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Here’s a fun article that reminds us of the catholic nature of the Catholic religion. Black Protestants are converting to the Orthodox religions to sate their desires for the sacred! Although the Orthodox churches are technically schismatic, their traditions and beliefs are rooted in the one true Church; their teachings have not deviated in drastically heretical ways (unlike in the case of the Protestants). Who would have thought that African Americans would make their way over to the Orthodox religions? “Misikir says, ‘It’s a little difficult to explain all of this to most Americans. At first, when I tell people I’m Orthodox, often they don’t understand me and think I’m Jewish.’” As Catholics, we should feel unabashed joy for this sort of re-conversion! Is this not a truer return to the African heritage than is a re-conversion to Islam (at least if you are of Eastern African descent)?
Tales about Catholic Africans date back to the Middle Ages. Colorful stories about Prester John (aka Presbyter John) tell of a Christian monarch who ruled over the Saracens and pagans of the Orient, central Asia, and the Dark Continent. One wonders whence came such fantastic tales. According to the Catholic tradition and biblical accounts, Africa was evangelized in the time of the Apostles. St. Philip is said to have baptized an Ethiopian eunuch in Acts of the Apostles (8:26:40). For those unfamiliar, this is one of the more unusual stories of the bible “And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing.”
In my estimation, too weird and lively to be mere fiction. Maybe the cheerful disposition of this eunuch is the precursor to the joy stereotypically portrayed in congregations of Southern Black Protestant churches. How’s that for affirming the axiom “Omnes viae Romam ducunt”!
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St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
I think I’ve just found my new patron saint . . .
Milwaukee boasts an ethnic parish for black Catholics — St. Benedict the Moor. The parish was set up about eighty years ago, so it well antedates Vatican II. It’s named after a slave who lived in Sicily before becoming a lay brother or monk of some variety.