LaRyssa Herrington, a graduate student in theology at the University of Notre Dame who is active in several Black Catholic groups, said racial discrimination may be a big reason why nearly half of Black Catholics leave as adults.
“We see the issue of racism as a crucial conversation point that has to be addressed if we’re going to see a bettering of these numbers,” said Herrington.
She mentioned the larger issues of racism in the U.S., as well as what she sees as systemic injustices in the Catholic Church, as part of the problem.
The U.S. Catholic Church has five Black bishops and one Black cardinal — Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, who is the first African American to be elevated to the College of Cardinals.
Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham, North Carolina. Courtesy photo
The flow of Blacks out of the church means that their number may be sustained (Pew did not have figures for growth or decline), but only because of immigration.
For six months before Wekesa arrived in Durham, there was no full-time priest serving Holy Cross at all.
Now Wekesa has a goal: “I want to encourage vocations among young African American men,” he said. “It will take time, but I’m trying to promote that.”
Wekesa acknowledged it’s a difficult task.
“My hope is that before I finish my term at Holy Cross I will get just one,” Wekesa said. “I’ll pass on the torch to this one and this one will try to plant the seeds. That is my goal.”
This article originally appeared here.
