CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Sister Thea Bowman was the granddaughter of a slave, an advocate for racial justice, and the first African American woman to address the U.S. bishops’ conference. Two years ago, her sainthood cause was opened.
“She was an outstanding teacher and she was an outstanding speaker. And she had a voice like an opera star and she could sing really beautifully, and people loved to be with her,” said Sister Charlene Smith, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA).
“I often say she was a whole lot like Jesus. People love to be around her, and I was one of those people that was lucky enough to be around her.”
Smith, who was friends with Bowman for 35 years, recounted the impact that Bowman made on many of those around her. In 2012, Smith co-authored a biography of her friend, entitled, “Thea’s Song: The Life of Thea Bowman.”
At age 51, Bowman became the first African American woman to address the U.S. bishops’ conference. Wheelchair-bound and fighting cancer, she delivered a memorable address about race and Catholicism before inviting the bishops to join her in singing and swaying to a Negro Spiritual.
That spunk, Smith told CNA, was part of Bowman’s charismatic personality as she traveled and taught and spoke around the country.
Sister Thea was born Bertha Bowman in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1937 to a lawyer and a teacher.
Although she was raised Protestant, she decided to become a Catholic at the age of nine. Visiting a variety of Christian denominations, she was moved by the kindness and generosity of the Franciscans Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, whose school she subsequently attended.
When she turned 15, she moved to Wisconsin and entered the order’s novitiate. Although her parents tried to persuade their daughter to enter an African-American community, she was determined to enter the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, whose warmth and love had drawn her to the Catholic faith six years prior.
At the time, she was the first and only black sister of the community in La Crosse. Smith said Bowman encountered some instances of racism even within the convent.
“I never saw any example of racism extended to Sister Thea when she was in our community, but there are sisters from other communities, African American sisters, to whom Thea apparently mentioned that once in a while, some of our older sisters, who had never been around anybody who was African American, were not always positive about Sister Thea,” she said.
When she began teaching at a Catholic elementary school in La Crosse, Bowman would teach about racial diversity, and about the importance of love.
“She taught children to use their hand. And the five fingers were the five different colors of skin, black and brown and yellow and red and white,” Smith said.
“And she knew that we were all not a melting pot. She was never very interested in that particular metaphor. She was a whole lot more interested in saying that we are more like a salad,” Smith continued. “So when you are a salad, you don’t lose your characteristics, you remain individuals. And the whole point is to love one another. And that’s what she did.”
As the civil rights movement grew in the years that followed, Bowman worked to advance racial justice. She helped establish the National Black Sisters Conference and advocated for an increased representation of American-American people in Church leadership. She called for more encounters between white and non-white Catholics, and for a welcoming of music from different cultural backgrounds.
Bowman became a noted public speaker, and traveled around the country, talking about race and the Catholic faith. She continued to travel and teach even after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984, even landing an interview with 60 Minutes.
In 1989, Bowman delivered what would become a famous speech at the spring meeting of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
“What does it mean to be black and Catholic?,” asked Sr. Thea. “It means that I bring myself, my black self.”
“I bring my whole history, my traditions, my experience, my culture, my African-American song and dance and gesture and movement and teaching and preaching and healing and responsibility as gift to the Church.”
Bowman had a profound impact on the bishops, and on many other people who heard her words.
“When that speech was over, they wheeled her off the podium and out into a hall. And one by one, the bishops came to her and knelt before her, in her wheelchair, and asked for her blessing. That’s how much they thought about her,” Smith said.
Bowman died March 30, 1990. Her canonization cause was opened by the Diocese of Jackson in 2018.
Smith said Bowman’s impact lives on after her death, with schools named after the sister, events held in her memory, memorials established in her honor, and at least 40 books mentioning her story and influence.
Smith said Bowman would likely find hope in the recent protests demanding racial equality and justice in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“Right now this is a time when we’re learning. I think the people in the United States are learning a whole lot more about our history, how we were terrible to the Native Americans and how we were terrible to the African Americans, and so we’re learning history,” she said. “Thea knew all of that and she let it be known that she knew that.”
“I’m sure she’s watching what’s going on in the United States. And I think she’s cheering for the African Americans and all of the people who have been subjected to pain and injustice,” Smith continued. “She was very much concerned that people be treated fairly, be treated as children of God. So she’d be happy with what’s going on.”
[…]
On Friday January 4, 2019 around 3 in the afternoon I went to Reny’s Store in Farmington, Maine.
There was a parking place right in front of the store, which had never happened before that and has not happened since then – GA #1.
I made 2 purchases and was heading out of the store when my right leg gave away and down I went. I broke a tendon in my right knee and a bone in my left wrist, but at the time I felt ok. (Shock?) 2 people helped me into my car parked right in front. I drove home (10 miles) and somehow managed to get inside the house, as in I have no memory of doing it – GA #2.
I sat down and told myself I was ok although things were starting to HURT BIGTIME.
I just happened to have my phone within reach of my left hand, the only one I could use – GA #3.
I kept telling myself that I was ok although it was getting increasingly apparent that such was not the case. Finally at 3 a.m. I realized (acknowledged) that something was really wrong and called first responders and they were there within 15 minutes – woken up at 3 in the morning on a January morning in rural Maine and there within 15 minutes. GA#4.
My GA wouldn’t tell me his (or her) name – he/she just smiled and said “I’ll be keeping an eye on you – like I have for the last 75 years.”
This REALLY happened.
Addendum – at NO time did I feel that I was in any danger at all.
Addendum #2- the part about speaking to my GA – I made that up.
Sorry
Through the years I gave scant attention to guardian angels, considered a real though pious sentiment. Until faced with difficulties common to the priesthood, fervid issues erupting among parishioners seemingly out of nowhere. Instances of solitary assignments in remote areas. Alone in darkness, unexpected sounds [structural shifting, perhaps not]. Faith strengthens. During prayer we know He’s present. With his angels. That gathered from Night Prayer.
Final prayers [night prayers] on Sundays offer an alternative or complementary prayer for protection during the night.
“Lord, we beg you to visit this house and banish from it all the deadly power of the enemy. May your holy angels dwell here to keep us in peace, and may your blessing be upon us always. We ask this through Christ Our Lord”.
We might ask, why angels? Then, why not? That angels are more of God’s creatures to love.
The information given via the link below is very informative with regard to Angels
The Orthodox Church’s Teachings on Angels » Saint John the Evangelist Orthodox Church (saintjohnchurch.org)
kevin your brother
In Christ
I have only recently developed a close relationship with my Guardian Angel. It’s been a most comforting experience. I’m keeping my Guardian Angel busy!
We can not begin to know how the Lord protects us!
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 34:7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
My guardian angel wakes me up when I oversleep, steers me out of troubled waters, helps me out of sticky situations,guides me into blessed situations. The more I pray and make appeals and live a devout life, the more help I get.
Also go to mass it’s the only time they get to go.