Alice Prince, who holds a doctorate in education and is director of evangelization and communication at St. Josephine Bakhita Church in St. Louis, presented a historic look at spirituality and music. She asked her class to close their eyes and listen to the whispers of songs from long ago, to hear “Wade in the Water” from “the ancestors, their theology from their voice.”

“I want you to hear your great-great-great uncle. I want you to hear your great-great-great grandmother,” Prince said. “I want you to hear what they endured.” It was an emotional moment that showed the power music has on worship.

“I love how we can bring music, communal prayer and our liturgy … closer to God,” Prince said. “It makes our worship come alive.”

Music is an integral part of Catholicism. It is transformative, and music in Black parishes adds to the richness of the entire body of the Church.

“Music in the Black Catholic Church allows for so much possibility, so much flourishing. It doesn’t stay boxed in,” Chris Kendall, an attendee from Detroit, said. “We never, as a people, have been confined. … We are always striving to find ways to let the Spirit move us and to let the Spirit guide us.”

Historic acknowledgment

Jesuit Father Sean Toole, who attended this as his second Lyke Conference, is working to address a wrong lingering in the history of the Catholic Church. He said that Jesuits have a more than 100-year history of keeping and trading enslaved people.

Father Toole is now part of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation to address that wrong in a proactive way and make amends for injustices.

He said the Jesuits are working in conjunction with the descendants of people who were enslaved to pursue greater education opportunities. They also assist the elderly by providing home-improvement programs for their safety and dignity.

Father Toole said racial dialogue and interaction are crucial in helping people move forward together. It offers descendants hope.

The hope of salvation, taught through the lens of Black spirituality and identity, is an awesome way to engage the next generation. Presenter Ansel Augustine said, “I want to pass it on.”

Keir Ward, minister of music at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Detroit, does too. He said he has been to five Lyke Conferences and loves the fellowship, worship experience and music.

“We are definitely sacramentally and liturgically Roman Catholic, but our worship experiences are fully African American,” Ward said.

“Our worship, our struggles, our roots, our triumphs — it all comes out here in a beautiful way.”

And to the future

Jessie Bowens, a member of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Greenville, said Black Catholics “are few in number here in Greenville and to have such a huge conference here … means everything to us.”

She was most impressed with the number of young people. “A lot of young Black people … we’re delighted to have them, and they are in the Church.”

The presence of many youth is a tribute to Father Tony Ricard. He works in campus ministries with young men at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans and is the director for the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Father Ricard’s passion is bringing the Lord to young people, and he encouraged two dozen from the Bayou State to attend the Lyke Conference this year.

“One of the greatest blessings we have is being able to open the door so young people can see how we, as a people of color, can express our faith. But even more, how they can grow in faith,” he said.

Father Ricard said he loves when people see youth present and actively participating. He called it the “paw-paw phase of life,” when others see your children growing up.

“As we walk that journey of faith, the joy we have is knowing that each of them gets a chance to bring their gifts to the table, and folks get a chance to see the hope in our future,” he said.

The Lyke Conference gives youth an opportunity to grow. Then they go back home and share what they have learned with others. 

Father Ricard said that when you walk a journey of faith with a young person, “you realize how important God becomes to them, and we remind them how important they are to God.”

Augustine, who holds a doctorate in ministry, revels in teaching young people, too. He is an assistant director for African-American Affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a board member for the Lyke Foundation.

Augustine said the conference is important because it is a place where “our Black spirituality and our Black Catholic identity is sacred, upheld and empowered.”

He said that “spaces like this help us to remember what we have and where we come from is just as vital to the Church as any other faith practice or any other cultural expression.”

Generations coming up have a different cultural experience in the way they interact, think and view the world, Augustine said.

Prince said she “likes to bring in the voices of our young people … we do that through song, we do that through Communion prayer, and we also do that through our liturgy. It brings us deeper to God, deeper to our faith, and also, it makes our worship come alive.”

It’s crucial for conferences such as Lyke to welcome youth and give them the opportunity to share their views, to give them perspective and direction. In this way, they carry their authentic, cultural spirituality and Black Catholic expression into the future.

And that is refreshing to the soul.

• View a reel of participants sharing their Lyke Conference experience on diocesan social media — Facebook and Instagram: @diocesechas. 
• Additional photos are available at multimediaoffice.smugmug.com/Lyke-Conference-2026 to download or purchase. If you use these online or in print, please credit: Alex Hicks/The Miscellany.