CHICAGO -- The National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) is meeting Aug. 29 to Sept. 3 to push for more church leadership positions, an end to discrimination in churches and schools, and more evangelism in black communities.
The primarily lay congress, which meets every five years, represents a force of change in leadership, evangelization and liturgy, according to The Chicago Tribune. More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the four-day meeting in Chicago.
"If we had not had that organization, we would not have the few black Catholics we have today," said the Rev. George Clements of Washington, D.C. "We needed an organization to help us stick together and survive. We needed an organization that gave us a sense of self-esteem and said, ‘You are an integral part of the Catholic Church, and don't let people run you out of the Catholic Church.'"
There are 13 black Catholic bishops and 350 black Catholic priests in the United States. The bishops will pass along NBCC concerns and recommendations to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
There are more than 2 million black Catholics, according to the NBCC, and 1,100 predominantly black parishes in the United States. The NBCC is concerned that evangelism in inner-city neighborhoods will suffer as a growing number of black parishes close due to low attendance and lack of funds, according to the newspaper.
