Fr. Adejoh at Fr. Tolton Celebration Mass: Step forward, live the Gospel, regardless of cost
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Venerable Father Augustus Tolton learned to trust God with every fiber of his being.
Sent on a seemingly impossible mission, he relied on God giving him whatever he would need to fulfill that mission in God’s own time and way.
“You and I have the same opportunity that Fr. Tolton had,” said Father Patrick Adejoh, “to respond to Christ’s invitation to step forward with hearts on fire for the resurrected Christ, and be sent in his name into a world in need of healing, to live out the Gospel values, no matter the cost.”
Fr. Adejoh, a missionary priest from the Diocese of Idah, Nigeria, who is chief of Chaplain Services at the Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, presided and preached the homily at this year’s Fr. Tolton Celebration Mass in St. John Henry Newman Church.
The Central Missouri chapter of the Tolton Associates organizes the annual Liturgy, which marks the anniversaries of Fr. Tolton’s birth on April 1 and of his priestly ordination on April 24.
Born into a family of enslaved people in what is now part of the Jefferson City diocese, Fr. Tolton (1854-97) overcame massive obstacles toward becoming and serving as the first Black Catholic priest in the United States.
“He was rejected by man on account of his Black African race,” Fr. Adejoh noted. “But God had a different plan for him, and he did his upmost to cooperate with God’s plan.”
Confronted with a priestly calling and little hope of being able to answer it, Fr. Tolton stayed focused on God.
“He refused to give up in the face of life’s struggles,” said Fr. Adejoh. “And he has become for many of us an enduring example of perseverance, hope and solid trust in God’s providence.”
Fr. Tolton’s father joined the Union Army after the Civil War broke out.
The future priest escaped to Illinois, a free state, with his mother and two sisters and continued to practice their Catholic faith in Quincy.
Young “Gus” went to St. Peter School in that city. The School Sisters of Notre Dame there, along with two diocesan priests in Quincy, the Franciscan friars at what is now Quincy University and his mother, helped him discern and pursue his priestly calling.
No U.S. seminary would enroll him because he was Black.
He was eventually accepted into the Pontifical Urban College in Rome, a seminary for missionaries of the Pontifical Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith.
He and his classmates were ordained in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, the day before Easter Sunday in 1886.
A plan and purpose
Fr. Tolton hoped to be sent to serve as a missionary somewhere in Africa.
But the prefect of the Propagation of the Faith decided that it would be more fruitful to send Fr. Tolton back to Quincy, where he had grown up.
“As Fr. Tolton himself recalled, ‘I will be the only priest of my race in America. I will not likely succeed,’” said Fr. Adejoh.
“But he was not going to let his pride, sense of comfort or ego get in the way,” the priest said.
At first, Fr. Tolton was welcomed back home as a celebrity, a novelty and a gifted preacher and minister at the altar.
White people began coming to Mass at the Black Catholic mission where Fr. Tolton served.
Over time, racial hostility and professional jealousy from some of his fellow priests made it difficult for him to minister.
He sought and was eventually granted permission to move to Chicago and minister to Black Catholics there.
He poured himself sacrificially, completely into grueling ministry.
He died of heatstroke while walking to his rectory on July 7, 1897.
It became clear that Fr. Tolton’s life, death and sacrifices were not in vain.
“His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time,” retired Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry stated in the prayer he wrote for Fr. Tolton’s canonization. “We stand in the shadow of his ministry.”
The Chicago archdiocese opened a formal cause in 2011 for having Fr. Tolton declared a saint.
“His life story reminds us that when we feel rejected by people placed in our path, for whatever reason, God always has a plan and a purpose that can turn things around for good,” said Fr. Adejoh.
“Hope and contradiction”
The Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Easter (Luke 24:13-35) tells of Jesus’s Easter Sunday encounter with two disciples who do not recognize him until he illuminates the Scriptures for them, breaks bread and gives it to them to eat.
Fr. Adejoh said he wonders if Fr. Tolton knew how influential his work and sacrifices would become.
“My hunch is, like many good men and women whom we revere and venerate in our tradition, Fr. Tolton was just a simple and humble man, trying to do his best to walk with Jesus,” the priest stated.
Fr. Tolton was like those disciples who sought comfort and fellowship on the Road to Emmaus.
“And Jesus came and walked beside him and raised him up to be a sign of hope and contradiction in the society in which he lived,” said Fr. Adejoh.
“Highest honor”
Father Charles Nweze, a missionary priest from the Diocese of Idah, Nigeria, who serves in hospital and nursing home ministry in Columbia, concelebrated the Mass.
Deacon William Seibert, who assists the pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, proclaimed the Gospel reading and assisted at the altar.
Columbia’s African Choir, directed by Cyril Ohiemu, joined the St. John Henry Newman Parish choir in leading a mix of songs and hymns in English and several African languages.
Several students from Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School in Columbia served as ushers and in the Offertory Procession.
Fr. Adejoh urged everyone present to continue publicizing Fr. Tolton’s story and call upon his intercession in praying to God.
“The highest honor for Fr. Tolton was to be ordained a priest to serve God’s people by teaching and explaining the Word of God, and by summoning to the altar the greatest mystery of our faith, Jesus Christ, present with us and recognizable to us through the miracle of transubstantiation,” Fr. Adejoh stated.
“May the life and memory and legacy of Fr. Tolton continue to draw us closer to God and to each other, united in charity and faith and the firm experience of the blessings of the resurrected Christ,” he said.
At the end of the Fr. Tolton Celebration Mass, its organizers — Tolton Ambassadors members Avila Hendricks Nylon Ph.D. of Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia and Michelle Sisson-White of St. John Henry Newman Parish — led everyone in praying Bishop Perry’s prayer for Fr. Tolton’s canonization.
Punch and cake were served afterward in the courtyard.
