Known affectionately and simply as Sr. Thea, she was born in 1937 and went to heaven March 30, 1990.  This servant of God and young convert to the Catholic faith is best known for energizing the African-American Catholic in America.

While speaking to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1990, she declared, “God didn’t make junk,” referring specifically to different ethnic groups.  She challenged the group of primarily white bishops as only she could, to do more to celebrate the gifts and legacy of black American Catholics.

I owe a large part of my Catholic tenacity to Sr. Thea as I was blessed to witn

Sr. Thea Bowman

ess in person, her witty, powerful and soulful musings about her faith in God and her love for the Catholic Church.  Whenever she was in or near the Houston area I was there.  She fed me spiritually at a time when my perception was that people of color were far from ordinary in the Catholic Church.  Her presence, her delivery, her faith was infectious; oh how I miss what she shared!

As I reflect today upon her life I am grateful for and a better person for having known her.  By the time she finished speaking to the bishops at the conference referenced above, many wept as they gave her a standing ovation.  A line of attendees formed in the hallway to greet the weakened and frail nun suffering from cancer as she exited the building. Can you imagine that? She was indeed special.

From her birth roots in rural Mississippi, Sr. Thea’s life journey left us memories from a nationally known speaker, singer, liturgist and advocate of black spirituality.

The Catholic Church has begun the process of examining if she is worthy of canonization to sainthood.  To me she already is.

There are over 62 million Catholics in America, of which about 2 million are of African descent.

I thank God for Sr. Thea, the granddaughter of slaves, daughter of a physician father and a teacher mother.  Sr. Thea joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at the age of 15, earned her Doctorate in English Literature and Linguistics from Catholic University. She became a consultant for Intercultural Awareness for the Diocese of Jackson, as well as a faculty member of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans.  She left us better than before she was born.