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November 4, 2024, New Orleans, Louisiana – Recipients of the 2024 Sister Jamie T. Phelps Scholarship offered thanks to Sister Jamie and the Adrian Dominican Sisters for their opportunity for summer study at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies (IBCS) at Xavier University. 

The IBCS offers students the opportunity every summer to engage in graduate studies or continuing education in theology and pastoral ministry, particularly training them to serve the African American Catholic community and the church at large. Sister Jamie was a consultant in the planning stages of the Institute and taught classes through the program. She was named the Director of the IBCS in 2003. 

The Adrian Dominican Sisters established the Sister Jamie T. Phelps, OP, PhD, scholarship both to support the IBCS program and to offer reparation for the Congregation’s participation in structural racism in the past.

This year’s scholarship recipients offered their thanks via video messages.

“Studying at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies is beneficial to me in so many ways: as a Black Catholic woman, as an academic, and thirdly, as the campus minister at Howard University,” said recipient Ali Mumbach. “God has made a way for me to attend the Institute for Black Catholic Studies every year, actually every summer, and this scholarship is another way that he has provided for me and affirmed my intention to finish this degree.” 

Shaylyn Cothron, a senior at Xavier University majoring in chemistry and minoring in biology and theology said, “Sister Jamie has been a pioneer in Black Catholic theology and Black Catholic catechesis. Sister Jamie’s work has done more than preserve our faith tradition. It has made it tangible, ensuring that the history of our people, which is so often denied to us, is told and remembered. Our faith is marked by resilience and a deep sense of community.”

Also receiving the 2024 scholarship are Alicia Gray, an elementary school teacher in New Orleans working toward a master’s degree in theology; April Williams-Bell, a continuing education student who coordinates the Lafourche Parish Juvenile Justice Facility and an active member of St. Augustine Catholic Church; Rahsaan Carlin, Associate Director of the African American, African, and Caribbean Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, enrolled in the continuing education program; and Pattie J. Griffin, who earned a master’s degree in theology from IBCS in 1995 but returned to participate in the continuing education program.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Jamie T. Phelps, OP, PhD, speaks at the 2003 Commencement Ceremony of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies. A scholarship program for IBCS students was endowed in her name.