🇮🇷 Iran Proxy | https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imani_Temple_African-American_Catholic_Congregation
Jump to content

African-American Catholic Congregation

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
African-American Catholic Congregation
Emblem of the AACC
AbbreviationAACC
ClassificationWestern Christian
OrientationIndependent Catholic
ScriptureCatholic Bible
Theology
PolityEpiscopal
ArchbishopGeorge Augustus Stallings Jr.
LanguageEnglish
LiturgyZaire Use
HeadquartersHillcrest Heights, Maryland
FounderGeorge Augustus Stallings Jr.
Origin1989
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Separated fromCatholic Church in the United States
Congregations7 (2000)

The African-American Catholic Congregation (AACC) is an Independent Catholic church based in the United States. It was founded by Archbishop George Augustus Stallings—an Afrocentrist and former Catholic priest, in Washington, D.C. Stallings left the Catholic Church in 1989 and was officially excommunicated in 1990.[1][2][3][4][5]: 139 

Formerly headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation, in 2014, the mother church decided to relocate to nearby Prince George's County, Maryland; their current headquarters are located in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland.[6][7] As of 2000, the African-American Catholic Congregation had 6 additional Imani Temples spread throughout Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; University City, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; and Nigeria.[8]: 98  In 1990, it had another Imani Temple in Norfolk, Virginia.[9]

History

[edit]
Sign of the former Imani Temple in Washington, D.C. (2014)

George Augustus Stallings Jr., then a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington,[9] founded the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation as a single congregation in Washington, D.C., in July 1989.[5]: 139  The Imani Temple church was founded in Dumbarton Chapel at Howard University Law School's D.C. campus.[8]: 98 

He named it "Imani" for the Swahili word imani, meaning "faith."[10] The Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation was founded as a result of the Black Catholic movement.[11] At its founding, Stallings believed Roman Catholicism did not serve the Black and African American community nor recognized talent.[12][13][8]: 98  He and the African-American Catholic Congregation argued "that the White church has stripped African Americans of their history, their heritage, and their self-esteem".[8]: 101  Stallings and the African-American Catholic Congregation also proposed establishing a private school, the Imani Academy.[8]: 102 

Not long after the foundation of the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation, in 1990, one priest who established another congregation for the Independent Catholic denomination would leave and desire reconciliation with the Catholic Church; he would petition the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for readmittance.[14]

In May 1990, Stallings was consecrated as bishop for the African-American Catholic Congregation by Richard Michael Bridges—a bishop of the American Independent Orthodox Church. He was assisted by Emil Fairfield Rodriguez of the Mexican National Catholic Church and Donald Lawrence Jolly.[15] By September 1991, Bridges's group conferred upon Stallings the title of archbishop.[16][9][5]: 139  In 1991, Stallings also ordained the first female priest for the church.[17][18][5]: 139 

In 1994, the Imani Temple in D.C. purchased the former Eastern Presbyterian Church,[19] designed by noted Washington architect Appleton P. Clark Jr. and opened in 1893.[20]

By 2000, the African-American Catholic Congregation grew and consisted of 7 Imani Temples located in the United States and Nigeria; most of its congregations were located along the U.S. East Coast.[8]: 98 

Conditional consecrations by Emmanuel Milingo (2006)
Former Imani Temple in D.C. (2012)

In 2006, the excommunicated Catholic archbishop Emmanuel Milingo (who married a woman from South Korea in 2001 at the same ceremony as Stallings)[21] performed a conditional consecration for Stallings and three other married Independent Catholic bishops (including Peter Paul Brennan) at the Imani Temple church in Washington.[22][23]

In 2013, a female Baptist bishop in Detroit, Michigan (resigning from their Baptist congregation for their same-sex marriage to an emeritus bishop of the African-American Catholic Congregation) established an affirming church with their partner.[24][25]

In 2014, the denomination decided to relocate to Prince George's County, Maryland, and sold the Imani Temple in Washington to property developers.[1] It was renovated and adapted for sale as six luxury condominiums.[20]

Doctrine

[edit]

At its founding, Stallings considered abortion and contraception matters of individual conscience; rejected homosexual activity as a sin; and welcomed divorced or remarried Christians without an annulment.[2][3] Additionally, AACC teaching—in contrast to Catholic teaching—allows women to be ordained.[14] Unlike the Latin Catholic Church, it does not as a rule, require celibacy of its priests. In 1991, their first female priest was ordained.[18][5]: 139  The denomination also subscribes to the Twelve Declarations of the African-American Catholic Congregation.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Harris, Hamil R.; DeBonis, Mike (2023-05-19). "Q&A with Imani Temple founder George A. Stallings Jr". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  2. ^ a b Dedman, Bill (May 1, 1990). "Stallings Builds A Black Church Far From Rome". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  3. ^ a b "Stallings formalizes Break from Roman Catholic Church". The Washington Post. 1990-02-02. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  4. ^ Chandler, Russell (1989-07-25). "Dilemma for Catholics : Breakaway Black Priest: New Schism?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  5. ^ a b c d e Sharps, Ronald L. (1994). "Black Catholics in the United States: A Historical Chronology". U.S. Catholic Historian. 12 (1): 119–141. ISSN 0735-8318.
  6. ^ Tallman, William (2022-04-09). "Air purification company lends a hand to Imani Temple". DC News Now | Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  7. ^ DeBonis, Mike (2021-12-01). "Imani Temple is leaving the District". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  8. ^ a b c d e f D'Apolito, Rosemary (2000). "The Activist Role of the Black Church: A Theoretical Analysis and an Empirical Investigation of One Contemporary Activist Black Church". Journal of Black Studies. 31 (1): 96–123. ISSN 0021-9347.
  9. ^ a b c Jerome Cramer and Richard Ostling (May 14, 1990). "Catholicism's Black Maverick". Time magazine. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008.
  10. ^ Hyer, Marjorie (July 10, 1989). "'Ain't no Stopping us Now,' Stallings Exults". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  11. ^ McGann, Mary E.; Lumas, Eva Marie (2001). "The Emergence of African American Catholic Worship". U.S. Catholic Historian. 19 (2): 27–65. ISSN 0735-8318.
  12. ^ Craughwell, Thomas J. (2012-02-05). "History of African-American Catholics". Our Sunday Visitor. Archived from the original on 2025-04-25. Retrieved 2025-08-23. In the 1980s Father George Stallings of Washington, D.C., sought the permission of his archbishop to found an African American rite parish with a distinctive African liturgy. The archbishop denied the request, so Father Stallings left the Catholic Church and founded his own congregation, the Imani Temple, as the mother church of his African American rite.
  13. ^ "Black Catholics". The Wilson Quarterly. 16 (4): 127–128. 1992. ISSN 0363-3276.
  14. ^ a b "Priest who backed Stallings leaves independent movement - UPI Archives". UPI. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  15. ^ Persson, Bertil (1990). Independent Bishops: An International Directory. Apogee Books. p. 383. ISBN 9781558883079. He was suspended from the Roman Catholic Church on July 3, 1989 for establishing the independent Imani Temple, and was consecrated for the African-American Catholic Congregation in Washington, D.C., on May 12, 1990, by Richard M. Bridges of the American Independent Orthodox Church, assisted by Donald L. Jolly and Emile F. Rodriguez y Fairfield.
  16. ^ Bekeh Ukelina Utietiang. "Issues in the History and Development of the African American Catholic Church: A Study of Archbishop George Augustus Stallings Jr". Archived from the original on September 5, 2011.
  17. ^ "Black Catholics In Splinter Sect Ordain Woman (Published 1991)". The New York Times. 1991-09-09. Archived from the original on 2021-11-18. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  18. ^ a b "Black Catholic church welcomes female priest Woman makes history by saying mass". Baltimore Sun. 1991-09-23. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  19. ^ "Milton, Charnese A. "Plans to turn Imani Temple into residential units being considered"". Capital Community News. 2014-12-06. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  20. ^ a b Li, Kathryn Hopkins and Miao (2016-04-05). "Developers Say 'Take Me to Church'". Mansion Global. Archived from the original on 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  21. ^ "A Member of The Wedding". Washington Post. 28 May 2001. Archived from the original on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Renegade Archbishop Rejects Excommunication". RNS. 2006-11-14. Archived from the original on 2025-04-06. Retrieved 2025-08-23. As a bishop, Milingo technically has the authority to ordain other bishops. But under church rules, only bishops authorized by the pope are considered bishops in good standing. The four consecrations are technically "valid" even if they are not "licit," according to the Rev. Philip Goyret, a professor of dogmatic theology with expertise in canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. That means the Vatican cannot deny the inherent authority of the newly installed bishops, even if they do not consider them in formal communion with Pope Benedict XVI. Precedence for such scenarios include the Catholic-Orthodox split in 1054 and the schism between the traditionalist followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who broke with Rome in 1988, after consecrating four priests as bishops in the Society of Pius X. "Episcopal consecrations carried out without the orders or consensus of the pontiff are valid," Goyret said.
  23. ^ "Vatican: Archbishop Milingo and four others excommunicated". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on 2025-06-21. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  24. ^ Warikoo, Niraj. "Lesbian Baptist bishop finds new start after resigning". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2025-07-15. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  25. ^ Blair, Leonardo; Reporter, Senior (2013-10-21). "Baptist Pastor Tells Church She's Married to Female Bishop and Resigns; Claims Scripture Supports Same-Sex Love". Christian Post. Archived from the original on 2025-04-14. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African-American_Catholic_Congregation&oldid=1325190326"