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Not to be too much the reductionist,
but I often recall, when the issue of race comes up, a scene recounted by my
wife, Sally, that occurred during one of those diversity training programs that
employers occasionally sponsor. The person leading the session quickly cut to
the chase when he asked the mixed-race class: Who in here would rather be
treated the way blacks are treated in the United States than the way whites are
treated?
No one raised a hand.
We all know in our bones what the law and lofty pronouncements
might not admit: Things are not equal. Racism, even after the Civil Rights era
and all of the progress since, remains a fundamental evil in this culture and,
by extension, in the church. There are reasons why black Catholics have to
gather apart from the rest of the church.
Those thoughts occurred as I stopped in at the National Black
Catholic Congress held in Chicago last week. Three thousand or so black
Catholics -- and organizers said they had to cut off registrations for lack of
space or more would have attended -- turned out for the ninth such gathering
since 1889, when the first congress was held in Washington. They were held
every year or two until 1894 and then not again until 1987. Since then they
have been held every five years. My regret is that they are not scheduled more
regularly than that. Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, and one of the 13 black Catholic bishops in the nation, in an
informal conversation about the meeting, told me the congress is set to be held
every five years and that he sees no change to that schedule in the near
future. Robert J. McClory’s coverage of the event begins on Page 12.
Situated at the front of the stage
in the main meeting room of the congress at the Hyatt Regency Hotel was the
original painting “Jesus of the People” by artist Janet McKenzie of
Island Pond, Vt. The image of a black Jesus was the winner of a worldwide art
competition, Jesus 2000, sponsored by NCR at the turn of the millennium.
The contest, the genius of former editor Michael J. Farrell, generated 1,678
entries from 1,004 artists from 19 countries and six continents.
McKenzie’s painting (she personally brought it to the congress in Chicago)
was chosen from 10 finalists by Sr. Wendy Beckett, known for her British
Broadcasting Corp. art documentaries.
As the war cry from Washington grows
louder and President George W. Bush prepares to make the case for an invasion
of Iraq, I call special attention to John L. Allen Jr.’s report of the
Sant’Egidio conference in Palermo, Italy, last week. The level and
intensity of criticism of U.S. policy and motives from other parts of the
world, including Vatican figures, should not be lost to the discussion that
will occur in coming weeks.
One of the distinctive elements of
NCR that you read about repeatedly in our promotional materials is the
paper’s commitment to good journalism, to firsthand reporting about events
in the church and the wider world that are of importance to thinking Catholics.
I am happy to announce that that commitment is being advanced with
the re-opening of an NCR Washington office, staffed by veteran
journalist Joe Feuerherd. His name might already be familiar to many NCR
readers. Feuerherd accumulated an impressive clip file as Washington bureau
chief for NCR in 1988-1991.
In the intervening years, he has served as spokesperson for the
Housing Opportunities Commission in Montgomery County, Md., and, for the past
four years, has been associate publisher and editorial director for Financial
Services Information Group, where he was founding editor of several weekly
newsletters dealing with financial matters.
As our Washington correspondent, he will be focusing on
church-related issues on Capitol Hill and the White House, on nonprofit
associations and interest groups and reporting on the Washington-based U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Feuerherd is available at 301-933-8884 or
jfeuerherd@natcath.org
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 13,
2002
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