By Rita McInerney

Lively young voices could be heard downstairs in the main lobby of the Marriott Marquis on Wednesday night as black Catholics from Atlanta and other cities across the country boarded the glass-enclosed elevators for the 10^th floor.

The singers were 50 children, from kindergarten to eighth grade, from Sts. Peter and Paul School in Decatur. They were performing at a reception before the evensong service held by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus on the eve on the installation of Archbishop Eugene A. Marino as third archbishop of Atlanta.

The evensong service of praying with and for the new archbishop is a traditional practice of the NBCCC. The organization, according to Father George Stallings, the president, was founded in 1968 to “bring together black priests, brothers and now permanent deacons into a fraternal organization to solidify the presence of black Catholics in the Catholic Church and to articulate the needs and aspirations of black people.”

The performance by the children’s choir from Sts. Peter and Paul School under the direction of Kathy Manuel, fifth grade teacher, was greeted with warm applause by the crowd. Present were bishops, priests, brothers and sisters from the national black Catholic community, and a good representation from the black Catholic community in Atlanta.

Archbishop Marino’s arrival was delayed until after 10 p.m. He had dined with the priests of the archdiocese after the canonical installation and evening prayer at the Cathedral on Wednesday evening.

While they waited, relatives and friends from rectories, convents, abbeys, universities, missions and offices across the U.S. mingled and talked in happy anticipation. Sister Marie de Porres Taylor, executive director for the National Black Sisters Conference, estimated that there were 300 black priests, brothers and sisters in or coming to Atlanta for the historic installation of the first black archbishop.

Father Sam Taylor, a young priest from St. Patrick’s parish in Newburgh, N.Y., said the service is one of “asking God’s grade on the new archbishop, to guide him in his new endeavors. We want to show him our love.”

John Wallace, from St. Augustine’s parish in Washington, D.C., also came to show his love. A candidate for the permanent diaconate, he said the archbishop was “like a father” to him, a father “I never had. I’m really going to miss him for all the support he has given me as a person and in the program. I just hope you give him all the support we gave him in Washington,” he told the Georgia Bulletin.

Young Father Tom Kirkendoll, ordained May 16, 1987, as a Glenmary priest, came from Claxton in the diocese of Savannah, for the installation and glad reunions with other black priests.

Sister Celestina, O.S.P., stood patiently along the walkway where the archbishop would enter. Propped against the wall was the crutch she needs because of a bad knee. A language arts teacher at the Oblates’ motherhouse outside Baltimore, she was rewarded for her patience with a warm hug from her old friend when he arrived.

Auxiliary Bishop James P. Lyke of Cleveland led a plane and bus pilgrimage of 70 people from his city to Atlanta. “He is the one among us with the most seniority and is extremely qualified to go anywhere,” he said. Another black bishop and one of the archbishop’s fellow Josephites, Auxiliary Bishop John H. Ricard, of Baltimore, mingled quietly with the crowd.

Father August L. Thompson, rector of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria, La., said he had known the archbishop since they were ordained. At that time there were fewer than 50 black priests in the whole country and they all knew each other.

The appointment of a black to a position like this is “something I have been hoping for for years,” he said. “The pope must have seen he has something to offer this diocese,” not just because he is black but because of his experience and particular talents and strengths.

“I really think this diocese is going to be blessed.” The archbishop is “such a gentle person and very intuitive. He sees what needs to be done and he is strong enough to do what needs to be done,” he added.

(Father Thompson was mentioned in an N.C. article carried in the Georgia Bulletin of April 28. Addressing a national workshop in Houston, he said that as a seminarian he entered the Alexandria cathedral to attend Mass and was ushered to the choir loft because he was black.)

Janise Miller, an involved parishioner at Sacred Heart in Atlanta, was in the front row as Rhonwyn Rogers, director of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholics, voiced a warm welcome to the large group after the service began.

Later she commented that she felt the new archbishop “would bring unity and also a sense of direction” absent since the death of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan. Although there was a tremendous effort made by Monsignor John McDonough during the interim, “there was not the sense and presence of true leadership. He will also bring about a new enthusiasm,” she predicted.

Others representing the archdiocese at the service were several members of the Commission for Black Catholic Concerns led by Mrs. Katherine Woodyard, chairman. Others present included Wilford Woodyard and Merlin Todd, of St. Paul of the Cross; Nema Rowman, of St. Anthony’s; Mercedes Walker, of St. John the Evangelist; Katie Hines and Bessie Crane, of Blessed Sacrament; and Mattie Smith of Our Lady of Lourdes; Father Richard Wise, of Sts. Peter and Paul, Decatur, and Father Bruce Wilkinson of St. Anthony’s.

Brother Joseph Hager, responsible for planning the service, in his opening remarks told the crowd that “It’s an honor many of us never thought we would see…we never dreamed we would see this day…It’s a source of pride because it’s history that we are part of.”

“God is calling Eugene deeper and deeper into his service, asking him to take on heavier responsibilities in this part of the country where we know there will be trials and tribulations. We must keep him in our prayers.” Directly addressing the archbishop who was sitting right in front of the platform, he said “We stand here ready…to serve you and the Church in any way we can.”

During the service, a gold plate embossed with the seal of the U.S. House of Representatives was presented to Archbishop Marino by Larry Payne, district director of U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, a black congressman from Houston, Tex. Payne said the lawmaker wanted the archbishop to have it as a reminder of all the times he had spoken at hearings of committees and subcommittees on Capitol Hill during his 14 years as auxiliary bishop in Washington.

The crowded schedule of the new archbishop resumed early on the morning of his installation. He greeted friends from around the country in the hospitality suite at the Mariott-Marquis where a continental breakfast was available for out-of-town guests.

Virginia L. Robinson, of St. Joseph’s, a Josephite parish in Wilmington, Del., took a special message home to the parishioners who had paid for her trip. Archbishop Marino has had close ties with the parish, she said, and in appreciation the members, a few years ago, gave him a silver crozier. When she saw him Thursday morning he said he wanted to let them know that he planned to use the wooden crozier that he had received and used on being ordained a bishop 14 years ago.

Two other women, Ruthie Penn and Marie Brewster, came on a chartered bus carrying 46 people from Cleveland. They met and had their picture taken with him in the morning. Later they taped the installation service and were eager to get back home and share it with others in their parish community.

As noon approached, the archbishop was host at a luncheon for family members, attending cardinals and bishops, and fellow Josephites. Seated at the raised table with him were Archbishop Pio Laghi, the apostolic pro-nuncio retired Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, Archbishop James A. Hickey of Washington, and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.

Between courses, Archbishop Marino made the rounds of the tables, greeting each bishop in turn. Among Hispanic brother bishops he embraced were Bishop Agustin A. Roman of Miami and Bishop Enrique San Pedro, S.J., an auxiliary in Galveston-Houston. Bishop San Pedro said “He’s my half brother. I’m Cuban and he’s Puerto Rican.” The two island countries he said, quoting an old Puerto Rican poem, “are two wings of one bird.”

Two Josephite classmates, Father Charles Andrus, consultor general for the order, and Father Pat Healy, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Pascagoula, Miss., were full of joy as they hurried off to the Atlanta Civic Center after the meal.

Father Healy stopped long enough to point out that another Josephite parish in Mississippi, the parish he now leads, had produced a rich Josephite harvest; Bishop Carl Fisher, S.S.J., auxiliary in Los Angeles; Father William Norvel, a former consultor general for the order, and Brother Charles Douglas. This parish has also four women in religious life, including Bishop Fisher’s twin, Sister Alexis Fisher, with the Oblate Sisters in Providence in Baltimore.