November 2, 2007

Conference urges black men to find their role in the church

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register

Many young black Catholic men don’t feel at home in their church, said Father Chester Smith, SVD. So he and the other priests in the Bowman-Francis Ministry have organized a series of National Men’s Conferences to show them they belong.

“A lot of our young men feel church doesn’t meet their needs,” said Father Smith. “We’re trying to say you can find a place, a mission, a purpose for your life as a Catholic.”

Father Smith was in Nashville Oct. 19-21 for the National Men’s Conference, sponsored by his order, the Divine Word Missionaries, and the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, and held at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. Local sponsors included the Diocese of Nashville and St. Vincent de Paul Church.

It was the fifth conference organized by Father Smith, his twin brother Father Charles Smith, SVD, and Father Ken Hamilton, SVD, who together lead the Bowman-Francis Ministry. The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus has endorsed and supported the conferences as part of its mission to address pastoral issues challenging the Catholic Church in the black community.

“The goal is to get as many lay men as possible to be involved in the church,” said Father Smith, who is from Indianapolis.

“A lot of men feel church is for the women,” Father Smith said. “The church speaks to the women. They have their roles. But men don’t have that spirituality that they take ownership of the church.”

Parishes often fail to ask young black men to be involved in ministries, Father Smith said, whether it’s as lectors or altar servers or as choir members or ushers or any number of ways. But “young men want to be more involved. There is a hunger for it.”

“Give them roles,” Father Smith added, “they will stay in the church and they will blossom.”

The conference, with the theme “Men in the Fire,” was geared for men ages 18 to 40. But the conference was also aimed at older men who can go back to their parishes and become mentors, teaching the young men of their parish that they have a role in the church, Father Smith said.

The conferences give black Catholic men the spiritual experience of worshiping together, something many young black Catholic men might not see much of in their parishes, Father Smith said.

“By seeing men worshipping God … we hope they can be lifted up to do ministry and outreach,” Father Smith said. He wants participants in the conference to learn how to use the talents God has given them and to live their faith in their daily lives, “to be Jesus in their home, in their marriages, and with their kids.”

“This conference will enable you to really walk with Jesus in your life,” he added.

Father Smith also hopes that the many black priests who attend the conference and present workshops or speeches will inspire young black Catholic men.

“We hope some young men will say ‘I’d like to be like him one day,’” Father Smith said.

The Nashville conference featured addresses and workshops that addressed topics such as “Spirituality and the Black Man,” “Christ in Sports,” “From Maleness to Boyhood to Mandhood,” “Finding Your Passion and Living Your Dreams,” “Vocation and the Call to Ministry,” “The African Male Relationship,” and finances and money management, reinforcing the message that there is a role for faith in every aspect of life.

“Jesus is important to your relationship to life,” Father Smith said.

Marc Guess of St. Rita Church in Indianapolis, where Father Smith and his brother are in residence, led the workshop on finances, just as he has done at all but one of the conferences.

The workshop in Nashville was geared for youth, Guess said, to help teach them the value of money.

“You have to be a good steward of your finances,” Guess said. “This is part of what God wants us to do too.”

Being a good steward of your finances “helps us take care of the responsibilities God puts in front of us,” Guess said.

During the workshop, Guess leads the participants through an exercise where they have to develop a monthly budget based on an income of $2,600 a month. As the youth started to weigh how to spend their money wisely, Guess said, their conversations quickly began to resemble those of their parents.

But the youth forgot to set aside money to contribute to church, Guess reminded them. He advises them to “pay God, pay yourself and take care of your responsibilities” before budgeting money for entertainment.

Being involved in the conferences and in his parish is part of Guess’ efforts to pass on to his children a legacy he received from his father.

“My father was very big influence on me. He set the example for me,” Guess said. “He was active in the church … from my earliest recollection. …

“This is what I’ve got to give back to my son that he sees me active in the church, that my daughter sees me active in the church,” Guess said.

That role as a mentor in the faith is a theme other participants picked up on at the conference.

Deacon Robert Atkins of St. Augustine Church in Memphis has attended four of the National Men’s Conferences. He sees the conferences as an opportunity “to feel the empowerment that we have as African-American men.”

He hopes to organize an empowerment conference in February “to bring this information to the people of Memphis,” Deacon Atkins said, “to feel empowered by God’s love.”

It was the first conference for J. Vincent Johnson, a parishioner at Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Church in Memphis.

He left the conference with plans to organize a youth empowerment day in his parish and to develop a rite of passage ceremony for his parish as “a way to welcome young men into manhood in our Catholic church.”

For black Catholics, finding their place in the church isn’t always easy, said Father Roy Lee, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee currently residing in Atlanta where he is an educator and revivalist.

“It’s important that we never lose the vision of our purpose as black Catholics,” said Father Lee, who gave the keynote address of the conference. “We have something to give to the church, through our culture. We bring in what we’ve already celebrated out in the world: our music, our own testimony, our dance, our values. We bring those to the church.”

Photos by Andy Telli

J. Vincent Johson of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Church in Memphis raises his arms in prayer during a Mass celebrated at St. Vincent de Paul Church as part of the National Men’s Conference, co-sponsored by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.

Marc Guess stands with his son, Nicholas, 8, during Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Nashville. Guess, a parishioner at St. Rita Church in Indianapolis, was in Nashville to be a presenter during the National Men’s Conference.