Speakers revealed for Black Catholic academic symposium in Ohio

Presenters have been announced for next month’s symposium on Black Catholic liturgy and culture, marking the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Black bishops’ pastoral letter “What We Have Seen and Heard” (WWHSH) and the 20th death anniversary of pioneer liturgist Fr Clarence Rivers.

“Seeking for a City,” taking place Nov. 22-24 in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio, will feature noted scholars on history, theology, and spirituality, as well as artists from a variety of traditions, including gospel, jazz, liturgical music, and sacred photography.

Keynote speakers include Dr. Kim R. Harris of Loyola Marymount University, who present on the 20th-century Congolese “Missa Luba” liturgical tradition and its impacts in America and the life of Rivers. The Alabama-born African-American priest was the first ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and is considered the “father of Black Catholic liturgy.”

Also keynoting are Bishop Emeritus Edward Braxton of Belleville, who will present on WWHSH, and Fr Joseph A. Brown, SJ, who will speak on the theme of “Go in the Wilderness: Searching for the Spirit to Lead and Guide Us Forward.”

The breakout speakers include, among others, Drs. Kevin P. Johnson of Spelman University, Deanna Witkowski of Elmhurst University, Byron Wratee of Loyola University Maryland, Jessie Thomas, and Darnell and Darrell St. Romain.

Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns, one of two African-American delegates currently in Rome at the Vatican’s ongoing Synod on Synodality, is also scheduled to present, as will author Daryl Grigsby. Philip Armstrong will serve as cantor for the symposium liturgies,

The weekend’s first two days of events will take place on the campus of the University of Dayton, beginning on Friday afternoon and running through Saturday evening. On Sunday, Nov. 24, a gospel Mass will be celebrated in Cincinnati by Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington—one of the WWHSH co-authors—at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, where Rivers was funeralized in 2004.

The symposium coincides with the nationwide celebration of Black Catholic History Month, established in 1990 by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, of which Rivers was a member. The Sunday Mass will take place at 11am ET on the Feast of Christ the King, the solemnity on which he died suddenly at the age of 73. (His birthday, Sept. 9, 1931—the feast of St. Peter Claver—was the date on which the WWHSH letter was released a half-century later.)

The academic symposium is led by a steering committee featuring Dcn Royce Winters of Cincinnati, the noted Black Catholic liturgist Rawn Harbor, Fr Thomas DiFolco of Cincinnati, Emily Strand of Ohio Dominican University, and Eric Styles of the University of Notre Dame. Since 2021, Strand and Styles have hosted the “Meet Father Rivers” podcast.

Registration for the symposium is open now, and the organizers ask that prospective attendees register by Friday, Nov. 8. The cost is $150 and can be paid online. Discounted hotel rates are available for the Marriott at the University of Dayton.

Interested parties can contact Winters at rwinters@catholicaoc.org for more information.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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