If there is one word that captured Pope Francis’ understanding of what it means to be Church, it is encounter—seeing the face of Christ in everyone we meet, especially across social, racial, and economic divides, and doing our part to heal the wounds those divisions cause. Our new Pope Leo XIV has already shown by word and deed that he embraces that concept.
Encounter was the theme of the recent Pilgrimage of Courage pilot program for Catholic K-12 educators seeking to respond to the sin of racism by building a culture of racial healing in their schools.
Racism was the topic of Archbishop Nelson Pérez’s June 2023 pastoral letter “We Are One Body.”
The 18 participants included educators from archdiocesan, private, and Independence Mission Schools: Holy Innocents Catholic School; Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls; Bishop Shanahan High School; Norwood-Fontbonne Academy; Mount St. Joseph Academy; Mercy Career and Technical School; St. Rose of Lima Catholic School; and DePaul Catholic School.
Participants boarded the Pilgrimage of Courage bus April 12 to visit the Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul; the Gesu Church, the former site of St. Elizabeth Church; St. Martin de Porres Church; and Little Flower High School.
At each site, witnesses shared personal accounts of racial wounding and healing that they, their families, or communities had experienced in Catholic institutions. Much of the content looked back in time, but the focus was on the present and future — on how Catholic schools can generate hope through racial healing.
Speakers and facilitators included Sister Cora Marie Billings, R.S.M., the first Black Catholic woman admitted to a religious order in Philadelphia; Marcelle McGuirk, chair of the Archbishop’s Commission on Racial Healing; Antoinette Reaves, daughter of Deacon Edward Purnell and an instructor at the Catechetical Institute of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and coordinator for the Office for Black Catholics; Maureen O’Connell, La Salle University theology professor and author of “Untying the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Anti-Blackness;” Rick Cothran, a former parishioner of St. Elizabeth and second generation parishioner of St. Martin de Porres; and members of the Little Flower High School community.
Following the Pilgrimage of Courage experience, the participating educators are discerning possible changes or enhancements to introduce into academic, curricular and/or professional development programs in their schools.
Their hope is that students, teachers, administrators, and parents of every ethnicity will understand that healing the sin of racism is an important component of our Catholic faith, and of Catholic education.
Wide circulation of Archbishop Pérez’s pastoral letter on racism at those schools will certainly be helpful. In the long term, the sea change in racial attitudes and institutional blind spots across Catholic education that these Pilgrims of Courage gathered to respond to will require bold, proactive and sustained work by many.
This is an auspicious time to transform our schools into models of racial healing. As Catholics, we are celebrating a Jubilee Year as well as the year in which Archbishop Pérez has shared a new collaborative vision for our archdiocese rooted in “Trust and Hope” (visit the website TrustandHope.org here).
Next year Americans will mark the 250th anniversary of the founding document that affirms that “all men are created equal … (and are) endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….”
Together, these benchmarks open opportunities for us to work together to strengthen the compassion and justice of our Church and our nation — with our young people especially in mind.
The Pilgrimage of Courage program is the fruit of a collaboration between La Salle University’s Department of Education and Social Work and New Encounters: Catholics Confronting Racism. This independent, predominantly lay organization’s planning team includes Father Tom Higgins, pastor of Holy Innocents Parish; Leonard DiPaul, coordinator of CUSP (Catholic Universities & School Partnerships); Laura Roy, chair of the Department of Education and Social Work at La Salle; and this writer.
Inquiries about how to support or participate in the Pilgrimage of Courage program are welcome. Contact Mary Laver at newencounterscatholics@gmail.com
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Mary S. Laver, PhD, serves as the administrator of Pilgrimage of Courage: Catholic Education & Racial Healing and the coordinator of New Encounters: Catholics Confronting Racism.
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