Preparing for Black Catholic History Month

From creating a timeline to managing deadlines, below are some helpful tips for implementing the toolkit:

• 7X. Did you know it can take up to 7 times for a person to “see” something in order to finally notice or hear your message? Start with a personal invitation, and then think of 6 more ways you can promote Black History Month including:

  • Bulletin announcements
  • Pulpit announcements
  • Web site
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Parish email i.e. through Flocknote, Constant Contact
  • Commons display or table
  • Through faith formation programs
• Parish Contacts. Know your parish staff and ministry heads who may need to assist you with things like social media posts or Prayers of the Faithful for Mass.

• The Bulletin. Find out who creates the bulletin and when is the deadline to submit an announcement. Depending on if your bulletin is outsourced or if it is created in-house, due dates will vary. Typically, it is the Monday before the weekend. If Monday is a holiday, the due date will be sooner.

• Create a timeline. Plan as far back as October 1st keeping in mind your bulletin deadlines, etc. If you plan to host a BCHM event in early November i.e. praying the Black Catholic Rosary, you can start advertising now as a “Save the Date” social media post or email.

Click the button below to use the toolkit to celebrate Black Catholic History month with the 6 Black Catholics on the path to sainthood; a suggested timeline has been provided below: