For Black History Month 2025, Pax Christi USA will offer a weekly reflection focused on a well-known person or aspect of Black Catholicism in the United States.
Each Tuesday in February, we’ll post a new reflection.
- February 4: Dr. Ansel Augustine writes about St. Katharine Drexel, who modeled true allyship as a white woman who used her privilege to create opportunity for and empower those who were marginalized.
- February 11: Pax Christi USA’s bishop president Bishop John Stowe reflects on Servant of God Martin Maria de Porres Ward, the first African American member of the Conventual Franciscans, who is now a candidate for sainthood.
- February 18: Former Pax Christi USA national council member Cynthia Morris reflects on the contribution of the Knights of Peter Claver (KPC) and the KPC Ladies’ Auxiliary in the lives of African American Catholics.
- February 25: Pax Christi USA Executive Director Charlene Howard shares about the rich legacy of her Black Catholic family.
From Black History Month 2023…
- February 9: Join PCUSA National Council Chair Charlene Howard for “Profiles of Faithful Perseverance: Six African American Catholics Who Should be Named Saints”
- February 25, 1 pm Central (2 pm Eastern): Knights of St. Peter Claver hosts an online panel to discuss how to dismantle racism in the United States. Use this link to read more and register.
- February 7, Pearlette Springer, coordinator of the Pax Christi USA Anti-Racism Team, writes the monthly membership letter.
- Commit to pray for reparations (organized by NETWORK)
- The saintly Black Catholics who paved the way for MLK
- February 5: Annual Day of Prayer for the African and African American Family
- The Black authors all Catholics should read
- Four one-page inserts on important African Americans, provided by the Catholic Racial Justice Collaborative) to share with church or school communities
>> Find more resources on racial justice, Black Lives Matter, and Pax Christi USA’s anti-racism initiative begun in 1999, Brothers and Sisters All, at this link.
From Black History Month 2022…
- Join Shannen Dee Williams on Feb. 12 for a Black Catholic History presentation
- Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team member Vicki Lott will lead book study on Caste for JustFaith
- At start of Black History Month, Pax Christi USA joins over 350 groups to urge U.S. House leadership to back H.R. 40
- “A history of Black Catholics in the United States,” by Cyprian Davis
- There are no African American saints. A lay Catholic group seeks to change that.
- The Catholic Church in Black and White: The Bystander Syndrome, by Pearlette Springer
- The Catholic Church in Black and White, by Vicki Lott
From Black History Month 2021…
- National Council Chair Isaac Chandler reflects on Black History Month, recent events & more in February letter to membership
- Black Catholic History: Vision, Voice and Vigilance, a webinar on Sunday, 2/28 at 4pm ET from the Catholic Racial Justice Collaborative in St. Louis; watch the video here.
- Celebrating Faithful Democracy as Black History Town Hall, Thursday, 2/25 at 4:30pm ET
- A reflection for the first Sunday of Lent from M. Shawn Copeland, Ph.D.
- Your Struggle is My Struggle, a recent episode on the Parting the Waters podcast featuring former Pax Christi USA National Council member Adrienne Alexander, co-author with Michael N. Okińczyc-Cruz of the article, “Black & Latino Catholics agree: Our lives matter”
- The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., a video presentation by Dr. Vicki Vernon Lott, Pax Christi USA National Council member
- “Guns are white supremacy’s deadliest weapon. We must disarm hate.” by Rev. Sharon Risher
- Find resources for incorporating the work of Black Catholics into our educational institutions by going to this link to the Black Catholic Syllabus by Tia Noelle Pratt, Ph.D.
- Download this resource packet from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC’s Office of Black Catholics created for the observance of #BlackCatholicHistoryMonth.