He made a similar appeal on Monday to a group of mostly black clergymen in Michigan.

At the time of his death, he was the highest-ranking black Catholic clergyman in the nation.

But even if he made up the whole story, his remarks impugned the electoral process, black clergymen, the black community and, indeed, the Governor-elect.

Here, on his home territory, the black clergyman is overwhelmingly popular among blacks, as he is elsewhere.

The coalition has enlisted black clergymen in its campaign.

But it bothers him, he said, that black and Hispanic clergymen in the church so often "take a back seat" in mixed-race discussions.

Once had a black clergyman staying here, they did.

He had come to loathe the sight of his thick, black clergyman's clothes and during the seemingly endless morning they proved almost unendurable.

The church was founded in 1821 by a secret society of black clergymen.

Meanwhile, some of the black clergymen called Reverend Kerr on the telephone and asked for his assistance.