those of others around them, but often altered their social circumstances as well.” Within the context of her retrieval of female African American voices, she asks, “How do you resurrect the ethical realities and concerns of black women from the ‘underside of history’?”9 This question is just as relevant for this study if it is slightly rephrased: how do you resurrect the ethical realities and concerns of African American Catholics from the “underside of history”? The assumption here is that the ignoring of African American figures by white Catholic ethicists has led to an inadequate and often harmful vision of racial justice, when the topic is addressed at all. Therefore, a retrieval of the life and writings of Falls will be an important step in rectifying this situation. Through critical historical retrieval, I hope to contribute to an American Catholic historical, ethical, and theological field that has often ignored black sources.
Liberation theology’s theological praxis allows a new experience to inform a new understanding and practice, which leads to an improved theological framework. In addition, a liberationist ethic believes that an ethic that does not address suffering “cannot be taken seriously.”10 This understanding of ethics privileges the poor as an essential source of knowledge regarding injustice, since it is the poor who experience suffering firsthand. With this in mind, genuine responses to suffering must be willing to go beyond standard academic responses and be willing to integrate new data.11 Within the context of this book, the life and writings of Falls will act as a new experience. As a new source of information, the life narrative and ethical thought presented by Falls introduce new types of thought and practices for understanding and combating racism. These practices and writings can then be integrated into an improved theological framework for addressing racial justice in Catholic ethical thought. A more relevant approach to dealing with the evil of racism is the most that this work can hope to accomplish. And, of course, as more retrieval and listening to African American figures occur, even more relevant and adequate frameworks can be proposed.
This book has been divided into five chapters. The first chapter assesses the main movements of Catholic racial justice over the past one hundred years, especially concerning the notions of black agency and the retrieval of African American sources. The second chapter retrieves the life of Dr. Arthur G. Falls by covering his upbringing, discussing the movements with which he was involved, and highlighting the segments of his life that exhibit his work for racial justice. The third chapter investigates the major themes in his writings. Particular attention is given to religious themes and the implications his writings have for Catholic racial justice. The fourth chapter proposes a new definition of Catholic racial justice based on the analysis in the first three chapters. Falls is used as the primary inspiration for this definition, and his life and writings are given the opportunity to provide insights on the challenges of the twenty-first century. The final chapter, which proposes virtues for the oppressed, is an attempt to provide a concrete example of how a vision of Catholic racial justice inspired by Falls may be meaningful today.
By using the resources and methods listed above, it is my hope that this book can make the following three contributions: (1) draw attention to the necessity of African American sources and black agency in Catholic racial justice, (2) reveal the life of Arthur Grand Pré Falls to a new generation of Catholics, and (3) deepen our current understanding of Catholic racial justice.
1. Falls, Reminiscence, 1962; Unpublished Autobiography, 1962. These two sources are two parts of a memoir that is not available in one complete copy. I will only use the second source to fill in missing parts of the first source. Falls made notes and corrections to the first source. The second source of the memoir has no corrections.
2. For more information on the notions of theological praxis and practical mediation, see McAuliffe, Fundamental Ethics, 130–43; Boff and Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology, 1–42.
3. Massingale, Racial Justice, 19, 24. Italics in the original.
4. Ibid., 6-8.
5. Melczek, “Created in God’s Image,” 17.
6. Preston and Moynihan, “Death of Florida Teen.”
7. This book will stay within the confines of the United States and focus almost exclusively on racism against African Americans. Although current immigration controversies and a growing Latino population add a new and important dimension to the discussion, it would make this work too large and unmanageable. Also, as Bryan Massingale has pointed out, “the estrangement between black and white Americans has shaped American life in decisive ways not matched by either the estrangement between whites and other racial/ethnic groups, or the tensions among the ‘groups of color.’” Massingale, Racial Justice, xi.
8. Floyd-Thomas, Mining the Motherlode, 105, 120. Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) was born as a slave in North Carolina and was most famous for her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) was a famous abolitionist and speaker who had escaped slavery in 1826.
9. Ibid., 105. Italics in the original.
10. McAuliffe, Fundamental Ethics, x, 134. For liberationists, suffering is foundational for ethics.
11. Ibid., 34 n10, 127–28.
Introduction
1: Black Experience and Empowerment in Catholic Thought
This chapter will examine more deeply the current state of Catholic racial justice—particularly as it pertains to the role of black agency and the use of black sources in Catholic racial justice. “Black agency” refers to the role that African Americans are deemed to possess in working toward racial justice in society, and “the use of black sources” refers to the extent that the intellectual, cultural, and ecclesial experiences of African Americans are incorporated into a theological framework of racial justice. The first section of this chapter will survey authors who offer a more limited view of African American sources and black agency. The latter section will consider authors who make greater use of and give greater legitimacy to black agency and experience. The first section will begin with an examination of the life and writings of John LaFarge, who, in addition to being a contemporary of Falls, was the most prominent American exponent of Catholic racial justice during the first half of the twentieth century, and whose impact is still discernible in the documents of American bishops. This section will then appraise documents from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the statements of individual American bishops. The second section will examine James Cone, Shawn Copeland, Bryan Massingale, and Jon Nilson.
Limited Use of Black Agency and Experience
John LaFarge
John LaFarge, S.J. (1880–1963), a contemporary of Falls, was the most famous Catholic champion of racial justice during the first half of the twentieth century. He rose to prominence in the interracial relations movement when he became involved with the Federated Colored Catholics (FCC).
