In two separate Masses marking Black History Month, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory stressed that the annual monthlong observance is not only an opportunity to celebrate the gifts and accomplishments of African Americans, but also to time to help others see how people of color have contributed and continue to contribute to building up this country.

Cardinal Gregory was the principal celebrant of a Feb. 13 Black History Month Mass at St. Catherine Labouré Parish in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and a Feb. 20 Black History Month Mass at Immaculate Conception Monastery Church in the Jamaica Estates section of Queens, New York.

“This month is not exclusively a time for African-Americans simply to bask in the pride of our heritage – although that is also a benefit of these four weeks,” the cardinal said at the Harrisburg Mass, “it is additionally a moment when all Americans can have a better grasp of our all-inclusive history and spark a hope as a nation for our common future.”

He told the faithful gathered in Queens that “Black History Month is an opportunity for our entire country to recognize the blessings that People of Color have offered and continue to impart to these United States.”

Cardinal Gregory is a much sought-after speaker across the country. When Pope Francis appointed then-Archbishop Gregory as the new archbishop of Washington in April 2019 and when he was installed in that role the next month, he became the first African American archbishop of Washington. Earlier, he had served as a priest and bishop in Chicago and as the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, and as the archbishop of Atlanta. In November 2020, Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals, making him the first African American cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.

The Feb. 13 Mass in Harrisburg was sponsored by that diocese’s Black Catholic Apostolate. Cardinal Gregory told the faithful gathered at the Mass that observing Black History Month is important because “for too long in the narrating of our nation’s history, the talents and contributions of Black people were minimized, ignored or even denied.”

He stressed, however, that this month “is not simply a moment for Black people to recall our achievements or maybe just our survival, but an opportunity for all Americans to understand that this great nation of ours with all of its gifts and treasures is the result of the gifts of all people – including those who may have arrived on these shores in chains as slaves.”

Referring to the Mass’s Gospel reading (Luke 6:17, 20-26), Cardinal Gregory said the Beatitudes “challenge us to work for justice for all people – to renounce all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, or intolerance of the religious freedom of other people.”

“For those who believe in the Beatitudes there can be no place in their hearts for hatred,” he said.

 Calling the Beatitudes “a topsy-turvy way of looking at life,” Cardinal Gregory said they remind the faithful that “while the world may not always be fair, God is always just.’

“The Beatitudes are designed for people who realize that life may be unfair but that God is always just – even in the face of the many injustices that everyone encounters,” the cardinal said. “We African-Americans have had to rely on that truth too often throughout the history of our nation as we have had to face of discrimination and bigotry.”

The Feb. 20 Mass in Queens was jointly sponsored by the Brooklyn Vicariate for Black Catholic Concerns and the Office of Multicultural Diversity for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York. Concelebrants of that Mass included Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan and Rockville Centre Bishop John Barres.

“Today we celebrate in prayer the contributions of Black people to our homeland,” Cardinal Gregory told the standing room only crowd gathered for the Mass.  “However, this is also a moment for all Americans from every culture and race to appreciate the gifts that Black People have offered to our nation.”

He said that now is the time “for nation-building and for strengthening the bonds that tie us together as one people.”

Pointing to the Gospel reading for the Mass (Luke 6: 27-38) in which Jesus admonishes his followers to love their enemies and be merciful as God the Father is merciful, Cardinal Gregory said, “there have been too many times and occasions when God’s example of compassion and mercy have not been the path chosen by some of God’s people.”

“Ours has always been an immigrant nation comprised of people from every continent, language background, religion, and race.  We are asked to fashion and preserve one nation from this wide assortment of humanity,” he said. “People of color have not always received the acceptance and honor that our human dignity and cultural contributions to our nation have deserved.”

The cardinal lamented that in “this the land of the free and home of the brave, there are too many lessons of disrespect and bigotry.”

“Many people fleeing Europe to seek a better life for themselves and their families too often were rudely treated and scorned.  Each group would have its own stories of the mistreatment that some of their ancestors endured as they came to these shores,” he said. “One’s experience of discrimination, therefore, should make people sensitive to the maltreatment of others.”

He called on all Americans to “rejoice (during) this African-American Heritage Month in a legacy of unity that promises a better tomorrow for everyone who claims this land as their home. It is an occasion for us not only to thank God for the gifts of people of color, but to thank God for the possibility that we have become one people.”

The Masses in Harrisburg and Queens were the second and third time this month Cardinal Gregory has spoken on Black History Month to Catholics outside of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

In a Feb. 3 address address sponsored by the St. Thomas More Catholic Community at Yale University in Connecticut, Cardinal Gregory told those gathered for the talk that “Black History Month and every month, we must work hard to practice civility in our challenging discussions about race and every other issue that touches our families and our communities.”

He said then that when people “reject all forms of racism, bigotry, and injustice” and recognize that “we are each made by God and are deserving of respect and dignity because of just that,” then mankind will “live the way we were intended to live by the Creator.”