Looking back into the history and growth of the Catholic Church at the southern Jersey shore, one would be hard-pressed to find a more beloved and remembered individual than “Mother” Emma Lewis, founder of Atlantic City’s Saint Monica Church community and trailblazer to the Black Catholic Community of South Jersey.
Born in Ohio to Baptist parents in 1869, Lewis moved east to Pittsburgh with her daughter after a difficult marriage, and enrolled her child in a school founded by Saint Katharine Drexel, a wealthy Philadelphia woman who became a nun and devoted her life to working among Native Americans and African-Americans.
Eventually, Lewis moved further east across the state of Pennsylvania to Philadelphia where, following the catechetical example of Saint Drexel, she started a Sunday religious education program for the youth and adults in the Germantown neighborhood. She also received funding from Drexel to establish Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Mission (later church).
These efforts caused Lewis to become well-known throughout the Catholic community for her ministry to her fellow Black Catholics. Philadelphia Archbishop Patrick Ryan presented her with a gift from Pope Pius X in recognition of her service.
Lewis was next drawn to Atlantic City, and on Feb. 8, 1917 she began the Saint Monica Mission on Delaware Avenue, run by the Augustinian Fathers and named after the mother of Saint Augustine.
Four years later, Mother Lewis died at the age of 51, and in 1938, Bartholomew J. Eustace, bishop of the nascent Diocese of Camden, made the mission a church.
In addition to Black Catholics in Atlantic City, Saint Monica Church became a spiritual home for Catholics of such descent as Anglo-Saxon, Filipino, and Haitian.
Five years ago, the four Catholic churches in Atlantic City merged into one, necessitating the closure of Saint Monica Church; however, recognizing the seeds planted by Mother Lewis, the new church community is now known as the Parish of Saint Monica.
“The Black Catholic community are some of the most lively, life-giving and engaged members” of the parish, says Father Kevin Mohan, administrator of Saint Monica, adding that her legacy “is alive and well. I’m grateful for their ministry.”
Still today, Mother Lewis continues to watch over Atlantic City. A bust of her can be found in front of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on California Avenue.
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