Office for Black Catholics

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HAITI UPDATE - DEVASTATING NUMBERS RISE

The country of Haiti experienced a 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. This earthquake has left Haiti in a state of utter destruction. The death toll has reached 212,000 according to reports by Prime Minister Bellerive on February 4, 2010. The homeless numbers have reached higher than one million. The truly devastating magnitude of the earthquake will probably never be realized through accurate numbers. There will be more deaths, injuries, homeless, and post-traumatic-stress-disorder sufferers than we will ever know. The Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, is counted among the dead. Father Pierre Le Beller reported from France that he learned the news from missionaries who pulled Monsignor Miot’s body from the rubble. MSNBC reported that the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was also killed.

The devastation is made clear through the media; for example, television coverage showed Haitian citizens using their bare hands to dig victims from beneath collapsed buildings. The Haitians are known to be a strong, resilient people, who pull together during times of crisis. This deeply spiritual country is 80% Roman Catholic. A mission worker reported that she was awe struck to hear Haitians singing in the streets. She reported “they were singing praises to God for having protected them through the night.”

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims of this catastrophe, their loved ones, and with all Haitians. In addition to your prayers, we hope that you will be able to reach out as fellow Catholics and contribute to relief aid for the people of Haiti.

Please send donations to Catholic Relief Services, 3525 S. Lake Park Avenue, Chicago, IL 60653-1402. For more information you may go to the Catholic Relief Services website at www.CRS.org. They also have a page on Facebook.

If you would like to speak to someone regarding the efforts of Catholic Relief Services in Haiti, please call Adrienne Curry at 312-534-8367.

OFFICE FOR BLACK CATHOLICS ' MISSION

The mission of the Office for Black Catholics is to serve approximately 100,000 Black Catholics, including Haitians, Afro-Caribbeans, Africans, and African-Americans. Our mission is to serve approximately sixty parishes with majority or significant Black populations throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Office for Black Catholics serves as a provider of, and supportive resource for, programs, initiatives and ministries designed to enhance the spiritual and social-justice needs of the Archdiocese of Chicago Black Catholic Community.

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Archdiocese of Chicago
Office for Black Catholics

"It Takes a Village..."

The Village is Coming

Come back soon for information on The Village, a new uplifting, service orientated initiative in the Roseland / Morgan Park communities.

UPCOMING EVENTS

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The Bishop's Message

“Abortion and its Impact on the Black Community”

Bishop Joseph N. Perry

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WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

As the new director of the Archdiocese of Chicago Office for Black Catholics, I want to welcome you to the new Black Catholic Chicago website. This site is intended to provide the Black Catholic Community with the most updated and relevant faith-based information. It is our goal to supply supportive resources for programs, initiatives, and ministries which are designed to enhance your spiritual and social justice needs.

We strive to be a strong voice within the Church and our community. To accomplish this we need your prayers, support, and input. We are called to be Community. We are our sisters’ and brothers’ keeper. We are called to “Umoja,” which is unity, the first principle of Kwanzaa.

Please feel free to email the Office for Black Catholics and share important news about your church communities with the entire archdiocese and the Church at large. Our email address is obc@archchicago.org. We all have gifts to share with each other. No church is too small, or too large, to share the Word of God. In your evangelization efforts, if you have found something that works, please share it with the larger Catholic community.

Remember, “It takes a Village.”

Peace,

Mary Norfleet-Johnson

Director

Mary Norfleet Johnson

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This Month in Black History

To learn interesting facts about those who have shaped Black Catholic history, please click the following link: LinkClick.aspx

This Month in Black History:

· March 5, 1770 - Crispus Attucks becomes one of the first casualties of the American Revolution.

· March 6, 1857 - U.S. Supreme Court issues Dred Scott decision.

· March 7, 1965 - U.S. Supreme Court upholds key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

· March 9, 1941 - Amistad mutineers freed by U.S. Supreme Court.

· March 10, 1913 - Harriet Tubman dies.

· March 11, 1959 – Chicago’s Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin In the Sun" opens at Barrymore Theater, New York, the first play by a Black woman to premier on Broadway.

· March 13, 1773 - Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, Haitian pioneer and explorer, founded Chicago.

· March 14, 1965 - Montgomery bus boycott ends when municipal bus service is desegregated.

· March 15, 1988 - Eugene Antonio Marino, first Black archbishop, assigned to Atlanta.

· March 16, 1846 - Rebecca Cole, second African American female physician in America, born.

· March 17, 1885 - William F. Cosgrove patents automatic stop plug for gas and oil pipes.

· March 17, 1890 - Charles B. Brooks patents street sweeper.

· March 18, 1822 - The Phoenix Society, a literary and educational group, founded by Blacks in New York City.

· March 20, 1883 - Jan. E. Matzeliger patents shoe-making machine.

· March 21, 1965 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., for voting rights.

· March 22, 1898 - J.W. Smith patents lawn sprinkler.

· March 25, 1843 - Explorer Jacob Dodson sets out in search of the Northwest Passage.

· March 26, 1872 - Thomas J. Martin patents fire extinguisher.

· March 26, 1911 - William H. Lewis becomes U.S. Asst. Attorney General.

Important Websites

NBCC
National Black Catholic Congress
www.nbccongress.org

USCCB
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
www.usccb.org