The Office of Black Catholic Ministry (OBM) in the Birmingham Diocese serves hundreds in particular and thousands in general and was the subject of Adult Education at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Homewood. James Watts, OBM director presented An Overview: Birmingham’s Black Catholic Ministry on October 19.
The OBM was established in 1983 by Bishop Joseph Vath. Watts said it is dedicated to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in an Afrocentric and spirit-filled manner through education, advocacy, and evangelization. It also seeks to promote racial harmony. Watts performs outreach, organizational, and administrative duties for a consortium of ordained ministers, religious, and administrators from African American parishes.
Watts said that the diocese’s Consortium of African American Parishes meets monthly and explained that it was created to help white priests relate to their Black parishioners. He said the parishes are Our Lady of Fatima (Titusville), Holy Family (Ensley), Sacred Heart of Jesus (Collegeville), Our Lady Queen of the Universe (Smithfield), St. Mary (Fairfield), All Saints (Anniston), and St. Joseph’s (Huntsville).
The OBM is involved with numerous projects. “One of them is the Martin Luther King prayer breakfast. It will be January the 10th and it will be held at the Cathedral,” Watts said. “The speaker is going to be Father Maurice Nutt. He’s an outstanding speaker.” Another event is a youth leadership retreat in the spring called Kujenga. “We bring in these different kids and they come in for over a weekend,” he said. Watts told the story of one speaker, a dancer, whose story began at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and stretched to New York with encounters with rapper Lil Wayne and professional athletes and ended with her dancing with Beyoncé during a Super Bowl half time show. “The kids heard the story about be who you are, keep your values, don’t get caught up in all this stuff and you can still be successful,” he recalled.
The office is also involved with: the Black & Indian Mission, the Pro Life March, vocations, the Cause for Canonization of the first African American priest Father Augustus Tolton, and the 50th Anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Watts said the April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak “was a major event that happened that changed the direction of this office.” He showed a video of the destruction and Catholics helping in Pleasant Grove and Pratt City. “I grew up in the Pratt City area,” he said. “It was remarkable to see how the diocese came together and provided quality service,” he said, noting that destruction brought people together.
