CPA Mass shows multilingual nature of U.S. church, says Msgr. East

Published: 2004-06-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- An African-American priest celebrated Mass in Spanish and English May 28 to highlight to Catholic journalists in attendance that the U.S. church is multilingual and multicultural. "If a black brother from Newark can speak a few words of Spanish, we all can do it," said Msgr. Raymond East, director of the Office of Black Catholics for the Archdiocese of Washington. "The church has been multilingual from the beginning," he said, referring to Pentecost when the apostles spoke to the crowd and every person heard the words in his or her own language. Msgr. East was the principal celebrant and homilist at the closing Mass of the 94th annual Catholic Press Association convention, held in Washington May 26-28.

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