Fr. Bozeman: Being ‘woke,’ in the truest sense, means being a servant-leader, striving for sainthood

More photos of the 2022 Black Saints Celebration can be found on the Clarion Herald’s Facebook page.

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Although the rain canceled their traditional November parade heralding the holy men and women of the church, Catholics from across the Archdiocese of New Orleans packed the pews of St. Mary of the Angels Church in New Orleans Nov. 5 for the Black Saints Celebration prayer service, “Answering the Call to Be a Servant Leader.” 

In his reflection, Josephite Father Anthony Bozeman, the former pastor of St. Raymond-St. Leo the Great Parish now assigned as the academic dean of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Washington, D.C., lamented that the words “woke” and “turned up” – once used to describe an active commitment to truth, justice and the transformation of hearts toward Christ – are now used pejoratively.

Ironically, Father Bozeman said, when we honor the Black saints, we actually are honoring men and women who are among the most “woke” and “turned up” disciples of Christ in all of church history.

“We have allowed other folks to transform our words of victory and celebration, because now, all of a sudden, ‘woke’ is a bad word,” Father Bozeman said.

“But church, think about what ‘woke’ means – it’s not a bad word for those of us who call ourselves Catholic Christians! The saints were woke – think about what they did; think about why we celebrate them. They were woke and then they turned up.”

Father Bozeman said Jesus’ counter-cultural redefining of “great leadership” as “servant-leadership” – the subject of the prayer service’s Gospel reading from St. Mark – was a teaching the Black saints had clearly embraced. Their lives, he said, provide Catholics with a valuable and inspirational “roadmap” to our own potential sainthood.

“(The Black saints) became aware of who they are and whose they are, and then they acted upon it!” Father Bozeman said. “Just by you being in this space (in church), receiving this grace, shows that you (too) are woke, but now it’s time to turn up!”

But, as Jesus showed us, being a humble and selfless servant-leader doesn’t mean being fearful of standing up for what is right and just, the priest said.

“Being a Catholic Christian means we have to go against what society says most of the time. Being counter cultural means that you’re in the midst of the saints!” Father Bozeman said, offering a couple of sobering examples from American history.

“Our servant-leaders and our ancestors suffered through slavery so that we could be here; some of our saints that we celebrate today could not sit in the front of the church – because we allowed others to tell us that we are not church, that we are an ‘appendage’ to the church,” said Father Bozeman, noting that two of the church’s earliest Black saints proved otherwise and in a big way:  the first person to help Jesus carry the cross was a Black man – Simon of Cyrene; and Simeon Bachos the Eunuch, an Ethiopian man, was the first non-Jew to be baptized Christian – in the second century.

“Before there was a church in Europe, there was a church in Africa,” Father Bozeman said. “If Black Catholics are not part of the church, then guess what? It’s not a catholic (universal) church.”

He said other Black servant leaders – and counter-culturalists – include Sts. Martin de Porres, Peter Claver, Charles Lwanga, Perpetua, Felicity, Benedict the Moor and Anthony of Egypt.

Still others await canonization: Servants of God Julia Greeley and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange; and Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Father Augustus Tolton, Sister Thea Bowman and Mother Henriette Delille, the New Orleans-born foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family whose cause for sainthood was opened in 1988.

“What’s taking so long?” Father Bozeman asked. “(Mother Delille) became ‘woke’ in answering the call to be a servant-leader, and then she modeled herself after the ultimate servant-leader – Jesus the Christ.

“We could go on and on (listing Black saints),” he said. “These holy women and men help us to see the way and to recognize that we’re the universal church!”

Father Bozeman concluded by telling each congregant that they, too, could be the saints  of the future. He asked them to repeat after him: “I know I’m called to be a servant-leader. I’m woke, and I’m ready to turn up!”

Current servant-leaders honored

The 2022 recipients of the Mrs. Sophie Aramburo Servant Leader Award, given to outstanding Catholics from traditionally African-American parishes and organizations across the Archdiocese of New Orleans, were recognized at the prayer service. The award is named for the late Sophie Aramburo, who served as the first associate director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for eight years, beginning in 1990.

This year's recipients, representing their respective church parishes, are:

St. Paul the Apostle: Carolyn Washington; St. Maria Goretti: Lanette Rousseve; Blessed Sacrament/St. Joan of Arc: Dr. Mary B. Green; Our Lady Star of the Sea: Dianne Jupiter; St. Peter Claver: Pearl Cordier Dupart (honored posthumously); St. Mary of the Angels: Albert Evans III; Corpus Christi/Epiphany: Melvin Sentmore; St. Jude/Our Lady of Guadalupe: Nellie Dennis; St. Genevieve: Cynthia Roberts; St. Thomas: Laverne Tarrence; St. Gabriel the Archangel: Gwendolyn Washington; St. David: Jeffery Mirabin; St. Joseph the Worker: Joseph Steib; St. Augustine: Lynn Ashburton; Sacred Heart: Madeline Laurent; All Saints: Alexis Robinson.

Award recipients from schools and other organizations are:

Sisters of the Holy Family: Sister Alicia Costa, SSF; Xavier University of Louisiana: Father Victor Laroche, OP and Dr. Reynold Verret; St. Mary’s Academy: Pamela Moore Rogers; St. Augustine High School: Aulston Taylor; St. Katharine Drexel Prep: Eric Smith; St. Joan of Arc School, New Orleans: Sean Goodwin; St. Benedict the Moor Elementary School: Vanessa Chavis; St. Leo the Great Elementary School: Carmel Mire; and Backstreet Cultural Museum.

The prayer service, held annually during Black Catholic History Month, was sponsored by the Office of Black Catholic Ministries of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. To learn about upcoming events or to sign up to receive the office’s newsletter, send an email to [email protected]; call (504) 861-6207; or visit nolacatholic.org/obcm.

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