photo credit: © Boston College Office of University Communications
PERSPECTIVES
Race in the Catholic Imagination Bishop George V. Murry, S.J. On September 11, 2017, Bishop George Murry, S.J., of Youngstown, Ohio, spoke at Boston College as a Church in the 21st Century Center Episcopal Visitor. Excerpts from his address are below.
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on Black Catholics issued a statement commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Conference’s only pastoral letter concerning racism, Brothers and Sisters to Us. Sadly, this anniversary committee found little worth celebrating. It concluded: in 1989, the united states bishops' committee
“The promulgation of the pastoral letter on racism was soon forgotten by all but a few. A survey revealed a pathetic, anemic response from archdioceses and dioceses around the country…”
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c21 resources | spring/summer 2021
Two years later, at a symposium celebrating the centennial anniversary of modern Catholic social teaching, Bishop Joseph Francis, one of the first African American bishops in modern times, declared that the lack of attention given to Brothers and Sisters to Us made it “the best kept secret in the Church in this country.” He concluded: “Social justice vis-à-vis the eradication of racism in our Church is simply not a priority of social concern commissions...While I applaud the concern of such individuals and groups for the people of Eastern Europe, China, and Latin America, that same concern is not expressed…for the victims of racism in this country…” While racism is America’s most persistent sin, the Catholic Church has continued to be virtually silent about its significance in seminaries, churches, and every other segment of Catholic society. Which leads to the question, Why? What is the place of race in the American Catholic imagination?
