Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saw in the teachings of her Catholic faith first a message to change her heart and then to change her country – and it all began with the planting of a single tree.
Links:
Website for The Green Belt Movement begun by Maathai
PBS profile on Maathai
Audio interview with Maathai
Information about Maathai and her connection to Mount St. Scholastica
Maathai’s Nobel lecture
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai – a documentary film
Sources:
Maathai, Wangari, and Green Belt Movement. The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience. New York: Lantern Books, 2004.
Maathai, Wangari. Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World. New York: Doubleday, 2010.
Maathai, Wangari. Unbowed: A Memoir. New York: Anchor Books, 2007.
Image from Agência Brasil
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#282 – Wangari Maathai – “The Tree Woman”
November 26, 2011 – 7:13 pm
CUTH continues to celebrate National Black Catholic History Month with a look at The Knights of Peter Claver and the Ladies Auxiliary, who have worked to promote the Catholic faith within their communities since 1909.
Links:
Main website of the Knights of Peter Claver
Ebony article on the 50th Anniversary of the Knights of Peter Claver
Short video about the Knights of Peter Claver
For more information on National Black Catholic History Month see CUTH Episode #273
Sources:
Abston, Emanuel. Catholicism and African Americans: A Study of Claverism, 1909-1959. PhD diss. Florida State University, 1998.
Davis, Cyprian ed. Stamped With The Image of God: African Americans As God’s Image in Black. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004.
Davis, Cyprian. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1995.
My interview with Radio Maria will be broadcast on Monday, Nov. 28 from 3-4:00 EST and replay on Sat. Dec. 3, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier from 3-4:00 EST on the program Sacred Treasures
Check out the other great podcasts at the Starquest Production Network
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com
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#266 – The Knights of Peter Claver
November 5, 2011 – 1:56 am
As we begin National Black Catholic History Month in the United States, we look at the life and work of Lena Frances Edwards. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Edwards spent her life in defense of those most in need.
Links:
Articles on Black Catholic History Month can be found here, here, here and here
Important dates in Black Catholic History
Important Black Catholics in history
Ebony article about Lena Edwards on the mission in Texas
A brief biography of Lena Frances Edwards can be found here
Sources:
Davis, OSB, Cyprian. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. New York: Crossroad, 1995.
Interview with Lena Edwards, M.D. Cambridge, MA: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, 1980.
Scally, Mary Anthony. Medicine, motherhood, and mercy: the story of a Black woman doctor. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1979.
Check out the other great podcasts at the Starquest Production Network
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#263 – Lift As You Climb
August 27, 2011 – 3:42 pm
From the earliest days of the Church, Catholics have sought how to best express the eternal truths of the faith in their own distinctive cultural experience. While the Catholic faith came to the Democratic Republic of the Congo through European missionaries, the Congolese people have sought liturgical expressions which come from the Spirit that truly dwells among them.
Links:
Photos of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrating the Congolese Rite.
Videos of Congolese worship can be found here, here, and here.
Photo of Lubumbashi Cathedral in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Nick Hobgood
Other sources:
Egbulem, O.P., Chris Nwaka. “An African Interpretation of Liturgical Inculturation”. A Promise of Presence. Edited by Michael Downey and Richard Fragomeni. 1992. pp. 227-259.
Egbulem, O. P, Christ Nwaka. The Power of Africentric Celebrations. Inspirations from the Zairean Liturgy. 1996.
Tovey, Philip. Inculturation of Christian Worship: Exploring the Eucharist. 2004.
CNMC – Catholic New Media Celebration
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#254 – The Congolese Rite
Born a slave, ordained a priest – Father Augustus Tolton spent his life in the service of God. He strove against great odds to show to all Americans that racism had no place within the Catholic Church.
Prayer for the Cause of Father Augustus Tolton
O God, we give you thanks for your servant and priest, Father Augustus Tolton, who labored among us in times of contradiction, times that were both beautiful and paradoxical. His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time. We stand in the shadow of his ministry. May his life continue to inspire us and imbue us with that confidence and hope that will forge a new evangelization for the Church we love.
Father in heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your will, O God, glorify your servant, Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now ask through his intercession, (mention your request), so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved.
Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are God, living and reigning forever and ever. Amen
Bishop Joseph N. Perry
Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archdiocese of Chicago
2010
Links:
Biography of Father Tolton
There are are two books available about the life of Father Tolton – “A Place for My Children” and “From Slave to Priest”
CNMC MMX 200 – Catholic New Media Celebration in Boston
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
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#228 – Good Father Gus
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