{"id":47885,"date":"2021-03-19T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T22:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jesuits-in-u-s-pledge-100m-for-racial-reconciliation\/"},"modified":"2021-03-19T22:04:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T22:04:19","slug":"jesuits-in-u-s-pledge-100m-for-racial-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jesuits-in-u-s-pledge-100m-for-racial-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesuits in U.S. pledge $100M for racial reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photographs
Photographs of descendants of enslaved people who were sold by Georgetown University and the Maryland Jesuits to southern Louisiana in 1838. In March 2021, the U.S.-based branch of the Jesuits has unveiled ambitious plans for a \u201ctruth and reconciliation\u201d initiative in partnership with descendants of slaves once owned by the religious order.<\/span>Claire Vail\/American Ancestors\/New England Historic Genealogical Society via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even the smaller amount represents the largest financial pledge thus far from a U.S. religious institution, as a variety of them nationwide seek to make amends for their past involvement in slavery and racial oppression.<\/p>\n

Partnering with the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States in the initiative is the GU272 Descendants Association, which represents the descendants of 272 enslaved men, women and children sold by the Jesuit owners of Georgetown University to plantation owners in Louisiana in 1838.<\/p>\n

Together, the two parties have formed the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation to oversee fundraising and allocate grants. Already, the Jesuits have placed $15 million in a trust that will finance the effort.<\/p>\n

The foundation\u2019s acting president is Joe Stewart, one of more than 1,000 descendants of Isaac Hawkins, an enslaved man who was among those sold in 1838.<\/p>\n

Stewart said many Americans understand the wrongs of slavery and segregation yet are divided over approaches to reconciliation and reparations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope what we\u2019ve created here is an offer to join us in a peaceful and loving approach to removing your shame,\u201d Stewart said Tuesday. \u201cThere are a lot of people who want to be a part of change \u2013 we hope we\u2019re providing the answer to, \u2018What do I do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Father
Father Timothy Kesicki, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, had an initial meeting with Joe Stewart, one of more than 1,000 descendants of Isaac Hawkins, an enslaved man who was among those sold by the Jesuits in 1838. &#x201c;Hearing what it felt like, that the church that baptized him had held his ancestors as slaves &#x2013; it&#x2019;s a life-changing feeling,&#x201d; Kesicki said. &#x201c;You can walk away, which is what we&#x2019;ve done as a country, or you can embrace it.&#x201d;<\/span>C-SPAN via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The foundation\u2019s plan calls for the Jesuits to raise $100 million through their own fundraising network, and the $1 billion figure would be attained with support from corporations, foundations and the general public, Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Atoning for its slaveholding past has been a recurring issue at Georgetown. The Washington, D.C., university\u2019s administration and student body both took steps in 2019 to extend financial support to descendants of the people sent to Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Three years earlier, the president of the Jesuits\u2019 conference, the Rev. Tim Kesicki, had an initial meeting with Stewart to discuss a possible reconciliation project.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing what it felt like, that the church that baptized him had held his ancestors as slaves \u2013 it\u2019s a life-changing feeling,\u201d Kesicki said. \u201cYou can walk away, which is what we\u2019ve done as a country, or you can embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reckoning requires organizations and institutions to examine their histories pertaining to slavery and acknowledge how their current status is built on that history.<\/p>\n

Details about how the money will be spent remain to be worked out. But Stewart said about half of the grant money would go to organizations and initiatives seeking to promote racial justice and reconciliation. Some other money would provide scholarships and other educational support for descendants of the 272.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have programs in three to five years,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cBut that will never be as important as what we do over the long run, the next 50 to 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about dismantling the continuing legacy of slavery,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way to get there is bring the whole nation along and face the truth about that history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart said he and other leaders of the initiative do not consider it to be a form of reparations \u2013 a topic that has created conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking a positive approach not based on individual stipends,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s transformative rather than payback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several other religious organizations in the U.S. have launched similar initiatives in the past two years, notably on the part of long-established Protestant churches that were active in the era of slavery.<\/p>\n

The Episcopal Church has been the most active major denomination, and others, including the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, are urging congregations to consider similar steps.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Council of Churches cited a host of injustices, from mid-19th century atrocities against Native Americans to police killings of Black people, in launching a \u201ctruth and reparations\u201d initiative last year engaging its 25 member denominations.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not embraced the term \u201creparations\u201d in its official policies. The word never appears in a 2018 pastoral letter condemning \u201cthe ugly cancer\u201d of racism, though the document encourages support for programs \u201cthat help repair the damages caused by racial discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannen Dee Williams, a history professor at Villanova University, is among several Black Catholics who have been urging the U.S. church to participate in reparations rather than leaving decisions about such actions up to individual Catholic institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pray other religious orders of men and women, the U.S. bishops, and the Vatican will be moved to follow the U.S. Jesuits\u2019 example,\u201d she said via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church must formally acknowledge and apologize for its histories of slavery, segregation and racial exclusion, and institutionalize the teaching of Black and Black Catholic history in all areas of church life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nkechi Taifa, a human rights attorney who serves on the National African American Reparations Commission, welcomed the Jesuits\u2019 announcement, but characterized it as a partial step.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of material resources will ever compensate for the horror that was done of ripping people from their families and literally selling them down the river to Louisiana,\u201d she said. \u201cThe harm was multifaceted; the remedy must be multifaceted as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photographs of descendants of enslaved people who were sold by Georgetown University and the Maryland Jesuits to southern Louisiana in 1838. In March 2021, the U.S.-based branch of the Jesuits has unveiled ambitious plans for a \u201ctruth and reconciliation\u201d initiative in partnership with descendants of slaves once owned by the religious order.Claire Vail\/American Ancestors\/New England […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-47885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47885"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=47885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}