The Catholic Church has no African American Saints
Many traditional, especially older Christians, Protestant and Catholic, scoff at the notion their religion is that of the "old white man." The literature it is based on was written by old white men. Church clergy and leadership is the same. Now, it is starting to be noticed the figures venerated by the Catholic branch do not include African Americans.
I've read the path to becoming a saint is rigorous and factual. The candidate has to have performed a "miracle" or two. Just reading "miracle" gives one the information needed to declare the whole thing hokum. People are starting to figure this out.
The pattern is obvious. In Europe and the U.S. old white guys pick candidates for sainthood. Black Catholics are invisible Catholics. When 10,000 people have been names saints one would think a black U.S. Catholic would slip in there. Sorry, none.
When one looks through the list of saints, nearly all black ones were from 1500 and before. I guess back then black Catholics were better than they are today.
Picking candidates for sainthood, as well as for the clergy, risks what the Methodists have experienced. The majority of Methodists in the U.S. wanted to move forward with gay pastors serving churches. The African membership has grown so large it tipped the balance and would not approve. "Uniting" and expanding the Methodists turned out to tear it apart.
African Catholics and I assume a large contingent of black U.S. Catholics do not see abortion as of prime concern. If they gain a foothold in internal Catholic politics it's Katie Bar the Door.
I'm guessing internal Catholic politics has played a role in preventing U.S. black Catholics from sainthood. The problem is more black people are concerned with equality and social justice than are white Catholics. Insider white Catholics are preoccupied with sin and abortion. Poverty and social justice are not on the radar.
It is not unusual to see your sketchy research and bias flow form alongside your personal pontificating on your alleged injustice that the Catholic Church had done to X.
ReplyDeleteYou can stick with Blacks but I'll expend the scope to include Native Americans. On the door of St. Patrick Church in New York, at street level is carved a young Native girl named Kateri Tekakwitha. She is the first Native American to be named a Saint.
Kateri Tekakwitha, given the name Tekakwitha, baptized as Catherine and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks, is a Catholic saint and virgin who was an Algonquin–Mohawk. Wikipedia
Born: 1656, New York
Died: April 17, 1680, Kahnawake, Canada
Feast: July 14; April 17 (Canada)
Canonized: October 21, 2012, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Beatified: June 22, 1980, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine: Saint Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
Parents: Kenneronkwa Tekakwitha, Tagaskouita Tekakwitha
As for the leading Black American candidates, the list most agreed up is shown at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Tolton The Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton
https://aleteia.org/2020/02/01/6-saints-for-black-history-month/#
1. The Venerable PierreToussaint
2. The Servant of God Mary Elizabeth Lange
3. Venerable Henriette Delille
4. Servant of God Julia Creeley,
5. Servant of God Thea Bowman
There has been only a few dozen saints in America. I imagine for those that like to count by race, color or nationality, there will always be an injustice they find a videocamera to tell their story Some will only shout form a long-forgotton blog.
Matt-- All of which makes my point, sainthood and the rest of the malarky comes from the culture that created the god and the aura that surrounds it. There have been few U.S. saints because the country was more Protestant than other places in the world for a long time. There was more skepticism in the U.S. about this hokum even among Catholics. There were no blacks because they were not liked by society. Now it is more popular to honor black people so the church is playing catch up.
DeleteSomeday there an openly gay person will reach sainthood. A while after that will be a trans. You gotta hustle to run a religion these days.
Your conclusions are not based on facts.
DeleteIn fact, most saints in the 20th century came out of Catholic-persecuted countries like Nazi Germany and Communist China.
We know you despise Christianity so calling sainthood "malarky" only proves my point about your lack or intellectual rigor in your subject matter research. Saints are only declared by the Pope, not the Catholic laity.
Hokum? What's with all the new adjectives today?
Dismissing sainthood of Blacks because they were not liked?!? And the Church is playing catch-up?! It took over 400 years for St. Kateri to be named. Some people are declared saints quickly, e.g. Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa) and Pope JPII, now St. John Paul the Great. St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury was declared a saint in 1173, less than 3 years after his assassination for defying King Henry II, his longtime friend and confidant.
I'm not aware of any Lebanese saints in America. Or Chinese, or Indian, etc. I know of one Native American woman. Like I said earlier, it only matters to people who view the world through a bigoted lens of race, color, etc. Those people are not Christian.
Matt -- Nazi Germany was anti Catholic??? Maybe you need to learn a little more about it. Hitler was a Catholic and embraced publicly be clergy at the time. In memoirs of German troops taking back areas from Russians rural people told the Germans they were glad they could display the cross again. Nazi Germany was a pro-saint area.
DeleteHitler was kicked out of Catholic grade school. His parents tried but he wanted to be evil.
DeleteHitler played politics with the Church but he despised the Church's power to influence people to follow Jesus.
The Church made the Vatican an underground "railroad" for Allied troops escaping the Nazis. Hitler and his Rome colonel had a white line drawn around St. Peter's; letting the Pope know where his authority resided.
Hitler was an atheist who only worshipped himself.
Matt-- Hitler did not try to destroy Catholic churches nor punish citizens who worshipped at Catholic churches. There is no evidence he ruled Germany with anti Christian policies nor with pro atheist policies. What were his personal beliefs? Everyone can have their own theory. He no doubt tried to limit the influence of Catholic leaders; they were political competition. I agree he was enamored with himself like a recent President here in the U. S.
DeleteHmmmm, low hanging fruit here.
DeleteShould I remind him that gassing or burning alive people by the millions is anti-Christian? Should I remind him that it was Jews, gypsies, the disabled, the so-called feeble minded and Catholics that were targeted and that that alone is about as evil and anti-Christian as it gets.
Or should I stick to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe who died at Auschwitz in place of another; a married man? And then refer to the diary of Ann Frank? Perhaps finish with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty snd Nazi Col. Herbert Kappker?
Hitler was a National Socialist (Nazi) who worshipped himself, tried to create a Master Race and slaughtered tens of millions. He was an atheist.
Matt-- Hitler was as evil person, did all those terrible things. He never said he was an atheist; said on occasion he was a Catholic. You are stuck with that. Live with it.
DeleteHere is what you are stuck with.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Adolf_Hitler
A freethinker!
Jon, how long must this interminable Hitler thing go on. he was a baptized Catholic which, in the eyes of the church makes him a Catholic for life. as for his "real" beliefs, he seems to have been something of pantheist, a Germanic pagan. and of course, a "religious" ideologue. or something of that sort. FYI: the electoral results from the German elections, 1930-34 or thereabouts show him with more support among Protestants (especially in northern Germany). he was definitely anti-Catholic: tensions with the church ran high. moreover , he made it clear that he would deal harshly with the Catholics when the war was won. in the meantime, well. I think that you could use a few good books on the history of the Nazi period. there are a lot of them out there (books that is).
DeleteMatt-- "Here is what you are stuck with....A freethinker."
DeleteI see you did not read your reference at all, or, did not read it carefully. You can claim Hitler was not a Catholic, but he gave lip service off and on the Catholics, sometimes to Protestants. He never declared he was an atheist. Yet, you use that label for him constantly. Plus, he never said the Nazi movement was a freethinker movement. While he harassed religion at times he embraced it when it fit his interests.
I could care less you claim Hitler was not a Catholic or a Christian. But when you say he worshipped himself, which may have been true, this does not make him an atheist. An atheist and freethinker does not worship any god or deity. That is even is the deity is himself. You enjoy assigning the atheist label to Hitler even though this does not fit what he said about himself. I know being a Christian requires a lot of shifty footwork.
tsm "..as to his 'real' beliefs..."
DeleteGood post. By discussing Hitler's complex behavior you are endangering your status as a good Catholic. The only acceptable view of Hitler by Catholics in good standing is that "he was an atheist." I've seen this statement by any number of Bishops. It is also repeated by the faithful repeater of the company line, Matt.
Hitler certainly could not be considered a "good" Catholic; he criticized the leadership and no doubt saw them as political competitors. But, he was an even worse atheist. So far as I know he did not write or say, "There is no God; there are no gods."
You asked how long this discussion about Hitler will go on. It will continue as long a Catholics refer to Hitler as an "atheist."
please. how can pointing out historical reality possibly endanger my Catholic status. history is history. facts are facts. I know, of course, that many post-modernist types don't much cotton to that view. so much the worse for them.
Deletewhat is a saint?
ReplyDeletehelper "what is a saint?"
ReplyDeleteMe, and possibly you. :)
Jon; re. your 12;51; Actually, it's "Hitler's religious views on religion/ Christianity". IN ITS ENTIRETY.
ReplyDeleteI should have pointed out that Hitler was certainly acquainted with Nietzsche (thanks in large part to Nietzsche's sister). and N. was most assuredly an atheist. I don't think, then, that it is totally inaccurate to say that there was atheism mixed into old Adolf's "philosophy". besides what of the views of Hitler's henchmen? as far as I know many of them were convinced atheists.
ReplyDeletetsm "I don't think, then, it is totally inaccurate to say there was atheism mixed in with Hitler's views."
ReplyDeleteYou could be right. It could also be there was some Catholicism there, maybe some Lutheranism. Maybe sometimes it was one thing, other times something else. Catholic clergy that comment on this, however, conclude only "Hitler was an atheist." It better fits the Catholic political operation. Best you conform like Matt does.
Lutheranism maybe yes. some historians claim that Luther's influence shows up in Nazi anti-Semitism. all we are doing here is emphasizing the fact of history's complexity. if Matt overstates his views, so do you.
Delete