NEW ORLEANS — “This is not a summer school, but a school that meets in the summer.”
The quote from Dominican sister Jamie T. Phelps rang through St. Katharine Drexel Chapel at Xavier University of Louisiana on Friday evening—recounted by retired Boston College professor Dr. M. Shawn Copeland during the 2025 graduation ceremony of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies, which held its 46th annual session this year.
The newest Master of Theology recipients were celebrated to mark the end of the three-week IBCS session, which began in late June and included instructors and students from around the country for degree and continuing education courses. This year’s closing Mass doubled as a commencement ceremony for the two graduates of the degree program, Jesuit priest Jack McLinden and Mercy Sister Colleen O'Toole.
“Everything has changed for me,” said O’Toole during her remarks, speaking of the impact of the IBCS faculty and students on her spirituality, having come from an Irish Catholic background in New York.
“Here, I learned how to truly know God. I know a God that is holistic, who asks me to bring my whole self instead of splitting myself into the sacred and the secular.”
As in previous years, the event was accentuated with African drumming and dance, and with gospel music from the choir of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in New Orleans. Their director, Veronica Downs-Dorsey, was present throughout the month with composer Rawn Harbor to help lead students and staff in daily Masses and morning praise.
In their official capacities on behalf of the nation’s Catholic HBCU, XULA president Dr. Reynold Verret and provost Dr. Marguerite Giguette officiated during the commencement proceedings and IBCS director Dr. Kathleen Dorsey-Bellow also gave remarks.
For the second year in a row, the graduates of the IBCS degree program were non-Black. The commencement Mass celebrant, associate director of community life Fr Roy A. Lee of Atlanta, spoke in his homily of the welcome phenomenon of students matriculating to the Institute from diverse backgrounds.
O’Toole, a preschool teacher with Head Start in Buffalo, New York, and McLinden, an incoming teacher at Christ the King Jesuit College Prep in Chicago, were described by Lee as fearless faithful responding to a call from God to immerse themselves in the Black Catholic community.
“In their intellectual journey, Colleen and Jack discovered they could not be whole without us,” said Lee.
“Within these walls, we have experienced intellectual learning, spiritual nourishment, and communal fellowship. But now we must go beyond these walls to bring learning and nourishment and community to those who have not had these kinds of opportunities.”
The Mass was a homecoming of sorts, with several IBCS alumni and former instructors present for the Mass. Among them was the commencement speaker, Dr. Copeland, who taught at the Institute for 12 years. Her address noted the intersection between theological learning and the call to bring change in the world.
“The Institute teaches us solidarity,” said Copeland, “and solidarity requires that we love God and our neighbors more than ourselves, and prepares us to answer in concrete, practical action the question, “Who is the neighbor?'"
Her address capped off the IBCS closing during XULA’s own centennial year, having been founded by St. Katharine Drexel in 1925 to educate and form African Americans in Catholic higher education. More than a half-century later, the school became the home to the IBCS, which was founded by members of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium to provide pastoral and theological formation for those serving in the Black Catholic community.
New this year is a weeklong symposium following the IBCS session, honoring the liturgical contributions of several leaders who have served the Institute since its early years. The “Hallelujah Workshop” will feature Downs-Dorsey, sacred dance instructor Judy Legier, and “Baba” Luther Gray, who has led the IBCS African drumming program.
As the workshop kicks off on Monday, July 21, leaders say they will already be hard at work preparing for next year’s IBCS session, which will run from July 21-26, 2026.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
