A Black History Month (BHM) Mass was held Sunday, February 22, at Holy Cross Church in the Soundview area of the Bronx, celebrated by Father Paulinus Abose, Sch.P.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our Church, in our country, we are commemorating Black History Month,\u201d Father Abose, a parochial vicar at the Church of St. Helena, the Bronx, told the faithful during the homily of the livestreamed Mass. \u201cIt is dedicated to honoring the contributions of the black people, or culture, or race, the history of contributions for the good of this nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis month of February also coincides with the birth of two great historical figures, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass,\u201d he added, noting the significance of spiritual songs, which \u201cprepare us to link the physical and the metaphysical. It is a way for the elevation of the soul to higher contemplation. As we commemorate this month, let us at the same time honor and celebrate those whose contributions have shaped the history of this country, and ask ourselves: how can we contribute to shaping the next generation? This is a challenge we have now. But we are facing this challenge with courage, knowing that the Lord faced challenges and overcame them. We are therefore asking for his spirit to accompany us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resisting temptation, trusting the Lord<\/p>\n
In addition, Father Abose spoke of the importance of resisting temptation in all its forms, such as the allure of pleasure, prestige, and prideful power. He said to trust in the Lord and focus on his teachings. \u201cThe power that you have is coming from God,\u201d he said, citing occasions when one is able to resist such temptations and instead seek the ways of goodness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can overcome, we can dominate temptation,\u201d Father Abose asserted.<\/p>\n
On display near the altar were images of Venerable Pierre Toussaint and other Black Catholics considered holy by the Church. An estimated 275 people attended the Mass.<\/p>\n
Father John Higgins, pastor at Holy Cross, told The Good Newsroom in a February 23 email that the gathering was \u201ca beautiful celebration. Father Abose did a phenomenal job. Despite the impending snow, we had a great turnout, and lots of delicious food was shared afterwards in the parish hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Masses in the archdiocese<\/p>\n
Also this month, the archdiocesan Cultural Diversity Apostolate (CDA) helped organize three Black History Month Sunday liturgies. The first was celebrated on February 1, which was the National Day of Prayer for the African American and African Family. It was held at Blessed Sacrament Church in New Rochelle.<\/p>\n
The second CDA-affiliated Mass was celebrated February 8 at St. Aloysius Church on West 132nd Street in Manhattan. And there was a CDA liturgy on February 15 at Immaculate Conception Church on East Gun Hill Road in the Bronx.<\/p>\n
The theme of the CDA Black History Month Masses was: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, from Ephesians 4:5. The gatherings were \u201can Affirmation and Celebration of the Black Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Black History Month (BHM) Mass was held Sunday, February 22, at Holy Cross Church in the Soundview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[5555,35604,52347,128,6300,4840,17114,9,24,63,2466,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-144180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-archdiocese-of-new-york","tag-black-history-month","tag-black-history-month-mass","tag-bronx","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-holy-cross-church","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-soundview","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}