Why is it so important for black Catholics to examine their religious history?
Black Catholics want a sense of being Catholic, especially if they are converts; but they dont want to be cut off from their roots. They desperately need and want a sense of identity. So many were not able to tell their children about what it means to be black Catholics or about black saints or black priests. But now they have that background information, and they can use it. They have a good reason to be Catholic and to be proud of it and not feel they have given up being black. How long have black Catholics been in the U.S.? Black Catholics arrived with the Spaniards in Florida in the 16th century. There was an article in the American Historical Review last year that looked at an event known as the Stoner Rebellion in Georgia in the 1700s. Some of the slaves who rebelled in that incident had come from the Congo region, part of what is now Angola. The writer hypothesized that these slaves considered themselves Catholic. We do know that there were African Muslims who had been enslaved,
