A pilgrimage into the dark history of justice denied

By Peter Finney Jr., Clarion Herald

Photo | COURTESY EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE, HUMAN PICTURES
 

For the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministries, the idea of sponsoring a three-day pilgrimage to sites in Alabama steeped in civil rights history gained traction because of the obvious benefits: Young and old, black and white could join hands to see, touch, feel and reflect on historic events often confined to books or movies.

“We’ve never really offered anything like this,” said Father Daniel Green, director of the Black Catholic Ministries office and pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in New Orleans. “We feel part of our work should be educational in helping not just black Catholics – and not just Catholics – but all people to come to a better understanding of our history as a country and the original sin of slavery and how it affects us even until today.”

The three-day pilgrimage (Feb. 14-16), “From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration: A Journey from New Orleans to Montgomery,” will leave by bus on Friday evening and return Sunday evening.

Museum opened in 2018

The pilgrimage will include visits to the EJI (Equal Justice Initiative) National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened in 2018, and the adjacent EJI Legacy Museum. The memorial includes 805 hanging steel rectangles, representing each of the counties in the U.S. where a documented lynching took place.

The pilgrims will tour the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his civil rights sermons and which also was a focal point of the Montgomery bus boycott. Mass will be celebrated at Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South, which also will host a social justice dinner. 

Father Green said the U.S. bishops’ recent document on racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” calls for diocesan and parish groups “to do some of this work to educate themselves on how we as the people of God really need to uphold the dignity of all humanity.”

During Black Catholic History Month in November, the office sponsored its first group tour of the Whitney Plantation, which details the lives and living conditions of enslaved people. That tour also included a Mass at St. John the Baptist in Edgard.

“That was well-attended, and one of the keys to this is that we didn’t want it to be just a ‘trip,’” Father Green said. “We used the term pilgrimage intentionally. After the Mass and tour of Whitney, we finished with what we dubbed ‘lunch and learning.’ It was an opportunity for us to process in the context of faith what we had experienced. The same is true for the trip to Montgomery. We chose Montgomery first because of the work of EJI (eji.org).”

Bus time for reflection

The time on the bus will be used to view movies and listen to music connected to the civil rights movement and offer individuals time to personally reflect through prayer and journaling, if they wish. Present at the dinner at Resurrection Catholic Missions will be a barber who cut Dr. King’s hair.

“She is a Catholic woman who was one of the first people who refused to give up her seat on the bus (in Montgomery), but she didn’t want to be made into this monument,” Father Green said.

The father of Resurrectionist Father Manuel Williams, the pastor of the mission church, also was a contemporary of Dr. King during the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.

More than 55 people already have registered for the pilgrimage, and plans are being made for a second bus, Father Green said.

“I keep telling people if they haven’t gotten a Valentine’s gift yet, this is the perfect Valentine’s gift because it helps you to learn and love,” he said.

Cost is $275 a person, which includes hotel accommodations and everything on the trip except breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

Several Xavier University students will make the trip, and some parents who have signed up are bringing their children.

“They said they want to be sure their kids know their history from a young age and know they need to stand up for the dignity and rights of all people,” Father Green said. “We are also hoping to get a mix of ethnicities. The only requirement to go on the trip is to have an open heart to learn.”

To register, go to Facebook and search for Black Catholics of New Orleans NOLA. For more information, call 861-6207.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].