National Black Catholic Congress

It was founded in 1987 by the National Association of Black Catholic Administrators (NABCA), the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC), and the National Black Sisters Conference (NBSC). Bishop John Ricard, SSJ served as NBCC president from its founding until 2017.

Its mission is to improve and enrich the lives of African-American Catholics, operating in close cooperation and coordination with the Black Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and receiving funding from the Black and Indian Mission Collection.

Six NBCC congresses have been held as of 2021, occurring every five years (though delayed one year recently, to 2023, due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

History

Background

The historical precedent for the Congress emerged from the Colored Catholic Congress that took place on January 1–4, 1889. The National Black Catholic Congress was founded by Daniel Rudd, a Black Catholic journalist and activist from Kentucky (though based elsewhere throughout his life). His movement lasted only a few years before folding for unknown reasons.

During the Black Catholic Movement of the late 60s to early 90s, the National Office for Black Catholics (NOBC) emerged, as did a National Black Catholic Conference and National Black Catholic Lay Caucus. Leadership disputes foiled the lay caucus, however, and the NOBC eventually folded as well, giving way to NABCA, an organization made up of all the African-American diocesan front office professionals in the US.

Founding

NABCA proposed a revived Congress in the late 80s, after which they brought in the NBCCC and NBSC for further planning.

The first meeting was held in 1987, and featured a series of inculturated "Gospel Masses", an African-American form of the Catholic Mass that had emerged in recent decades as part of the Black Catholic Movement. They also developed a pastoral plan, which was to inform and govern Black ministry in dioceses around the country.

Subsequent gatherings

The Congress convened every five years after the inaugural gathering, and in the 1990s funded the construction of the Our Mother of Africa Chapel in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. It was proposed that they instead raise ~$10M for the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at XULA, publishing control of “Lead Me, Guide Me” (the standard Black Catholic hymnal), and an endowment for scholarships for Black seminarians, but Bishop Ricard is said to have nixed that plan.

21st century

In 2017, Bishop Roy E. Campbell was elected president of the NBCC, succeeding Ricard.

In March 2021, the NBCC announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 gathering would be pushed to 2023.