African-American Catholic Congregation
The African-American Catholic Congregation is an [Independent Catholicism|Independent Catholic church] based in the United States. It was founded by Archbishop George Augustus Stallings—an Afrocentrist and former Catholic priest, in Washington, D.C. Stallings left the Catholic Church in 1989 and was officially excommunicated in 1990.
Formerly headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation, in 2014, the mother church decided to relocate to nearby Prince George's County, Maryland; their current headquarters are located in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland. As of 2000, the African-American Catholic Congregation had 6 additional Imani Temples spread throughout Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; University City, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; and Nigeria. In 1990, it had another Imani Temple in Norfolk, Virginia.
History
George Augustus Stallings Jr., then a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, founded the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation as a single congregation in Washington, D.C., in July 1989. The Imani Temple church was founded in Dumbarton Chapel at Howard University Law School's D.C. campus.He named it "Imani" for the Swahili word, meaning "faith." The Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation was founded as a result of the Black Catholic movement. At its founding, Stallings believed Roman Catholicism did not serve the Black and African American community nor recognized talent. He and the African-American Catholic Congregation argued "that the White church has stripped African Americans of their history, their heritage, and their self-esteem". Stallings and the African-American Catholic Congregation also proposed establishing a private school, the Imani Academy.
Not long after the foundation of the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation, in 1990, one priest who established another congregation for the Independent Catholic denomination would leave and desire reconciliation with the Catholic Church; he would petition the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for readmittance.
In May 1990, Stallings was consecrated as bishop for the African-American Catholic Congregation by Richard Michael Bridges—a bishop of the American Independent Orthodox Church. He was assisted by Emil Fairfield Rodriguez of the Mexican National Catholic Church and Donald Lawrence Jolly. By September 1991, Bridges's group conferred upon Stallings the title of archbishop. In 1991, Stallings also ordained the first female priest for the church.
In 1994, the Imani Temple in D.C. purchased the former Eastern Presbyterian Church, designed by noted Washington architect Appleton P. Clark Jr. and opened in 1893.
By 2000, the African-American Catholic Congregation grew and consisted of 7 Imani Temples located in the United States and Nigeria; most of its congregations were located along the U.S. East Coast.
In 2006, the excommunicated Catholic archbishop Emmanuel Milingo performed a conditional consecration for Stallings and three other married Independent Catholic bishops at the Imani Temple church in Washington.
In 2013, a female Baptist bishop in Detroit, Michigan established an affirming church with their partner.
In 2014, the denomination decided to relocate to Prince George's County, Maryland, and sold the Imani Temple in Washington to property developers. It was renovated and adapted for sale as six luxury condominiums.