Black and Catholic in Omaha: A Case of Double Jeopardy: The First Fifty Years of St. Benedict the Moor Parish

by Jack D. Angus

Black and Catholic in A Case of Double Jeopardy examines an area of American life that has gotten little attention-that of a black Catholic community in a predominantly white church and society.Author Jack Angus has spent more than a decade participating in the life of this parish while conducting his research. The result is a reconstruction of the first fifty years of the difficult journey from mission to mainstream Catholic for St. Benedict the Moor Parish and its people.The story is replete with examples of difficulties experienced not only with white people in general, but with other Catholics-both clerical and laity-as well. At the same time, there are also examples of friendship and support from these same quarters.The author recounts the faith journey which a handful of Catholic pariahs, and a lone evangelizing Jesuit priest, undertook on a cold, raw, rainy December day in Omaha, Nebraska. It would take them through financial depression, war, flood, and riots; and bring them to a new and greater sense of their own heritage.Interested lay persons, students, and academics pursuing community studies- Black and Catholic in A Case of Double Jeopardy is for you.

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2004