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‘Historic ordination’: Fr Patrick Winbush, OSB raised to the priesthood in Newark

The 42-year-old Benedictine monk is the first African American ordained in Newark in more than 20 years.

NATE TINNER-WILLIAMS | Black Catholic Messenger
Photo: Fr Patrick Winbush, OSB drinks from the chalice during his ordination Mass on May 20 in Newark. (Nate Tinner-Williams)

NEWARK, N.J. — Hundreds gathered in eastern New Jersey on Saturday morning for the ordination Mass of Fr Patrick Winbush, who was ordained for the Benedictines of Newark Abbey, where he has resided as a professed monk since 2001.

The event, held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church nextdoor to the monastery, brought a diverse crowd of priests to the heart of the city, including a number of Winbush’s friends and the cardinal-archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, who was requested by Winbush last year to perform the ordination. Both men are African Americans, Gregory being the first such cardinal in history, and Winbush the first such priest ordained in Newark in more than two decades.

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Catholic University Honors the 50th Anniversary of the Partnership Program with Event, New Documentary

The Catholic University of America’s first graduates of the Partnership Program — created in the wake of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — were honored along with the co-founders of the program at a very special event on campus where a new documentary about the program was shown.

Along with Black alumni, University President Peter Kilpatrick, Vice President for Advancement Scott Rembold, and many others at the event, attendees heard stories from some of the original participants of the program as well as its co-founders.

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Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrates 50 years of priesthood at Mass in D.C.

The 75-year-old prelate concelebrated the Mass with eight members of his ordination class from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Illinois.

NATE TINNER-WILLIAMS | Black Catholic Messenger

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday afternoon at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington marked 50 years as a priest in the Catholic Church, alongside eight members of his ordination class from his seminary training in Illinois.

The livestreamed Mass was somewhat subdued, despite the full choir and miniature brass section reproducing hymns from the day the nine men were ordained at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Mundelein, Illinois, on May 9, 1973.

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Local Sports A father for the Saints

By Bill Potrecz | BPSportsNiagara

Father Tony Ricard has been all over the world delivering his unique testimony on the word of God and considers St. Catharines one of his favourite destinations.

Ricard, a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans and Campus Minister at St. Augustine High School, New Orleans, is also the pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish and an Instructor of Church Doctrine/Youth Ministry for the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University, Louisiana.

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Diocese hosts Knights of St. Peter Claver, Ladies Auxiliary conference

News of the Diocese / May 4, 2023

About 300 people from 13 states and the District of Columbia gathered in Cleveland recently for the 84th annual Northern States District Conference for the Knights of St. Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary. KPC is the oldest and largest historically Black Catholic fraternal/sororal lay organization. It was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama.

The conference took place April 20-23 at the Double Tree by Hilton Cleveland hotel in Independence. It was the first in-person gathering for the group since the COVID-19 pandemic. States represented included Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.