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By Priscilla Greear
ATLANTA—At a church black Catholics were once excluded from,
the faithful gathered Jan. 13 to honor slain civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr. and to recall his glorious Gospel witness that greatness is found in
serving others in love.
The afternoon Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception,
sponsored by the Office for Black Catholic Ministry, was celebrated by
Archbishop John F. Donoghue and concelebrated by over 15 priests of the
archdiocese. The homilist was Father Roy Lee, a priest of the Archdiocese of
Milwaukee who is now in Atlanta working toward a doctorate in education. With a
predominantly African-American congregation filling the church, the
event’s theme was “One Bread, One Body” focusing on the need for
more unity while celebrating diversity within the racially diverse North
Georgia church.
Father Lee challenged those gathered to follow King’s example
of service.
“Today we are called to remember this great man named King
who taught us about service to one another,” said Father Lee. “This
is where we find our greatness—in serving one another. You don’t have
to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to know the second
theory in thermal dynamics to serve ... It’s about the man named Jesus.
It’s about being one with ourselves and one another in God.”
Dr. King’s first pastorate was at a Baptist church in
Montgomery, Ala., where he launched his career as an activist for social and
civic egalitarian change by leading the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1957 he
founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from which he led protest
marches against then-legal discrimination, economic inequality and denial of
voting rights to blacks, making passionate speeches advocating the philosophy
of nonviolence in pursuit of social change. In 1963 he led the March on
Washing-ton where he gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial before over 250,000 followers. He won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1964 and was assassinated in 1968.
The Mass opened as priests and the Knights and Ladies of Peter
Claver as well as girls in black leotards and skirts processed into the church.
Reminding the faithful that King’s work was for all,
Scripture was also read in the Nigerian language of Igbo and Spanish. The
Archbishop Lyke Mass Choir led the congregation in songs like “We’ve
Come This Far by Faith,” and the combined children’s choir from St.
Anthony of Padua and St. Paul of the Cross churches in Atlanta sang “Lean
on Me.”
In his homily Father Lee said that King, who held a doctorate in
systematic theology from Boston University, “stood for, worked for, lived
for, prayed for” agape, or unconditional love, love which is given even
when nothing can be gained from the person in return.
It’s easy to profess but harder to live. “It is entirely
a neighbor-regarding concern for others which discovers the neighbor in every
person it meets. Therefore, love makes no distinction between friends and
enemies; it is directed towards both.”
He assured the congregation that as they live this message God
will watch over them. “God’s gonna take care of our needs spiritually
and physically. All we need to do is wait for Jesus ... He’s taught me
enough to let me know when it comes it’s always on time.”
He called worshippers to let the freedom of faith ring in their
hearts. “We are still on a journey, Church, an exodus to true liberty.
That’s what King was talking about, truly being free. Do we understand
what true freedom is about?” he asked. “You can’t go back to
Egypt. That’s what King taught us so well. You have to live by faith. God
is leading us to a spiritual awakening. We are (each) a child of God—one
who lives with the expectation for a miracle to happen at any time.”
He said the poor among us are a constant reminder to the richer of
their Gospel responsibility. “If you’ve got power it’s a
reminder to us to exercise the power to help those who don’t have it.
It’s a reminder to use it wisely.”
Referring to St. Paul’s message that all parts of the body
are interconnected, he spoke of King’s message that everyone’s
actions indirectly affect everyone else and that Christians are obliged to
share their gifts and edify the community. And if they’re not walking the
walk, he said, it doesn’t matter how many times weekly they talk the talk.
“We’re all called to lift each other up, not tear each other down and
not talk behind each other’s backs ... This is what King, who followed in
the footsteps of Jesus, taught so well.”
Hatred diminishes life while love illuminates it. “Love is
the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. King’s
message is not about black people or white people. It’s for all people.
His message today transcends culture, race and sex. It’s about being truly
what God intended us to be—one with our God” by loving others even
when it hurts.
He encouraged parents to teach their kids to avoid profane
language, to show others respect and to live the Gospel values while embracing
them with love and advocating against violence in things like video games. He
urged all attendees to keep traveling the high road.
“We’ve come a long way, Church, but we have a long way
to go. Let us not talk the talk. We could make a difference in the city of
Atlanta” if all let God rule their lives, he said.
And don’t lose the directions and get lost. “Some of us
have 400 years of baggage we haven’t learned to let go of. We need to put
all that aside and move ahead. There’s a need for us to be
reconciled,” he continued. “We should never forget, but we have to
learn to forgive and move on, for they will know we are Christians because we
have to love and care for one another. Let us not be afraid because our God is
able. If he parted the waters of the Red Sea for Moses, don’t you think he
can take care of you and me?”
He called them to stay focused in mind and heart on Christ.
“King’s heart was fixed. He wasn’t going to let all the riots
and things deter him ... You’ve got to get to the point that you
don’t care what other people say about you because if they talked about
Jesus, they’ll do the same to us. We’ve got to hold on to that faith.
You’ve got to stretch out your hand.”
Racism, sexism and class discrimination will be overcome as blacks
and whites, rich and poor stand together united in Christ.
“We shall overcome if we stand on the power of Jesus,”
he concluded, before singing the first verses of “We Shall Overcome”
and then drawing the congregation to join in.
Charles Prejean, director of the Office for Black Catholic
Ministry, thanked those present, ministry supporters and Mass planners and
participants, including Father Lee, event chairperson Lorraine Mencer and
others. He thanked the archbishop for his “long-standing support for the
Office for Black Catholic Ministry.”
A reception followed the service. Attending with students from
Lyke House Catholic Center at Atlanta University Center, Joni Poitier said the
Mass motivated her to keep serving. She volunteers through Lyke House with a
chess program for youth and at the Shrine’s soup kitchen.
“The priest was saying (King) was like Jesus,” she said.
“They were both encouraging people to love,” said Poitier, who has
psychology and pre-law concentrations at Spelman College.
Deacon Hilliard Lee of St. Paul of the Cross Church commented on
the endless number of doors King opened for blacks, including the
Shrine’s.
“He’s inspired me a great deal. I’m a native
Atlantan. I grew up here under the segregated system. Even this church here is
one of these we weren’t allowed in as children ... I lived 2-3 miles from
St. Anthony’s, but I went to Lourdes (School). That was the church I went
to because that’s where black children went,” he recalled.
One bread, one body is “the theme that goes to the core of
what we’re (the church) about. I think that Dr. King spent his life
working towards one body. I think as long as we exist, there will always be
that fight or tension. We have a struggle not just inside the church, but
outside the church,” he said.
The Mass honored an “American hero,” he added. “The
struggle is still here to get all of us to come together as one in all we do
whether it’s the King Mass, Mass for the Unborn, the Life Chain.”
Deacon Lee recalled the faith of his forefathers. “To be
Christians we have to forgive, and as he said, we have to move forward. We
can’t just continue to stand in the sand and expect to be moving forward,
not just in the sand, but on the shoulders of our forefathers who really had to
struggle which allows us to live as we do today” in a more Christian
society.
The Mass was a time for Margaret Ann McCabe, who is white and has
two adopted minority children, to revive her spirit. It allowed her family
“to honor his legacy and to get rejuvenated to continue on, to push for
civil rights for all people and to live out the Gospel by community service. We
as a family are going to do service on Monday,” the King holiday, said
McCabe, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Atlanta. “We do a variety
of outreach things. It’s just part of our family life. We believe that
living the Gospel is giving oneself to others.”
Prejean spoke of how King is truly a model for all Christians as
he gave his entire life for his beliefs and work. He recalled how he, while
serving as executive director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives
promoting economic development, met King in 1968 to see how they could
collaborate in fighting poverty through the Poor People’s Campaign
addressing social and economic improvement.
“(King) realized the magnitude of that effort, but he was
willing to push forward in that direction and he did it with solemnity and
seriousness, that so impressed me, and his commitment to people,” Prejean
said. “It was just an inspiration for me to know that he was doing what I
thought was his Christian ministry, similar to what Christ explained to us in
terms of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. He was trying to help
those folks with the least.”
Prejean was also impressed by the many other unsung heroes in the
movement who worked courageously for justice in their own communities to
improve them. In that servant spirit, Prejean was glad to have about six
churches participate in planning the Mass and encouraged attendees to become
more involved with his office.
“There is an expression of interest in some churches twinning
with other parishes and entering into dialogue and seeing if this is something
we could do together,” he noted. “We’re here today to say that
God has chosen to come to us in different circumstances and cultures, races.
That’s what makes up the universality of the church.”
The director also hopes for more interaction by blacks with other
ethnic groups.
“We wanted the eucharistic service to be as representative of
the archdiocese as possible. We didn’t achieve that goal this year, but we
hope next year we’ll be able to,” he said.
His office “is not just a black thing. It’s open to
anyone who is interested in working with the office to join us in this effort.
We believe we could benefit from the experience and in so doing maybe we will
get together spiritually.” |
