African American Catholic Community

As a response to the Pastoral Letter Against Racism, "Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love" written by the US Catholic bishops, we designed a webinar series to dive deeper into the concepts of racism, justice, and love. 
Click this link to access all past webinars.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPh4QXZc4AE&list=PLLnMWzD2hpPztSi_qoGny8BxYg6rGsbjo

This event was sponsored by: Archdiocese of Santa Fe Office of Social Justice and Respect Life, African American Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Archdiocese of Santa Fe Ad Hoc Committee on Racism, with support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and The Catholic Foundation.

Donations can be mailed to the AACC at 4000 St. Joseph Pl. NW ABQ, NM 87120 with AACC on memo line or made securely online at https://archdiocesesantafegiving.org/AACC

Visit AACC on Facebook, click here. 
Please take a look at our recent newsletters: 

June 2024

April 2024
January 2024
October 2023
August 2023
April 2023
August 2022
June 2022
April 2022
January 2022
June 2021
April 2021
February 2021
October 2020
August 2020
June 2020
May 2020
January 2020  

In the context of our multicultural Church, we support and reinforce the African American Catholic family and individuals. We invite, challenge and develop an appreciation of our African American culture through liturgical, social, spiritual and educational programs. We pray that our culture will enhance the universality of the Church and the cause of evangelization.
 

Compiled by Brenda Dabney, AACC Coordinator

We are an African American Catholic Community in the desert of the Southwest where the Black population is about 3% and the Black Catholic population is less than that.  Yes, we are small but the Holy Spirit is with us. In1992, Steven Woodbury, liturgist and musician and Brenda Dabney, wife, mother and teacher set out to lay the ground work for the formation of the community.  They wanted to fulfill a long time dream to have an African American Catholic Mass on a regular basis, where we could worship with elements of our culture. More

The AACC believes that service to the community is part of the work of Evangelization.  One such work of service is the availability of scholarships to eligible African American students who are enrolled in K-8 Catholic Schools.  Applications are available in January in all Catholic elementary schools.  Please check with school office for more information. These scholarships are made possible from generous donations of individuals, bequests and grants, including from the Black and Indian Mission office of the USCCB.  Please contact the AACC coordinator, Brenda Dabney, to make your donation.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe African American Catholic Community awarded seven scholarships to students at Archdiocese Catholic elementary schools at the 27th Anniversary Mass on August 25, 2019.  Pictured left to right are: Dr. Geraldine Harge, Chair of the Scholarship Committee; Scholars Sophia Arrenius, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rio Rancho; Landon Baca-Lee, St. Mary's, Belen; Asante and Daisia Cole, Santa Nino CS, Santa Fe; Moses Sena, Our Lady of the Assumption, Albuquerque; Mya Tirone-Jones, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rio Rancho; Brenda Dabney, Coordinator of the AACC. Not present was Scholar Ezeriyah Smith, St. Therese, Albuquerque. Fr. Gene Gries, O. Praem awarded the scholarships. This years marks the 10th Anniversary of the Fr. Rollins Lambert Scholarship Award Program which has awarded scholarships to 70 scholars totalling $117,000.00  Congratulations to all the recipients!

Scholarships are awarded annually. Information on scholarships for the 2020-2021 school year will be available after January 2020 in the principal’s office of each Catholic elementary school in the Archdiocese. Photo courtesy of Mackensie Lewis, AACC Media Manager.

The Catholic school supply drive was started a number of years ago, when one of our scholarship committee members, Louise Davis, realized that the school supply drives throughout our archdiocese are only for children attending public schools.  Louise contacted a number of parishes and local businesses to request donations that would be distributed to Catholic Schools throughout the archdiocese. Items are collected and distributed to Catholic school principals at the start of and in the middle of the school year so that all Catholic schools have the supplemental supplies they need for all children.  Teachers are thrilled to have access to needed supplies like crayons, loose leaf paper, notebooks, pens and pencils and markers provided by the drive. Contact the office for more information on how to donate items to the annual school supply drive.

The Black and Indian Mission Office provides grants to assist with the Fr. Rollins Lambert Scholarships. The Black and Indian Mission Office is comprised of three distinct but inter-related organizations, each with its own purpose and history, but all seeking to fulfill the one Mission to the Missions! Founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States, each organization cooperates with local diocesan communities to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and respond to real and pressing needs on the ground. Read more and join us in our Mission to the Missions!

• Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions (established 1874)
• Commission for the Catholic Missions (established 1884)
• Catholic Negro-American Mission Board (established 1907, united with BIMO 1980)

The three organizations of the Black and Indian Mission Office seek to “insist on that same respect” for African American, Native American, and Alaska Natives through advocacy on the national scene. The Black and Indian Mission Office provides grants to dioceses throughout the country that work with these three groups.

Afro-Centric Masses are held five times a year on the last Sunday of the months listed below with the exception of the MLK Jr. Mass. 

All Masses are hosted at 12 noon at St. Joseph on the Rio Grande Catholic Church, 5901 Saint Joseph's Drive NW, Albuquerque, NM · (505) 839-7952

January: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Mass
Each year, on the Sunday before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, hosted by the AACC

April: AACC Anniversary Mass 

August: Fr. Rollins Lambert Scholarships Awarded

Additional Masses are in June and October.  Please join us for worship!

Representing African American Roman Catholics, the National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) works in collaboration with other national Roman Catholic organizations to improve the spiritual, mental and physical health of African Americans. The organization seeks to establish an agenda for the evangelization of African Americans and to encourage the freedom and growth of African Americans as full participants in the church and in society. It also endeavors to help candidates for the priesthood, particularly Black American, African, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin candidates in their preparation for religious life. The NBCC was founded in 1889 by Daniel Rudd and first met at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Washington DC. The NBCC meets every five years with the next Congress convening in 2022.  The Archdiocese of Santa Fe AACC sends a delegation for each Congress. For more information visit: www.nbccongress.org