Black Catholics and Their Church

    THE BLACK CATHOLlC BISHOPS I of the United States issued their fìrst and, to
date, only pastoralletter, What We Have Seen and l-leard,2 in 1984. They did
so in recognition of their belief that "the Black Catholic community in the
American Church has now come of age." This coming of age, they noted,
brings with it the duty, the privilege, and the joy to share with others the
rich experience of the "Word of Life. " stylishplus, Today, we are witnesses to further signs of that coming of age. African American Catholics4 are today asserting their rightful place in the Roman Catholic Church, nationally and global Basing our claÍ1n for recognition and inclusion on our history in the Alnerican church, which predates the Mayflower, our persistent faith gives living
expression to the "Word of Life," which we have received and which we fu l1y
embrace:
    you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citi zens with
the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Christ J esus himself being the cornerstone, in
whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple
in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God
in the Spirit. (Eph 2: 19-22)
    Strangers and sojourners no longer, African American Catholics can no
longer be required, in the words of the Psalmist, to ". . . sing the Lord's
song in a strange land" (Ps 137). Instead, we are taking down our harps and
converting that "strange land" into a honleland, one rich with the woven
tapestries of our voices lifted in praise and song; of our spirituality expressed
in deep and heartfelt prayer and preaching; and of our cultural heritage a
colorful nlixture of peoples of Africa, the Caribbean, the West 1ndies, South
America, and North Ameri ca.