Where to find a Catholic Black History Month event (2025 edition)

Fresh off of MLK Day celebrations in dioceses around the country, Black History Month is now upon us, bringing even more celebrations. We have compiled here a list of such events throughout the nation in the coming days and weeks.

(This list may not be exhaustive. Please contact your local diocese, Black Catholic office, or a Black parish in your area for more info. We will also be updating this page and the BCM calendar as more events are announced.)

National

• Feb. 1: Birthday of Langston Hughes, preeminent Black poet and longtime Mass-goer.
• Feb. 2: National Day of Prayer for the African-American and African Family
• Feb. 3: Feast of Venerable Mary Lange, founder of the nation’s first order of Black women religious (the Oblate Sisters of Providence).
• Feb. 8: Feast of St Josephine Bakhita, the first Black woman canonized in the modern era.
• Feb. 11: Birthday of Mother Mary Theodore Williams, FHM, founder of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary.
• Feb. 12: Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament founder's day, honoring St. Katharine Drexel’s first vows in the order.
• Feb. 13: Anniversary of the death of Samuel “St. Peter's Sam” Henderson, formerly enslaved man who served the sick in Memphis during the devastating Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878.
• Feb. 27: Birthday of Fr Patrick Healy, SJ, one of the earliest Black priests in America and the “second founder” of Georgetown University.

Albany

• Feb. 11: “The Struggle Makes You Stronger: Lessons Dr. King Taught Me” keynote at Siena College in Loudonville with Nancy Giles at 7pm ET.

Atlanta

• Feb. 14-16: “The Hip Hop Mass” premiere at the Lyke House Catholic Center with Dr. Kevin P. Johnson.

Austin

• Feb. 2, 9, 16: BHM presentations on “The Church and Labor” following the 10am CT Masses at Holy Cross Catholic Church.
• Feb. 23: Motherland Sunday Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church at 10am CT.

Baltimore:

• Feb. 8: Venerable Mary Lange death anniversary Mass at Our Lady of Mount Providence Convent with Fr Albert Anuszewski, OSsT at 11am ET.
• Feb. 26: Sacred Jazz concert at the Baltimore Basilica with the Greg Hatza ORGANization and the Office of Black Catholic Ministries Choir at 7pm ET.

Boston

• Feb. 1-25: BHM events at Boston College.

Brooklyn 

• Feb. 9: BHM Mass at St. Laurence Catholic Church at 9am ET.
• Feb. 15-16: BHM gala and Unity Mass at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church in Queens.
• Feb. 16: BHM Mass at St. Clare Catholic Church in Queens with Archbishop Kenneth Richards of Kingston at 11am ET.
• Feb. 16: BHM Mass at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church with Archbishop Kenneth Richards of Kingston at 4pm ET.
• March 1: BHM Committee fundraiser at St. Pascal Baylon Church Hall in Queens at 2pm ET.

Chicago

• Feb. 2-7: African-American speaking series on Sundays at St. Sabina Catholic Church.
• Feb. 21: African American Heritage Prayer Service at Holy Name Cathedral at 9:30am CT.
• Feb. 23: BHM Family Day jazz Mass and brunch at St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Church with Fr Carl Gales, SVD at 9am CT.
• Feb. 23: Annual Archbishop James P. Lyke African American Male Image Awards at Georgios Banquets in Orland Park at 2pm CT.

Cincinnati

• Feb. 12: Annual Findley Lecture at the Athenaeum of Ohio’s Bartlett Center with Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville at 7:30pm ET.

Cleveland

• Feb. 8: Presentation on the legacy of Fr Clarence Williams, CPPS at the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe with Dr. Regennia Williams at 9:30am ET.

Denver

• Feb. 15: Regional Black Catholic Congress at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Aurora with keynote speaker Sr Gail Trippett, CSJ and liturgist M. Roger Holland II at 10am MT.

Detroit

• Feb. 2-28:  Black History Month events at the University of Detroit Mercy.
• Feb. 22: Songs of Freedom: Celebrating the Sacred Music of African American Composers at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church at 7pm ET.

Fall River

• Feb. 2: BHM Mass at Stonehill College’s Chapel of Mary in Easton at 7pm ET.

Harrisburg

• Feb. 9: BHM Mass at Saint Patrick Cathedral with Bishop Timothy Senior at 12:15pm ET. 

Honolulu

• Feb. 7: Gospel heritage concert at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Kailua-Kona with the Kona Choral Society at 7pm HT.
• Feb. 16: Gospel heritage concert at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Kailua with the Windward Choral Society at 4pm HST.

Indianapolis

• Feb. 27-28: “Sacred Music and Race in the American Church” workshop at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology with Dr. Karen Shadle, Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. 

Lafayette

• Feb. 23: Annual African Tea fundraiser at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge with the Drexel Society at 2pm CT.

Los Angeles

• Feb. 1-March 29: "Ghosts of Segregation" photography exhibition and conversation at Loyola Marymount University by Rich Frishman.
• Feb. 5: "Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Creating Pathways" film screening and panel at Loyola Marymount University with Dr. Robin Wilson at 6pm PT.
• Feb. 8: Rosary against Human Trafficking for the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church in Redondo Beach at 7pm PT.
• Feb. 15: BHM Mass and Keeper of the Flame awards ceremony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with Archbishop José H. Gómez at 5pm PT.
• Feb. 16: "Singing the Spirituals" event at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach with Dr. Kim Harris at 10am PT.