Dear Corpus Christi,
In November, after Denise Duvall (co-chair of the parish’s social just committee) and I attended an All Saint’s Day Mass highlighting the cause for canonization of half a dozen African-American Catholics, Denise suggested commissioning
a portrait of one of those persons, Mother Mary Lange, founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. At the beginning of Black History Month, the Archbishop encouraged all Catholics to learn more about Mother Lange and to pray to her. The current successor to our own parish school (after a slew of subsequent iterations) is the new Catholic elementary school named for Mother Lange, on MLK Boulevard.
As a parish and a city, our connection to Mother Lange should be a strong one. The painting the parish commissioned from local African-American artist Anson Asaka is complete and will be blessed at our Sunday Mass on 27 February, at which Bishop Bruce Lewandowski will preside. I hope this event and having the image of Mary Lange, Servant of God, will be an important step in our community’s path towards racial justice and inclusion for all in the one body of Christ.
Andrew