Deviating from the traditional music often heard during the weekly televised Mass from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, in Phoenix, the Umoja Gospel Youth Choir from St. Josephine Bakhita Mission Parish led attendees and viewers in worship, singing music derived from African-American spirituals as part of the Diocese of Phoenix’s first-ever celebration Black History Month Mass celebrated on Feb. 9. “Enslaved people denied earthly freedom still found the liberation in the Gospel. Their spiri...
