By Adelle M. Banks
Once a week the Rev. Mitchell Stevens, a Baptist minister and the interfaith chaplain at Xavier University of Louisiana, hosts an intimate gathering for students at the New Orleans school’s University Center to discuss campus life over coffee and donuts.
“We have Muslims that will come, Christians, different denominational groups,” said Stevens, who used the most recent session to guide participants in talking about what was good and challenging about their fall semester and what they will do differently in the spring. “It is, across the board, to make sure that all of our students are feeling welcomed in our space of faith.”
What makes Stevens’ weekly sessions rare for a Catholic school such as Xavier is less the range of faiths represented and more that most of the students in attendance are Black.
Xavier, the nation’s only Catholic historically Black university, has fostered inclusion as a core value since it was founded 100 years ago by now-Saint Katharine Drexel of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who left behind the life of a Philadelphia socialite to minister to Native Americans and African Americans. For decades it has been recognized for producing Black students who go on to graduate from medical school.
Today, the share of the school’s student body that is Black, at about 80%, is slightly higher than other historically Black colleges and universities and vastly surpasses that of other Catholic higher education institutions.
The average Black or African American fall enrollment at HBCUs overall was 74.8% of students from 2018 through 2023, according to the United Negro College Fund’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. By comparison, Black undergraduate enrollment has remained relatively steady at Catholic institutions, fluctuating between 9.6% and 9.7% from the 2018-19 academic year to 2023-24.
Black students’ graduate enrollment at Catholic schools decreased from 10.4% to 9.7% during that time, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics.
But Xavier’s Catholic population hovers around 5%, according to 2024-25 statistics posted on its website.
Xavier’s centennial year, which has featured pomp and ceremony, has been marked by significant financial ups and downs. On Oct. 31, the school announced it was cutting 46 employees, comprising 5.8% of its full-time staff, including, according to alumni familiar with the cuts, a decades-long director of campus ministry.
“In an effort to ensure the institution’s long-term financial health, continued support of student success, and ongoing commitment to our mission, the university has made the difficult but necessary decision to adjust staffing levels,” the administration said.
Weeks later, the school received a significant monetary boost: a $38 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
“These funds will enable us to expand our affordability initiatives, which directly support talented students from diverse backgrounds,” Xavier President Reynold Verret said in a statement. “Ms. Scott’s belief in Xavier’s mission strengthens our resolve to carry forward the legacy of Saint Katharine Drexel and prepare future generations to lead with truth, justice, and service.”
Stevens, the interfaith chaplain, who is Black, is a two-time alumnus of the university, having earned his bachelor’s in music in 1992 and doctorate in educational leadership in 2024. On some Sundays, after ministering at the two local Baptist churches that he pastors, he heads to 12:30 Mass at Xavier’s St. Katharine Drexel Chapel.
He’s hardly the only non-Catholic at the worship service, where the gospel choir sings traditional and contemporary gospel music — Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise” was recently featured — along with piano, organ, percussion and liturgical dancers. Kente cloth often accents the altar linens.
“Some students that are in Gospel Choir, all of them are not Catholic,” he told Religion News Service. “We’re for all students and so we encourage all students to become involved in Mass, or even if I have an interfaith service.”
A Finals Prayer Service, held in the chapel on Monday (Dec. 1), drew hundreds, more than typically attend Sunday Mass. At the end of the service — led by Christian and Muslim students with a guest speaker from a local Baptist church — Stevens distributed a leaflet offering “Prayer Before Exams,” encouraging attendees to place it on their microwave or refrigerator and refer to it during the week.
