What would you like to know about St. Joan of Arc? Do you have a story about our parish or of general interest that you think others would like to hear? For story ideas, contact Jeff Rholl, jeff@stjoan.com.

St. Peter Claver Church is a Roman Catholic parish whose founding purpose and continuing mission is to reach out to and be a faith home for African-American Catholics. People of all races and ethnic backgrounds are welcome. Grounded in the fullness of the Roman Catholic tradition, we draw particular strength from our rootedness in Africa, which teaches us resilient faith and perseverance, hospitality, and participatory worship. - A Mission Statement

Reaching Out    Lunch at the Lexington in St. Paul is always about something. A couple of weeks ago a lunch with two others produced an interesting invitation. “Why don’t you come to St. Peter Claver Church some Sunday?’ Since it was the smiling pastor extending the invitation, I was even more intrigued. On Labor Day week-end my intuition told me to wait until about 9:30 and drive up to 375 North Oxford in St. Paul to St. Peter Claver, a church I had driven by numerous times. I invited my wife of some 30 years to come with me, but she declined, choosing to practice what Dorothy Irvin called ‘house liturgy', a valid and safer form of early church worship. Like any first time visitor, I wanted just to inconspicuously slip into a pew in the middle of the church. I knew if I sat in the back, I would be dead ringer for the newest 'white' kid on the block. As I walked into a near empty church, I spotted Fr. Kevin McDonough, the pastor, sitting by himself, fully vested in the front pew. I tapped him on the shoulder and told him I was reporting in for prayer duty. He smiled and said he had thought of me, and then in his Irish way, in two minutes or less covered several other important topics. I thanked him again for the invitation and slipped back into the middle pew, hopefully to be left to my solitary thoughts.

People of All Races and Ethnic Backgrounds are Welcome    About seven minutes before 10:00 I discovered I was no longer in an empty church. My pew filled up with smiling faces, as did the pew in back and front, and my eyes looked around and I was right in the middle of a community that was truly racially mixed, black, brown and white. It was Sunday in America and for once I was not in a mostly segregated gathering. The pianist gave us a rousing introduction and all rose up as one to sing the opening hymn....”We shall gather at the River, the Beautiful, Beautiful River.” As the singing grew louder and louder, I thought for a minute, I am at St. Joan’s, no, I am with others that sing and sway even more than we do, and it feels good.

We Draw Particular Strength From Our Rootedness in Africa    I thought of a conversation with Cyril Paul about why more people of color don’t come to St. Joan of Arc. It has something to do with our Nordic formality. One does compare, it is just natural. St. Peter Claver mixes formality of Catholic liturgy with all the wonderful trappings of a family gathering. Early on a small boy got away from his parent and ran up to the altar. Kevin McDonough scooped him into his arms and continued to recite the prayers and walking down to deliver him back to his father. With each liturgical act of worship I found myself becoming increasingly more comfortable. I had no choice because everyone around me seem to have adopted me, smiled at me, held and shared their hymnal with me, and even whispered explanations into my ear from time to time. I have experienced this before in South Africa, this wonderful embracing hospitality.

Minnesota’s image as a Scandinavian - and German-American enclave is so entrenched, that people are often surprised to learn blacks have lived in the state as long as whites have. In 1846, 12 years before Minnesota became a state, a St. Paul schoolmaster wrote back East in search of teachers - saying applicants would have to be free of prejudice because their students were not only of European, but also of Indian and African stock. Pilgrim Baptist, Minnesota’s oldest black church, was founded in 1866. It’s still going strong in St. Paul’s Summit-University neighborhood. - from Moving Up: Part Two by John Biewen

To Be A Faith Home to African American Catholics    A beautiful passage from the Gospels was read about not selecting the first place at the table and I sat down with everyone to listen to the sermon. What I experienced was truly a transformational event. Fr. McDonough came down into the community and asked who had brought guests. One by one parishioners stood and so proudly introduced a friend, a relative, a guest. Sometimes the new person would speak to the community. There was a visiting Lutheran minister from the neighborhood, a women from Africa, an aunt from St. Louis, a cousin from Chicago, and on it went. Sitting listening to the various voices rise from various parts of the church had a healing effect of feeling more and more that you belonged, they felt like family. The woman next to me asked if I wanted to be introduced and I said no but as I did so, I heard my name being announced by Fr. McDonough...... “We have with us today, a parishioner from St. Joan of Arc” ...and he asked me to stand. Rising I found my voice just in time to look around at about 250 accepting faces and then the words just came:

Which Teaches Us Resilient Faith, ...And Participatory Worship    I started to lose my voice to emotion and quickly sat down. Kevin McDonough recovered for me and said something nice and I knew I was no longer an orphan, I had been adopted by everyone around me. When we came to the kiss of peace, I was prepared for the niceties of a couple of handshakes. Well what happens is that everything stops for about ten minutes and people get out of their pews and they exchange hugs, they embrace, they inquire about family members, and they visit with everyone around them. Since I had just recently acquired celebrity status, I was engulfed in a sea of affection. I got hugs and words of support from people three and four pews back.. I thought to myself that if the Mpls/St.Paul Magazine ever runs a 10 Best Places to get hugs and acceptance, St. Peter Claver will wins hands down.

In 1891, the St. Peter Claver congregation was still growing - so much so, they needed to move to a larger church........ The congregation purchased land at Rice Street near University Avenue. However, some of the neighbors in the area were adverse to the purchase. So instead the new church was built on piece of property near Farrington and Aurora. With the signing of the incorporation documents in 1892, by Colonel Samuel Hardy ( founder and editor of the first Negro Newspaper west of Chicago), Frederick L. McGhee ( a Negro Lawyer who was renowned as an orator and who led a movement to test the civil and political rights of Negroes through court cases), and Fr. Edward Casey, the Church of St. Peter Claver was born. - from We’ve Come this Far by Faith, a brief written history of St. Peter Claver Church

And a Remedy for Smugness    Going to St. Joan of Arc each Sunday, you do hear testimony to the spirit of the parishioners. One sometimes almost hears a sense of smugness, or, there is nobody else like us. It is true we are a spirited community but Sunday’s experience at St. Peter Claver in St. Paul let me participate first hand in the total acceptance of another sister/brother Christian community with an equally vibrant spirit. Our spiritual ancestors grew strong in the faith by being part of a supportive groups like this. But the Scriptures tell us they also grew in their faith through letters and visitors from other communities. Maybe it is time for St. Joan of Arc to send parishioners out to the other faith communities. We have much to offer and always much to learn.

Chuck MacDonald and his wife Beth are parishioners of St. Joan of Arc. Chuck serves on the Board of Open Arms of MN, an AIDS food ministry. He is a new member of the St. Joan of Arc Parish Council. He is actively involved with efforts to help victims of AIDS in South Africa and will take a group to Cape Town and rural South Africa this September. Chuck can be reached at chuckmacdonald@mediaone.net.

A Fairy Tale Ending    When Mass ended, which my interpreter said sometimes it takes two hours, we started to move out to the front of the church. To quote another visitor, I was spiritually charged but emotionally drained, and I was still getting embraces and best wishes. It was very crowded, but a tall thin man came up to me and wanted to say something. I smiled and he asked if I would accept any money for the South African people. I said yes and promised him it would go directly to them in two weeks time. He quickly put money in my hand and turned away. I asked for his name but he shook his head no and disappeared into the crowd. I became distracted by talking to others. Ten minutes later I walked to my car. I was still carrying the money so I opened my hand to see if it was five or ten dollars. What my eyes saw were five One Hundred dollar bills. I will keep the promise to the stranger, the money will go to South Africa and I stood there knowing that in two hours time I had been twice blessed, by the people of St. Peter Claver and a very generous stranger.

Janice LaMere is a self-professed (and sometimes publicly acknowledged) girl-geek. She does computer technical support and training, and is a writer, college student, mother of three and grandmother of two. She likes to read, learn, listen to music, walk with her dog (Lady Isabella Augusta, AKA Auggie Doggie) and watch old movies. She can be found on the Internet atwww.janissima.com, or email to lamere@janissima.com.

St. Peter Claver Church is located at 375 N. Oxford St. in St. Paul, just off the intersection of I-94 and Lexington Parkway.