Oblate Sister of Providence Mary Loretto Evans, who ministered to the black Catholic community for many years through her work as founding director of the Office of Black Apostolate and original host of the diocesan radio program, Black Catholics Yes! died Oct. 3 in her order’s motherhouse, in Halethorpe, Md. She was 91.

Her funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 10 in Mount Providence Convent Chapel, Halethorpe.

Born in Montgomery, Ala., Sister Mary Loretto entered the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Catholic religious community established for and by African American women, in 1939. She attended Mount Providence Junior College, Halethorpe, and earned a degree in education from St. Mary College (now University of St. Mary), Xavier, Kan.

In 1942, she was named prefect and supervisor of boarding school students and resident life in St. Frances Academy, Baltimore, and then taught in St. Francis Xavier School, East Baltimore.

After assignments in Charleston, S.C.; Alexandria, Va., and Mobile, Ala., she returned to Baltimore as principal of St. Francis Academy.

Sister Mary Loretto arrived in the Trenton Diocese in the mid-1980s and resided in Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd Parish, Trenton, which was founded as the first African American parish in the diocese. In 1987, Sister Mary Loretto was appointed by Bishop John C. Reiss to become director of the newly established Office of Black Apostolate.

As Sister Mary Loretto described the office, its purpose was to “nourish black Catholics culturally and spiritually; provide materials, programs, events and other resources for blacks as a means for updating their faith; present changes in the Church as they relate to blacks; meet the needs of many unchurched blacks through evangelization, and foster and support black leadership in the diocese.”

In 1995, Sister Mary Loretto used the radio airwaves as a way to evangelize through the groundbreaking diocesan radio program, “Black Catholics Yes!”  The goal of the program, which continues to be produced by the diocesan Office of Radio and Television, was to “offer listeners information about the history of black saints and clergy and the contributions of black Catholics in the Church.”

Sister Mary Loretto returned to Baltimore and her religious community in the mid-1990s and served as the director of religious education in St. Ambrose Parish, Northwest Baltimore, from which she retired in 2008.

Sister Mary Loretto was survived by nieces and nephews.