Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dead at 95
After a life of theological and pontifical service—and a tumultuous 8-year tenure governing a troubled Church—the retired pope in Rome has died following an extended illness.
Longform
Black Christmas carols and where to find them
Ever wondered whether your favorite Christmas hymn was originally a Black gospel tune? It's the perfect season to find out.
In search of Black Catholic art
Black Catholic art is hard to come by, and defining it is a task unto itself. Nate Tinner-Williams explores the history and speaks with young creators breaking into the field.
The mysterious Black woman in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe
When one digs deeply into the Marian image revealed to St. Juan Diego and Bishop Juan Zumárraga, OFM in 1531, a distinctly Black Catholic narrative emerges. Nate Tinner-Williams dives in.
Reflection: The life and afterlife of Claude Newman, Black death row inmate who saw the Blessed Virgin
Marian apparitions in the United States are all but non-existent, but one Black Mississippian born this day in 1923 may have broken the mold. Nate Tinner-Williams explores.
Reflection: How a Black Catholic nun and saint-to-be inspires this lay minister
Vickie Figueroa, a Black Catholic ministry director in Detroit, reflects on how Servant of God Thea Bowman inspires her ministry.
Catholics should be prison abolitionists
Efran Menny reflects on the call of transformative justice, and the need for Catholics to treat seriously the prospect of prison abolition.
Opinion: Masks off at US Catholic bishops' meeting in Baltimore
The USCCB's annual fall assembly in Baltimore was a roller coaster of messaging from brazenly anti-Francis to performatively aligned, Nate Tinner-Williams opines.
Bishop Edward Braxton's keynote for National Association of Black Catholic Administrators' annual meeting
Transcript from a retired Black Catholic bishop's address to the nation's Black Catholic diocesan officials and other leaders earlier this fall in Texas.
US Catholic bishops' 1968 statement on the 'National Race Crisis'
A 54-year-old statement from the nation's Catholic prelates on racism, protest, and social action reveals perspectives that may surprise some—and galvanize others.
A tribute to 'Old Gilbert', a founding Knight of Peter Claver
Historian Jari C. Honora fetes Gilbert Faustina, the first Supreme Knight of the nation's premier Black Catholic fraternal order.
Reflection: Dr. Shawnee Daniels-Sykes, pioneer of Black Catholic womanist ethics, dead at 61
The nation's only Black Catholic female bioethicist has died at the age of 61 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Nate Tinner-Williams reflects.
Reflection: Remembering St. Anthony's Mission House, a 1920s integrated U.S. Catholic seminary
The first integrated Catholic seminary in 20th-century America is not well known, but that's what Black Catholic History Month is for. Read on.
August Wilson, the Catholic
Remembering one of the nation's greatest playwrights, not just in the frame of his well-known works, but also the undying specter of religion.
Review: 'Afro-Atlantic Catholics' is the Black history of the Americas, remixed
A new book on Black Catholics in the Americas traces Church history in colonial West Africa through the slave trade and its peculiar influence on African-American Christianity.
Ahead of two Jazz Masses Sunday in Detroit, an explainer on America's most unique Catholic liturgical form
Nate Tinner-Williams dives into the history of Jazz Mass in the Church, a phenomenon dating back to the 1950s and the beginnings of bona-fide Black Catholic liturgy.