November is Black Catholic History Month and to honor one of the many black Catholics who have contributed to the faith not just in the United States but across the world, today on the podcast I am so excited to share the voice of Sister Thea Bowman. Sister Bowman is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and Servant of God. In her short time on earth, she was a critical and valued voice for African Americans in the Catholic Church. She helped immensely with the creation of Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal, now in its second edition with GIA Publications and still widely used in the Church today. In her life she served as the Director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs in the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, and was a founding faculty member for the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University. She spoke across the country about peace, forgiveness and God’s will, speaking at 100 venues annually for a large part of her life. And not only that, Sister Thea was the first and only Black nun in her religious congregation, and the first Black woman to address the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
I struggled to write this introduction to this episode because Sister Thea Bowman did so much in her 52 years on this earth, I almost didn’t want to summarize it here and risk doing her memory a disservice. And for this reason, I will be providing plenty of biographical information in the “show notes” of this episode. Today’s episode features Sister Thea Bowman as she addressed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1989, less than one year from her death due to breast cancer. Sister Thea’s powerful word and song echoed in the minds of those who were gathered that day, and those who still listen, as she asks: “What does it mean to be Black in the Church and in society today?”
SHOW NOTES
Sister Thea Bowman’s address to the USCCB can be found as a video recording here:
A transcript of her address to the USSCB can be found here.
We encourage you to learn more about Sister Thea Bowman by exploring the following links:
Sister Thea Bowman: Biography (sistertheabowman.org)
Sister Thea Bowman’s Story: The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
Catholic University of America: “Stand Together”: Sister Thea, Our Saint in the Making
The Sister Thea Bowman Foundation
For more about Black Catholic History Month, check out the following links:
USCCB: On the Road to Sainthood: Leaders of African Descent
The Catholic Review: Celebrating Black Catholic History Month (2019)
USCCB: Recommended Reading about Inspiring African Americans
We also encourage you to read these resources, as they support the Black Catholic community:
Pittsburgh Catholic: Ministry to African Americans (November 6, 2020)
National Catholic Reporter: Black Catholic Women: Voice Embodied (July 8, 2020)
The National Black Catholic Congress Website
Today’s replay of Sister Thea Bowman’s address to the USCCB was made possible by permissions from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, EWTN and the National Black Catholic Congress.
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