Celebrating Culture and Honoring Our History

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

On the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 21 and 22, I had the great privilege of celebrating four Masses. Three of those Masses (on Saturday evening at St. Stephen’s Church, in Paterson, on Sunday Morning at our Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and mid-day at St. Brendan’s Church in Clifton) were special celebrations for the Feast of Our Lady of Altagracia (Highest Grace), the patroness of the Dominican Republic, whose Feast Day is celebrated on Jan. 21.

As many are aware, people who are originally from the Dominican Republic, along with their children and grandchildren, represent a significant portion of the Spanish-speaking Catholic community of our diocese. These were three wonderful celebrations, highlighted by the visit of Bishop Santiago Rodriguez, the bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro Demacoris in the Dominican Republic, who was the main celebrant and homilist at the Mass at the Cathedral. It was a pleasure for me to concelebrate the Mass with Bishop Santiago.

On Sunday afternoon, I had the privilege to celebrate Mass at St. Cecilia’s Church in Rockaway. That Mass was a special celebration of the Lunar New Year, with the Vietnamese Catholic Community that gathers each Sunday at St. Cecilia’s. It was wonderful to see the relationship between Father Sig Peplowski and Father Matt, working with Father Peter … and other Vietnamese priests, religious, and lay leaders in preparing this special Mass. At the Mass, in addition to the very large Vietnamese community, we were also joined by the Sisters of Assumption College, who represent not only Vietnam but 13 different countries.

If there are readers who may not be familiar with Assumption College for Sisters (ACS), I encourage you to visit their website. I will share just a few lines from the website here:

“… Sponsored by the Sisters of Christian Charity, ACS offers a two-year, integrated program of liberal arts and theological study in addition to a year of ESL and computer studies for our international students. Each year ACS offers 20 full scholarships to Sisters from developing nations located in Africa, Asia, and Central America. After they earn AA degrees, more than 90 percent of our graduates continue their studies at a four-year college. Upon completion of their studies, the Sisters return to their native countries to serve their people through various ministries, including pastoral care, healthcare, and education. Our Mission is embodied by our mantra ‘Teach a sister… Touch the world’…”

Assumption College for Sisters is a beautiful example of what it means for us to be a truly “Catholic” (Universal) Church and can help us to see how important it is and what a blessing it can be to celebrate the variety of our cultures and learn from one another’s diversity and histories. It was wonderful to share the “New Year Celebration” with the Vietnamese community, the Sisters of Assumption College, and a large number of families and parishioners of all ages. After the Mass, there was a delicious Vietnamese meal, traditional New Year’s customs, music, and some great entertainment.

A great blessing in my personal life and in my own appreciation of the beauty of our Catholic Faith is the opportunity that the Church gives us to get to know and learn about people, nations, cultures, and histories that are very different from our own. I believe that one of the great strengths of the United States and our history as a nation is our respect for and appreciation of our diversity. As I was able to experience last weekend, here in our diocese, we are surely blessed by our diversity. We were recently doing some pastoral planning, and I was reminded that amongst our 109 parishes in the diocese, Mass is celebrated in fourteen different languages each Sunday.

Another opportunity to celebrate culture and honor our history, as we enter the month of February, is as a nation, we celebrate Black History Month. We are all aware and should remain mindful of the terrible pain and tragedy that was the reality of slavery in the history of the United States of America, as well as in the “global history” of the human family. While most Americans are aware that we recognize Black History Month each year in February, it is good, at times, to be reminded of the reasons we “do what we do” and the origins of some of our shared cultural traditions. As I was researching some background on Black History Month, I came across this description on the website of the History Channel:

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month

I have mentioned previously that I feel more and more at home here in our Diocese of Paterson. I am also feeling at home and very happy to live in the City of Paterson. Before I arrived, I had some sense of the rich history of the African American (black) population in Paterson. As I wrote this column, I was very happy to find, amongst a great deal of information available on the Internet, a very informative summary of the History of the African American community in Pater­son on the website of the “Paterson Museum.” The summary is entitled “Thus Shall They upward, Onward Press: An Exploration of the History of African Americans in Paterson from 1600–Present.”

Amongst many other things that I learned from this well-documented and extensive summary is that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr made his last formal public appearance before his assissination (on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee), on March 27, 1968, before 2,000 people at the Community Baptist Church of Love in Paterson.

In the time that I have been bishop of the diocese, I have not had many opportunities to be in contact with ministers and leaders of some of the other Christian Churches and faith communities who make up some of the wonderful diversity, both in the City of Paterson and throughout Passaic, Morris, and Sussex counties. As we approached Black History Month, I had a conversation with Msgr. Geno Sylva, the rector of our Cathedral in Paterson, about my hope to get to know some of the religious leaders in the city and whether we might be able to do something together to celebrate and/or pray together during Black History Month.

I am happy to share with you and very grateful to Msgr. Sylva: our conversation led not only to my being able to meet with some of the pastors of our black churches in Paterson but also plans for a shared, Ecumenical Prayer Service celebrating Black History Month. Please see the Flyer (at the top of this page) or go to our diocesan website or the Cathedral’s website for more information and please consider joining us for the Prayer Service on Sunday, Feb. 5.

In the historical summary on the website of the Paterson Museum, for the visit of Dr. King in 1968, it recounts, “He urged members of his audience: “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But keep moving.” I would like to humbly repeat Dr. King’s advice as I encourage us all to “keep moving,” especially as we celebrate our diverse cultures and honor our shared history.