Posted on 03/01/2020 5:11:37 AM PST by Kaslin
Despite decades of outreach, the Church in the US has made little inroads in attracting black converts.
There are many Black Catholics in traditionally Catholic cities like Baltimore and New Orleans. The Catholic Church’s teaching and practice as to racial equality are based on fundamental principles, not on a desire to attract converts.
In my area (around Newark NJ) the only growth in the Church with blacks are Catholic groups coming here (Nigerian Igbos, Haitians); there are few American black Catholics here despite a lot of outreach.
One of the most famous black Roman Catholics was heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson, who converted to Catholicism in his youth and was active in the church his whole life.
Kobe Bryant as well.
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Interesting that the animus between Catholics and Freemasons was not mentioned as the driving force for instantiating the K of C to counter the Fremason’s message of brotherhood and more ‘inclusive’ religions. It was the Freemasons from both sides who met in the Civil War battlefields to care for the injured and dead, not the KC.
The Knights of Columbus was founded Feb 6, 1882.
Find a better reason to knock a force for good in the world.
When I moved to Indiana I was surprised at the number of black Catholics. I found out that it was because of the large KKK influence here a hundred years ago. Catholics and blacks were common enemies.
Any welcome and attraction by American Blacks to the universalism of Catholicism is commonly trumped by the desire to express Black identity and be in the company of friends, neighbors, and family. In some Catholic dioceses there are priests and services adapted to the idioms of the American Black religious traditions. Think big choirs, lots of hymn singing, and energetic sermons -- just like in an AME church.
In response, the Klan threatened the local priests and warned that they would burn down the convent across from the elementary school. Nothing came of it, likely because men of the parish watched over the convent and school with shotguns at the ready.
I’m familiar with a parish like that; it is a prime example of failed outreach.
I believe the issue more in NJ is that we had no historically black populations to begin with; much of the Catholic migration here was after slavery ended, and until the 1960s there was no large-scale migration of blacks to the area (and those were primarily Protestant groups).
And may I add that despite this and everything else, the Black vote still goes to the most radical (on every issue under the sun) politicians out there. If they were ever going to draw a line, it would have been drawn a long time ago. Most Blacks simply don't care. And they never have to deal with it (after all, just being Black indicates transgressiveness and support from all liberals).
Black Africans, meanwhile, are right in the way of the Soros/homosexual/moslem axis and American Blacks don't seem to care about that either.
The KKK is an extension of white, southern Protestants.
Anti-Catholic bigotry is the last acceptable form of the Klan at FreeRepublic.
I’m Catholic, and I feel far more support here for traditional Catholic views than antagonism. Plenty of opponents, but that is their right.
In contemporary America, conversion from one denomination to another is relatively rare, with most additions to the faithful coming from demography or recovering those who have fallen away or evangelizing the unchurched. After Vatican II, the Catholic Church has not done well with evangelism, with the limited exception of traditionalist orders and churches that are now being suppressed by Pope Francis and his crew of thugs and Leftists.
All too true. The anti-Catholic preachments one reads are like something out of a crude tent meeting in which Catholics, Coca-Cola, and dancing all get denounced in the sternest possible terms.
I agree that the Catholic Church has done a poor job of evangelizing since Vatican II; by basically giving weight to other denominations, they gave little reason for anyone to convert to what is generally a stricter Truth. Worst sales pitch ever...
Other denominations have done quite well attracting former Catholics, though.
The social gospel favored by the Left is weak gruel for anyone searching for truths to guide one’s life.
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