Diocese of Toledo
Inspiration comes in many forms but inspiration for a recent Diocese of Toledo video came during a bible study class at Toledo-St. Martin de Porres. Two black senior elders of the church began to reminisce about their experiences with racism in the church during their youth in the deep South. Their reflections sparked a desire to capture not only their stories but also their deep love and faithful commitment to Catholicism.
The idea of a video expanded to include the story of black Catholics in the Diocese of Toledo, not just parishioners of Toledo-St. Martin de Porres, which has the largest number of practicing black Catholics in the nineteen county diocese. It also captures the experience of being black and Catholic. Members of the Toledo Diocese Black Catholic Ministry Team from three Ohio cities embraced the project and recruited parishioners for testimonial interviews. Participating cities are Mansfield with population of almost 48,000; Sandusky with population of 25,000, and Toledo with population of 287,000.
Catherine Williams of Mansfield, a lifelong Catholic, tells of her parish priest from St. Peters asking her father why his children were not attending their parish school. When her father related that the family could not afford school “dress shoes” the priest quickly responded telling her father to come around to the parish house. This caring priest gave her and her siblings shoes resulting in them becoming proud St. Peter Parish School alumni. She shares that the devotion to Mary gives us an opportunity to ask Mary to intercede with her son to answer our prayers. Her account is instructive in dispelling a common myth among some non-Catholics that Catholics worship Mary. Catherine seeks in her personal devotion to Mary to be a mother in Mary’s likeness. Her sister, Martha Jones hones in on the lasting impact of her childhood catechism’s call to LOVE. Those lessons are to love one another as He has loved us; to love him, know him and serve him. These are fundamental in her faith.
The power of the Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) is captured by William Haney from Holy Angels Catholic Church in Sandusky Ohio. William tells of the invitation by a college roommate to attend Mass at his church. William says he went and he never left. RCIA‘s learning and foundational process has him expressing that he has fallen deeply in love with the Catholic faith. Brothers, Joseph and Zloro Johnson, also Holy Angels parishioners, are lifelong Catholics. Zioro relates that being Catholic opened doors and opportunities he may not have otherwise been exposed to as a black man. Joseph proudly shares how he is introducing the Catholic faith to his granddaughter and the joy he gets from her greeting everyone within her reach at Mass.
Toledo-St. Martin de Porres parishioners: K Lavern Redden, a convert; Terry trail, a convert and Martha Cotton a lifelong Catholic are interviewees. K. Lavern gives a powerful testimony on the joyful years she spent in her youth at St. Benedicts, a mission church established in 1932 for Toledo African American Catholics. She also speaks of the pain and grief when St. Benedict’s was razed in 1964 without a plan to maintain a church for those black families. Terry tells how he converted to Catholicism when he married and what it has meant to his marriage and raising their children. Martha Cotton is one of the women who was the catalyst for this video. She is still dismayed about her childhood church in New Orleans requiring black families to sit in the rear due to their race! Her faith is strong. She is grateful to God for surviving a series of illnesses and being of encouragement to others. Dr. Ann Carter-Obayuwana, is a lifelong Catholic and parishioner of St. John XXII in Perrysburg. Ohio and St. Martin de Porres. She talks about her experience with racism in her childhood Church in Springfield, Ohio and her commitment to social justice.
The process of making a video is another story unto itself but the guidance of professional videographer Rob Thomas, meant our ideas were fleshed out, the narrator’s script was completed and the story has been told. Bishop Daniel E. Thomas filmed a 2 minute epilogue to the video and I leave you with his words.
“What a joy to greet you and to join together with you by way of this video in honoring the contribution and the witness of the Black Catholic community whose presence has blessed our diocese since its founding. I join my voice to the compelling voices we have already heard here in thanksgiving for the salvation won for us in Christ Jesus, for the gift of our Catholic faith and the gift that our African American brothers and sisters have been, are and will be to our local Church.
Despite the challenges that our Black Catholics have endured in the past and the residue of racism that still sadly effects our Church and society, the joy of the Risen Lord compels us forward to a new springtime of Faith that is more dynamic, more vibrant and more unified for each member of the Church in our 19 counties.
In the 2018 pastoral letter against racism entitled “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” the United States Bishops affirm “What is needed, and what we are calling for, is a genuine conversion of heart, a conversion that will compel change and the reform of our institutions and society. This is how we move to a better future, radical conversion of heart, a deeper understanding of God’s love and action on each one of our parts.”
We all know, don’t we, from experience and from the very words of Jesus in the Gospel “with God all things are possible.” (Mt19:26)
In loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and in loving our neighbors as ourselves, we commit together to work going forward to respect each person as created in the image and likeness of God and to promote in our Church and in society His Kingdom of justice, love and peace. “
Visit www.toledodiocese.org to see the video, We’ve come this Far By Faith – A Journey”, funded in part by the Black and Indian Mission grant for evangelization, educational and spiritual purposes.
Respectfully submitted by Ellen Jones, Coordinator
Office of Black Catholic Ministry
Diocese of Toledo.
