Church has battled, been marred by the stain of racism

Father Anthony Bozeman, S.S.J.
Pastor, St. Raymond & St. Leo the Great Parish

In times like these, we need a savior. The Good News is that we in the Catholic Church understand that we have one: Jesus the Christ!

Many times we look to politicians to be our savior and, invariably, they fall short. Our country is enveloped in a crisis that has been around since before the United States became a nation. Some call it “the original sin of America.”

On June 11, a politician stated: “The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want … who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? 

“One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves; yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”

This politician was the first and only Catholic to win the White House, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on June 11, 1963. His address to the nation was a challenge and a call to action.

A national wakeup call

Every city, many rural areas, suburbs and places around the world have been energized to take to the streets and stand against racism. America’s original sin has been called fictional and now it is described as nonexistent or exaggerated. This sin against God’s love is obvious to those who suffer from the tangible effects of the disease and to those who will allow themselves to see. 

Racism has many outcomes, manifestations, tentacles. One of the effects of racism is chattel slavery. In 1640 in the commonwealth of Virginia, there was a trial involving three runaway “indentured servants.” One of the servants was Black and the others were White. Normally, anyone captured after attempting to escape from indentured servitude received additional time in vassalage. In this case, the two Europeans received two more years. The African received life in “indentured servitude.” 

Every generation or so there is a call for America to live up to her Christian principles: “We find these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This sentence from the Declaration of Independence supposedly establishes our identity. Unfortunately, in practice and demeanor, we have never lived up to those lofty ideals.

Getting closer

Every generation seems to get a little closer to making those words a reality. Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) brought an end to slavery in the South. Ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865 abolished slavery in the continental United States, but the disease of racism continued.

During Reconstruction, Africans in America made great strides, but sin never dies, and a period of “deconstruction” ensued. “Race riots” destroyed all the post-slavery gains of the emancipated people. In many places, mostly in the South, police-sanctioned massacres became the norm. 

There were always good people, such as the abolitionists, Underground Railroad conductors and civil rights activists, who tried to challenge the mores of the time to deal with the effects of the sin of racism. Unfortunately, our Catholic Church would sometimes find itself on the immoral side of history. 

It is well documented that slavery was not only condoned but promulgated by the church. Racist ideology was used to justify it. The Catholic Church, for a myriad of reasons, was slow to answer the sin of racism in society, even though Catholic Africans lived on American soil in St. Augustine, Florida, dating back to the late 16th century.

Even when the civil rights movement gained prominence, the institutional church publicly denounced it. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous “letter from a Birmingham Jail” called out the institutional church for its lack of support. Religious sisters and priests, both Black and White, did join the movement, sometimes defying  local superiors.

Church was safe haven

In Montgomery, Alabama, St. Jude Catholic Church’s pastor welcomed the Freedom Marchers who had traveled from Selma to camp out on the parish grounds as they came into the city for the historic crossing of the Edmund Pettis Bridge. 

The church, the body of Christ, has always battled the sin unofficially. Our institutional church has battled the stain of her initial inactivity with bold promulgations against the disease by bishops, from our own retired Archbishop Alfred Hughes to saints like Pope John Paul II.

After the death of George Floyd, we find ourselves at one of those pivotal moments in history where people – Black, White, Hispanic, Asian – are galvanized to make real change in the fight against racism. Our bishops and Pope Francis are calling for an abolition of the deadly sin of racism. Prayer services and marches are being led by our shepherds all across the country.

On June 5, our own shepherds, Archbishop Gregory Aymond and Bishop Fernand Cheri, led a march against racism and violence and a prayer service for victims. 

This battle did not just begin recently. It is not just a seminal moment, but a Holy Spirit-inspired movement.

Our Catholic leaders must continue to step up as we see that racism must and can be defeated. President Kennedy gave us a template for how this can be done: “We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your state and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives. It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this (is) a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the facts that we face. A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all. Those who do nothing are inviting shame, as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right, as well as reality.”

Let us continue to boldly protest the sin against God’s love and our universal sisterhood and brotherhood – the sin called racism. May we give praise to God for the mighty long way he has already brought us through his Son, our Savior.

As true Catholics, let us continue to pray for the church, our country and our world that we will see our call to work for true peace and justice and transform the world by disseminating God’s love.

Josephite Father Anthony Bozeman is pastor of St. Raymond-St. Leo the Great Parish in New Orleans. He can be reached at [email protected].