CHERRY HILL – Addressing the audience in Camden Catholic High School’s auditorium, ValLimar Jansen brought the light to create a spark on a windy, 20-degree evening.
Expressing her desire “to recreate the warm, embracing welcome” she received on a trip to Ghana, Jansen – noted speaker, singer and composer – brought the crowd to their feet singing “Awkwaaba,” or “Welcome,” a word she learned in the West African country. Parishioners of all ages, students and a handful of priests swayed to the music, clapped and repeated the lyrics.
Before launching into her presentation, titled “Six Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood,” she encouraged the crowd to first greet their seatmates and then walk around the auditorium to offer blessings on one another – turning more than 100 individuals into a community embarking on a faith journey together.
Sponsored by the Diocese of Camden’s Black Catholic Ministry Commission, the Feb. 4 event saw Jansen weave together lecture, song and story to share the lives and witness of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, Venerable Henriette Delille, Servant of God Julia Greeley, Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, Venerable Father Augustus Tolton and Venerable Pierre Toussaint. All are being lifted up as candidates for sainthood in the Catholic Church.
Pierre Toussaint, born a slave, devoted his life to the poor in New York and “is the only layperson buried with cardinals and bishops” at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Jansen explained. Henriette Delille, who educated Black children in New Orleans, opened the nation’s first home for the elderly and founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, “rejected the class system and said, ‘Give me Jesus … I want to live and die for God.’”
Father Augustus Tolton was rejected by seminaries in the United States due to his skin color, and only after being educated and ordained in Rome and arriving back home to Quincy, Ill., was he accepted as a priest and homilist “who attracted many,” Jansen said. The first Black American priest “never preached hatred or retaliation, but preached the love of God for Black and White … the faith was for all of God’s children.”
Mother Mary Lange, Jansen explained, co-founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious congregation of Black women in the Church, while Julia Greeley was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and is often associated with a little red wagon, which she used to bring food and clothing to needy families. Born into slavery, she is often pictured with hats partially covering her right eye, which was destroyed when a whip being used on her mother caught her in the face.
Interspersed in all these narratives was Jansen’s powerful vibrato, a mix of original music and Gospel hymns bringing these soon-to-be saints to life. She was accompanied by the diocesan Gospel Choir, with her husband, Frank, on the piano.
Jansen ended the evening with Sister Thea Bowman, the first Black woman to address the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. A powerful teacher, speaker and singer, Bowman spoke on what it means to be Black and Catholic. By the end of the address, she had all of the bishops standing and holding hands while all sang, “We Shall Overcome.”
Jansen echoed the Servant of God’s unifying 1988 moment, having the crowd stand and hold hands in solidarity while they, too, sang loudly. Closing out the showcase was a spirited rendition by all of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Those in the crowd expressed appreciation for the education and fellowship of the evening.
“I feel very uplifted,” said Pamela West, from Sacred Heart Parish, Camden, adding that she was looking forward to talking about the presentation with parishioners the next day after Mass at Saint Bartholomew Church.
She particularly enjoyed especially learning about the life of Julia Greeley, Denver’s 20th century “Angel of Mercy” who dedicatedly fed the poor.
“She reminds me of so many women who have been [influential] in my life during my own raising,” West explained, adding that she feels “closely connected to her story, because of how she went out in the community and gave.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
