January 12, 2024 Dear Friends in Christ, All around us we can find the chance to draw inspiration from the strength of civil rights leaders who have gone before us. You can walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama in the footsteps of peaceful demonstrators who were attacked with tear gas and billy clubs in 1965 as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery. Still standing is the Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas that was bravely desegregated in 1957 by nine African American students who faced harassment and threats. Here in Maryland, courageous families integrated the G ..read more

For Immediate Release: Monday, Nov. 27, 2023 Contact: Christian Kendzierski Tel. 410-547-5378 christian.kendzierski@archbalt.org   Black Catholic Mass Choir to debut Nov. 28 for National Black Catholic History Month Hispanic/Latino Archdiocesan Choir to premier in December BALTIMORE, MD – Bringing together sopranos, tenors, baritones and singers in between, the Black Catholic Mass Choir will debut at the 5 p.m. Mass on Nov. 28 at New All Saints Church to offer inspired worship music and highlight the contributions of African American Catholics across the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It is o ..read more

Sherita Thomas is interim director for the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. (Courtesy photo) Sherita Thomas and her husband were watching news reports during this tempestuous time when one of her daughters saw a TV headline and asked, “Are we safe?” After Thomas and her husband spoke with her about justice and racism, the daughter asked her, “What are you going to do?” One of the things that Thomas will do is take on the role of interim director for the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. She will retain her job as global a ..read more

June 18, 2022 Dear Friends in Christ, Juneteenth is short for “June Nineteenth” and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. It marks a time of celebration and a symbolic end to a horrific era in our country’s history. We commemorate the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, and more generally the emancipation of African American slaves throughout the Confederate South. On that day, the word finally arrived in Texas, a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the Uni ..read more

Juneteenth marks a time in history that has remained largely unknown within the white community. It has long been celebrated among the African American community. The brutal history of slavery and segregation continues to inflict pain on our society, and Juneteenth offers a light of hope on the fight for freedom and justice. As noted by the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Juneteenth is a time to celebrate, to gather as a family, to reflect on the past and look to the future. Within the African American community, Juneteenth is known as our second “Independence Day ..read more

A painting depicts Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, founder of the Baltimore-based Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Catholic order of African-American nuns. (CR file) The bishops who make up the governing board of the Maryland Catholic Conference – representing the archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., on public policy matters – released a statement June 15 that recalls “our own Church’s past sins and failings and admit to them freely.” “With regret and humility, we must recognize that as Catholic leaders and as an institution we have, at times, not f ..read more

Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy speaks at the 2018 Mother Mary Lange Awards banquet. (Courtesy Darron C. Woodus) One of the final works of mercy of Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy’s life as a Catholic educator occurred June 13, when he helped transform St. Frances Academy into an impromptu cooling station for a Black Lives Matter protest. Gaddy, 55, suffered a heart attack the next day, and died unexpectedly June 20. A lifelong parishioner of Historic St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore and major influence in the education of black youths from pre-K to college, Gaddy was in his second stint on the staff at St. Frances Academ ..read more

June 5, 2020 Dear Friends in Christ, I write to share with you important news about immediate steps the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be taking as we grapple with the deep anguish and racial tension we are currently witnessing locally and throughout our country.  While these steps were being planned prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, the current crisis our country faces in the wake of the killing of George Floyd urgently demands that we move forward with these initiatives as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs. Sherita Thomas as the ne ..read more

A woman religious holds a placard as she takes part in a prayerful protest outside the White House in Washington June 8, 2020, following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man whose neck was pinned to the ground by police for more than eight minutes before he was taken to the hospital. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) WASHINGTON (CNS) — The streets in front of the White House of late have been filled with thousands of youthful faces carrying signs or wearing T-shirts calling for racial justice, with fists raised in the air, or posing for selfies with a large “Black Lives Matters” si ..read more

Josephite Fathers Ray Bomberger, left, and Freddie Kaddu were among those present for the June 8 protest. (Paul McMullen.CR Staff) Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori offered the invocation before a “Protest with a Purpose” outside the U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore June 8. The event came two weeks to the day after the death of George Floyd on videotape while a Minneapolis policeman kneeled on his neck. It evoked the 2015 death, while in custody of Baltimore City police, of Freddie Gray Jr. The archbishop prayed for the Holy Spirit to consume racism and the conditions that led ..read more