July 25

One evening, shortly after my husband and I moved into a house about four blocks from Christ the King, we met a neighbor who had lived on Gale all his life. Turns out, he was Catholic - but he had not, as a child, attended Christ the King School. He had not been allowed to do so - he is black. He attended St. Vincent’s School.

I wish he had been at the mass and dinner I attended recently with parishioners of those two parishes. After mass, we sat around tables in the parish hall - telling stories, making connections, laughing. Then we shared a meal of green salad, ripe tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, seasoned rice, chicken baked in a savory sauce, dessert - including a coconut cake based on a Parisian recipe that was out of this world. A eucharist after a eucharist - an experience of the kingdom of God that Jesus so often tried to describe.

One of the St. Vincent parishioners commented after dinner that she was sometimes asked to describe black spirituality. I loved her response: “It’s like Italian spirituality - only we are black.” Catholicism houses many different peoples with diverse history - all of whom have found unique songs and devotions to express their love for and trust in God. Yet, here in Nashville, two such groups have been separated not so much by geographic distance, but by a distance created by humans. But that night, around those tables, there was a wonderful sense of belonging together. We were being knit together by a Spirit that had always been present to all of us.