blackcatholic

We’re still talking about that phenomenal recording of Fr. Rivers and the Hawkins Family in a new episode of MFR! And we talk about so much more as well. Bonus content from our interview with composer and former Church musician Scott Patterson, featured in Episode 29, forms the content of this episode of Meet Father Rivers. Eric tells us more about Afro House, the art collective our guest Scott (and Alisha Patterson) lead. Then Emily, Eric and Scott discuss music ministry, form in art (and when to break it), Earth, Wind & Fire as church music, liturgy as “folk art” and how to have church all week. We intersperse more music from the Hawkins Family concert with Fr. Rivers and close with reflections on the importance of leadership in liturgy. Enjoy this eclectic episode of Meet Father Rivers. For Episode 30 Show Notes, click here.

Fr. Joseph A. Brown, SJ is our guest on this episode: a Jesuit priest and professor of Africana studies and scholar of Black Catholicism and liturgy. Fr. Brown is a poet, an artist and was a friend and colleague of Fr. Rivers. He tells how he first heard Fr. Rivers’ music and shares his belief that Fr. Rivers’ scholarly works are an undiscovered gem of American Catholicism. Hosts and guest discuss how we must share Rivers' ideas and legacy in the digital age. Fr. Joseph teaches us about sankofa: a West African, cyclical concept of the cosmos which emphasizes a return to the past to bring forth present and future. He suggests with some urgency that we “do the sankofa thing” with the teachings of Fr. Rivers, to renew the Church and empower the people of God. For Episode 16 Show Notes, click here.

As a newly-ordained priest, Fr. Rivers served as an English teacher, guidance counselor and drama coach at Purcell High School in Cincinnati in the late 1950s into the 1960s. There, he changed lives. Emily and Eric start their investigation of Fr. Rivers as high school teacher with Purcell teaching colleague, Fr. James Heft, SM. Fr. Jim was fresh out of college at the time of his encounter with Fr. Rivers, but went on to a distinguished career in the academy as an expert in Catholic secondary and higher education. Fr. Heft talks about the way Fr. Rivers set high standards for the English and drama curriculum at Purcell and the seamless way Rivers’ teaching expressed his interests in drama and the human experience. Fr. Heft also discusses how Rivers—along with his personal encounters with the Black American writer James Baldwin—helped him understand the commonalities among all of humanity and what he calls the elasticity of Catholicism. Finally, Fr. Heft offers Emily and Eric some welcome encouragement in telling Fr. Rivers’ story. For show notes, click here.

Emily and Eric interview Fr. Tom DiFolco, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who was mentored by Fr. Rivers, forming a friendship with Fr. Rivers as a fellow priest that greatly enhanced Fr. Tom’s own priestly ministry. Fr. Tom has served the Black Catholic parishes of Cincinnati for 25 years, and he opens up about the joys and challenges of his ministry and—most especially—how he has been forever changed by the life and influence of Fr. Clarence Rivers. The conversation includes a discussion of the original Eucharistic prayers composed by Fr. Rivers, and a sizable audio clip of Fr. Clarence praying his “Anaphora of the Lion and Lamb” is included in this episode, with special thanks to Matt Fellerhoff. For show notes, click here.