ATLANTIC CITY – The community of the Parish of Saint Monica paid special tribute to a woman who played a significant role not only in the parish’s founding, but the legacy of Black Catholics in the seaside resort city.
Mother Emma Lewis, a devout Black Catholic convert and member of the lay apostolate of the Oblates of Divine Providence of Washington, D.C., is credited with starting the parish mission in the early 1900s.
On April 26, she was honored during Mass at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Church, after which the faithful traveled to her gravesite, laying a wreath on her headstone in the Atlantic City Cemetery off of West Washington Avenue in Pleasantville. There, Father Robert Hughes, parish pastor, was joined in praying for this devout woman of faith.
“Mother Emma Lewis played an essential role in shaping the Black Catholic community in Atlantic City,” Blanche Toole, a member of the Parish of Saint Monica as well as the Diocese’s Black Catholic Ministry Commission, said in advance of the April 26 Mass and wreath-laying. “Her legacy is very important [and] her vision was clear – she wanted a place where Black Catholics could feel at home in their faith.”
Pioneer in Evangelization
Mother Lewis was born in 1868 to Baptist parents in Ohio. She grew up poor, and would later leave Ohio after her marriage ended. She arrived in Pittsburgh in 1905, and placed her young daughter in a Catholic school funded by now-Saint Katharine Drexel. She later moved to Philadelphia, and her involvement in a Sunday school for children and adults, as well as her ministry work there, earned her the nickname “Mother Lewis.”
When she arrived in Atlantic City, she saw the hardship faced by Black Catholics who were not welcomed in Church communities on Absecon Island. As a champion of inclusion for Black Catholics like herself, she organized the faithful in a small, rented house on North Delaware Avenue. She named the mission she founded after Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, and on Feb. 18, 1917, it came under the administration of the clergy at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine.
“She was literally a pioneer when it comes to civil rights and evangelization. Strengthened by her experience with Saint Katharine Drexel’s religious community in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, she came to Atlantic City and understood the needs of Black Catholics and the discrimination they felt by White Catholics,” said Father Hughes. “So she organized them, catechized them, and eventually founded Saint Monica Mission on Pennsylvania Avenue, which later became Saint Monica Parish.”
Added Toole, “Without Mother Lewis’ determination, there may not have been a mission or a church. As the foundress of Saint Monica, she created a place that not only provided spiritual guidance, but a sense of belonging. Mother Lewis’ legacy is not just in the church she founded, but in the spirit of love and resilience that continues to guide our community.”
Faith Across Generations
While Mother Lewis later became ill and died on Dec. 11, 1921, the parish mission blossomed into a multi-cultural faith community that continues to flourish today.
“She was a Christian woman who believed that all God’s children had the right to worship,” said Toole, adding that she hopes more Catholics will learn about her story and legacy. “I believe her story should be heard by everyone. There is so much about her that we may never know, but what we do know should be told.”
Father Hughes noted that, while there are no living members of Mother Lewis’ original mission, the parish family counts among them “generations of their descendants.”
“Her hard work and dedication became a hallmark of the Black Catholic community in Atlantic City, which remains a vibrant part of our parish community and the Diocese of Camden,” said Father Hughes. “There is a strong sense of community and pride in being Catholic among those who call themselves the ‘children’ of Emma Lewis.’”
Toole said there is a lot of pride around Mother Lewis and her contributions to their parish community. “Her influence lives on with the award dinners that were created to honor parishioners that exemplify her spirit, and our Knights of Saint John continuing to care for her gravesite.”
Father Hughes noted that the current Saint Monica community encompasses the five parishes that originally served Atlantic City – including Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Saint Michael, Holy Spirit and the original Saint Monica.
“It is rich heritage that has incorporated aspects of the many waves of immigration and their cultures – the Irish, Italians, Germans, African Americans, Filipinos, Vietnamese and Latinos from across the Caribbean, North, Central and South America,” he said. “Mother Lewis was a first guardian of that tradition, and we are proud of the multi-ethnic parish we have become.
An Example Endures
That pride was on full display during the Mass on April 26, too, as Atlantic City Councilman Kaleem Shabazz read a resolution recognizing the contributions of Mother Emma Lewis. He noted that she “serves as an example for the kind of dedication we should have for humanity and for people of faith.”
In his homily, which was preached on Good Shepherd Sunday, Father Hughes spoke of the baptism of 3,000 people in one day, the account of which is found in Acts 2:41.
“Imagine if every one of us invited others to Jesus. We could literally double the size of this community in one week,” Father Hughes said. “We celebrate today a woman who did just that.”
“She proclaimed to all who would listen that if they repented and they believed, that God would give them an abundance of life, which is exactly what Jesus promises at the end of today’s Gospel: ‘I have come that you may have life in abundance,’” he said, referencing John 10:10.
Assistant editor Lori M. Nichols contributed to this report.
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