Richmond Free Press
August 16-18, 2018 B3
Obituaries/Faith Directory
Rev. Nathaniel Morris, gospel singer, playwright, minister, dies at 67 By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The Rev. Nathaniel “Nat” Morris went from singing in a Richmond church as a child to the Broadway stage as an adult. An ordained minister, playwright, actor and singer, Rev. Morris was 18 when he made his debut in 1968 as a cast member in the rock musical “Hair” when it went to Broadway. He moved on to join the original cast of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and later played Judas in the touring version of the show that traveled to Richmond and a host of other cities. Rev. Morris also was a member of the original cast of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” a musical focused on the AfricanAmerican experience, when it was staged in Washington in 1971 before heading to Broadway. Returning to New York, Rev. Morris later starred in “Dude” and appeared in other Broadway productions, such as “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Wiz,” in which he also served as vocal director. But his heart was in performing gospel music. He was best known for singing the solo in “God Is” in a 1979 gospel album that featured the Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir and earned a 1980 Grammy nomination. Rev. Morris’ rich tenor voice and religious commitment are being remembered following his death on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Richmond. The Highland Park resident was 67. Rev. Morris’ life was celebrated Friday, Aug. 10, at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Henrico County. Born in Richmond, Rev. Morris was baptized at 9 at the Gospel
Baptist Church and began singing in the Sunday school and youth choirs of the church of which he was a lifetime member. A few years later, he formed “Nathaniel Morris and The Gospel Five,” a singing group that toured churches in Virginia and nearby states. The group included his aunt, Corliss Smith Pompey, and four friends, Vivian Clarke, Yvonne Harris, Jerome Jackson and pianist and singer Charles Turner. “He grew up singing, and even Rev. Morris when he was very young, he had no problem going into the aisles to sing, narrate the music and preach a little,” Ms. Pompey said. The group traveled to Ohio to cut its first record when he was 17. “He was a genuine person, who loved to joke. But when it came to the music and performing, he was focused and all business,” Ms. Pompey said. “He wanted to get it right, and if you couldn’t, he wouldn’t use you.” Then he was off to New York. Along with his Broadway roles, Rev. Morris also appeared in off-Broadway productions, including “The More You Get, The More You Want,” “The Child of the Sun” and “Louis.” He also was part of a singing group that performed at the White House
for President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalind Carter. He moved to California to sing with Rev. Cleveland and with the Los Angeles Contours. While in Los Angeles, he also wrote, produced, directed and performed “Run and Tell It,” a gospel production that earned the 1993 Humanitarian Award from Agape Love Management. He was licensed and ordained as a minister through Gospel Baptist Church and returned to Richmond to complete his ministerial studies at the Richmond Virginia Seminary in Church Hill. He then served five years as pastor of Second Antioch Baptist Church of Powhatan. Rev. Morris devoted himself to recording projects, including his most recent album, “Lift Him Up,” produced in 2016 on Shout Records. He also found acting opportunities. He went to New York to become a choral extra in the filming of the 2013 Christmas release “Black Nativity” starring Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett. In May, Rev. Morris appeared at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in Church Hill to promote what would be his final gospel single, “It’s Gonna Rain,” released by Karamel Entertainment. In one of his final performances, he also appeared in May at a reunion with the “The Gospel Five” at Shiloh Baptist Church, Ms. Pompey said. “It was a wonderful time for all of us to sing together again.” Survivors include his mother, Frances Morris; his brothers, Walter Morris Jr. and Keith Morris; and his sister, Patrice Morris.
Dr. Katie G. Cannon, renowned scholar who elevated role of black women in theology, dies at 68 Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon made history in 1974 as the first African-American woman to be ordained a Presbyterian minister in the United States. Dr. Cannon would use that breakthrough to become a driving force in creating the womanist theology that promotes the inclusion of women of color in shaping the understanding of faith. That womanist theology also challenges the practices and scriptural interpretations that enable the traditional white patriarchal view of religion, as well as the male-centered black liberation theology. Based at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond for 17 years, Dr. Cannon used her position a teacher, scholar, author and globetrotting speaker to advocate for this broader and more diverse view of religious and ethical thought. In books like “Black Womanist Ethics” and “Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community,” Dr. Cannon argued that the view of God’s creation is more expansive and more diverse when it is informed by the moral wisdom in the everyday lives of black women. Her insistence on this view, admirers said, led others, including gays, lesbians and transgender individuals of faith, to seek their own inclusion in scholarship and ministry. Dr. Cannon’s influence on the seminary, the Presbyterian Church, former students who went on to become church pastors and the wider religious community is being recognized following her death on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. She was 68. “Dr. Cannon was greatly admired and loved as a scholar, teacher and friend,” Union Presbyterian Seminary President Brian K. Blount stated in announcing her death. He noted that Dr. Cannon publicly disclosed in June her diagnosis of leukemia that left her dependent on blood transfusions. Students, faculty and staff organized a blood drive to show their support for her treatment. While a funeral for Dr. Cannon was held Tuesday, Aug. 14, in her native North Carolina, the Richmond seminary will
Broad Rock Baptist Church 5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 • 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org
Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m. Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m. 4th Sunday Unified Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m. Bible Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. Sermons Available at BRBCONLINE.org
“MAKE IT HAPPEN” Pastor Kevin Cook
celebrate her life in a memorial service 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10, at Watts Chapel on the North Side campus, 3401 Brook Road. Dr. Cannon was the founder of the seminary’s Center for Womanist Leadership, and her role developing a fresh, black-oriented, femalecentered theology received special emphasis in April. On the 44th anniversary of her historic ordination and despite battling leukemia, she co-organized the center’s inaugural conference Dr. Cannon in Richmond that drew 250 religious scholars from across the country. It featured 14 prominent African-American women speakers, including Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, activist and author of “The Color Purple.” Born in Kannapolis, N.C., Dr. Cannon grew up in a religious family. Her parents were elders in the Presbyterian church the family attended, but she also felt the sting of racial bigotry that showed the disconnect between actual conditions she faced and the Christian message she was being taught. “I hated segregation,” she said in a podcast at the seminary in March in seeking to explain why the womanist conference in April was so important. “I couldn’t go to the library, couldn’t go to the swimming pool, couldn’t go to the YWCA. Everything was forbidden, outlawed, and you didn’t want to risk doing it knowing somebody might get killed.” Buoyed by the Civil Rights Movement that began ushering in change, Dr. Cannon began teaching religion at the college level after earning her bachelor’s degree in 1971 from BarberScotia College in Concord, N.C., and her master’s of divinity from the Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary in Atlanta in 1974.
Returning to North Carolina, she was ordained as a minister by the Catawba Presbytery, becoming the 155th female and the first African-American woman ordained in what is now the Presbyterian Church USA. Initially a supply pastor, she went to New York to become an instructor at the New York Theological Seminary, where she began her development as a scholar. After earning her doctoral degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1983, she taught at the Harvard Divinity and Episcopal Divinity schools in Cambridge, Mass., and spent nine years as a religion studies professor at Temple University in Philadelphia before joining the faculty of Union Presbyterian Seminary in 2001. During the mid-1980s, she joined with two other scholars, Jacquelyn Grant and Delores Williams, in seeking to reform black liberation theology and traditional religion with the perspective of African-American women. Their goal: To encourage women to reclaim their identity and throw off the mental shackles imposed by patriarchal norms. Dr. Cannon frequently was invited to speak at religious events around the globe and also spent time as a visiting professor at Davidson College and Williams College. She was a past president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion and produced an array of published papers and books in support of womanist theology. Dr. Cannon received numerous honors for her work as an educator, including Spelman College’s Distinguished Professor Award, Virginia Union University’s School of Theology Beautiful Are The Feet Award and the American Academy of Religion’s Excellence in Teaching Award. “Teaching is my ministry. I love teaching to empower, to equip, to set people free” she said in a video that was played in June when the Presbyterian Church USA awarded her its Excellence in Theological Education Award during a meeting of the church’s General Assembly in St. Louis. Survivors include her mother, Corine L. Cannon; sisters Sara C. Fleming, Doris C. Love and Sylvia C. Moon; and brothers John Cannon and Jerry Cannon.
free first Aid, AeD
Triumphant 2003 Lamb Avenue Richmond, VA 23222 Dr. Arthur M. Jones, Sr., Pastor (804) 321-7622 Church School - 9:30 a.m. Worship Service - 11:15 a.m.
CPr Training
and
Baptist Church
for the Workplace and Community
SATurDAy AuguST 18, 2018 1:00 - 3:30 PM
Two year certification card is available at a COST of $65. (Cash or money order accepted on-site for payment.) Space is limited. Please call the Church Office to register. Leave your name and number of attendees. Provide spelling of name only for certification card requests.
Mount Sinai BaptiSt ChurCh 812 North 25th Street Richmond, Virginia 23223 804-788-1977 Rev. David T. Frazier, Pastor
Bible Study - Wednesday - 7 p.m. Communion - 1st Sunday
Serving Richmond since 1887 3200 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23223• (804) 226-1176
Sunday 9:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Worship Service
WedneSday 12:00 p.m. Bible Study 7:00 p.m. Bible Study
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
All ARe Welcome
St. Peter Baptist Church Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor
Worship Opportunities Sundays:
Morning Worship Church School Morning Worship
8 A.M. 9:30 A.M. 11 A.M.
Bible Study is now on summer break and will reconvene in September.
Unity Sundays (2nd Sundays): Church School Morning Worship
8:30 A.M. 10 A.M.
Sunday, August 26th 11:00 a.m. Join us as we celebrate Youth Emphasis and let the “Youth Take Over.” The “Youth Take Over” will display our youth leadership and “Speak Out!” skills while serving as worship participants during service. 2040 Mountain Road • Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 Office 804-262-0230 • Fax 804-262-4651 • www.stpeterbaptist.net