The NBCCC is a vehicle to bring the contributions of the Black Community to fruition within the Catholic Church.

The National Black Sisters’ Conference was founded in 1968 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under the inspiration and direction of then Sister Martin de Porres Grey, RSM (now Patricia Grey, Ph.D.) and with the generous support and hospitality of the Most Reverend John J. Wright, Bishop of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Sisters of Mercy.Sister Martin de Porres was the only woman religious to attend the first National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC) held in Detroit in April, 1968. Inspired and encouraged by the vision of African American Catholic priests, she left the Caucus with a heightened awareness of the pressing demand for black religious to address themselves to the urgent need for the Catholic Church in America to develop greater relevancy for black folk, or to risk losing its credibility as a manifestation of Christian unity. The Holy Spirit moved Sr. Martin de Porres to call all black religious women to share in a task, which would be done only by Black religious women acting together, fully free, and joyously for the coming of the kingdom. At that first, now historic, meeting in the summer of 1968 over 150 Black Catholic women religious from 79 different national and international congregations, gathered on the grounds of Carlow College. Sister Martin de Porres was elected to serve as president. A board of directors was elected and plans for legal incorporation of the National Black Sisters’ Conference were made. Today, NBSC is a national organization of more than 150 Black Catholic women religious and associates in the United States striving to promote a positive self-image.

We foster freedom and growth of Black Catholics as members of the Catholic Church and society. Our baptismal commitment impels us to evangelize and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our mission is renewed and developed every five years at our national congress.

Welcome to Xavier University of Louisiana
Where excellence awaits you. Whether pursuing current interests or exploring new ones, students make friends and establish their on-campus community by getting involved. Xavier University of Louisiana, founded by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, is Catholic and historically Black. The ultimate purpose of the University is to contribute to the promotion of a more just and humane society by preparing its students to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. This preparation takes place in a diverse learning and teaching environment that incorporates all relevant educational means, including research and community service.

BCTS, Inc. strives to foster an ethical community of scholarly dialogue within the Black Catholic experience by a commitment to the fundamental humanity of all persons as seen in the plurality of cultural, ethnic, and religious experiences that seeks the development of a theology that reflects our interdisciplinary reality.

November is National Black Catholic History Month and the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center honors this legacy by preserving long-term holdings and continually acquiring relevant resources in order to provide our research community with valuable primary source materials for consultation purposes year round.

The materials cover everything from Catholicism in Africa from the early centuries of the Church to present-day African-American candidates for sainthood in the United States. Materials from Black Catholic History assist teachers in helping students recognize the important role and contributions that people of color have always played in the history of our Church, which have not always been included as fully as they should be. For example, there are numerous Catholic saints of African descent – Saint Augustine, Saint Benedict the Moor, Saint Martin de Porres, among others, but Catholic school curriculum does not always identify these saints as Black Catholics.

Pierre Toussaint was a formerly enslaved Haitian-American hairdresser and philanthropist, brought to New York City by his enslavers in 1787. He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

The story of Augustus Tolton reminds the public of the social deficits of a former time. Much has improved since that time but much still remains to be done to build on a society that can be an emblem of interracial peace.

The U.S. bishops endorsed the sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman on Nov. 14, 2018, during their fall assembly in Baltimore. The granddaughter of slaves, she was the only African American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and she transcended racism to leave a lasting mark on U.S. Catholic life in the late 20th century.