November is Black Catholic history month and there is hardly any aspect of our shared history more important that the emergence of the National Black Sisters' Conference in 1968. The powerful witness of Black Catholic women religious is an integral part of the struggle to upend racism and white supremacy in the church and in society.
Founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under the inspiration and direction of then Sister Martin de Porres Grey, RSM (now Patricia Grey, Ph.D.), Sr. Grey was the only woman religious to attend the first National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC) held in Detroit in April, 1968 where, after the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Black Catholic priests organized to confront white privilege and supremacy within the Church.
After the 1968 meeting of Black priests, Sr. Martin de Porres led the call to all black religious women to organize in the same fashion. At that first, now historic, meeting in the summer of 1968 over 150 Black Catholic women religious from 79 different national and international congregations, gathered on the grounds of Carlow College. Sister Martin de Porres was elected to serve as president. A board of directors was elected and plans for legal incorporation of the National Black Sisters’ Conference were made. Organizing was a bold, powerful witness that challenged and interrupted church politics as usual and changed the trajectory of our common understanding of the Gospel message.
Register for a November 30 Webinar with Sister Anita Baird on the History of the National Black Sisters Conference
TO Register:Â https://www.futurechurch.org/celebrating-women-witnesses-for-racial-justice-prayers-and-presentations
