From Our Pastors
We concluded our three session zoom meetings on racism on Tuesday. Long standing ABVM parishioner Dr. Eugene Stanislaus gave a deeply personal, shockingly revelatory and moving account of his experiences as an African American growing up and living in Brooklyn. If you missed the session, the links will be available in next Tuesday’s link.
Over the next few weeks an
ad hoc
committee will work on processing the feedback from the meeting participants. (The average was slightly over 80 participants for each of the three sessions.) The committee will publish findings and make recommendations as to ongoing goals and mechanisms for accountability. We look forward to continuing the conversation with all of you.
The president of Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, Mario Powell, SJ, has written a moving piece in America magazine, the opening lines of which are:
“As a 38-year-old black Jesuit priest, this is a familiar smell for me. It stinks. Its smell and the reactions it provokes in black Americans is impossible to avoid. It is a strange and bitter fruit.”
Father Powell has on occasions in recent years helped with masses at the Oratory parishes, and anyone who has heard him knows he is a thoughtful and compelling preacher. The article concludes: “Until you grow close to our suffering, until it fills your eyes and ears, your minds and hearts, until you jump up on the cross with black Americans, there can be no Easter for America.”
Fr. Mark Lane, C.O. and Fr. Michael Callaghan, C.O
