Daniel Rudd Calls Black Catholic Congress. In January 1889 almost 100 black Catholic men meet with President Grover Cleveland on the last day of the first black Catholic lay congress in U.S. history. Daniel Rudd, a journalist from Ohio and founder of the American Catholic Tribune, becomes a leader of black laity.

The delegates' statement calls for Catholic schools for black children, endorses temperance, appeals to labor unions to admit blacks, advocates better housing, and praises religious orders for aiding blacks.
Rudd also helps organize the first lay Catholic congress of the entire U.S. in 1889, where he insists that blacks be treated as part of the whole, not as a special category. Thus black Catholics made the social implications of Catholicism into a primary feature of the faith, a new and bold approach for the time.

Black Catholic Congresses. The National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) is re-established in 1985 as a coalition of black Catholic organizations. In 1987, NBCC renews the tradition of gathering black Catholics from across the country. The first renewed congress, Congress VI (the first five took place in the 1800s), takes place in May of 1987 in Washington, D.C. NBCC holds a national congress every five years, and each event attracts growing numbers of attendees. Congress XIII is scheduled for July 20-23, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.

National Black Catholic Congress XIII (2023). Under the theme, “Write the Vision: A Prophetic Call to Thrive,” Congress XIII invites the Black apostolate not only to listen to God’s voice through Scripture but also to become prophetic people who move towards a vision to thrive. This historic quinquennial gathering of Black Catholics – and those who minister within the Black apostolate – is an outstanding witness and affirmation of the Faith in our communities and our fellowship and communion with one another.