This is a time of celebration. In the Archdiocese of Washington, we are still celebrating the priesthood of our recently retired archbishop, Cardinal Wilton Gregory. Not only have we seen his picture in the cardinal’s red, but over the last year we have also seen his picture as one among ten African-American Catholic bishops who penned the pastoral letter “What We Have Seen and Heard” just over 40 years ago. How is it that this cause for celebration came about? This is some Church history worth celebrating.
This time of celebration is rooted in 1968, in the midst of the tension of our Civil Rights Movement. In that year, there was a gathering of Catholic clergy who gathered because, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would often say, “Now is the time!” Acting on the facts about which King preached, they formed the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus and the National Black Sisters’ Conference. These Black folk shined the light of Christ on the original sin of our Catholic Church, sought justice and mercy for the entire body of believers, and prophetically petitioned for the eradication of racism within its number.
There were no permanent deacons such as myself in this pivotal Christian assembly. However, during that same year, St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites, acted on their petition to the U.S. bishops and assembled men from three dioceses—Baltimore, Richmond, and Washington—to form the nation’s first class of modern permanent deacons. The restoration of the diaconate was one of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
If you are reading this significant piece of U.S. Catholic history, you know that radical and prophetic witness produces abundant and transformational results. The radical Black Catholic witness of 1968 produced abundant fruit for our Church and for our nation. 26 men completed diaconate formation in that first class and all but two were ordained in 1971. Of the two dozen, eight were African Americans. (Seven were from Josephite parishes in Washington and one was from Baltimore, where the Josephites have their headquarters.)
The fruit of tilling the soil for vocations to ordained ministry was evident there and also in the presence of the 10 African-American bishops who penned “What We Have Seen and Heard” in 1984. With Cardinal Gregory’s retirement, there are now two active African-American bishops, one of whom has already reached retirement age.
I have yet to discover an ordination class like the one formed by the Josephites and ordained in 1971. Wrap your mind around the fact that a full third of an ordination class in our Church was of African-American descent. It was a “Wade in the Water” moment—a time for radical, prophetic action. Much like the time from 1956, when Dr. King preached a St. Paul “Letter to American Christians”, until his death in April 1968, during which he told us that “Now is the time!”
For those who have not experienced the fullness of the U.S. Catholic Church and are for the first time hearing of the Black Catholic radical witness, I share with you what a pastor shared with me: King was an Isaiah scholar. Given this, “Now is the time!” may be shorthand for the following:
"Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth."
(Isaiah 62:1-2)
This is not a new thing in the African-American family. The late Benedictine Fr Cyprian Davis wrote of the powerful witness of Black Catholics and their commitment to vocations in our Church. The Healys of Georgia, for example, were a family about which Davis wrote in “The History of Black Catholics in the United States.” Of the 10 children, two became nuns, one a bishop, another the president of Georgetown University, and one still a priest-theologian at the First Vatican Council—all before Venerable Augustus Tolton started formation as the first openly African-American Catholic priest.
Why this? Why now? “Now is the time!” Isaiah was right, and this is not the time to be quiet. The solution to what ails us exists in our Church today, as you can see from this brief historical treatise.
If you are struggling with how to be a witness consistent with Catholic Social Teaching, try the “Budde System.” You can find the Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington in your social media feed and follow her lead. When you see injustice in your neighborhood, do not be silent. Do not be still! When African-American Catholics spoke out in 1968, their witness produced abundant fruit. Today is no different. Witness is a Catholic thing. A Christian thing. Bishop Budde did it, and you can, too.
Dcn Timothy Tilghman is a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Washington, currently assigned to St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church. He has two master’s degrees, one in public policy and the other in theology, and is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry program at St. Mary’s Seminary & University Ecumenical Institute. He is the author of “Going to the Well to Build Community: A Pastor’s Guide to Evangelization.”
