Cyprian Davis

I really liked this book. I became more interested in Black Catholics in particular as when I lived in Texas I belonged to a primarily black Catholic church.

What I found most interesting actually wasn't related directly to Black Catholics but was actually learning how religious communities (like a new association of nuns) is actually established. It seemed amazingly easy, at least from a hierarchy perspective. The other is that I was surprised how deeply important it was for people to have the option of a Catholic education available. Most of the Church's largest opponents I have met are those that went to Catholic school, so this seemed odd to me. I know that at the time frame the public schools were basically protestant schools that were funded with stolen money, as opposed to the voluntarily funded Catholic schools, so I'm not sure if that is it, or if there really is expected a larger positive from the Catholic schools than I realized.

Otherwise it was interesting learning of just how old the Black Catholic church is, how long they have been around, and how delicately race relations were treated. I think its unfortunate that Vatican II happened when it did, if it was earlier perhaps we would have had more Black Catholics if the church wasn't so scary in Latin. But it looks like the push of African American Catholics to re-instate the permanent deaconate, something that is evident in almost ever Catholic Parish I've ever been in, seems to have played a major role in the development of Vatican II.

The book is expertly referenced, and in a way that does not detract from the comfortable reading. (In line subscript numbers that correspond to the back of the book). A few topics that I found extremely interesting, including: Biography of the first Black Bishop, the son of a slave and her master, A black Catholic outreach home appearing to attempt to rival the Communism of the Panthers, and civil war relations with the state of Missouri, lead to items to add to my book queue for some time in the future.… (meer)