Black Catholic Messenger

Louisiana's extension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse has been ruled unconstitutional in a split decision hinging on the due process clause of the state's constitution. 

Sr. Mary Roger Thibodeaux, a veteran member of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and a leading Catholic light of the 20th-century Black freedom struggle, has died in Pennsylvania. 

The 100-year-old school is one of several small, significantly Black Catholic colleges to announce closure recently due to long-term financial struggles.

Tevin Williams writes about his hope that this Lenten season, "Black Catholics will recognize that in spite of the injustices and odds against us and the standard of perfection often required of us, we will prevail just as Jesus did."

This book contributes a thoughtfully and collectively crafted starting point for the importance of preaching racial justice, moving toward how the church might begin to respond — by speaking directly to its people. 

For years, a Baltimore group has been petitioning the pope to make a move regarding the first six African American Catholics on the path to sainthood. In October, they finally received a meeting with the Vatican's saint-making office.

If we want to have serious discourse about being pro-life, it's imperative that we as church put the issue of Black maternal health at the forefront of the movement, and address structural racism in our medical system.

Briana Jansky of Tyler, Texas, explains how Bishop Joseph Strickland — removed from his post this month by the Vatican — led her flock astray and nearly sabotaged her faith.

Catholic Religious Organizations Studying Slavery (CROSS) met in St. Louis recently for two days of presentations, prayer and possibilities at the intersection of Catholic archives and the nation's original sin.

A new film from Matthew Heineman centers a Black Catholic musician and his complexities as he navigates fame and family at an artistic apex.

A fun ride through music history, featuring the ethnoreligious community that seems to have made it all possible. In the history of American music, the Black Catholic influence is, quite simply, off the charts.

The nation's largest Black Catholic organization honed in on Gov. Ron Desantis' defense of new public ed standards that characterize slavery as beneficial.

The 6-3 decision said that the practice violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The payouts are intended to support programs benefiting descendants of those enslaved by U.S. Jesuits in the years before Emancipation.

The April 28 birthday event in New Orleans for the rap mogul Master P, a Black Catholic, honored his daughter Tytyana Miller, who died in 2022 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

The famed singer and actor, whose financial support helped sustain the Civil Rights Movement, succumbed to heart failure in New York.

U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, the nation's lone Black Catholic member of Congress, has spoken out about reports that President Joe Biden may soon reinstate Trump-era family detention policies.

Efran Menny connects the recent tragedy in Memphis to the suffering Mother of God, seen in the mothers of Black men murdered in an unjust America.

Kirk Whalum, a multi-Grammy Award-nominated saxophonist and composer, sat down with Black Catholic Messenger to discuss his faith journey, his musical inspirations, and his relationship with a certain African-American saint-to-be who also happens to be his kin.

Shawnee Daniels-Sykes, the nation's only Black Catholic female bioethicist, has died at the age of 61 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.