Ministries around Holy Name Province emphasized Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of peace, nonviolence and activism during this year’s holiday commemorations. Friars and partners-in-ministry organized a variety of events, including Masses, candlelight vigils and marches to gather their communities and to pay tribute to the life and philosophies of King, who was assassinated in 1968. Provincial Liturgy in South Carolina …
Seasonal Reflection: ‘I Have a Dream’
As the nation observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a friar who met the civil rights leader when King was awarded the St. Francis Peace Medal in 1963, writes about the changes in race relations he has witnessed as a member of the African-American community. When the HNP Communications Office asked me to write a reflection on this year’s observance of the …
Black History Month Celebrations Honor Past, Present, Future
Ministries around the Province celebrated the African American community throughout February during Black History Month. At St. Joseph Parish in Wilmington, Del., events were held every Sunday throughout February. The parish, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, is the oldest historically African American Catholic parish in the Diocese of Wilmington. On the first Sunday, St. Joseph’s hosted a …
Friars Honor African Ancestry Culture in the Church
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Holy Name Province friars and members of other Franciscan and religious communities welcomed 25 black Catholic men for a weekend of prayer and community last month, just after Christmas. Men of both African and African-American descent traveled from as far away as Buffalo, N.Y., and St. Louis to participate in the Go Down Moses retreat to learn …
Honoring King’s Legacy
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream lives on at ministries around the Province, as friars and their partners-in-ministry demonstrated by commemorations of the civil rights leader this weekend. In addition to reflecting on King’s work, some ministries took an active role in continuing what he began more than 60 years ago. HNP Commemoration Provincial Minister John O’Connor, OFM, celebrated Mass during the Province’s …