Thomas Mason IV responds to questions during a Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast recording last month at KALA studios in Davenport.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — In a special Black Catholic History Month edition of the Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast, Messenger staff sat down with Thomas Mason IV, president of the St. Martin de Porres Society at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. Mason spoke about the organization’s 40-year history of recognizing the efforts of Black Catholics, and addressed a mystery about the first Black priest from Iowa.
The organization began at the cathedral in 1985 with input from a lay parishioner who had previously lived in Washington, D.C. The society’s namesake, St. Martin de Porres, endured racism and persecution en route to becoming a Dominican brother, but never gave into anger or bitterness, Mason explained. “We couldn’t imagine the things that he was called and how they treated him. But he still said, ‘You know what? I’m here… my purpose is to help people and to take care of people.’ And he did.”
De Porres later became the first Black saint of the Americas. “He is the patron saint of racial unity (and) the patron saint of barbers,” Mason said. “You’ll see him a lot of times sweeping with a broom, because one of his sayings was, ‘Even if you’re sweeping with a broom, as long as it’s a prayer, you can offer that to God.”
People of any race or background are invited to join the St. Martin de Porres Society, Mason said. “It’s open to anybody” who wishes to learn more about the Black Catholic experience and help lift the voices of Black Catholics, past and present. “With the feel of America nowadays and the sense of it, we think it’s really important (to) get out there and educate people.”
During the podcast, Mason spoke about some of the Black Catholics from North America whom he hopes will become saints someday, including Father Augustus Tolton of Quincy, Illinois. Born in the mid-1800s, Father Tolton went to seminary in Rome because his race disqualified him from a seminary education in the United States at the time.
One of the co-hosts wondered aloud if the first Black priest from Iowa, Father Alan Simpson, may have faced similar discrimination in the 1940s as he discerned a calling to priesthood. According to The Catholic Messenger’s archives, he grew up in the Davenport Diocese and had support from his pastor in Lovilia, but was ordained in Ohio. He celebrated his first Masses as a priest in the Davenport Diocese before returning to the Youngstown Diocese to serve as a parochial vicar. The circumstances behind his decision to serve in Ohio as opposed to Iowa are unclear. Mason was unaware of Father Simpson’s story and is eager to learn more about it. “Maybe I can help you answer that question,” he said.
Mason and the podcast co-hosts also discussed their most beloved Christmas films. The holiday comedies “Jingle all the Way” and “Four Christmases” are sentimental favorites for Mason and his daughter. “Even though she’s a freshman in college, we still like to get together and watch them and laugh.”
Listen to Catholic Messenger Conversations at www.catholicmessenger.net/podcasting or find Catholic Messenger Conversations on your favorite podcasting app. Watch this and other podcasts on The Catholic Messenger’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/catholicmessenger.
