Each year near the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we celebrate a Mass in
thanksgiving for the life and witness of Dr. King--and for the gifts brought to
our Archdiocese by African American and African Catholics. In the
entrance, young people of color carry icons of the saints of Africa, including
St. Monica and St. Augustine, St. Katherine Drexel, St. Charles Lwanga, and many
others.
A festive cloth from Africa covers the altar.
The Swahili community shares the exuberance of their prayer, of which dance is
an integral part.
Father Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest in Chicago, is a
candidate for sainthood. His cause has been admitted by the Congregation
for the Saints in Rome, and he is now known as "Servant of God."
Read more about Father Tolton
here.
Deacons from the African American community assisted at the Mass, including
Deacon Joseph Connor (left), newly-ordained Deacon Carl Chilo (right), and
Deacon Lamar Reed.
Newly-ordained Deacon Lamar Reed prepares to take the Gospel Book to the ambo.
The Festival Choir
Seattle City Council Member Bruce Harrell shared some brief reflections at the
end of Mass. Council Member Harrell is from a blended family, Japanese and
African American. He recalled walking in a march following Dr. King's
assassination in 1968, when he was a boy of ten.
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