Racists In The Catholic Church Saint David's Willow Grove PA; "Immigrants bring diseases & need to be cleaned up!"

Thursday, 7 November 2024

By: TB Obwoge

A Catholic man at Saint David's said that immigrants bring disease to the United States and need to be cleaned up.

Quick back story, I have a cousin who like me was raised in a family of Catholics because of out Irish great-grandmother. She being the daughter of my aunt who was a twin child born to our great-grandmother or grandmother. She went onto work for the The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where she firsthand witnessed the game they played.

Tuition paid by Black & Hispanics in the Catholic School system, didn't go towards the total upkeep of the schools for Black & Hispanic Catholic schools. They were forever taking funds to make sure that the white Catholic schools were maintained better than those of the minority schools. St. Raymonds school in Philadelphia was in total disrepair and my cousins who attended the school told stories of how bad things were.

Windows were in need of repair or missing, they often wore their coats in classrooms. This took place for a long time before the school actually shut its doors. She worked in the office, overseeing this and later stopped being a practicing Catholic.

For about 5 to 6 months I've been attending Saint David's Roman Catholic Church in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. I've been battling with many issues, from breast cancer, issues from a sexual assault as well as other discrimination from a Black African country I once lived in for 2 years.

I have been working on not only bringing awareness about issues in Burkina Faso but giving out books to children in the Willow Grove area. I needed to find a place where I could pray as well as get out of my bubble. I was living so closed off from the world.

I would take these walk to the local library, then I started to notice the small chapel on the side of the church. These are often called oratories, in the Catholic Church. Upon my return from the local library I would sit, pray, read in this chapel.

One day I decided to attend the services on a Sunday. I was not surprised that though the service was some what packed, that no one sat near me. Aside from entering through the front door where 2 priests and a nun were standing. I was greeted by this happy nun with her thick Irish accent. To this day, she remains one of the very few people that speaks to me.

After what happened today, she will probably be one of the only people that speaks to me, I find that perfectly acceptable too. She is a gem and reminds me so much of my great-grand mother, who happened to be Irish.

From attending on that Sunday back in June or July of 2024, I started attending daily morning mass. The services were held every morning at 8 am. No one would greet me, some wouldn't even look my way.

I've even witnessed white members (most all the members are white), turning their heads to avoid looking in my direction making sure that they wouldn't have to greet me. Because surely speaking to me would NOT be what Jesus wants.

I had been putting up fliers all over the area about my nonprofit and Burkina Faso. As well as needing books in which I've been donating to local families with children.

One day during the morning service one of the priests mentions that the time was going to change as the upcoming weeks lead way to the start of a new school year. It would now be at 6:30 am, he however didn't mention the day.

One day after service I was asking an older woman about the day the change would take place. We chatted for a while, she hadn't any idea either. As I was talking to her a young man named Bob walked up and introduced himself to me.

At first glance I didn't know that Bob was young, he carried himself as a much older man. He was polite, business like and very serious about his Catholic worship. I am to this day happy to call this young man a friend, I will for now remain his friend.

I talked to him, told him about myself, my nonprofit, I even gave him one of the fliers in which I had been hanging around the church. He went home that day, he donated $25 USD to my nonprofit. The only person in Saint David's that cared after I handed them a flier.

The church was a cold place, I only pushed on because prayer works and I will forever tell anyone that cares to try it that God isn't concerned as much about church as God is about prayer.

There are a few members that I've noticed that are Black, one man who also doesn't speak, he appears to be from an East African country. Another older woman who also has an African accent, stays to herself & is also devoted to attending. There is also another family, which I've only seen once before, they too appear to be from an East African country, Ethiopia, or that area.

They spoke when I saw them but sadly I don't think they come regularly to that church.

Hours changed to 6:30 am, at that time it seemed to drop in attendance, people reluctant to attend. I who tried to make a service everyday continued to attend. Even though it was not a place where people were very friendly.

One day a woman stopped me as I was leaving, she was an older white woman. She asked me had I been crying. This started a rather lengthy conversation. We talked about me having a few medical issues, she told me about places in the church and outside of the church that could help me.

I listened, took note on my phone, however this was before the elections, she then turned to talking about Trump. She informed me that the country needed Trump back because we had to beat China. She said that we had to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country from China.

She looked deeply at me, even leaning in to see if I would say something, she went on with her speech about Americans needing Trump. Even though most people refused to talk to me, even as I tried to greet as many people as possible everyday, I knew that a lot of them felt the same way.

They had a month where they were promoting pro-life, they posted notices and spoke about protecting life often. However when I went to the church office on several occasions they seemed to stub me.

My first time the woman at the door was even reluctant to allow me to come in. I had never been, so I knocked on the door instead of just walking in, the woman saw me and slightly closed the door. She seemed to then place her body behind it.

I had handed her a package that was laid at the front door, then I explained how I had been attending the church for some time.

I asked her if there was any way I could set up a meeting to meet with the priest who was the head of the church. She was thrown back by my request, even stuttered as she replied asking me why I would want to do such a thing. She seemed a bit annoyed by this.

She eventually scribbled the church number on a piece of paper, the same number to the place in which I was standing. I was thanked her but as I walked home I wondered why the Hell would I have to call a number to a place I was standing in.

She also told me that there was a person that I should contact as a new member. I contacted this person 3 times in the last 5 months, they have never called me, they have never replied to my emails, they have ignored me.

Even when I sent out an email with my official nonprofit header and information, they have ignored me.

On the day of the elections, I spent time with the small group that does the rosary after church on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Bob was one of the people that often attended this group, I was given the handbok and rosary from him. He taught me everything that I didn't learn when I was growing up and baptized in the church.

Oh did I mention that I was baptized at 21 years old in a Catholic Church in Philadelphia that was mostly Black? I even told the first priest I spoke with about that, he not only knew the church he knew Father Moore.

There have been many times that people at Saint David's refuse to speak or even interact with me, the church is a cold, unwelcoming place.

This story can go on for days but for now I will continue to pray for Burkina Faso in any and every church I can find because they have captured my heart!

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©️TB Obwoge 2024 All Rights Reserved