Abstract

To understand the ways U.S. black Catholics experienced the changes of the Second Vatican Council one must account for the Black Power movement. Starting in the late 1960s a growing number of black Catholics embraced the arguments for self-determination and black nationalism growing increasingly popular in the black freedom struggles. In this context, black Catholic activists interpreted Vatican II as an opportunity to integrate African and African American religious practices into the Mass. These liturgical innovations often occurred without the approval of ecclesial authorities and in the face of opposition from white and black Catholics alike. Resistance notwithstanding, black Catholic liturgies and the effort to produce “authentic black” Catholic worship transformed what it meant to be black and Catholic in the decades after the council.

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