The Nation - News from July 10, 1989

Before a swaying, clapping congregation, and shouting above the din of African drums, a suspended black priest defied Roman Catholic Church authorities for the second straight week and conducted his own brand of services in a Washington high school auditorium. Father George A. Stallings Jr., 41, wore a robe trimmed with African printed fabric as he said Mass and served communion to more than 2,000 parishioners at back-to-back services that blended African religious rites, gospel music, traditional Catholic liturgy and a call to “invoke the spirits” of African and black American ancestors. Stallings has said he wants to see formation of an African-American Catholic rite.