It developed its own structure, identity, music, liturgy, thought, theology, and appearance within the larger Catholic Church.
[5] Following the assassination of Martin Luther King and associated riots (including Mayor Daley's shoot-to-kill order in Chicago), Black Catholics inaugurated a number of powerful new organizations in early 1968.
[6] At the inaugural NBCCC meeting in Detroit, caucus members declared in the opening line of their statement that "the Catholic Church in the United States is primarily a White, racist institution.
With the support of a White Josephite superior general, who advocated for it as early as 1967, the permanent diaconate was restored in the United States in October 1968, and the National Office for Black Catholics (NOBC) was established in 1970.
[8] One of the first parishes to engage in Black liturgical inculturation and establish a gospel choir was St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in New Orleans, in 1969.
[9] One of the first musicians to experiment similarly was Grayson Warren Brown, a Presbyterian convert who set the entire Mass to gospel-style music.
Fr William Norvel, a Josephite, helped introduce gospel choirs to Black Catholic parishes nationwide (especially in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles).
[11] This sentiment was not limited to laypeople nor did was it contradicted by White reactions to the movement/revolution, as many dioceses, religious orders, parishes, and lay groups reacted negatively to both the Civil Rights and Black Power movements on the whole.
In addition, they added new demands, such as four Black bishops, greater lay and youth decision-making power, and "hierarchical support in developing an African-American liturgy".
During the early to mid-70s, the various (and largely informal) Black Catholic diocesan offices/ministries began to gain official recognition and approval.
[29] Marino resigned from his archbishopric two years after his appointment, following a sex scandal related to his secret marriage (and impregnation) of a Church employee.
[34][35] In September 1987, Pope John Paul II visited the United States, notably making a stop in New Orleans, which is considered one of the genesis points of Black Catholicism.
The preface was penned by noteworthy Black Catholic liturgists Bishop James P. Lyke, future Archbishop of Atlanta; and Fr Norvel, then-president of the NBCCC.
The foreword was written by Servant of God Thea Bowman, covering the development and value of African-American Christian worship.
Fr J-Glenn Murray, a Black Jesuit, wrote an introduction explaining the compatibility of said worship with the Roman Rite of the Mass.
[41][42] Two years later in 1989, Unity Explosion was founded in Dallas as an annual conference celebrating Black Catholic liturgy and expression.
As of 2020, it has developed as a more general Black Catholic advocacy conference sponsored by the USCCB, and is preceded annually by a pre-conference, the Roderick J.
Bowman, by then a celebrity of sorts (having appeared on 60 Minutes as well as The 700 Club) but ailing from cancer, was invited to address the USCCB on Black Catholicism.
[47] Fr George Stallings established an independent church in 1989, and was declared in February 1990 by the Archbishop of Washington to have excommunicated himself by his actions.
[53] In 1991, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons began operations, and that same year, Sr Dr Jamie Phelps helped to revive the annual meetings of the BCTS.
[57][58] Around the same time, twin Divine Word priests Charles and Chester Smith, with their fellow Verbites Anthony Clark and Ken Hamilton, established the Bowman-Francis Ministry.
Activists were concerned that the respondents may not have understood that such a rite was intended to be in full and unmitigated union with the rest of the Catholic Church, and wondered if they had been accurately informed about the prospect in general.
Some also wondered whether the nation- (and Church-) wide emphasis on multiculturalism during that era had soured the prospect of a Black-centered endeavor.
[61][47] While its more radical factions and experiments (especially the various ordeals in Chicago) were met with plenty of opposition, the movement on the whole was received well by the Church, as seen in the rapid acceptance of Fr Rivers' Black liturgical innovation level after Vatican II.
[10] A few months after Clements was named pastor of Holy Angels, the CPD and FBI assassinated his close friend and spiritual mentee Fred Hampton.
With the exception of the NBCLC (now arguably replaced by the NBCC), the major national Black Catholic organizations and conferences continue to meet regularly, 52 years after the movement began and a quarter-century since it informally ended.
"[65] This appearance would catch the eye of Harry Belafonte, who eventually bought the rights to her life story and recruited Whoopi Goldberg to portray her in a biopic.