Rivers, Clarence Joseph, 1931-2004

Clarence-Rufus Joseph Rivers Jr. was born on September 9, 1931 in Selma, Alabama, to Lorraine Bingon Echols Rivers and Clarence-Rufus Joseph Rivers, Sr. He was baptized in 1941 at St. Joseph's Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, the same church where he would spend most of his active ministry. In 1956, Rivers received his MA in Philosophy from the Athenaeum of Ohio and was ordained a priest. He completed graduate and postgraduate studies at Xavier University of Cincinnati, Yale University, Catholic University of America, and Institut Catholique, and received his PhD from the Union Graduate School in Cincinnati (1978).

Some of Rivers' approach to liturgy came from his training in theater—he considered the liturgist as filling the same roles as a script writer, director, and producer all in one. He taught English literature for ten years at Purcell High School, where he also founded a semi-professional theater company, The Queen's Men, who specialized in performing Shakespeare. He participated in multiple television shows for ABC and CBS, including a civil rights documentary, We Shall Be Heard, and a Black arts drama, Newborn Again. He also wrote a musical play based on the life of Frederick Douglass, Turn me loose!

Rivers cared deeply about the engagement of Black people in the Catholic Church, and this informed his life's work. In 1963, he composed An American Mass Program, which wove Gospel music and other Black musical traditions into Catholic liturgy. His next large composition, A Mass Dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man, was performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1967 and recorded by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1970. Rivers also supported Black Catholics as a founding member of the National Office for Black Catholics (NOBC), the North American Academy of Liturgy, and his own organization, Stimuli, Inc. Rivers received the North American Academy of Liturgy's prestigious Berakah Award in 2002.

Clarence Joseph Rivers died unexpectedly at the age of 73 on Sunday, November 21, 2004.