Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Church in Bluewater Bay hosted the annual Black History Month mass Sunday afternoon. About 200 people were in attendance representing churches from Pensacola to Tallahassee.

The retired Catholic Bishop of Memphis presided over the ceremony and was bestowed a key to the City of Niceville by Councilperson and Mayor Pro Tempore Bill Schaetzle.

The ceremony also honored one of the original deacons of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee (the diocese was formed in the early 1980s) – Deacon Bradley Seabrook. Seabrook, a World War II veteran, converted to Catholicism in 1944 and served as a deacon for the church from 1980 to the present.

Seabrook received the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge and has been recognized by the Escambia County School District for supplying a dictionary to every 3rd grader in the district.