A legend about St. Peter handed down through the centuries is that there were deep grooves in the cheeks of the saint caused by the copious tears he shed whenever he remembered his denial of Jesus. Although Jesus forgave him, Peter found it difficult to forgive himself.
Sometimes self-forgiveness is more difficult than forgiving others, which may account for his request to be crucified upside down, not deeming himself worthy to die the same way Jesus died. Perhaps it was Peter’s way of finally making reparation for his sin.
It may be what prompted the Jesuits to promise they would raise $100 million in reparation for the sins of buying and selling African slaves. Until recently, the archives at Georgetown University had concealed this fact: the university was built on the backs of slaves.
In 1838, when the tobacco crops failed and money was in short supply, the priests sold 273 slaves to a wealthy landowner in Louisiana for $115,000 — the equivalent of $2,761,078 in today’s economy. The reason for the sale was to pay for continued expansion of the university.
Jesuit Father Timothy P. Kesicki, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, lamented, “Our shameful history of Jesuit slaveholding in the United States has been taken off the dusty shelf, and it can never be put back.”
He conceded, “this is an opportunity for Jesuits to begin a very serious process of truth and reconciliation.”
Part of the money will be used to finance scholarships for the descendants of slaves, and another fund will help pay for the care of ill and elderly descendants of the slaves who have been so identified.
As shocking as the buying and selling of human beings is to us today, consider that in 1856, the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision ruled that “people of African descent living in the United States were not “citizens” but merely members of a “subordinate and inferior class of human beings” with “no rights that the white man is bound to respect.”
Only in 1868, with the adoption of the 14th Amendment, were all Blacks “born or naturalized in the United States” granted full citizenship. Far from putting the issue to rest, the amendment gave rise to the Klu Klux Klan, the practice of lynching and white supremacy groups. What began as discrimination against African Americans evolved to include Jews, Catholics, Asians, Latinos and all people of color.
It’s not my intention to stir the political waters of dissent in this column, but the promise made by the Jesuits to make restitution for the abuse and disregard that their ancestors perpetrated on African American slaves sets a precedent and hopefully an example that others will follow.
Some might argue that the Jesuits were acting according to what the law allowed, but when man’s laws conflict with God’s laws, we are culpable. The Kingdom of God was established more than 2,000 years ago, long before the 14th Amendment confirmed the rights and human dignity that affords equal rights to every person. Yet, day after day, night after night, the atrocities continue.
Sins once perpetrated in darkness are now shouted from the roof tops via police body cams, video recordings and ultrasound images. We can no longer claim ignorance or try to justify our sins. The passion of Christ continues even during this holy Easter season whenever our sins tear into the flesh of the Body of Christ, for we are all God’s people regardless of our age, where we were born or the color of our skin.
A parishioner at St. Mary Basilica, Norfolk, reminded me that the Knights of Peter Claver, modeled after the Knights of Columbus, was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama, because Blacks were not permitted membership in the Knights of Columbus.
Sadly, they’re not the only Catholic group that discriminated against Blacks. The admission of Blacks to seminaries or religious orders in the United States came about only after a hard-won battle.
In many ways, the thinking of Catholics has evolved through education and deep soul searching, but the process is not over. The Jesuits are to be lauded for the steps they are taking to make amends for past injustices. It sets a clear example that until words of apology are supported by action, little will change.
In the Diocese of Richmond, the “Sowers of Justice,” a group of dedicated Catholics, is an active advocacy group in the Hampton Roads area working to promote justice and peace on many levels. To learn more about the group and the good work they do, contact Helen White at [email protected].