Cardinal Wilton Gregory marked the start of Black History Month by celebrating Mass on Feb. 2 for students and faculty at St. Thomas More Catholic Academy in Southeast Washington, D.C. 

“I love coming to Thomas More because you sing so well and you pray so well,” Cardinal Gregory said of the school's choir members who sang throughout the Mass at St. Thomas More Church and accompanied the readings.

In his homily, Cardinal Gregory reflected on that day’s gospel reading from Luke 2:22-40 on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, telling students about when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to a temple and Simeon and Anna “praised God for the gift of that young man” and recognized Jesus’s greater purpose.

“They said to Mary and Joseph, he's going to be great. He's going to be a light for the world. He's going to offer light in places where there is only darkness and sorrow and unhappiness. In a sense, that's your job too, to be a light for the world," Cardinal Gregory said. 

The cardinal continued to tell students about the importance of Black History Month and how it originated – in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson in Washington, D.C. The African American historian, scholar and educator started an annual weekly celebration of Black history that since 1976 has been expanded and commemorated as Black History Month each February. The cardinal told attendees about a statue of Woodson on Rhode Island Avenue, N.W., between Ninth and Q Streets, in Washington. 

“It is a statue that honors the man who had the wisdom to invite the whole world to look at the gifts that African American people have. Sometimes, we look at Black History Month as only a time for African Americans to be happy, for African Americans to look at our own history and to look back and see the great things that people from our community have offered,” Cardinal Gregory said. “But African American History Month is a time for the whole city, the whole nation, the whole world to honor and respect and acknowledge and come to appreciate the gifts.”

Woodson, who was the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, is credited with being one of the first scholars to study the African diaspora, which ultimately led to the establishment of Black History Month. 

Cardinal Gregory said he hopes that students learn the gifts of African Americans and the contributions that have been made and what they can offer.

“No matter if you're in the classroom, playground or  community, hopefully you'll discover the greatness that is within you," Cardinal Gregory said, adding that the adults from St. Thomas More are there to help "young people realize the great gifts that God has given them, but not just gifts for them to use, but gifts for them to share with all of their neighbors and their friends, (and) help them understand that each one of them has a little light that they can bring to the world so that there is so much less darkness.”

Gerald D. Smith Jr., the principal at St. Thomas More Catholic Academy, spoke after the Mass. 

“[The homily] was beautiful. Cardinal Gregory really talked about having that light, and we talk about that a lot with our scholars, that they are the light throughout all of the darkness in the world and that as little citizens, no matter how young or old, we're called to be that light in some of the darkest areas. In Southeast D.C., we know that this is a marginalized community, and so we hope that we're not just a light but the heart of Fourth Street in this community,” Smith said.

Smith shared what the school is doing to celebrate Black History Month, including focusing on the “Sacred Six” Black Catholics being considered for canonization, and a Mardi Gras celebration. 

“We're going to actually be creating African American floats, and we're going to have a Mardi Gras festival that celebrates the contributions of prominent African Americans, both in our Catholic faith and in our everyday life,” Smith said. 

Smith emphasized the importance of students seeing that representation throughout the school on campus and in the classroom.

“It's really, really important for us to highlight that… so that when our scholars walk in, not just from the pictures but from the things that they're reading, they know that we were there and we were in it cultivating change in the world around us, and we're always going to be here. They're the next wave and generation that's called to do that,” Smith said.