Extension magazine - Spring 2023

24 INSPIRE
Cover Story
Extension | Spring 2023 25
Congolese refugees are served
at St. Peter Claver Catholic
Church in Lexington, Kentucky
N
O ONE VOLUNTEERS to be a refugee.
Try to imagine the set of circumstances
that would force you
on a moment’s notice to flee everything
you know and love, stuff
a few belongings in a plastic bag,
grab your children and set out on a
life-threatening journey to an unknown
and possibly more dangerous
destination.
Unimaginable. But you would
do it if you had to.
Poet Warsan Shire writes, “No
one leaves home unless home is
the mouth of a shark.” She would
know. She was born in Kenya to
refugee parents.
The Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC) is almost unknown
to us. It is shrouded in mystery,
lodged far from our shores
and news cycle. It is on few peoples’
radars, but make no mistake
about it—the DRC is in the mouth
of a shark.
PHOTO CHRIS STRONG
ABOVE A mother and
her baby celebrate
Sunday Mass
together.
RIGHT Father
Norman Fischer
visits the construction
site for the new
church.
When home is
the mouth
of a shark
Decades of political and interethnic
violence have sowed relentless
chaos. Scores of armed gangs
roam the country and force children
to become soldiers. Kidnappings,
torture, looting, rape, famine
and horrendous slaughter have
driven 5.6 million Congolese citizens
to flee to different parts of Africa
and across the globe. About 60
percent of these refugees are children.
Not one has volunteered.
A PLACE OF REFUGE
In 1891 a chapel dedicated to
St. Peter Claver was established
as a place where freed slaves and
their children could come to worship.
Thus, St. Peter Claver Church
became the first Roman Catholic
parish for the African American
community in the Diocese
of Lexington, Kentucky. In 1947
construction began on the orig-
inal church at Fourth and Jefferson
streets. It was completed and
blessed on December 8, 1947. The
parish founders, who nurtured the
light of faith as they emerged from
the ungodly pain of slavery, would
no doubt be proud of the community
of parishioners who currently
call this parish their home.
Today, St. Peter Claver is a construction
site once again. A new
church is rising, fueled by a remarkable
50 percent growth in
parishioners over the last 10 years.
While the parish continues to
serve African American Catholics,
many new parishioners are
Congolese refugees. Lexington is
home to more than 1,300 Congolese
(more than 50 percent of
whom are Catholic) and, at the
prompting of Bishop John Stowe,
O.F.M. Conv., St. Peter Claver has
thrown wide open the church
doors to this community.
Leading this remarkable rising
is Father Norman Fischer, the
first Black Filipino priest of the diocese.
He is the Catholic Church’s
version of the Energizer Bunny. He
is a whirlwind wearing a hard hat.
He is in love with his people and
holds nothing back, saying, “God
doesn’t ask for much. God asks for
everything.”
Under his leadership, St. Peter
Claver is a wonderfully diverse
community, home not only to African
Americans but to Filipinos,
Koreans and the Congolese. Father
Fischer speaks four languages:
English, Spanish, enough Swahili
to get by and “teenager.” He is the
chaplain for Lexington Catholic
High School and its 800 students,
in addition to pastoring St. Peter
Claver and two other rural parishes.
He is fueled by lattes from
the Jefferson Street Coffee shop
and the Holy Spirit.
It has been the dream of Bishop
Stowe, Father Fischer and the St.
Peter Claver community to build a
new church since 2006 when the
steeple of the old church fell in.
The recession, red tape, funding
shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic
threatened to shut down
the project many times. But failure
was not an option. The Congolese
found a way when they fled
the DRC. With Father Fischer, they
would find a way once again.
With the help of Catholic Extension
and scores of donors
across the diocese, the necessary
funds were assembled. Construction
began in 2022 and will be
completed in April 2023. For the
time being, parishioners pack into
the crowded parish hall for Sunday
Masses, which are filled with many
people and lots of spirit and joy.
ART IMITATING REALITY
Father Fischer practically levitates
when he talks about the new
church. He has an artist’s eye for
detail. The ambo will be a graceful
curve, looking more like a dancer’s
pose than a stodgy pulpit. Both
the altar—a sturdy family table—
and the celebrant’s chair will be
carved from African cherry wood
imported from the DRC.
A dark-skinned, battered Jesus
will hang from a cross inlaid with
ebony from the DRC. His loins are