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PAGE 2 — The Georgia Bulletin, May 7. 1987 1,500 To Participate Black Catholics Say Congress Long Overdue BY JULIE ASHER WASHINGTON (NC > — More than 34,000 black Catholics in 107 U.S. dioceses came together in consultations for the upcoming National Black Catholic Congress. That, organizers say, shows that a national meeting is long overdue if black Catholics are to take ownership in their church. "The congress is a step in the ongoing process of black Catholics coming of age and taking ownership," said Herbert Johnson, a congress organizer. Johnson is president of the National Association of Black Catholic Ad ministrators, which is a co-sponsor along with the nation’s 11 black bishops, the Na tional Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, the National Black Sisters Conference and the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver. For nine years Johnson has been ex ecutive director of the Office of Black Ministry for the New York Archdiocese. "By gathering we support ourselves in being both black and Catholic. It gives us the opportunity to share with each other our various concerns, both spiritual and tem poral,” he said. The congress will be held May 21-24 at The Catholic University of America in Washington. Overwhelming response to plans for the gathering prompted the organizers to change the dates and location for the meeting, originally scheduled for April at a smaller conference center in Chevy Chase, Md., a suburb of Washington. About 1.500 black Catholics from 107 dioceses are expected to participate to develop a national pastoral plan for black Catholics, with the emphasis on Buckhead Diamond Wholesale — Showroom Open To The Public- evangelization. Through a process of small and large group discussions they will seek strategies to make the Catholic faith more appealing to black Americans and to deter- mine why black Americans generally might not find the Catholic Church relevant to their lives. Six million to 10 million black Americans have no church affiliation. Of the country’s 52 million Catholics, 1.3 million are black. There will be keynote addresses and liturgies, but the focus of the four days will be the opinions and suggestions gathered in the consultations, held over the past nine months, to form a plan for the church to use through the end of the century. Auxiliary Bishop John Ricard of Baltimore, congress chairman, pointed to three areas he sees as important for con gress discussions. First, he said, are the concerns relating to the black family — social problems like family disintegration, drug abuse and crime. "We’re not looking at the family as pro blematic," he said. "The black family is really a bulwark of strength and resilience despite the odds. We re seeking how to strengthen it.” A major focus will be how to reach out to the unchurched blacks, how to devise meaningful ways to make them feel at home. Bishop Ricard said participants also will look at how the parish can be "a place of enablement” and more effective in how it relates to needs of the black community, deveiopment of lay leadership and develop ment of vocations. Sister Loretta Theresa Richards, a member of the congress's joint planning committee, said the Washington gathering "is a sign of great hope for biack Catholics.” Delegates To Congress Heading to Washington for the Na tional Black Catholic Congress later this month are 15 archdiocesan delegates including those shown in the photograph. From left to right they are; Merlin Todd, St. Paul of the Cross; Shelly Earl, Our Lady of Lourdes; Nema Roman, St. Anthony; Mary Wells, St. Paul of the Cross, Sherry Williams, St. Anthony; Nina Payne, alternate, St. Peter and Paul; Leslie Williams, Blessed Sacrament; Melba Hill, St. Anthony; Val Dorsey, St Pfter and Paul, who cannot attend the Washington meetings and who has been replaced by Melton Lincoln, St. Peter and Paul; Rhonwyn Rogers, St. John the Evangelist; Leon Allain, St. Paul of the Cross. Delegates not shown are Father Bruce Wilkinson, pastor of St. Anthony; Katherine Woodyard, St. John the Evangelist, and Jessie Barnett, St. Joseph in Athens. Two additional delegates ap pointed are Mary Thomas, Sacred Heart in Milledgeville, and Mercedes Walker, St. John the Evangelist. 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