Convocation speaker offers snapshot of black Catholics in U.S.

Published: 2004-04-27

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- The National Black Catholic Convocation, focused this year especially on leadership, opened with a snapshot of African-American Catholics and their struggles. Blacks make up about 3 percent of the Catholic Church in the United States, said Deborah Plummer, an associate professor of psychology and director of the diversity management program at Cleveland State University. That number includes only U.S.-born citizens of African descent or immigrants of African descent who are now citizens, she said in an April 19 keynote talk. Eight percent of the nation's parishes report that more than 40 percent of their members are African-American, while 7 percent of U.S. parishes consider themselves African-American parishes, Plummer said. But less than 1 percent of priests and brothers and 4 percent of deacons are African-American, she noted. The average number of parishioners in an African-American parish is less than 450, and each parish typically has three or fewer Masses celebrated each week.

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