On November 20, 2022, St. Mark the Evangelist in Harlem, NY recognized the 150th Anniversary of the U.S. Province of the Spiritans with Mass and a celebration. Bishop Edmund Walen presided with Fr. Jean Pierre Tambwe, C.S.Sp., Fr. Don McEachin, C.S.Sp., and Fr. Dan Abba, C.S.Sp.
St. Mark the Evangelist was built in 1907 by Irish and German Catholics. When the demographic of the area started to change, they were in need of a church to serve the new population.
The Spiritans arrived in 1912 at the request of the local archbishop to serve the fledging Afro-Caribbean community in Harlem. The Spiritans had been recommended by St. Katharine Drexel, whose Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament community had established a school for Black and Native American children there. Fr. Christopher Plunkett, C.S.Sp. was the first Spiritan priest sent to St. Mark the Evangelist and the church has been served by Spiritans in the 110 years since.
The Spiritans came to Harlem to serve and support the Black Catholics, who were not welcomed anywhere else. They made their home at St. Mark the Evangelist and opened their door in subsequent generations to people from the Caribbean and the South, and more recently, immigrants from various countries in Africa. Now they joined together to celebrate the Spiritans’ 150th anniversary in the United States.