Where to find a Catholic Juneteenth event (2025 edition)
Our annual listing of Catholic (and Catholic-adjacent) Juneteenth events around the country.
History
Podcast: Cardinal Wilton Gregory on 40 years of episcopal ministry and Black Catholic history
Eric T. Styles interviews the retired African-American prelate on liturgy, the reforms of Pope Francis, and the nascent Pope Leo XIV.
Sr Thea Bowman Montessori School opening in Memphis this summer
The new project, named for a famed Black nun and saint-to-be, comes after years of Catholic school closures in the nation's largest Black city.
A Louisiana Black Catholic considers Pope Leo XIV
Dr. Darrell St. Romain on the history that has led the Catholic Church to its first American pope, a Creole with a complex family background.
Saint Frances Academy, nation's oldest Black Catholic school, to open middle school in fall 2025
The historic Baltimore institution, founded by the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1828, announced the news earlier this month.
Jubilee pilgrimage to honor Venerable Augustus Tolton in August
The annual event will be led by retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry, who has led the Tolton cause for 15 years in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
New Trappist meditation garden honors the enslaved in South Carolina
Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner planned the new project after discovering unmarked graves believed to belong to enslaved African Americans.
Surviving Catholic clerical sex abuse is not new, and it's not White.
Christopher Gurley on the stories of Black Catholic survivors—a demographic often forgotten in the push to address the Church's living scourge.
'Providential': Black Catholics react to Pope Leo XIV, the Creole
The former Robert Prevost is now known to be of African ancestry, part of a growing picture Americans are forming of the new supreme pontiff.
White smoke, Black pope? Pope Leo XIV, first American pontiff, has African roots
Previously unknown genealogy on the 69-year-old Chicago native was revealed by genealogists shortly after white smoke rose in St. Peter's Square.
Ordination anniversary of Venerable Augustus Tolton celebrated in Rome
The first openly Black Catholic priest in America was ordained at the Lateran Basilica in 1886 and was put on the path to sainthood in 2010.
Why Black Catholics have stayed despite every reason to leave
Tamika Royes on the mercy of God in the experience of Black Catholics who choose to stay—even when suffering abounds at the hands of the Church.
Reconstructed Fort Mose, first free Black settlement in America, opening May 9
The $3M project is the fruit of decades of advocacy promoting the Spanish Black Catholic site in St. Augustine, Florida—the nation's oldest city.
Review: 'Catholics for the Common Good' is Catholic social teaching in lived experience
Lori Stanley reviews the latest book from Daryl Grigsby, on the lives of three dozen modern Catholics embodying faith in action.
'Blatant disregard': Descendants pull out of St. Louis University slavery apology event
The Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved org says SLU officials attempted an "11th-hour" switcheroo after previously engaging in dialogue.
First African-American opera premieres after 138 years
Edmond Dédé's "Morgiane" was performed on tour this year for the first time since being created by the Black Creole composer in 1887.