Posted November 10, 2021

St. Agatha-St. James Parish and the Penn-Drexel Newman Center, Philadelphia is hosting a multicultural event Sunday, Nov. 21.

Following the 11:30 a.m. Mass in the church, attendees will join in the blessing of the newly installed multicultural mosaic in the parish park featuring St. Katharine Drexel, St. John Henry Newman, St. Kateri Tekakwitha and Venerable Father Augustus Tolton.

A Thanksgiving Potluck meal will follow the blessing of the mosaic.

Sister Cora Marie Billings, R.S.M.

“Father Tolton and Black Catholic Holiness” is the topic of a concluding talk by Sister Cora Marie Billings, R.S.M., on the first Black Catholic priest in the United States whose cause for canonization is advancing in the church.

Sister Cora Marie is the first Black religious sister from Philadelphia, and she grew up in St. Agatha-St. James Parish.

The parish church is located at 38th and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia.