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By Mary Kay McPartlin

Nate Tinner-Williams grew up Protestant and by the time he was in his late 20s, he knew something was missing

“I decided to visit an Orthodox church in San Francisco,” says Nate. “I began learning about all my misconceptions, not just about Catholicism but Christianity. I visited some Black Catholic churches and I fell in love.”

By CJ Williams | Pilot Correspondent

Members of the archdiocese’s Black Catholic community came together last month for an Archdiocesan Day of Reflection at the Pastoral Center. The event, held multiple times in the past, has returned for the first time since the pandemic. Despite the long interval apart, the day drew a significant number of in-person participants from parishes across the archdiocese.

By Robert Alan Glover |  OSV News

Almost everyone familiar with the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knows the value that the civil rights leader put on living a long life. The phrase “longevity has its place” is now enshrined within his last speech, given the night before King’s murder in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4,1968.

That fateful day, Franciscan Sisters Jane Marie Klein and Sister Anna Marie Hofmeyer were both in Memphis ministering at Saint Joseph Catholic Hospital. Saint Joseph’s was the only Catholic health care facility in Memphis in 1968, and King — just 39 years old — was brought there after being shot by an assassin.

By NATE TINNER-WILLIAMS | National Catholic Reporter

Kirk Whalum is a multi-Grammy Award-nominated saxophonist and composer whose work has spanned multiple genres, expressions, and platforms. He has to his credit the “most listened to” sax solo in history, and the Memphis native has nearly four decades of professional music under his belt. He is also perhaps the face of sacred jazz, having produced four critically acclaimed live albums featuring gospel music in the indigenous Black musical idiom.

More recently, his faith journey led him to the Catholic Church, an almost unheard-of turn for an American gospel music artist. Whalum sat down recently with Black Catholic Messenger to discuss this culminating moment, his musical inspirations, and his relationship with a certain African-American saint-to-be who also happens to be his kin. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

He is also perhaps the face of sacred jazz, having produced four critically acclaimed live albums featuring gospel music in the indigenous Black musical idiom.

More recently, his faith journey led him to the Catholic Church, an almost unheard-of turn for an American gospel music artist. Whalum sat down recently with Black Catholic Messenger to discuss this culminating moment, his musical inspirations, and his relationship with a certain African-American saint-to-be who also happens to be his kin. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

By Father Stephen D. Thorne | CatholicPhilly

Anyone who knows Monsignor Joseph Nicolo would agree that he is one of the many hard working priests of our Archdiocese. He serves as the pastor of Saint Helena Parish in Blue Bell and parochial administrator of Saint Titus Parish in Norristown. However, one may not know that he has been collecting Nativity sets for years and has a lot of them… a LOT of them. He has over 500! What is significant is not that Monsignor has so many images of the birth of Christ, it’s the fact that they are so different and represent every culture and color of the human family.