August 28 - 31, 1997

The Eighth Black Catholic Congress, convened August 28 - 31, 1997 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was built on the successes of previous Congresses to establish a national consultative and educational forum on the call to evangelization. This was the last Congress to be held in the twentieth century. At Congress VIII, the objective was for our participants to feel the special sense of being sent as prophetic voices, speaking on behalf of the Lord to heal, to mend, to comfort, to build, to restore, and to create a New Kingdom of justice, love and peace. The theme for Congress VIII was, "What We Have Seen and Heard: We Proclaim and Celebrate."

Approximately 3,500 participants attended this Congress which included cardinals, bishops, clergy, religious, and lay leaders who minister to African Americans in the Catholic Church. Another component of the Congress was the dedication of the "Our Mother of Africa Chapel," on August 30, 1997, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Approximately 4,000 participants who traveled from various dioceses attended this historic event, which was televised nationally by Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), and exposed a wide audience to the presence of African American Catholics at the Mother Church of Roman Catholics.

The tremendous response of participants at the dedication of "Our Mother of Africa Chapel" revealed a heightened awareness and desire to aggressively pursue evangelization and community development. As an evangelization strategy, pilgrimages have taken place and large numbers of African Americans who are not Catholic or are unchurched have visited the Shrine and the Chapel. The dioceses of Brooklyn, Chicago, Lansing, and Rockville Centre and others have coordinated pilgrimages to the Shrine.

Over the years, there has been an increase in activities of the National Black Catholic Congress. Across the country, expressed interest and higher levels of participation have been reported and observed. The celebrations of the contributions of African Americans to the Catholic church have been increasing through such activities as African American cultural programs, revivals, prayer services, feast days, festivals and other parish sponsored programs.

The outcome of the eighth Congress was the publication of the document, "The Call to Evangelization: Ambassadors Speaking for Christ," which was developed to assist those working in the areas of evangelization and community development in the African American community. The publication offers resources, suggestions, and other information designed to be used throughout the calendar year.