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Wheatley, J. (2014). The Church of St. Benedict the Moor: Propagating and Contesting Black Catholicism in New York City, 1883-1920. Retrieved from http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-8908
This thesis examines the Church of St. Benedict the Moor from 1883 to 1920. St. Benedict's was the first black Catholic church in the North. I argue that supporters of the Catholic mission to African Americans sought to incorporate the assumptions of black religiosity in order to render Catholicism as a legitimately black religion. The institutional history of St. Benedict's demonstrates the difficulties that the Catholic Church faced in attempting to overcome African American suspicion. A key contribution of this thesis is its approach to black Catholicism as a contested and propagated identity. Prompted by St. Benedict's creation in New York, black Catholics, Irish priests, freethinking radicals, and Protestants all participated in a dialogue over the nature and function of black religion vis-à-vis Catholicism.
African American Religion, American Catholicism, Black Catholicism
Date of Defense
March 28, 2014.
Submitted Note
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
Advisory Committee
John Corrigan, Professor Directing Thesis; Amanda Porterfield, Committee Member; Aline Kalbian, Committee Member.
Publisher
Florida State University
Identifier
FSU_migr_etd-8908
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Wheatley, J. (2014). The Church of St. Benedict the Moor: Propagating and Contesting Black Catholicism in New York City, 1883-1920. Retrieved from http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-8908
