As the Archdiocese of Baltimore proceeds to close African-American churches in the city, churchgoing has become disheartening, filled with depressed anticipation and reminiscent of the harsh regard Blacks have historically received at the hands of local Church officials. The ecclesial authorities have no regard for our being stubbornly faithful, as the remnant, through the contradiction of White Supremacy against the gospels of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Catholic hierarchy’s ability to live with contradictions is astounding.
So, while we have supported our church homes with our time, treasure, and talents, they will soon shut us down despite our financial strength, our well-maintained church and rectory buildings, and the St. Ann Social Justice Committee’s three-year-old initiative for the expedited canonizations of the first six African-American candidates for sainthood. Our committee organized and forwarded well over 4,000 letters to Pope Francis, calling on him to give us our saints now. “If it is wrong now (and having no Black American saints is), fix it now,” we wrote to him. He has not yet responded.
Our committee of seven members has met and maintained relationships with contacts all over the world: in Germany, Italy, West Africa, Barbados, and Canada, to name a few, and all over the United States. Three members of our committee were granted an audience with the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints a year ago in Rome. We impressed upon its members the urgent need for the Church to be responsive to Black omission and the need to repair it. They seemed to understand, but so far nothing has happened.
In Catholic history, two popes have done the most for Black Catholics in America. In 1829, Pope Gregory XVI commissioned the Oblate Sisters of Providence (the first religious order for African-American women), because the established White orders did not admit Black Americans. Ten years later, the pope issued a very strong pastoral letter condemning the slave trade and forbidding “the continuance [by Catholics] of holding slaves.” In 1837, he beatified Martin de Porres, OP, the first Black South American on the road to sainthood.
In short, Pope Gregory was there when we needed him.
Another great pontiff for Black Catholics was John XXIII, who canonized Martin de Porres in 1962, finishing the work Pope Gregory advanced 125 years earlier. He remains the only Black Catholic saint in the Western Hemisphere.
It is far past time for Pope Francis to canonize Venerables Mary Lange, Augustus Tolton, Henriette DeLille, and Pierre Toussaint; and Servants of God Julia Greeley and Thea Bowman.
Pope Francis did elevate the first African-American cardinal in history, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, in November 2020. Understandably, this may be viewed as tokenism by some. Nonetheless, the Catholic Church could do far more and faster for Black Catholics. Instead, they show their disappreciation for our faithfulness with the historic and usual unrequited love, inflicting on us a peculiar form of unearned suffering.
We are faced with official evictions from our long-time church homes. Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and his urban vicar, Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, CSsR, have done this because they think they can. They are cold, heartless, self-serving men, who take care of themselves using our church offerings and, with their authority, contradict the Gospel of Jesus Christ by effecting separations when they should be giving reparations to Black Catholics.
Any day now, a decree will be issued to the various churches effecting their official closures and outlining the reasons why. From the date of the letter’s delivery, each church will have 10 days to appeal to the Vatican to possibly rescind the closure. It could take as long as a year for the Vatican to respond. In the meantime, closed churches will be merged with those spared of eviction.
Several of the churches have had their pastors removed. New church homes and new leaders have created vast unsettling and emotional chaos within the archdiocese. Some of us are very angry; vast numbers will be leaving the Catholic Church altogether—just before Christmas. Unfortunately, Lori and Lewandowski have overestimated their ability to move Black Catholics around like pieces on a chess board.
It has been an extremely sad history of Black second-class membership in the Catholic Church. The “Seek the City to Come” archdiocesan reorganization is a gross failure and a final indignity for those of us who have endured, even as our non-Catholic family and friends have asked us disapprovingly why we’ve stuck around as Catholics. Most recently, the sexual abuse scandal has been the latest pain on innocent victims and an embarrassment inflicted by church leaders on the whole membership.
The Catholic hierarchy is stuck in the Middle Ages, as far as their thinking and interpersonal interactions are concerned. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it one more time: “Seek the City to Come” has resulted in sinking the city churches. New management is needed in the Archdiocese of Baltimore—now.
Ralph E. Moore Jr. is a lifelong Black Catholic, educated by the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Jesuits. He has served on various committees on race, racism, and poverty for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is a married man with two children and four grandchildren. He is a member of the St. Ann Social Justice Committee. He can be reached at vpcs@yahoo.com.
