Holy Family Catholic Church's
Black Catholic Ministry
Mission Statement
Our mission is to serve Christ and the children in our community and to promote cultural diversity throughout Holy Family Parish. As His sons and daughters, we exist to share the word of the Gospel and encourage those most in need. Under the guidance of the Holy Family and our patron Saint Josephine Bakhita, we focus on the advocacy of children living in vulnerable situations.
Our Next MeetingBecoming involved in a ministry is an effective way to contribute to the growth and development of our Parish Community. Please consider becoming a member of the Black Catholic Ministry. We meet every month on the second Wednesday at 6:30PM at a member's house. Please call the Parish Office to find out where the next meeting will be. Feel free to bring a friend or a family member with you. Refreshments will be served. Your involvement is needed to make this ministry a vibrant part of our Parish. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!
BLACK CATHOLIC MINISTRY,
Black Heritage Mass, February 18, 2018 |
Activities
Check the bulletin for details and times of upcoming events. We hold monthly meetings and sponsor dances, food basket raffles, movie nights, local pilgrimages, and more.
Our Next Black Catholic Heritage Celebration Mass
This is an annual Mass to celebrate Black contributions in the history of the Catholic Church.
Our next Black Catholic Heritage Mass is: Sunday, February 18, 2018, 12:00pm Reception to follow in the Parish Hall Corporate CommunionSunday 8:00 AM Mass on the following dates:
April 29, 2018 July 29, 2018 September 30, 2018 December 30, 2018 |
Gallery
Black Catholic Ministry is a ministry of sharing the culture, the talents, and the gifts of faith among the Black community in our parish and beyond. The Black Catholic Ministry's role is to promote the Catholic faith among African-Americans and Blacks of different cultures and to encourage them to take a more active part in the church. The Orita Mentor Program offers frequent seminars, outings, and monthly meetings where young people feel free to express their feelings of faith. One of the highlights of this ministry is the annual Black Catholic Mass.
Saint Josephine BakhitaSt. Josephine Bakhita was born into a well-respected and prosperous family in western Sudan (Darfur), Africa, in the village of Olgossa, about 1869. Neither Josephine nor Bakhita was the name she received from her parents at birth; she forgot her name because of trauma she experienced when kidnapped by Arab slave traders when she was about 8 years old. Bakhita, which means "the lucky one," was the name given to her by her kidnappers. She was then sold in the markets of El Obeid and Khartoum over five times and experienced the physical and moral humiliations and sufferings of slavery, including beatings, scarification/tattooing, and forcibly converting to Islam. She was bought by the Italian Vice Consul Callisto Legnani in Khartoum and eventually brought to Italy in the late 1880s by the Augusto Michieli family. There she cared for their daughter Mimmina.
Mimmina and Bhakita were entrusted to the Canossian Sisters of the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in Venice. There Bakhita learned about God; on January 9, 1890, she was baptized Josephine Margaret Fortunata (the Latin form of the Arabic Bakhita). On the same day she was also confirmed and received Holy Communion from Archbishop Giuseppe Sarto, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, who later became Pope Pius X. From then on, she was often seen kissing the baptismal font in gratitude, saying: "Here, I became a daughter of God!" When Mimmina’s parents came to take them both back to Sudan, Josephine Bakhita expressed her desire to remain with the Canossian Sisters and to serve God. Of course, both Mrs. Michieli and Mimmina wanted Bakhita to go with them, but Bakhita refused. The superior at the Institute complained on her behalf to the Italian authorities. On November 29, 1889, an Italian court ruled that, because Sudan had outlawed slavery before Bakhita's birth and because Italian law did not recognize slavery, Bakhita had never legally been a slave—she was free to stay. On December 7, 1893, she entered the novitiate, and on December 8, 1896, Josephine Margaret Bakhita was consecrated to God. For the next half century, this humble Daughter of Charity, a true witness to the love of God, lived in the Schio community, involved in various services: cooking, sewing, embroidery, and attending to the door. Her humility, simplicity, and constant smile won the hearts of all the villagers. Her sisters in the community esteemed her for her constant sweet nature, exquisite goodness, and deep desire to make the Lord known. To this day, everyone still calls her "Madre Moretta" (our "Black Mother"). Josephine Bakhita breathed her last on February 8, 1947, at the Canossian convent in Schio, surrounded by the sisters. She was beatified on May 17, 1992, and canonized on October 1, 2000. |
“Be good,
Love the lord, Pray for those who do not know God-- What a great grace it is to know God!” St. Josephine Bakhita, you were sold into slavery as a child and endured untold hardship and suffering.
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