Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. will celebrate a Mass on Sunday June 19 at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in Largo, Maryland to commemorate the Juneteenth holiday, a new federal holiday being celebrated the next day on Monday June 20. The Mass, promoted as “A Celebration of Freedom, Resilience and Hope,” is sponsored by the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Bishop Campbell also serves as the pastor of St. Joseph Church, which this year is marking the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1922. The bishop also serves as president of the National Black Catholic Congress.
In a May 25 message to priests in the archdiocese, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory said, “We should be mindful of Juneteenth, the new federal holiday which celebrates the freedom of enslaved Black people after the Civil War. It is my hope that your parish will offer special and unique opportunities to bring people together to celebrate Juneteenth. Although African Americans throughout the United States have celebrated Juneteenth since 1865, this is only the second year that Juneteenth is officially being recognized as a federal holiday. We have an opportunity to raise consciousness as many people are unaware of the extraordinary significance of this holiday.”
In that message to priests, the cardinal also noted that “June 17th marks the seventh anniversary of the tragic shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The murder of nine African Americans while praying during their weekly Bible study is a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go as a country to end America’s original sin of racism. The senseless violence that stained that horrible day has been repeated too many times across the United States, most recently at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people lost their lives and yesterday’s mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school where at least 19 children and two teachers lost their lives. I am eternally grateful for the pastoral care, healing, and encouragement that you provide for your community each day.”
In addition to being Father’s Day, June 19 is also the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and on that day, many parishes across the United States including the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. will be holding Corpus Christ processions that will help launch the three-year National Eucharistic Revival being promoted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The address for St. Joseph Church is 2020 St. Joseph’s Drive, Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The Mass will be livestreamed.
For more information about the Mass, contact the archdiocese’s Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach at 301-853-5335 or by emailing culturaldiversity@adw.org.
