The St. Rita Catholic Church and the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception will receive grant money from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. They are among the 35 black religious sites around the United States that will receive assistance for their structure preservation and repairs.
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
In a report of The Tablet,Through the "Preserving Black Churches" program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, many churches will be able to accept grants between $50,000 and $200,000 over the next two years. The foundation of Lilly Endowment supports the fund, which gives money to organizations that work for humanitarian, educational, and religious purposes.
Accordingly, the St. Rita Catholic Church will get $100,000 to replace its bell tower and fix the main structure's brickwork from the 1950s. On the other hand, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception will receive $150,000. The fund will support the hiring of preservation staff members so that a preservation plan may be developed and carried out for the church.
In the 2023 grant recipient announcement, the fund's executive director and the senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Brent Leggs, said that an endearing legacy of community, spirituality, and freedom had been passed down through decades by historic Black churches. Brent added that they recognize and honor Black churches' legacy to aspire and invest the fund in their "physical permanence and financial sustainability into the future."
St. Rita Catholic Church
According to St. Rita Catholic Church's website, in 1919, the church was established as the first African-American parish in Indianapolis. Under the leadership of Father Bernard Strange in 1935, the church and its school developed into important institutions in the neighborhood.
In the 1930s, progressive activist Father Strange began advocating for the desegregation of Catholic schools. Moreover, he focused a significant portion of his ministry on St. Rita's students at the congregation's school.
St. Rita became well-known for hosting several social events that were open to the residents of Martindale as well as African Americans from all over the city. The parish family continued to grow, which led to the construction of a new church building in April 1958 and completed on May 17, 1959.
Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception
Based on the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception website, the church was also called "The Mother Church of Tidewater Virginia." It is the oldest parish community in the Catholic Diocese of Richmond and was established as St. Patrick's Church in 1791.
Accordingly, the French people were the first parishioners of the parish, forced to leave by the French Revolution. It received some of the earliest Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States in a few years. In 1856, the original church built in 1954 was destroyed by fire. It took two years to reconstruct the church dedicated to Mary of the Immaculate Conception. In addition, it was the first church to bear the name following Pope Pius IX's dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
African American Catholics began attending St. Mary in 1886. St. Joseph's Black Catholic parish was founded in 1889 with the Josephites serving as priests; their mission was to provide the spiritual needs of the Black community. The Most Reverend Pio Laghi, D.D., Apostolic Pro-Nuncio, rededicated the newly restored building on November 1, 1989. St. Mary became a strong African-American worship community with several ministries and outreach initiatives.
Furthermore, on December 8, 1991, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception celebrated its 200th anniversary and became a Minor Basilica. Since then, it has become a popular destination for pilgrims and has been given a prestigious distinction commemorating the eminence of St. Mary.
Related Article: Historic Basilica of St. Mary receives part of multi-million dollar grant for Black churches
