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Catholic life

Catholic life

Tools to live out the Catholic faith including parish finder, daily Mass readings, prayer wall and advice for discerning a vocation.

Parish Finder

Find a Black Catholic Parish

Looking for a church to call home? Black Catholics are worshipping and growing in faith together in their parish communities. Find one that’s near you.

Find a parish
Adoration Chapels
Scripture

Daily Mass Readings

Access the weekday and Sunday Mass readings so you can follow along, or use them to pray on your own and immerse yourself in the Word of the Lord.

GET THE READINGS
Hail, Mary, Full of Grace

Marian Devotion

Explore various aspects of the Black Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Learn more

The Sacraments

The Roman Catholic Church has seven holy sacraments that are seen as mystical channels of divine grace, instituted by Christ. Each is celebrated with a visible rite, which reflects the invisible, spiritual essence of the sacrament. Whereas some sacraments are received only once, others require active and ongoing participation to foster the “living faith” of the celebrant.

Baptism

In Baptism, according to the USCCB, the Holy Spirit moves us to answer Christ’s call to holiness. In Baptism, we are asked to walk by the light of Christ and to trust in his wisdom. We are invited to submit our hearts to Christ with ever deeper love.

Eucharist

The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. -Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Learn more by viewing the OSV Publication, Frequently Asked Questions About the Mass. Click here to preview the pamphlet.

Confirmation

The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. “By the sacrament of Confirmation [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Reconciliation

Sin harms our relationship with God and damages our communion with the Church. Conversion of heart is the beginning of our journey back to God. Liturgically this happens in the Sacrament of Penance.

To help prepare for Penance, download the Examination of Conscience for Adults and Teens published by FathersofMercy.com.

Anointing of the Sick

This “is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Marriage

The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures and spiritual attitudes. – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Ordination

Ordination to the priesthood is always a call and a gift from God. Christ reminded his Apostles that they needed to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Those who seek priesthood respond generously to God’s call using the words of the prophet, “Here I am, send me” (Is 6:8). – Catechism of the Catholic Church.

USCCB Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people, and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systemic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life” (CT 18).

Access the Catechism online by clicking here.

Prayer Wall

How Can We Pray for You?

Reach out to our Black Catholic community with your intentions for support and healing, or to share praise for prayers answered.

Submit a prayer request
Visit our prayer wall
Weekly Mass

Watch Online Mass

Join NBCC President’s own congregation, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Largo, Maryland, for Mass streamed weekly.

Watch mass

Homilies and Reflections

Read these reflections from Black Catholic bishops and priests.
Find more
The Pastor’s Thoughts — March 26, 2023, 5th Sunday of Lent
March 20, 2023
by Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
“I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in...
The Pastor’s Thoughts — March 19, 2023, 4th Sunday of Lent
March 13, 2023
by Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
“I was blind, but now I see.” Today is “Laetare [lay-TAR-ay] Sunday,” the Sunday of rejoicing.  Although we are only...
The Pastor’s Thoughts — March 12, 2023, Third Sunday of Lent
March 6, 2023
by Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
“The water that I shall give you will become a spring of eternal life.” In our first reading from Exodus,...
The Pastor’s Thoughts — March 5, 2023, 2nd Sunday of Lent
March 1, 2023
by Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
“Jesus’ face shone like the sun.” In our Gospel the Apostles, Peter, James and John, saw Jesus transfigured, appearing in...
The Pastor’s Thoughts — February 26, 2023, 1st Sunday of Lent
March 1, 2023
by Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
“Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights and was tempted.” We have started our Lenten journey to empty ourselves...
Find more

Discern Your Vocation

Find Your Vocation

How is God calling you to serve the Church? Take a quiz to find out, find a vocation director, or learn more about the priesthood, religious orders, diaconate and married life by exploring the sections below.

VISION Vocation Match survey
Find a Vocation Director
“I Leave My Life in Your Hands.”
Let The Church Say AAmen

Diocese of Phoenix Black Catholic Vocations Initiative

Father Augustus Tolton Vocation Action Circle is to encourage our African American Community to pray for priestly vocations. Here’s how it works:

  • Make a list of names of Black men and pray daily through the intercession of Fr. Augustus Tolton that they may be granted the grace of a priestly vocation.
  • Participate in a monthly Mass offered for an increase of priestly vocations from the African American Community.
  • Pray daily for Black seminarians through the intercession of Fr. Augustus Tolton. A list of Black seminarians will be sent to you upon registration in the Fr. Augustus Tolton Vocation Action Circle.
  • Write Black seminarians at least at Christmas and Easter to encourage them in their vocation to the priesthood.
  • Support financially Black seminarians in need of help through the Fr. Augustus Tolton Vocation Action Circle.

Vocation: Consecrated Religious Life

About religious life
Religious life for women
Religious life for men
List of Religious Orders
When the King Desires Your Beauty
The Franciscan Handmaids of Mary: Sr. Rosemary Uzor, FHM (Women)
Holy Family Sisters: Sr. Laura Mercier, SSF (Women)
The Josephites: Fr. Stephen Sohe, SSJ (Men)
Oblate Sisters of Providence: Sr. Marcia Hall, OSP (Women)
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament: Sr. Jane Nesmith, SBS (Women)
Society of the Divine Word: Mr. Len Uhal, National Vocation Director (Men)

Vocation: Diocesan Priesthood

About the priesthood
Fr. Josh Johnson on discernment

Vocation: Diaconate

About the diaconate
National Association of Diaconate Directors

Vocation: Married & Family Life

About married life
Resources for couples
Tony Porter’s TEDTalk, A Call to Men
Strong Catholic Family Faith
USCCB Resources: Parents and Parenting

Vocation: Single Life

Is the single life a vocation? Maybe we’re asking the wrong question.
The Single Life is a Sacred Vocation —and it’s more fulfilling than our culture leads you to believe.

Vocation: Third Orders of Religious Congregations

The term Third Order signifies, in general, lay members of religious orders, who do not necessarily live in community and yet can claim to wear the habit and participate in the good works of some great order. … Members of third orders, are known as tertiaries (Latin tertiarii, from tertius, third).

  • Third Order of Augustinian Recollects
  • Third Order of Saint Augustine
  • Oblates of Saint Benedict
  • Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites
  • Third Order of Saint Dominic
  • Third Order of Saint Francis
  • Secular Franciscan Order
  • Third Order of Mercy
  • Third Order of Minims
  • Third Order Secular of the Most Holy Trinity
  • Third Order of Saint Norbert
  • Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
  • Association of Salesian Cooperators
  • Third Order of Servites
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The National Black Catholic Congress Inc.
320 Cathedral St. Baltimore, MD 21201 | 410.547.8496
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The National Black Catholic Congress Inc.
320 Cathedral St. Baltimore, MD 21201
410.547.8496
© 2023 All Rights Reserved

Designed by Fuzati

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Let Us Pray With You

Prayer requests submitted here will be reviewed and, if approved, added to our prayer wall. Please join our brothers and sisters in faith as we pray for each other’s needs.

Visit the Prayer Wall

Visit the Prayer Wall