Mass message: Unity overcomes fear, anger

By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

Photography: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

MIAMI GARDENS | Black Catholic Ministry members celebrated Race Unity Day, which highlights racial harmony and understanding in the United States, with a Unity Mass at St. Philip Neri Church.

“The protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis during the summer of 2020 prompted Archdiocese of Miami Black Catholic Ministry members to ask Archbishop Thomas Wenski if he would celebrate an annual unity Mass in June to pray for an end to racism, gun violence and bigotry,” said Katrenia Reeves-Jackman, director of Black Catholic Ministry.

Race Unity Day has taken place nationwide on the second Sunday of June since 1957. It was originally called Race Amity Day until the name change in 1965. The Unity Mass in the archdiocese is a new tradition and is celebrated at a different Black Catholic church each year. Holy Redeemer Church in Liberty City hosted in 2021 and St. Helen in Fort Lauderdale in 2022.

“We need each other to survive,” said Reeves-Jackman before this year’s Mass, which was celebrated June 25. “We bring the gifts God gave us as Black Catholics.”

She thanked Archbishop Wenski for his wise words in his homily, “We only know freedom when we overcome our fears.”

Race Unity Day now coincides with the United States’ newest holiday, Juneteenth, June 19. Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the United States, when Union troops proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865 – three years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Today, we celebrate our unity in Christ,” Archbishop Wenski said. “In unity there is strength, in unity there is love and love casts out all fear. We often hear that we are living through difficult times, inflation, economic insecurity, rising crime in our cities, drug addiction, racial tensions, culture wars, and shooting wars.”

There’s a lot of anger out there, he said. Corruption, greed, and abuse of authority have undermined civic and religious institutions. This anger may be a projection of people’s fear.

“We can become slaves of our fears and fear can be just as strong as the shackles used to enslave,” he said. “We only know freedom when we overcome our fears.”

If people give in to fear it will only continue to divide us, he said.

“In unity there is strength,” he said. “In unity there is love and love casts out all fear.”

At the end of Mass, Reeves-Jackman asked the congregation to recite the Unity Prayer included in the church bulletin.

She noted that Pope Francis on June 22 had declared Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange as venerable, moving her closer to sainthood. She was the Cuban-born foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Black Catholic religious order in the United States.

“She is the first of six African American sainthood causes to move forward in nearly four years, since Father Augustus Tolton was declared venerable in 2019,” Reeves-Jackman said.