Black Catholics
BLACK CATHOLICS
CATHOLIC JOURNALS From CATHOLIC DIGEST, November 1989. “A BLACK BISHOP TALKS ABOUT BLACK CATHOLICS TODAY. Since the 1940s, the Catholic Church in America has inaugurated 13 black bishops, more than it had since the nation began.
“Most American blacks who are Catholic today came into the Church as adult converts, and much of the black leadershipo in the Church came through conversion. Of all the black bishops, I would say that about half are adult converts.
“In the plast decade, the influx of blacks into the Catholic Church has been marked. Membership has increased by 40% and black Catholics now number about 1.3 million…Almost half of the increase results from Church evangelization.
“By the 1960s and early ’70s, blacks were converting in good numbers, especially because the Church had established some credibility in civil rights.
“At the black Catholic Mass, the sign of peace takes 15 minutes, not just a half minute as in most other churches.
“The dearth of priests is yet another dilemma. The reality is that there are only about 300 black priests in America. Most black parishes are staffed by white priests.
“We have some very strong people among the black bishops…Archbishop Antonio Marino of Atlanta.”
SECULAR JOURNALS From San Diego TRIBUNE, 8/17/90 (page 25). “Ex-Atlanta archbishop intended to disclose affair, woman’s lawyer says. Former Roman Catholic archbishop Eugene Marino said he intended to tell everyone `including the pope’ about his two-year love affair with a church worker who claims she is his wife, the woman’s lawyer said.
“Vickie Long…said that church officials knew of the affair from its beginning in the summer of 1988. `Archbishop Marino and I exchanged vows in Decemnber 1988 and I have considered myself to be married to him since that time.’
“Long’s lawyer charged at a news conference that church officials eager to split up the couple had sought to convince Long that Marino was insane.
“Long’s news conference came a day after an Atlanta television station reported Marino was admitted to a psychiatric hospital last week after attemtting suicide. The archdiocese has declined to comment on the report.
“Marino was the highest ranking black Roman Catholic in the United States. His successor, Bishop James Lyke, said that the main reason for Marino’s resignation was the Long affair. Since then, evidence of affairs between Long, another priest and a nun have emerged.”