“Black Catholicism is a gift to the Church,” said Ansel Augustine, assistant director of African American Affairs with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church. In partnership with Campus Ministry, Law Professor Veryl Miles led an on-campus discussion with Augustine in honor of Black History Month. Miles also serves on the University’s Sister Thea Bowman Committee, a campus-wide initiative advancing Bowman’s legacy.
Augustine’s service as a minister began with his home parish of St. Peter Claver in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, which he helped to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He shared how the witness of Sister Thea Bowman, an alumna on her way to sainthood, continues to inspire him as a Black Catholic and a minister to marginalized people.
Augustine said it is important when serving marginalized communities to remember that trying to “fix” things is not the goal and can do more harm than good. The goal is to encounter God’s grace in everyone and everywhere.
“God is already present on the margins. We’re not bringing God there. We’re encountering God who is already there,” said Augustine.
He gifted copies of his new book, Praying with Our Feet: Encountering God in the Margins, to students who came to learn about how their experiences can inform and inspire avenues for evangelization. He shared words of wisdom to the group that gathered in The Nest in the Edward J. Przybyla University Center.
On Calling and Purpose
“It’s not about you, but it’s about what God does through you. It’s not my job to ‘fix’ anybody. It’s my job to share my beliefs, what God is to me, what my faith is to me, and build that connection.”
He added: “I know I’m on God’s time, not my time. My focus is always, ‘How can I empower whoever’s coming after me?’”
On Prayer and Catholic Social Justice
“When we pray with our feet, we are reminded that everybody – no matter what they do, what they have done, what they look like, or what they have in their bank account – is made in the image and likeness of God,” he said. Praying with our feet is about putting our prayer into action, and that's what this book is about. It is challenging the faithful, empowering those that are struggling, and affirming them….It’s our call, as Martin Luther King said, to create a beloved community.”
On Black Catholic Identity
"What I grew up with in the sixth ward in New Orleans is just as holy and Catholic and relevant as [anywhere else],” Augustine said. ”There are seven black Catholics on the road to canonization from the United States. People need to know who these people are for our good and the good of all His Church.”
On “Showing up”
The title of one of the chapters of his book is “Show up so He Can Show up”. This chapter dives into how we are not here to do what’s popular or easy. We are here to do what God asks of each one of us.
