The Venerable Augustus Tolton died in 1897, but thanks to a $1 million grant announced in his name Wednesday, the nation’s first Black Catholic priest could nurture and strengthen the vitality of Catholic congregations in Chicago for generations to come.
Tolton, who was born into slavery in Missouri and escaped to Illinois with his family during the Civil War, made such important strides in his 43 years that in 2010, Cardinal Francis George announced Tolton’s cause for sainthood. It is a lengthy process, but one that in just nine years has resulted in his recognition as venerable, two steps from the final declaration of sainthood in the Catholic Church.
Chicago Catholics soon will be able to learn more about Tolton’s life and benefit from his demonstration of the virtues that must be proven in a person’s life to be named a venerable through the creation of the Tolton Spirituality Center, a program that will benefit local churches, Bishop Joseph Perry said. Its aim is to create “a vehicle through which congregations will … reimagine what it means to be African American and Catholic in the 21st century,” according to an archdiocesan spokesperson.
An annual grant of $200,000 will be provided by the Lilly Endowment Inc. for five years for staffing, programming and other related costs associated with creating and maintaining the center, Perry said. It is separate from the canonization cause and was submitted by local lay Catholics from St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 5472 S. Kimbark Ave., and St. Ambrose Church, 1012 E. 47th St.
“They thought they would take a chance and apply to see if a program for our churches here in Chicago, based on the ministry of the first African American priest, Father Augustus Tolton, might be something they would be interested in,” Perry said by phone Wednesday.
“It was one of those things that you cross your fingers with because when you ask foundations for money, you may be approved or not approved,” he said.
He said the Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative, a national effort to strengthen Christian congregations and help people solidify their relationships with God and one another, received more than 850 grant petitions from around the country. Its core goal is “to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States,” according to a joint news release from the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Lilly Endowment.
“And surprisingly … we got the news that they wanted to fund this project,” Perry said. “Now things are underway, and we hope to get it off and running by spring.”
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish is one of 92 organizations nationwide receiving a grant from the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., according to the news release. In 2019, the Lilly Endowment launched the Thriving Congregations Initiative to “enhance the vitality of Christian congregations.”
Although the local award will create the Tolton Spirituality Center, the center won’t be a physical space, Perry said.
The center will operate as a clearinghouse, “established for the collection, classification, education and distribution of information that will aid the participating congregations to thrive and experience healthy growth and advancement,” the spokesperson said.
“The plan is to develop and deliver educational programs on topics of interest to the African American Catholic community in Chicago, including relevant social and cultural trends, principles of faith-based community organizing, and especially Tolton’s spirituality,” according to the archdiocesan spokesperson.
Grants also were awarded to groups from a variety of denominations and traditions, including Baptist, Episcopal, evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Orthodox Christian and nondenominational churches, according to a news release. A number of those selected specifically serve communities of color, including Black, Hispanic and Asian American communities, it said.
The Lilly Endowment said the grants were born out of the need to help ministries find ways to stay afloat and remain relevant in a shifting world that has seen a recent erosion of the prominence of the local congregation.
“These grants will help congregations assess their ministries and draw on practices in their theological traditions to address new challenges and better nurture the spiritual vitality of the people they serve,” Christopher Coble, the Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion, said in the news release.
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