Black Catholics bear witness to a gentrified Oakland
San Pablo Avenue runs through four cities in San Francisco’s East Bay. As it courses through Oakland, pockets of urban struggle are revealed: prostitution, drug dealing, derelict buildings and broken-down cars rusting along its curbsides. But it also shows signs of change: the skeletons of condominium towers beginning to rise, dozens of new restaurants and bars, and gutted streets around downtown making way for tech companies being lured across the bay from San Francisco by the possibility of cheaper rents.
At the intersection of San Pablo and Alcatraz Avenues, drivers and pedestrians regularly slow down in front of St. Columba Catholic Church to examine a monument to Oakland’s continued grappling with violence and crime. White wooden crosses dot the church’s lawn; a sign reads, “These crosses represent those killed by homicide in Oakland this year.” Each cross is marked with the victim’s name, age and date of death.
In 2004, the Rev. Jayson Landeza, then the pastor at St. Columba, devised this symbolic response to Oakland’s high murder rate. Homicide surged along with gang violence and drug dealing in the 1980s and ’90s. Despite the increasing gentrification of the community, that violence continues to afflict Oakland. With a population of less than half a million people, Oakland has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the United States. Father Landeza saw St. Columba’s busy location as an opportunity to make a statement about the homicides, which touched many members of his congregation.
An average of more than 100 crosses crowd the patch of lawn by the end of each year, and on Dec. 31 they are removed during an interfaith ceremony. The ritual begins all over again each January with the news of the first shooting death.
A Changing Community
Like the city around it, St. Columba has survived through waves of demographic changes. Founded in 1898, the church originally served the working-class Irish families who lived in West and North Oakland. After the 1906 earthquake, the neighborhood became increasingly populated by Italians, but by the 1960s, the black diaspora had brought many African-Americans to the Bay Area. St. Columba had a gospel choir by the 1970s, and in the ’80s it began celebrating Black Catholic History Month and Kwanzaa alongside the regular events in the liturgical calendar. The Jesus hanging above its altar is black; the saints depicted on its walls are black; and its statues of Mary and Joseph have been repainted by the Ghanaian artist Anthony Komla to reflect the faces of the congregation. According to St. Columba’s current pastor, the Rev. Aidan McAleenan, this is part of an effort to “make the church look like the people.”
African-Americans have long been a minority in the U.S. Catholic Church. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, only 3 percent of American Catholics—about two million people—identify as non-Hispanic black. But black Catholicism is a significant part of American Catholic history. As the black Catholic historian and Benedictine monk Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., put it, “the Catholic Church in America has never been a white European church.”
Father McAleenan, an immigrant priest from Northern Ireland, arrived as St. Columba’s new pastor in 2009. He was intimately familiar with death. Father McAleenan had worked with the first AIDS hospice run by Catholic Charities in San Francisco in the late 1980s, and growing up Catholic in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, he had also witnessed violence firsthand. But as he arrived, the neighborhood around St. Columba was starting to change yet again. Although it has long been known by locals as the Golden Gate neighborhood, around 2012, real estate agents rebranded it as “NOBE,” or North Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville, in an effort to polish its rough reputation. Many longtime residents were displaced as developers bought out and razed houses to build condominiums, biotech campuses and shopping malls. In 1980 black residents made up 46 percent of Oakland’s population; in 2016 they make up less than 30 percent.
The streets around St. Columba today sport shiny new condo buildings, a knitting supply shop and a vegan cupcake shop. But Oakland’s superficial, hipster-friendly changes have not stemmed the crime that has plagued the city for decades. A parishioner says that recently someone saw a girl being dragged down the street. When the police were called, they discovered three more girls in the house she had been dragged into, victims of human trafficking. But Oakland’s new residents, mostly young, white and affluent, have for the most part taken to the website Next Door, a neighborhood social network, to complain about crime rather than organize with the community to end it. They have also tended to follow their millennial peers in a generational drift away from religion.
An Uplifting Spirit
Were Oakland’s new residents to step inside St. Columba on a Sunday morning, they would discover that its Mass is not like Mass at other Catholic churches. As the Rev. Bryan Massingale, a scholar of black Catholicism, told Crux this year, black Catholics were reassured after the Second Vatican Council that they could find forms of worship that maintained their cultural identity. According to Father Massingale, however, most parishes have not incorporated African-American traditions like clapping and praise dancing. Gospel music has even been forbidden in certain places, a reflection of the “normative whiteness” at the heart of the U.S. church.
St. Columba embraces those traditions. Mass begins at 10:30 a.m. with an exuberant gospel hymn, including clapping and swaying in the choir and the congregation. Parishioners are vocal, adding “amen” and applause throughout the readings. The homilies, delivered by Father McAleenan and the assistant priest, Kwame Assenyoh, S.V.D., often rely on a dialogic approach, asking parishioners to respond to questions or gathering them into small groups to talk. Passing the peace takes 10 to 15 minutes as parishioners circulate to deliver hugs and catch up on news (the bulletin tells newcomers that parishioners are “Roamin’ Catholics”). It is a long service—rarely under two hours—but it does not feel long. Margaret Roncalli, the director of faith formation, says that entering Mass at St. Columba means moving in kairos, or God’s time. The emphasis throughout the prayers of the faithful, the homilies and the announcements is on social justice, love and service.
St. Columba plays a part in the community in more than liturgical ways. A long list of social justice and restorative justice ministries are listed in the church bulletin and often mentioned in the announcements. Members of St. Columba regularly lobby the mayor’s office about incarceration, gun violence and housing issues. But it remains a relatively small, poor church in a transitioning neighborhood.
The week of June 13 offered a snapshot of the struggles the parish faces from week to week. Father McAleenan presided over a vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of a balcony collapse in nearby Berkeley that killed five visiting Irish students. The shooting of 49 people in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 deeply affected some of St. Columba’s L.G.B.T. parishioners, so the church was offered as a place to pray for an evening. Six funerals were hosted at the parish on top of these events, and it was also announced that Father Assenyoh had been reassigned to a suburban parish. Father McAleenan told the congregation that he had never faced a week like this in all his years of ministry.
The following week, about 20 parishioners crowded into the rectory’s dining room after Wednesday morning Mass to share coffee, pass around plates of pastries and talk about the parish and their relationships with it. “Most people don’t come here for anything other than love and fellowship,” an African-American woman said. A white man added: “The African-American spirit drives this church. An uplifting spirit is so important. Solemnity in prayer is great, but that’s not all there is.” One woman was brought there by a friend; another’s daughter had sung in Catholic gospel choirs in Louisiana and wanted to sing in one again.
“I was looking for a place to feel comfortable,” an African-American woman said. “I came one Sunday and stayed. A lot of people do that.” The black diaspora out of Oakland and into the suburbs means that some parishioners drive over an hour for Mass, seeking something other parishes could not provide. Father McAleenan said that the parish includes people from 100 ZIP codes.
Word of mouth, community ties and the internet have all helped people to find their way to the church. But most of the parishioners agreed that its reputation and social justice leanings were part of what had drawn them there. A Lutheran woman who works at St. Martin de Porres, the school jointly supported by St. Columba and several other parishes, said that 30 St. Columba parishioners had recently attended her husband’s funeral at a Lutheran church. “I love it here because there’s so much openness,” she said. “It’s not formal. There are discussions. I was at my own church recently and felt it wasn’t as expressive.”
Father Assenyoh, who is originally from Ghana, said that part of what draws him to St. Columba is that “the church respects the priesthood of the people. People don’t attend Mass, they celebrate. The priest is the presider; everybody is a celebrant.” Using African-American spirituality is about recognizing it as “one of the marginalized spiritualities. It’s not about excluding. It’s about recognizing the different faces of spirituality. It attracts people who like that.” When it comes to faith, he said, “people should not be afraid.” Father McAleenan added that St. Columba is about “listening to the heart and mind of the church and reflecting that back,” which includes an “organic liturgy.”
Ms. Roncalli said that the African-American liturgy is about the “whole community claiming the tradition and the articulation of it.” Oakland, she added, still identifies as a black city, and the diocese needs to represent that face. Out of suffering, African-Americans “built a spirituality that’s the salvation of the church.” Even as the neighborhood around it changes, “St. Columba needs to continue to be an African-American parish.” As part of the church’s renovation two years ago, the Gospel book was enthroned in a cubby in the wall with a spotlight. This is especially significant in a black church because of the emphasis on the word, both in the lecturing and the preaching. That word plays out both within the church and without.
In an interview in 1999 with Catholic News Service, Father Cyprian Davis said: “There is more to being black and Catholic than having nice music. We’re an integral part of the church, and we’re not negligible.” St. Columba’s presence in a changing Oakland is a reminder of that and also of the sensus fidelium—the “sense of the faithful.” Every year, the parish chooses a phrase as its annual theme. This year, that phrase is “We See You.” St. Columba sees Oakland for what it is right now: blight and beauty, tradition and change.
Outside the church, pedestrians and cars continue to slow to see those crosses, reminders of lives lost. But right now, at the beginning of summer, after California’s first rainy winter in years, those crosses are surrounded by flowers and surging signs of life.
Wakatoliki weusi wanashuhudia barabara ya Oakland San Pablo Avenue inayopita katika miji minne katika Ghuba ya Mashariki ya San Francisco. Wakati unapopita Oakland, mapambano ya mijini yanafunuliwa: umalazi, biashara ya dawa za kulevya, majengo yaliyoharibiwa na magari yaliyovunjika-vunjika yanayopiga kutu kando ya barabara. Lakini pia inaonyesha ishara za mabadiliko: mifupa ya minara ya nyumba za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa za ghorofa. Katika makutano ya San Pablo na Alcatraz Avenues, madereva na watembea kwa miguu mara kwa mara kupunguza kasi mbele ya St. Columba Kanisa Katoliki kuchunguza monument kwa Oakland kuendelea kupambana na vurugu na uhalifu. Msalaba mweupe wa mbao umewekwa kwenye uwanja wa kanisa; ishara inasema, "Msalaba huu unawakilisha wale waliouawa na mauaji huko Oakland mwaka huu". Kila msalaba umeandikwa jina la mhasiriwa, umri na tarehe ya kifo. Mwaka 2004 alijiunga na Rev. Jayson Landeza, aliyekuwa kasisi wa St. Columba wakati huo, alibuni jibu hilo la mfano kwa sababu ya kiwango cha juu cha mauaji huko Oakland. Mauaji yaliongezeka pamoja na vurugu za magenge na biashara ya dawa za kulevya katika miaka ya 1980 na 1990. Licha ya kuongezeka kwa idadi ya watu katika jumuiya hiyo, jeuri hiyo inaendelea kuathiri Oakland. Kwa kuwa mji huo una wakazi wa milioni moja na nusu, Oakland ni mojawapo ya miji yenye idadi kubwa zaidi ya mauaji ya watu nchini Marekani. Baba Landeza aliona eneo lenye shughuli nyingi la St. Columba kuwa fursa ya kutoa taarifa kuhusu mauaji hayo, ambayo yaliwahusu washiriki wengi wa kutaniko lake. Kwa wastani, misalaba zaidi ya mia moja hujaza uwanja huo mwishoni mwa kila mwaka, na Desemba 31 huondolewa wakati wa sherehe ya dini mbalimbali. Desturi hiyo huanza tena kila Januari kwa habari ya kifo cha kwanza cha kupigwa risasi. Jumuiya Inayobadilika Kama jiji linaloizunguka, St. Columba imeokoka mawimbi ya mabadiliko ya idadi ya watu. Kanisa hilo lilianzishwa mwaka 1898 na lilikuwa na watu wa jamii ya wafanyakazi wa Ireland waliokaa katika eneo la West Oakland. Baada ya tetemeko la ardhi la 1906, eneo hilo lilijaa watu wengi wa Italia, lakini kufikia miaka ya 1960, wahamiaji weusi walikuwa wameleta Wamarekani wengi wa Kiafrika katika eneo la Bay. St. Columba ilikuwa na kwaya ya injili mnamo miaka ya 1970, na katika miaka ya <unk> 80 ilianza kusherehekea Mwezi wa Historia ya Katoliki Nyeusi na Kwanzaa pamoja na matukio ya kawaida katika kalenda ya ibada. Yesu aliyetundikwa juu ya madhabahu yake ni mweusi; watakatifu waliowekwa kwenye kuta zake ni weusi; na sanamu zake za Maria na Yosefu zimepakwa rangi mpya na msanii wa Ghana Anthony Komla ili kutafakari nyuso za kutaniko. Kulingana na mchungaji wa sasa wa St. Columba, Mch. "Aidan McAleenan, ""Hii ni sehemu ya juhudi ya kufanya kanisa liwe kama watu"" Wamarekani wa Kiafrika wamekuwa wachache kwa muda mrefu katika Kanisa Katoliki la Marekani." Kulingana na Kituo cha Utafiti wa Matumizi katika Utume, ni asilimia 3 tu ya Wakatoliki wa Marekani - karibu watu milioni mbili - wanaojitambulisha kuwa weusi wasio Wahispania. Lakini Ukatoliki wa weusi ni sehemu muhimu ya historia ya Katoliki ya Marekani. "Kama mwanahistoria mweusi wa Katoliki na mtawa wa Benedictine Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., alisema, ""Kanisa Katoliki nchini Marekani halijawahi kuwa kanisa la Wazungu wa Ulaya."" Baba McAleenan, kasisi wa uhamiaji kutoka Ireland Kaskazini, aliwasili kama mchungaji mpya wa St. Columba mnamo 2009." Alijua sana kuhusu kifo. Baba McAleenan alikuwa amefanya kazi katika hospice ya kwanza ya UKIMWI iliyoendeshwa na Charity za Katoliki huko San Francisco mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1980, na kukua akiwa Mkatoliki huko Ireland Kaskazini wakati wa matatizo, pia alikuwa ameshuhudia vurugu. Lakini alipowasili, ujirani wa karibu na St. Columba ulikuwa ukianza kubadilika tena. Ingawa kwa muda mrefu imekuwa inajulikana na wenyeji kama Golden Gate kitongoji, karibu 2012, wawakilishi wa mali isiyohamishika rebranded kama NOB (au North Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville) katika juhudi za polish sifa yake mbaya. Wakazi wengi wa muda mrefu walihamishwa wakati watengenezaji walinunua na kubomoa nyumba ili kujenga nyumba za makazi, vyuo vikuu vya biotech na vituo vya ununuzi. Mwaka 1980 watu weusi walikuwa asilimia 46 ya wakazi wa Oakland, lakini mwaka 2016 walikuwa chini ya asilimia 30. Barabara zinazozunguka St. Columba leo zina majengo mapya ya nyumba za ghorofa, duka la vifaa vya kushona na duka la keki za mboga. Lakini mabadiliko ya juu ya Oakland, yenye kupendeza kwa hipster, hayajazuia uhalifu ambao umekuwa ukiathiri jiji hilo kwa miongo mingi. Mshiriki mmoja wa kanisa anasema kwamba hivi karibuni mtu fulani aliona msichana akisukumwa barabarani. Polisi walipoitwa, waligundua wasichana wengine watatu katika nyumba ambayo alikuwa amevutwa ndani, waathirika wa biashara ya binadamu. Wakazi wa Oakland, wengi wao ni vijana, wazungu na matajiri, wamekuwa wakitumia tovuti ya Next Door, mtandao wa kijamii wa ujirani, kulalamika juu ya uhalifu badala ya kuandaa na jamii ili kuimaliza. Pia wamekuwa na mwelekeo wa kufuata wenzao wa milenia katika kugeuka kwa kizazi mbali na dini. "Mungu aliwaambia wakazi wa Oakland, ""Ikiwa wakazi wapya wa Oakland wangepanda ndani ya St. Columba Jumapili asubuhi, wangegundua kwamba Misa yake si kama Misa katika makanisa mengine ya Kikatoliki.""" Kama vile Mchungaji. "Bryan Massingale, msomi wa Ukatoliki wa weusi, aliwaambia Crux mwaka huu, ""Wakatoliki weusi walihakikishwa baada ya Baraza la Pili la Vatikani kwamba wangeweza kupata aina za ibada ambazo zilihifadhi utambulisho wao wa kitamaduni.""" Hata hivyo, kulingana na Baba Massingale, parokia nyingi hazijumuisha mapokeo ya Waafrika-Wamarekani kama vile kupiga makofi na kucheza dansi za sifa. Muziki wa Injili umepigwa marufuku hata katika maeneo fulani, jambo linaloonyesha "uungu wa kawaida" ulio katikati ya kanisa la Marekani. St. Columba anakubali mapokeo hayo. Misa huanza saa kumi na nusu asubuhi na wimbo wa injili wenye msisimko, ikiwa ni pamoja na kupiga makofi na kutikisa katika kwaya na kutaniko. Waumini wa parokia husema kwa sauti kubwa, wakiongeza <unk>amen<unk> na kupiga makofi wakati wote wa usomaji. Mahubiri hayo, yanayotolewa na Baba McAleenan na kasisi msaidizi, Kwame Asensio, mara nyingi hutegemea mbinu ya mazungumzo, kuwaomba wafuasi kujibu maswali au kuwakusanya katika vikundi vidogo ili kuzungumza. "Kupitia amani inachukua dakika 10 hadi 15 kama parishioners kuzunguka kutoa hugs na kukamata juu ya habari (bulletin anawaambia wageni kwamba parishioners ni ""Roamin"" Wakatoliki." Ni huduma ndefu - mara chache chini ya saa mbili - lakini haionekani kuwa ndefu. "Margaret Roncalli, mkurugenzi wa mafunzo ya imani, anasema kwamba kuingia katika Misa ya St. Columba ni ""kuhamia katika kairos, au wakati wa Mungu.""" Katika sala zote za waumini, katika mahubiri na matangazo, mkazo ni juu ya haki ya kijamii, upendo na utumishi. Mtakatifu Columba ana jukumu katika jumuiya kwa njia zaidi ya ibada. Orodha ndefu ya huduma za haki ya kijamii na haki ya kurudisha inatajwa katika jarida la kanisa na mara nyingi inatajwa katika matangazo. Washiriki wa St. Columba mara kwa mara kushawishi ofisi ya meya kuhusu kifungo, vurugu bunduki na masuala ya makazi. Lakini bado ni kanisa dogo, maskini katika ujirani unaobadilika. Katika wiki ya Juni 13, tuliona jinsi kanisa lilivyojitahidi sana. Baba McAleenan alisimamia maadhimisho ya mwaka mmoja tangu kuanguka kwa balcony huko Berkeley, Marekani, ambapo wanafunzi watano wa Ireland waliuawa. Mshambuliaji wa watu 49 huko Orlando, Florida, Juni 12 aliathiri sana baadhi ya LGBTI wa St. Columba. Kwa hiyo, kanisa hilo lilitumiwa kama mahali pa kusali jioni. Maadhimisho sita ya mazishi yalifanyika katika parokia hiyo, na pia ilitangazwa kwamba Baba Assenyoh alikuwa amepelekwa katika parokia ya kitongoji. "Patrick McAleenan aliwaambia waumini kwamba ""sijawahi kukabiliwa na wiki kama hii katika miaka yote ya huduma yangu.""" Katika wiki iliyofuata, waparishi 20 waliingia katika chumba cha kulia chakula cha parokia baada ya Misa ya Jumatano asubuhi ili kushiriki kahawa, kupitisha sahani za keki na kuzungumza juu ya parokia na uhusiano wao nayo. "Watu wengi hawaji hapa kwa ajili ya kitu kingine chochote isipokuwa upendo na ushirika", mwanamke mmoja Mmarekani wa Kiafrika alisema. Mwanamume mweupe aliongeza hivi: <unk>Roho ya Waafrika-Wamarekani huendesha kanisa hili. Roho yenye kutia moyo ni muhimu sana. Ukarimu katika sala ni mkubwa, lakini hiyo si yote. <unk> Mwanamke mmoja aliletwa huko na rafiki; binti wa mwingine alikuwa ameimba katika kwaya za injili za Kikatoliki huko Louisiana na alitaka kuimba katika moja tena. "Nilikuwa nikitafuta mahali pa kujisikia vizuri", mwanamke mmoja Mmarekani mwenye asili ya Kiafrika akasema. <unk>Nilikuja Jumapili moja na kukaa. "Watu wengi hufanya hivyo. ""Diaspora nyeusi nje ya Oakland na katika vitongoji ina maana kwamba baadhi ya parishioners gari zaidi ya saa kwa ajili ya Misa, kutafuta kitu parokia nyingine hakuweza kutoa." Baba McAleenan alisema kwamba parokia hiyo inajumuisha watu kutoka nambari 100 za posta. Usemi wa kinywa, uhusiano wa jamii na mtandao wote umesaidia watu kupata njia yao ya kwenda kanisani. Lakini wengi wa waumini walikubali kwamba sifa yake na mwelekeo wa haki ya kijamii zilikuwa sehemu ya kile kilichokuwa kimewashawishi huko. Mwalimu mmoja wa kanisa la St. Martin de Porres, shule inayosaidiwa na St. Columba na parokia nyingine kadhaa, alisema kwamba washiriki 30 wa parokia ya St. Columba walikuwa wamehudhuria mazishi ya mume wake katika kanisa la Lutheran. "Ninaipenda hapa kwa sababu kuna uwazi mwingi", alisema. <unk>Si rasmi. Kuna majadiliano. """Nilikuwa katika kanisa langu hivi karibuni na nilihisi haikuwa ya kuelezea,"" Baba Assenyoh, ambaye ni asili ya Ghana, alisema kwamba sehemu ya kile kinachomvuta kwa St. Columba ni kwamba ""Kanisa linaheshimu ukuhani wa watu.""" Watu hawahudhurii Misa, wao huadhimisha. Kasisi ni msimamizi; kila mtu ni sherehe. <unk> Kutumia kiroho cha Kiafrika-Amerika ni kuhusu kuitambua kama <unk> moja ya kiroho ya pembeni. Si kuhusu kutengwa. Ni kuhusu kutambua nyuso tofauti za kiroho. "Mtakatifu Francisko alisema kuwa ""wakati wa ibada ya kanisa, watu hawapaswi kuogopa"" na ""mtakatifu Columba ni kuhusu kusikiliza moyo na akili ya kanisa na kutafakari kwamba nyuma, ambayo ni pamoja na liturujia ya kikaboni, ""Roncalli alisema kwamba liturujia ya Kiafrika-Mmarekani ni kuhusu jamii nzima kudai utamaduni na articulation yake." Kutokana na mateso, Waafrika-Wamarekani <unk>walijenga kiroho ambacho <unk>ni wokovu wa kanisa.<unk> Hata kama jirani karibu nayo inabadilika, <unk>St. "Kama sehemu ya ukarabati wa kanisa miaka miwili iliyopita, kitabu cha Injili kiliwekwa katika chumba katika ukuta na taa ya taa. """ Hii ni muhimu hasa katika kanisa la weusi kwa sababu ya mkazo juu ya neno, katika hotuba na kuhubiri. Neno hilo linatumiwa ndani na nje ya kanisa. Katika mahojiano ya mwaka 1999 na Catholic News Service, Baba Cyprian Davis alisema: "Kuwa mweusi na Mkatoliki ni zaidi ya kuwa na muziki mzuri. """Hakuna kitu kinachoweza kutufanya tuwe na furaha, lakini ni jambo la kawaida kwa kanisa la St. Columba kuwa na furaha na furaha katika siku za usoni, na kwa sababu hiyo, kila mwaka, tunatumia siku za usoni kama ishara ya kuungana kwa kanisa." "Mwaka huu, maneno hayo ni ""We see you"" St. Columba anaona Oakland kama ilivyo sasa hivi: uharibifu na uzuri, utamaduni na mabadiliko." Watu wanaotembea kwa miguu na magari wanashuka kwa kasi ili kuwakumbuka watu waliokufa. Lakini sasa hivi, mwanzoni mwa majira ya joto, baada ya majira ya baridi kali ya kwanza ya California kwa miaka mingi, misalaba hiyo imezungukwa na maua na ishara za uhai.