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ONE
OF A FEW — Fr. Bryan Massingale,
one of only three African-American priests ordained
for the archdiocese and the only one currently
serving here, greets a parishioner at All Saints
Church in Milwaukee. The archdiocesan vocations
office has put together an 11-member committee
to study ways of getting more African-American
young men into the priesthood. (Catholic Herald
photo by James Pearson) |
MILWAUKEE — The demographic trend
toward more Catholics with fewer priests to serve them
has carried over to the African-American community as
well.
The African-American population in the Milwaukee Archdiocese
increased by 10 percent between 1990 and 2000. The last
African-American priest for the archdiocese was ordained
in 1986. There are none currently in formation.
Archdiocesan vocations director Fr. Bob Stiefvater has
hand-picked an 11-member committee, which includes members
of archdiocesan parishes and central offices, to address
the issue. While they first met as a group in early
summer, Fr. Stiefvater said the idea began more than
seven years ago.
“There was a group of people ... when I first
started this job, they called themselves the Black Clergy
and Religious Support Caucus,” he said. “I
met with them, came up with an action plan, we came
up with a brochure specifically oriented to the African-American
community. It had pictures of African-Americans working
in the 10-county archdiocese. When I would interview
young men and women, they would say, ‘Yeah, I
would be all alone, I don’t know anybody.’
When I passed out (the brochures), they would be pointing
out all the people they would know. That kind of came
out of our plan seven years ago, but we wanted to put
together a new plan to reach young people at decision-making
points in their lives in the African-American community.”
The committee looks for young people with the gift of
servant leadership, according to Schauneille Allen,
a committee member and director of the archdiocesan
African-American Ministry Office.
“We want someone who shows leadership and compassion
but, most importantly, has a desire to serve,”
Allen said.
Allen said that there has been talk about the best way
for the committee to collaborate with her office on
some of the programs the African American Ministry Office
already has in place. She said “the conversations
that we (the committee) have had have been to try to
provide some insight to Fr. Bob on how he might approach
the problem. There’s been some conversation about
the publicity, how the media can assist in the effort,
what publications we could put messages in concerning
the history of black religious and clergy. The folks
involved this time truly have some vision and some insight
that can at least give Fr. Stiefvater support in what
he’s trying to do.”
Fr. Stiefvater added that the competition from the secular
world is keen.
“One of the things we were very aware of in the
last plan was that for many of the African-American
students who did well academically in our Catholic high
schools, they were already, in a sense, ‘taken’
by industry by the time they were juniors in high school,
which is when I’d be focusing a lot of my material.”
Colleges traditionally begin mailings in October of
a student’s junior year. “They get inundated
by stuff from colleges,” Fr. Stiefvater said.
“I wanted to make sure I was on the platter, so
to speak, so I had to get to young people much earlier.”
Studies of those who pursue church vocations show that
fourth through sixth grades, the junior year of high
school, and halfway through college are “real
impact points,” Fr. Stiefvater said. “Those
are points when you’re beginning to make different
types of decisions about your future.”
Fr. Stiefvater tries to celebrate Mass four times a
year at the predominantly African-American parishes
of All Saints and St. Martin de Porres, and the tri-parish
cluster of St. Michael, St. Francis of Assisi, and St.
Rose, all in Milwaukee.
“I do that because I want people to get to know
me and feel comfortable with who I am, so that I’m
not a stranger to them, neither to parents nor to potential
candidates. I want to be accessible.”
Fr. Bryan Massingale, a professor of moral theology
at Saint Francis Seminary and the only one of the three
African-American priests ordained for the archdiocese
who is currently serving here, sees that as a good idea.
“Many members of the African-American community
may be hesitant to support a young man’s call
if they perceive the church is somehow hostile or unfriendly
to their young man, to their friend or family member,”
he said. “I remember when the vocation director
first met with my parents, for example, the first question
my mother asked the vocation director is ‘who’s
going to take care of my son? Will people treat him
mean?’ I think the seminary and the vocation person
now need to be very sensitive and aware and supportive,
and let the community know they’re sensitive and
aware and supportive, if they want vocations from the
African-American community.
“I think now we’re much more sensitive to
the need to have diversity in the presbyterate than
we were (when he was ordained in 1983),” added
Fr. Massingale. “(But) there’s still a need
for the Catholic Church to more proactively listen to
the needs and concerns of black Catholics if they want
to make the Catholic Church and the priesthood more
attractive to African-Americans.”
Deacon Troy Major of St. Michael, St. Francis and St.
Rose, one of only a few African-American deacons in
the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said, “Our parish
is a little different than the other African-American
parishes as far as not being exposed to African-Americans
in front of the pulpit. The priests we have do a pretty
good job trying to hold it together, but there’s
a sense of a lack of color and of sensitivity to the
black community.”
Deacon Major currently is interviewing two finalists
for a half-time position as an African-American minister
for the tri-parish cluster.
“There’s Laotian ministers, ministers to
Asian people, people for Spanish, but there was no one
there for African-Americans. There (used to be) one,
but it was dropped in favor of a youth minister, with
the intent to hire someone for the African-American
ministry, which laid in limbo for a couple of years.
We were just trying to make that possible again,”
he said.
According to Deacon Major, the person in the position
is expected “primarily to evangelize the African-American
people in the community, in the parish, find out why
they have dropped out of church, bring them back to
church, promote vocations in the church, give (people)
a sense of empowerment.”
Deacon Major added, “Some of the other communities
are struggling with some of the same concerns we have
— the lack of black visible (priest) leadership
in the pulpit and visual support from black sisters,
brothers, and deacons, people that are a little more
sensitive to the African-American needs in the Catholic
community.”
Fr. Massingale said while the respect and support he
receives from the African-American community and the
“great majority” of priests in the archdiocese
is heartening, “I would be lying if I said I never
experience any prejudice. There are times when people
look at you strange, like ‘what is that black
face doing behind the collar?’” He thinks
support is just as necessary as the call from God in
order to survive in a vocation.
Fr. Massingale finds it among other African-American
religious brothers and sisters in the archdiocese, other
black priest friends around the country with whom he
keeps regular phone and e-mail contact, and “other
friends, who happen to be white, who over the years
have learned to be sensitive and aware to my struggles
as a black man, and they are a great support to me as
well. But I would say that as an African-American priest,
you do have to intentionally and consciously create
those support systems for yourself. You can’t
depend on the church to create them for you.”
