Dear Friends and Readers,
I offer this essay to honor Sr. Thea Bowman during Black History Month.
James J. Bacik
During Black History Month 2026, I commend for reflection Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990), a black, vowed religious woman, a teacher, scholar and gifted public speaker who explored in depth what it means to be Catholic and African-American in the United States.
On February 9, 2026, Bishop Joseph Kopacz of Jackson, Mississippi officially closed the diocesan phase of Bowman’s canonization process and sent a trove of supporting documents to the Vatican Dicastery for the Cause of Saints for further investigation of her Cause. In his homily at the Mass, Bishop Kopacz noted her “prophetic spirit, her brilliant mind and boundless stamina, even in illness.“ With great respect, he declared: “she inspired many and became a beacon for the Church to embrace more authentically the essence of what it means to be Catholic.“ Later in his homily, the Bishop said that Thea “was and remains, leaven and soul for the Church and society,“ an extremely significant statement that presents Thea as a model not only for the Church but also for our society deeply divided by partisan politics.
Thea, the daughter of a physician and a teacher, grew up in Canton, Mississippi, where she personally experienced the indignities of institutionalized segregation. Aware of the financial limitations of the black public school, her Methodist parents sent her to a local Catholic school, Holy Child Jesus, where she felt respected and loved by her dedicated teachers. Impressed with what she later called the school’s ”grace-filled environment,” the young nine-year-old girl, with her parent’s permission, joined the Catholic Church. Later, at age 15, she moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to start the process of becoming the first black member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, which remained her supportive community for the rest of her life. At the direction of her community, she taught elementary school in La Crosse and high school at Christ Child in her hometown.
To enrich her teaching ministry, she took classes at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. In 1972, she completed a doctorate in English literature with a dissertation on Thomas More’s 1534 A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, which emphasized the importance of emotion in effective communication. From 1972 to 1978 she taught classes at CUA and Viterbo College in La Crosse.
In 1978, Thea was appointed director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs for the diocese of Jackson, MS. That position enabled her to integrate the experience of black Catholics into the life of the Catholic Church in important ways: helping found the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans; playing a major role in producing an African American Catholic hymnal, with “soulful songs” that are holistic, participatory, realistic, spirit-filled and life giving; writing a handbook for those ministering in black communities, stressing the need to listen to the people and learn from them; assisting in the establishment of the National Black Sisters’ Conference; and traveling extensively around the country promoting inclusion of black spirituality into the life of the whole Catholic community. She was a charismatic speaker, who employed vivid imagery, rhythmic speech patterns, bodily gestures and familiar songs in her inspiring presentations. Despite developing breast cancer in 1984, she continued her busy schedule, always with joy in her heart and a smile on her face.
On June 2, 1989, Thea addressed the full body of the American bishops at their annual meeting at Seton Hall University in East Orange, New Jersey. Seated in a wheelchair because her cancer had spread to her bones, she spoke to the bishops “heart to heart” as her brothers, asking them to help her find her “true home” in the Church, according to Christ’s will. Addressing the sin of slavery, she highlighted the many achievements of African culture as well as the resilience and creativity of the African slaves, who helped build the country and still suffer from discrimination today. She noted how Catholic education helped people like herself find a home in the Church, and urged the bishops to provide greater support for this ministry so that black Catholics could evangelize themselves.
Thea told the bishops that she and other black Catholics came to the Church “fully functioning,” bringing their contemplative, biblical, holistic, integrated, joyful and communal black spirituality, which, she warned, just might shout out “Amen, Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus” in the middle of one of their sermons. She reminded the bishops that their job is to “enable” God’s people to do the Church’s work of teaching, preaching, witnessing, worshiping, serving, healing and reconciling in the modern world.
To promote a “multi-cultured Church,” black Catholics have to overcome apathy and inertia by realizing the richness of their heritage, and accepting their proper responsibility as active participants in the life of the Church. They must be included from the very beginning in the normal process of pastoral planning.
Thea concluded her inspiring presentation with a plea to the bishops to “walk together” so we can be “truly Catholic,” overcoming poverty, loneliness, alienation and building a “Holy city” where they will know “we are here because we love one another.” With that, she got the assembled bishops to stand up, cross their arms and join her in singing the familiar civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”
A few weeks before she died on March 30, 1990, at the age of 52, Thea Bowman offered this prayer: “We unite ourselves with Christ’s redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God’s healing, God’s unconditional love.” Since her death, she has been memorialized in many ways, including books, films, buildings, institutions, plays and art works. Some of her talks are readily available on You Tube, which provide a good way of experiencing her vibrant spirit. Today she is properly called a “Servant of God,” as her canonization process continues by the Vatican Dicastery.