Our
center is named after Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual
Adoration. Sister Thea, as she was affectionately known, was born and
raised in Canton, MS, the granddaughter of slaves. She joined the
Franciscans at age 15 and went on to earn her Doctorate in English
Literature and Linguistics from Catholic University. In 1979, she
became a consultant for intercultural awareness for the Diocese of Jackson,
as well as a faculty member of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at
Xavier University in New Orleans.
Sister Thea was, by turns,
an artist, teacher, evangelist, gospel singer, African American catalyst,
magnet and wounded healer.
In
the 70's and 80's she became the focal point of renewed and emerging
African-American Catholic energy, confidence and faith. The Church in
America had somehow changed, galvanized by her life and its journey.
A bronze plaque with the
words of Alice Walker adorned her home: "We are a people. A people do
not throw their geniuses away. it is our duty as witness for the
future to collect them again for the sake of the children. If
necessary, bone by bone."
Sister Thea died of cancer
on March 30, 1990, at the age of 51. At her funeral the voices of 80
children punctuated the evening with bursts of hymns taught to them by Thea.
She requested the words of Sojourner Truth to be recited: "I'm not going to
die. I'm going home like a shooting star."
Our
center is named after Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual
Adoration. Sister Thea, as she was affectionately known, was born and
raised in Canton, MS, the granddaughter of slaves. She joined the
Franciscans at age 15 and went on to earn her Doctorate in English
Literature and Linguistics from Catholic University. In 1979, she
became a consultant for intercultural awareness for the Diocese of Jackson,
as well as a faculty member of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at
Xavier University in New Orleans.
In
the 70's and 80's she became the focal point of renewed and emerging
African-American Catholic energy, confidence and faith. The Church in
America had somehow changed, galvanized by her life and its journey.