African American Mass Aug. 20

Nearly three decades ago, several thousand people representing a diversity of ethnicities filed into the F.G. Clark Activity Center at Southern University to attend the African American Catholic Homecoming Mass and celebration of family.

The evening was planned by the Office of Black Catholics, which at the time had as its director then-Father Shelton J. Fabre, who is now the archbishop for the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky.

Twenty-eight years after that Aug. 26, 1994 celebration, the Office of Black Catholics is sponsoring an African American Mass Aug. 20 at 10 a.m., at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge. Bishop Michael G. Duca is scheduled to celebrate the Mass, which has its theme “Celebrating Our Catholic Faith and Culture.”

Father Josh Johnson, director of the Office of Vocations and the lone African American priest in the diocese, is the scheduled homilist.

“We decided to bring the Mass back, not only to the African American community but to the diocese as a whole, to celebrate Mass with our culture and tradition,” said Deacon Alfred Adams, longtime director of the Office of Black Catholics.

Deacon Adams said he often hears people question the use of Gospel music, singing and liturgical dancers during an African American Mass.

“That is part of our culture,” he said. “We celebrate with not just the head but the whole body. That is just part of who we are and we want to expose people to it.”

The Mass will feature the singing of the Diocesan Gospel Choir, which is directed by Nina Gray, who sings at St. Paul, Immaculate Conception and St. Francis Xavier churches in Baton Rouge. The choir is a blend of singers  from St. Paul, Immaculate Conception and St. Francis as well as those from St. James Church in St. James and St. Benedict the Moor in Bertrandville.

The group’s collective voice filled the hallowed halls at Sacred Heart Church in Baton Rouge at Father Johnson’s 2015 ordination, and the choir has also performed at other sites. 

Along with the Gospel choir, the music will include the use of bongo drums, liturgical dancers and people dressed in traditional African attire and fabric.

“The whole works,” Deacon Adams with an infectious enthusiasm.

The family, which is a strong part of the African-American heritage, was the focus of the original Mass in 1994, which was called an  opportunity to urge African Americans who have left the Catholic Church to come home, as well as to encourage those who have remained in the Catholic Church to bring their spirituality and special cultural gifts into their worship. Organizers hoped through the Mass the community would become aware of the Office of Black Catholics and its programs.

At the time, then-Bishop Alfred Hughes said the “Mass provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to highlight the rich contribution of the African American community. 

“It provides us with an opportunity to reach out to all active Catholics, and to those who have left the church for other religions and to say in a tangible and concrete way that we are one in this diocese and we treasure our special gifts.”