Type of business | Nonprofit |
---|---|
Type of site | Online newspaper |
Available in | English |
Founded | October 2020 |
Country of origin | United States |
Founder(s) | Nate Tinner-Williams, Preslaysa Williams, Alessandra Harris |
Editor | Nate Tinner-Williams |
Parent | Black Catholic Messenger Foundation |
URL | blackcatholicmessenger |
Current status | Active |
Black Catholic Messenger (BCM) is a nonprofit media publication covering stories of interest to African-American Catholics. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Its coverage has been featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer , La Croix , Aleteia , and the Baltimore Afro-American . [1] [5] [6] [7] BCM established a republishing partnership with National Catholic Reporter in 2022. [8]
The publication was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana, in late 2020. Nate Tinner-Williams—inspired by the model of Daniel Rudd, the 19th- and 20th-century Black Catholic journalist from Ohio—formed a group of young African-American Catholics to create a publication that could possibly revive Rudd's journalistic legacy. [1] [2]
The group, consisting of Tinner-Williams and authors Alessandra Harris and Preslaysa Williams, began their work in October of that year. [9] [10] [11] [12]
The publication reports on various issues in the Catholic Church and the Black community, some of which education, episcopal governance, racism, vocations, abuse, and notable deaths. [13] [14] [5] The Messenger also publishes interviews and art, including photography and poetry. [15] [16]
Nate Tinner-Williams serves as editor of the publication and in that capacity has been featured in America, National Catholic Reporter , and The Philadelphia Inquirer . [6] [7] [10] [17] [18]
The Philadelphia Inquirer, often referred to simply as The Inquirer, is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, The Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-longest continuously operating daily newspaper in the nation.
Daniel Arthur Rudd was a Black Catholic journalist and early Civil Rights leader.
African American newspapers are news publications in the United States serving African American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African American periodical, Freedom's Journal, in 1827. During the Antebellum South, other African American newspapers sprang up, such as The North Star, founded in 1847 by Frederick Douglass.
Chaplain of His Holiness is a title of distinction given by the Pope in recognition of a priest’s service to the Church. They are addressed with the honorific of "Monsignor" and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and vestments. In 2013 Pope Francis amended common practice to require that all such priests be at least 65 years of age.
Rufus Seth Williams is a former district attorney of the city of Philadelphia. He began his term January 4, 2010. He formerly served as an assistant district attorney. Williams was the first African-American district attorney in Philadelphia and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On March 21, 2017, Williams was indicted on 23 counts of bribery, extortion, and fraud. His trial began June 19, 2017. He resigned and pleaded guilty to one charge on June 29, 2017.
Ellen Powell Tiberino (1937-1992) was an African American artist who was figurative and expressionist in her pastels, oils, pencil drawings and sculptures. Her works were infused with the experiences and history of Black people, women in particular, whom she most often painted in dark and haunting hues. She was a prolific artist, working against time as she battled cancer for the last 14 years of her life.
Constance Elaine Clayton was an American educator and civic leader. From 1982 to 1993, she was the Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Clayton held the distinction of being both the first woman and the first African American to serve as Superintendent of Schools in Philadelphia. In 1992, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education established the Constance E. Clayton Professorship, the first professorship to be established in the name of an African American woman at an Ivy League institution and the second such professorship in the United States. Clayton was known for her "forceful persona" and "no-nonsense" approach and for her advocacy for children.
The Philadelphia Tribune is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States.
Black Catholicism or African-American Catholicism comprises the African American people, beliefs, and practices in the Catholic Church.
The Christian Street Historic District is an historic district located along Christian Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is also known as Black Doctors' Row. The narrow district extends approximately six city blocks, from the 1400 block of Christian Street to the intersection of Christian Street with 20th Street. Its width is one block on either side of Christian Street, extending to Montrose Street and Webster Street. It is within the area known as South Philadelphia and the neighborhood known as Graduate Hospital.
Roland Ayers (1932–2014) was an African American watercolorist and printmaker. He is better known for his intricate drawings – black-ink figures of humans and nature intertwined in a dream-like state against a neutral backdrop. A poet and lover of jazz and books, he expressed his poetry through images rather than words, he often noted, and considered his artwork to be poetry.
Louis B. Sloan was an African American landscape artist, teacher and conservator. He was the first Black full professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and a conservator for the academy and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Although he painted urban neighborhoods and other cityscapes, he was mostly known for his plein-air paintings.
Benjamin Franklin (Ben) Britt (1923–1996) was a figurative, surrealist and abstract painter, and art teacher. His subjects were African American culture, religion and children, which he captured in oil and charcoals. Britt signed his works “B. Britt,” dotting the “i” with tiny round circles.
Jacques Eric Fabre-Jeune, C.S., known before May 2022 as Jacques Fabre, is a Haitian-American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Bishop of Charleston since 2022.
Reba Dickerson-Hill was a self-taught Philadelphia artist who painted in the ancient Japanese ink-and- brush technique called sumi-e. She was also a watercolorist and oil painter who primarily produced landscapes and portraits.
Howard N. Watson (1929-2022) was an African American watercolorist, landscape artist, illustrator and teacher. He was known for his impressionistic watercolors of historical buildings, streets, neighborhoods and landmarks in the Philadelphia region.
Claver College was a Black Catholic university in Guthrie, Oklahoma, founded by Sr Joseph O'Conner in 1933 to serve the area's African Americans. It was supported with funding from Katharine Drexel. The college was named after Peter Claver, a Jesuit missionary.
Martinho Maria de Porres Ward, O.F.M. Conv. was an African-American Catholic priest who served as a missionary in Brazil for more than forty years. He was the first African American to join the Conventual Franciscans in modern times and has been proposed as a candidate for canonization by the Diocese of São João del Rei.
Preslaysa Williams is an American actress, journalist, and author from New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is a novelist with HarperCollins, specializing in contemporary romance and women's fiction, with a focus on diverse characters. She has been featured in The New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, NPR, and Writer's Digest.