|
1 members (Adamcsc),
463
guests, and
124
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Forums26
Topics35,532
Posts417,697
Members6,183
| |
Most Online4,112
Mar 25th, 2025
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,342 Likes: 1
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,342 Likes: 1 |
Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon, I know that on a few threads we have discussed racism in Our Churches. Much of it brokedown, because people thought we were attacking there traditions. This article articulates my points of how are Churches should welcome guests. We are Catholics we need to be Universal. Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon, Yuhannon By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- It doesn't take long for newcomers at St. Matthew Church in Baltimore to be welcomed by parishioners.
At their very first Mass, first-time visitors are invited to stand up and introduce themselves. After Mass it's not unusual for parishioners to introduce themselves and personally welcome newcomers, chatting a bit about parish life. It's a tradition 13 years in the making.
"We do a lot of welcoming," said pastor Father Joe Muth. He said the act of welcoming is important in the parish, which is just about evenly split between black and white members.
It was Father Muth who brought back the idea from Kenya in 1995. During his trip to East Africa he saw how welcoming the Kenyan people were wherever he visited. His needs and comfort were the primary concern of his hosts.
"That was such a powerful experience to me," he said in an interview with Catholic News Service. "I came back here and I told parishioners we need to find a way to make people feel welcome."
Being a welcoming community took on greater importance following a period in the 1980s when the St. Matthew neighborhood experienced a shift in demographics. The schools at St. Matthew and a neighboring suburban parish merged in 1988, causing many white families to pull their children out of the new Cardinal Shehan School. Newcomers, primarily blacks, filtered into the parish as the new school's staff sought out new students.
Today, in a parish as diverse as St. Matthew, welcoming has become vital in bridging the racial gulf, allowing the parish to build a community of understanding, caring and faithful people.
Perhaps St. Matthew is an anomaly. It's no secret that Americans -- in society as well as in the pew -- remain separated by race, culture and economics.
The separation was illustrated May 25 when Father Michael Pfleger, a Chicago archdiocesan priest, mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York as the Democratic Party primary process wound down. Speaking at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he said Clinton saw Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the party's eventual presumptive nominee, as "a black man stealing my show" when he entered the race for the Democratic nomination.
"She wasn't the only one crying," added the priest, who is white. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."
At the time, Obama belonged to Trinity, but has since resigned his membership.
Father Pfleger said June 1, a week after his speech, that his comments concerned racism not politics. Nevertheless, Cardinal Francis E. George suspended the priest as pastor of St. Sabina Church, an African-American parish in Chicago, for two weeks, saying he found the comments politically partisan.
Although Father Pfleger's comments resulted in a suspension, they do reflect the realities of race in a society that remains divided, said Deacon Arthur Miller of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn.
"Black folks heard what he was saying," Deacon Miller told CNS. "White folks heard the way he said it."
One message. Two cultures. Two understandings.
As important as it is for parishes to continue to reach out to newcomers -- to a certain extent, the stranger as identified by Christ -- people involved in ministering in minority communities across the country say it's time to go an additional step to bridge the race chasm. They suggest it is time for white parishes seeking to build a unified faith community to actively invite people of other races to join them.
A bold step for sure, but a necessary step for a church that considers itself universal, acknowledged Ralph McCloud, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
"(People have) to look around their faith community and see who's missing, see who's not there, and acknowledging if there are people who aren't there, then they're not complete," McCloud said.
The U.S. bishops' 1979 pastoral letter on racism, "Brothers and Sisters to Us," sets out the framework to address the issue in the Catholic Church. In it, the bishops call racism "an evil which endures in our society and in our church." The document calls upon Catholics to undergo conversion in their personal lives as well as in their faith communities to end racism in all its forms.
The bishops as a whole have been joined by several local bishops in their admonition. Many have tied the issue of race to poverty and segregation. In his 2003 pastoral letter, "The Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion," Bishop Dale J. Melczek of Gary, Ind., went so far as to address the existence of "white status," which affords whites opportunities that "people of color simply do not share."
Deacon Miller illustrates Bishop Melczek's premise. A popular retreat leader and preacher, Deacon Miller said that at times when he enters a church he is approached by people asking if they can help him. "The hidden message being 'what are you doing here?'" he said.
Vanessa Griffin Campbell, director of the Cleveland Diocese's Office of Ministry to African American Catholics, said she has had similar experiences while visiting parishes for liturgies or special events. "I've walked in our parishes and no one greets me," she said. "But when I pull out that diocesan card they all come running to me."
So where to begin, especially when few parishes are as diverse as St. Matthew in Baltimore?
Certainly, McCloud said, to do nothing is wrong.
"We should never avoid the opportunity to first blow off the dust on the Bible," he said. "Begin with the Bible that says we are all made in the image and likeness of God. The Genesis story makes us all members of the same family."
Trying to understand the other is an important first step, Deacon Miller said. That can come when the church finds the appropriate language -- one that closes the gap between white and black -- to talk about race. "If we can't surface these things," he said, "we'll never have healing.
"Don't restrict or limit God. That's what happens when we don't look to see how much beauty there is in every ethnicity. We restrict God and we must not and cannot do that. The fullness of the Catholic Church comes from the fullness of all of us," said Deacon Miller, a lifelong human rights activist.
He also believes the foundation for the church's action can be found in Catholic social teaching. The key, however, he explained, is moving beyond the confines of the parish to put that teaching into action. "It's easy to be a Christian at Sunday Mass, but you've got to be a Christian to take it outside those buildings," he said.
Griffin Campbell in Cleveland coordinates the program A Call to Conversion, a four-part series for parishes in which issues of race are addressed. Under the program participants hear the individual stories of people from various cultural and economic backgrounds. The goal is to create understanding, she said.
"People need to talk to each other and be able to have real honest dialogue," she said.
"To have an honest conversation, you've got to look at what history is in this country and not stereotype what you see in the media," she said. "What people need to know is to know the history where people come from. It's about developing relationships."
- - -
Editor's Note: The full text of "Brothers and Sisters to Us" is available online at www.usccb.org/saac/bishopspastoral.shtml. [usccb.org]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79 |
A few years ago, when carrying out an independent study, I found some interesting literature on the history of Catholics in the old South (U.S.A.) ("Catholics in the Old South" by Miller & Wakelyn, Mercer University Press, 1999). Catholics in the Old South (Mercer University Press) [ books.google.com] The essays in large part illustrate that Catholic landowners, including the Jesuit order, took on the ways of their Protestant neighbors and became slave-owners. This is a sad reality. Roman Catholic fraternal groups like the Knights of Columbus did not open their doors to African-Americans, a fact which led to the creation of the "Knights of Peter Claver." http://www.kofpc.org/history.htmlProbably in order to foster harmony, the reason for the founding of this organization as an alternative to the Knights of Columbus is muted in the current Knights of Peter Claver website. But not too long ago EWTN, to its credit, had a leader of the order as a guest at which time the role of church-based racism leading to the group's founding was openly acknowledged. http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=22439The complicity of Catholic theologians with non-Catholic theologians with the slave trade in the New World was evident with few exceptions, as in the case of the Spanish Dominican, Bartolome de las Casas, O.P. who spoke out against the mistreatment of native peoples in the Americas and against the slave trade: Wikipedia article on Bartolome de las Casas [ en.wikipedia.org] http://www.lascasas.org/ A fairly recent article in a Harvard publication ( http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/revista/articles/view/295) points out the debate that went on within theological circles over the legality of enslavement, most concluding by supporting the institution of slavery. In sum, none of the above religious men denounced the practice for its inherent immorality or called for an end to the slave trade. For this reason, it is extraordinary to find two Capuchin missionaries, Francisco Jos� de Jaca de Arag�n (c.1645?-1688) and Epifanio de Moirans de Borgo�a (c.1644-1689), who clearly condemned the slave trade as violating all moral, religious and legal arguments. De Jaca and de Moirans preached that slaves were free by nature, called for the abolishment of slavery, and demanded ample economic compensation for all victims. As a result, several slave owners accused them of being seditious missionaries. The documents that give testimony to the Capuchins� story are the result of a trial that began in Havana in 1681 and finished in Madrid in 1686. The texts remained forgotten for 300 years until Jos� Tom�s L�pez Garc�a published them in 1982 in a book entitled Dos defensores de los esclavos negros en el siglo XVII.
Sadly, Roman Catholics cannot claim innocence when it comes to slavery and the reality of African peoples who were brought to North and South America by force. My reading has led me to information about Protestant complicity as well, clear to those familiar with U.S. slavery. Today one wonders what we Christians are doing, saying, and defending theologically that subsequent generations will rightfully criticize in like fashion. -Pustinik -------------------- "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,964
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,964 |
from Wikipedia : Bartolom� de las Casas, O.P. (August 24, 1484 � July 17, 1566), was a 16th century Spanish Dominican priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas.
As a settler in the New World, he was galvanized by witnessing the torture and genocide of the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists.
He is commemorated as a missionary in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on July 17.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79 |
Two Lungs: You have identified one of the more interesting facts- that the Lutherans commemorate Fray Bartholome's sainthood. Making futher queries, one finds an unconfirmed secondary source stating that the U.S. Catholic Bishops voted to pursue a "cause" for sainthoold of Fray Bartolome' de Las Casas: Catholic Bishops back cause for Bishop de las Casas's Sainthood [ forum.catholic.org] The U.S. bishops gave their consent to backing the cause for canonization of a Spanish friar who argued against the enslavement of native peoples by Spanish conquistadors. By a voice vote, the bishops voted to back the cause for canonization of Fray Bartolom� de las Casas on Nov. 15, during their fall general meeting in Washington, D.C. The request to support the cause came at the request of the Spanish bishops� conference. The matter had been referred earlier to the U.S. bishops� Committee on Doctrine, which said the bishops could act on the request if they chose. [unconfirmed secondary source] -Pustinik ----------- "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
|
|
Catholic Gyoza Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518 |
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Eugene04/eugene04sicut.htmAnd no less do We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands, and made captives since the time of their capture, and who have been made subject to slavery. These people are to be totally and perpetually free, and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of money. If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy See, or by any Spanish bishop, or by the aforementioned Ferdinand, unless they have first given freedom to these captive persons and restored their goods. We will that like sentence of excommunication be incurred by one and all who attempt to capture, sell, or subject to slavery, baptized residents of the Canary Islands, or those who are freely seeking Baptism, from which excommunication cannot be absolved except as was stated above.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,964
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,964 |
The US Bishops' vote is good news. I noticed that the vote to pursue the cause was in Novenber 2005. I found it particularly interesting that the Lutherans would honor a post-reformation Catholic Priest. Two Lungs: You have identified one of the more interesting facts- that the Lutherans commemorate Fray Bartholome's sainthood. Making futher queries, one finds an unconfirmed secondary source stating that the U.S. Catholic Bishops voted to pursue a "cause" for sainthoold of Fray Bartolome' de Las Casas: Catholic Bishops back cause for Bishop de las Casas's Sainthood [ forum.catholic.org] [i]The U.S. bishops gave their consent to backing the cause for canonization of a Spanish friar who argued against the enslavement of native peoples by Spanish conquistadors. ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 79 |
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Eugene04/eugene04sicut.htmAnd no less do We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands, and made captives since the time of their capture, and who have been made subject to slavery. These people are to be totally and perpetually free, and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of money. If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy See, or by any Spanish bishop, or by the aforementioned Ferdinand, unless they have first given freedom to these captive persons and restored their goods. We will that like sentence of excommunication be incurred by one and all who attempt to capture, sell, or subject to slavery, baptized residents of the Canary Islands, or those who are freely seeking Baptism, from which excommunication cannot be absolved except as was stated above. Dr. Eric: Interesting find. However, too bad that said condemnation appears only to have applied to enslavement of residents of the Canary Islands. This is good, but probably a very small percentage of the African and Indian peoples being enslaved by Roman Catholics during this period. Regards, Pustinik --------------------- "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16
Global Moderator Member
|
|
Global Moderator Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16 |
An excellent thread on the related issue of Is Christianity A White Man's Religion? appeared here a few years ago. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
|
|
Catholic Gyoza Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518 |
If you check out the "Is Christianity a White Man's Religion?" thread, please, please, please, watch the video first. Many people commented on whether or not it is or not without watching the video from which I took the title of the thread.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
|
|
Catholic Gyoza Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518 |
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Eugene04/eugene04sicut.htmAnd no less do We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands, and made captives since the time of their capture, and who have been made subject to slavery. These people are to be totally and perpetually free, and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of money. If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy See, or by any Spanish bishop, or by the aforementioned Ferdinand, unless they have first given freedom to these captive persons and restored their goods. We will that like sentence of excommunication be incurred by one and all who attempt to capture, sell, or subject to slavery, baptized residents of the Canary Islands, or those who are freely seeking Baptism, from which excommunication cannot be absolved except as was stated above. Dr. Eric: Interesting find. However, too bad that said condemnation appears only to have applied to enslavement of residents of the Canary Islands. This is good, but probably a very small percentage of the African and Indian peoples being enslaved by Roman Catholics during this period. Regards, Pustinik --------------------- "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov Pustink, I would argue that it applied to everybody everywhere from then on.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16
Global Moderator Member
|
|
Global Moderator Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16 |
I would argue that it applied to everybody everywhere from then on. Dr Eric, Regretably. not so, given its specific tenor. Pope Eugene IV authored that in 1435. As the catalogue detailed in the Apostolic Letter, In Supremo Apostolatus, of Pope Gregory XVI - read at the Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1839 - makes abundantly obvious, it hardly served to stem the practice: It is at these practices (i.e., slavery) that are aimed the Letter Apostolic of Paul III, given on May 29, 1537, under the seal of the Fisherman, and addressed to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and afterwards another Letter, more detailed, addressed by Urban VIII on April 22, 1639 to the Collector Jurium of the Apostolic Chamber of Portugal. In the latter are severely and particularly condemned those who should dare 'to reduce to slavery the Indians of the Eastern and Southern Indies,' to sell them, buy them, exchange them or give them, separate them from their wives and children, despoil them of their goods and properties, conduct or transport them into other regions, or deprive them of liberty in any way whatsoever, retain them in servitude, or lend counsel, succour, favour and co-operation to those so acting, under no matter what pretext or excuse, or who proclaim and teach that this way of acting is allowable and co-operate in any manner whatever in the practices indicated.
Benedict XIV confirmed and renewed the penalties of the Popes above mentioned in a new Apostolic Letter addressed on December 20, 1741, to the Bishops of Brazil and some other regions, in which he stimulated, to the same end, the solicitude of the Governors themselves. Another of Our Predecessors, anterior to Benedict XIV, Pius II, as during his life the power of the Portuguese was extending itself over New Guinea, sent on October 7, 1462, to a Bishop who was leaving for that country, a Letter in which he not only gives the Bishop himself the means of exercising there the sacred ministry with more fruit, but on the same occasion, addresses grave warnings with regard to Christians who should reduce neophytes to slavery.
In our time Pius VII, moved by the same religious and charitable spirit as his Predecessors, intervened zealously with those in possession of power to secure that the slave trade should at least cease amongst the Christians. The penalties imposed and the care given by Our Predecessors contributed in no small measure, with the help of God, to protect the Indians and the other people mentioned against the cruelty of the invaders or the cupidity of Christian merchants, without however carrying success to such a point that the Holy See could rejoice over the complete success of its efforts in this direction; for the slave trade, although it has diminished in more than one district, is still practiced by numerous Christians. This is why, desiring to remove such a shame from all the Christian nations, having fully reflected over the whole question and having taken the advice of many of Our Venerable Brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and walking in the footsteps of Our Predecessors, We warn and adjure earnestly in the Lord faithful Christians of every condition that no one in the future dare to vex anyone, despoil him of his possessions, reduce to servitude, or lend aid and favour to those who give themselves up to these practices, or exercise that inhuman traffic by which the Blacks, as if they were not men but rather animals, having been brought into servitude, in no matter what way, are, without any distinction, in contempt of the rights of justice and humanity, bought, sold, and devoted sometimes to the hardest labour. Further, in the hope of gain, propositions of purchase being made to the first owners of the Blacks, dissensions and almost perpetual conflicts are aroused in these regions.
We reprove, then, by virtue of Our Apostolic Authority, all the practices abovementioned as absolutely unworthy of the Christian name. By the same Authority We prohibit and strictly forbid any Ecclesiastic or lay person from presuming to defend as permissible this traffic in Blacks under no matter what pretext or excuse, or from publishing or teaching in any manner whatsoever, in public or privately, opinions contrary to what We have set forth in this Apostolic Letter. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16
Global Moderator Member
|
|
Global Moderator Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16 |
If you check out the "Is Christianity a White Man's Religion?" thread, please, please, please, watch the video first. Many people commented on whether or not it is or not without watching the video from which I took the title of the thread. Dr Eric, I very much agree with you that Father John Whitford's powerful and excellently done video got lost in the larger discussion on that thread, but the issue of racism within Christianity is not the less real because the early Church so benefitted from the great North African Saints and the spiritual life that was fashioned in the monasteries and hermitages of Egypt and Ethiopia. That the Churches - Catholic, Orthodox, and others - now benefit from an enlightened stance and one more in keeping with the precepts of Christianity doesn't erase what went before and makes it the more imperative that we both recognize and admit the roles played, the mistakes made, and that we demonstrate through positive commitment the assurance that our Churches both welcome and embrace our brothers and sisters who are not "white". There was another interesting and related thread - begun by Dan as I recollect - that also explored related issues. I'll see if I can track it down as well. It might add some further useful history and insights to this discussion. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16
Global Moderator Member
|
|
Global Moderator Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,090 Likes: 16 |
The other thread that I mentioned above was Does Eastern Christianity exist in Africa?. Rereading it, the early posts to it include a particularly ugly exchange between Dan and myself (from an era when he and I spent as much time knocking heads as conversing). My apologies for my contributions to that. If you slide through the sputtering and hostility, there is some excellent discussion there. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,342 Likes: 1
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,342 Likes: 1 |
Shlomo Neil, You know one day I would love to mine this site. There is so many great contributions here. And as you know I am one of the head knocker here. Maybe it is God's way of teaching others to be patient with fools  Poosh BaShlomo, Yuhannon
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
|
|
Catholic Gyoza Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518 |
Neil,
I am addressing the fact that the Church forbade the practice of Slavery and the laity did not listen. It would seem, most unfortunately, that time and time again we did not listen. I see this as a way to address the recent exchange between Pat Buchannan and a black professor on Hardball about racism and of course Barack Obama. No one brought up these encyclicals, just the fact that there were White Protestants who owned slaves.
Yes, this is something that we have struggled through, and as Yuhannon brought up in his other thread, we had this problem in the beginning... do we all have to act like Jews?
|
|
|
|
|
