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BY PRISCILLA GREEAR
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--At a special Mass March 1, Father Melvin Shorter, CP, challenged
black Catholics to avoid complacency and continue seeking social justice as a
faith community.
Approximately 150 people gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the King for
the first annual Black History Month Heritage Mass with the theme "We Were
Carefully Chosen."
Sponsored by the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholic Ministry, the Mass
was celebrated by Father Shorter, pastor of St. Paul of the Cross Church,
Atlanta, assisted by four archdiocesan priests. Seminarian Ricardo Bailey was
master of ceremonies and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of St. Peter
Claver were also in attendance.
Howard Brown, director of the archdiocesan office, said the event was a way
to share the gifts and heritage of African-American Catholics with the entire
church.
"There is a richness in our black experience that we must share with
the entire people of God. These are gifts that are part of an African past. For
we have heard with black ears and we have seen with black eyes and we have
understood with an African heart," he said.
"This will be our part in the building up of the whole church. This
will be our way of enriching ourselves."
The fragrance of incense spread through the Cathedral as Father Shorter and
Deacon Hilliard Lee, Jr. incensed the altar and lectionary. Father Shorter then
proclaimed, "We've come this far by faith leaning on the everlasting Lord.
Our God has led us to this place. We've been called together as a people of
Jesus Christ...because we've been very carefully chosen."
The first and second readings were given by Justin Cotton and Yvette
Dominique and the Gospel was proclaimed by Deacon Lee.
Father Shorter, listing a series of renowned African-American leaders,
affirmed the contribution of blacks in society.
"We are men and women of substance who keep coming. We are motivated by
our struggles, wise and watchful as we weigh the past against the future. We
are cautious and sensitive to broken promises. We are strong because we have
learned tools of survival from our existence," he said.
After describing Jesus' period of temptation by Satan, the pastor asked the
congregation if they are also being tempted by evil and if they have forgotten
the struggles of African-Americans which continue.
While laws were passed in the 1960s guaranteeing freedom and progress for
blacks, Father Shorter said, the community still faces many societal problems.
He said that fewer than 10 percent of the country's elected officials are black
and that many schools are overcrowded and drug-infested and have graduates who
can neither read nor write.
"We cannot sit back and feed off the progress of the '60s and the
lessons of the '70s. The fight for justice, equality and freedom is not
over," he said. "Today we celebrate our heritage, our culture, we
celebrate who we are and all of those who have gone before us."
"All too often we have become too comfortable in our present situation.
There are those who need some of our plenty to simply live. There are some who
because of their state in life, can't even begin to be who they are called to
be."
He encouraged black Catholics to reflect on their past and future, to work
to make their lives more Christlike and to unite and love each other.
"I am nothing if I don't have you. I cannot and you cannot do it alone,
but together we can do it all--build the kingdom of God," Father Shorter
said.
Choir director and pianist Jack Tilson led the Archbishop Lyke Memorial
Choir in "I'm on a Battlefield," "Go Down Moses,"
"We've Come This Far by Faith" and other African-American gospel and
liturgical songs.
Following the Mass Tilson said he affirmed the homilist when "he called
us to not to be complacent with our comfort level--to look for the
self-examination of how we can come to envision where we need to go as a people
patterned after Christ."
Since civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s, "the younger
generation is somewhat immune to the covert racism," he said.
"Therefore, they're more subject to denial."
Bailey, a parishioner at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Atlanta, liked the
message of the church's unity in diversity.
"No matter who we are or where we come from we are still a people
universal, a Catholic people. We are truly blessed...That's what touched
me," the seminarian said.
He said his parish is racially diverse and added, "I believe that's
what Jesus meant when he began the church."
Cotton, president of the Multicultural Awareness Club at the Marist School,
Atlanta, served as an archdiocesan representative at the National Black
Catholic Congress last August. He appreciated the Mass as a continuation of the
emphasis upon black history during the month of February.
"It's not so much African-American history. It's American history. It's
everybody's heritage because we all live here. We should all take part in it
however we can," he said.
Dominique, a parishioner at St. Anthony's Church, Atlanta, said the Mass
helped to strengthen her faith and to unite the African-American community.
"It's a reflection, a celebration, of what the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ means for me during this time period before the resurrection of
Christ--a reflection on my actions and how I can become more Christlike,"
she said. "It strengthens the community in bringing us closer
together--not just in the African-American community, all communities separated
from the love of Jesus Christ in the living of everyday life."
Dr. Carter Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926 which was changed
in 1976 to Black History Month. The observance is held nationally in February
and provides information to increase understanding of African-American
heritage.
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