Black men strung up and lynched by Irish-Americans in New York, in the midst of the Civil War. It turns the stomach to acknowledge, but the truth is unavoidable.
Faith in Focus
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
How can I explain the color of my skin—and racism—to young white students?
I am a black priest in a predominantly white, rural parish. Answering this question is more urgent than ever.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
When protest becomes prayer
How can I pontificate about Christ’s presence with those who suffer and not put my body where Christ’s is?
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
‘How long, O Lord?’ Psalm 13 is the cry of black Americans
We have been crying out this question for centuries. But we cannot cry it alone anymore.
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The Holy Spirit is moving us to act against racism.
Racism, as St. John Paul II said, is one of the most “persistent and destructive evils” in the United States. And I have to acknowledge my own participation in it, writes James Martin, S.J.
Posted inFaith in Focus, Politics & Society
Black people are crying out for their breath. When will they be heard?
A litany for oxygen from a black Jesuit.
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A prayer for Pentecost in the pandemic
Come, Holy Spirit, to our suffering world, sick with a killing virus and everywhere threatened with silent death.
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Dear fellow Catholics: As churches reopen, let’s not go back to the old ‘normal’
Did the old “normal” way of doing things exhaust all possibilities for communal celebration? Is that what we want to return to, even if doing so were possible?
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
What getting married in a pandemic taught these newlyweds
After the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic made so many of their initial wedding plans impossible, Michael and Kelsey Petrany decided they wanted to go through with it anyway. And they are glad they did.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Learning to love lay-led liturgies in quarantine (while missing the Mass)
Lay-led liturgies cannot be an adequate substitute for the Mass. Nothing can. But they can help move through these anxiety-ridden times.