The Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union provides an opportunity for Black Catholics to receive academic, personal, spiritual and professional education and training in preparation for professional ministry. Every year, the Tolton Program hosts an annual lecture.

In the 2022 lecture, “Philoctete’s Wound: Black Caribbean Religious Art and the (Re)presentation of a Catholic Mysticism” Dr. Nat Samuel (Loyola Chicago) expands the canon of sources for liberative theologies by examining the artwork of leading Caribbean muralist Sir Dunstan St. Omer. In conjunction with his close friend – Nobel Laureate Sir Derek Walcott – St. Omer pioneered a form of artistic expression which he used to great and imaginative effect as counter-narrative to dehumanizing colonial myth. I examine two of the artist’s best-known murals, discuss their significance in the arc of Caribbean religiosity, and extrapolate critical insight for a contemporary Black Catholic mysticism.

Learn more about the Tolton Program here: https://ctu.edu/initiatives/tolton-program-2/