Being American is more than a pride we inherit / it’s the past we step into / and how we repair it. — Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb (2021)
American Catholicism is marked by Europe, but has its own cultural roots as well. After missions plagued by slavery and violence, baptized Catholics of indigenous and African heritage lived in North America over a century before the New England colonists arrived. Despite stubborn patterns of segregation, the roots of American Catholicism are Black and brown; only later did other refugees and migrants become “white.” In this series we will learn how those on the margins of the American Catholic story also belong at the center. We will listen to prophetic voices who have kept the Church catholic in our country and consider how historical memory is linked with present responsibility.
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Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez