2024-04-19-eEdition

PAGE 14 THE CATHOLIC WEEK APRIL 19, 2024 By GINA CHRISTIAN OSV News A group of Catholic bishops recently traveled to Montgomery and Selma, in what trip organizers called a "powerful encounter" amid the nation's long- running reckoning with racism. Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, former chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, and current committee chair retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago hosted a March 18-20 "Bishops' Lenten Experience" in the two cities, which were the endpoints of a five-day, 54-mile nonviolent march led by civil rights leader and pastor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in support of voting rights for Black Americans. At its March 25, 1965, conclusion on the steps of the Capitol in Montgomery, Rev. King told the 25,000 participants, "There never was a moment in Ameri- can history more honorable and more inspiring." The bishops' visit to the sites, which was closed to media, had been coordi- nated by the committee on racism and the Washington-based Catholic Mo- bilizing Network, which works closely with the U.S. bishops to end the death penalty, promote restorative justice and advance racial equity. Joining Archbishop Fabre and Bishop Perry for the three-day gather- ing were Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, Archbish- op Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Bishop William M. Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa. Among the stops on the itinerary were Montgomery's three Legacy Sites — the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park — the Dexter Avenue King Memo- rial Baptist Church, renamed in honor of King, who served as its 20th pas- tor from 1954-1960; and the City of St. Jude, founded by Passionist Father Harold Purcell as part of what he called "a long-cherished ambition" to work directly among Southern Black com- munities. The parish complex's now-closed hospital treated those injured during the March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday" clashes, and tried to save the life of activist Viola Liuzzo, who was killed on the final day of the Selma to Montgom- ery march by Ku Klux Klan members. The group also journeyed along the National Historic Selma to Montgom- ery Trail, and while in Selma silently crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where state and local law enforcement had attacked peaceful civil rights march- ers—including future Congressman John Lewis (1940-2020)—who were attempting to transit on Bloody Sunday. Following their time at the bridge, participants met for prayer and dinner with staff at the Edmundite Missions. Founded in 1937 by two Society of St. Edmund priests, the missions serve the area's most impoverished communities by providing meals, education, youth and senior services. Submitted by Deacon Jim Labadie St. Peter Parish in Montgomery recently hosted a group of bishops and priests for evening prayer and Mass on March 18. The group was touring civil rights memorials and museums in the Montgomery area to gain an eternal understanding of the civil rights movement in the area. CIVIL RIGHTS Bishops visitAlabama in 'powerful encounter'