A Litany of Lament

A litany of lament praying for those wounded by people who claim the name of Jesus. Please pray with me.

Christians love to honor our martyrs, the men, women, and children who died in imitation of their Savior, refusing to betray the one who laid down his life for them.

But we forget that historically, we aren’t always the oppressed. We have all too often been the oppressors. Nations have committed atrocities in the name of Jesus. Christian cultures have victimized those who don’t embrace our creed or who break moral or even cultural norms. Those who represent the Church have abused children and adults, sometimes secretly and sometimes to public acclaim.

On this account, I generally highlight the heroes, the ones who remind us who we ought to be and who show us how to fight against evil within the Church as much as without.

But we can’t ignore the atrocities perpetrated in the name of Jesus, in our names. We can’t gloss over the evils of the past (and, Lord have mercy, the present) with a glib statement that racism and misogyny and rape and murder were never *Church teaching* as though the wickedness doesn’t matter because we have doctrines against it.

These were our people.

These were our ancestors.

We share a name, a heritage, a faith.

And when we look away from the evil, we take their side. When we brush off the ugliness committed in our name, we stand with the aggressors. When we say, “Yes, but…” and hold up our own examples of oppression or our human rights heroes or our doctrine that decries the actions that were still praised or accepted or ignored—then we further wound the marginalized and abused.

Praise God that we can do something. We can learn about the atrocities. We can refuse to look away. We can donate to groups that are doing the work of bringing healing.

We can fast and pray, offering reparations for the ways the Church and her members have wounded the people so deeply loved by God, the people Jesus died for. We can enter into the burning, wounded, beating Sacred Heart of Jesus and hold our brothers and sisters there, begging the Lord for mercy, for healing, for justice.

Let us pray.

A Litany of Lament

For Native children stolen from their families and poisoned against their people, for the cultures destroyed and the souls driven from Jesus, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For the people kidnapped and enslaved, abused by Christians and told that resistance was a sin, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For the Jewish people discriminated against, forced to convert, abused, and murdered for sharing a faith with Jesus and his mother, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For all people who have suffered at the hands of Catholics because they were not themselves Catholic, for fellow Christians disdained or killed, for Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and pagans and every member of every religion abused, oppressed, robbed of their faith, forced to convert, or killed, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For the children and vulnerable adults abused by priests and religious and others who claimed the name of Jesus, for those who lost peace and innocence and trust in God’s Church, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For those women in crisis pregnancies who were vilified, who were lied to, who were forced or coerced into making an adoption plan, who were sent away, whose babies were stolen, who were advised to abort, who were abandoned, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For people denied access to the Sacraments, barred from religious orders, made to receive communion last, forced into segregated churches, othered, excluded, not represented, and made to feel like they don’t belong because of their race, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

For the people excluded, ignored, rejected, vilified, taught to hate themselves, or taught that God hates them for their sexuality, their gender identity, their mental illness, their disability, their poverty, their addiction, their marital status, their infertility, their chronic illness, their bereavement, or the circumstances of their birth, we pray,

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, bring healing.
Lord, let there be justice.

(Feel free to print and share)

A Trinity Sunday Homily on Racism

Dear Fathers,

I know that many of you haven’t spoken out on racism because you’re not sure what to say. Or because you think it’s too political an issue. Or because you think it goes without saying. But our Church is filled with people who unthinkingly benefit from oppressive structures, with people who are openly or subtly racist, with people who mean well but are unaware of the need to stand with the oppressed and marginalized right now.

Your Black parishioners need to know that you will fight for them. Your other parishioners need your prophetic voice to call them out of sin (sins of omission and sins of commission). So I wrote this homily for Trinity Sunday for those who might benefit. Use it as a jumping-off point or just read it from the pulpit—no need to attribute anything to me.

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Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the feast that celebrates the central mystery of our faith: that God is one God in three persons, distinct but not separate.

It’s a truth of the faith that we often ignore. We acknowledge that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and mutter something about a shamrock, feeling rather uncertain about what seems to be a faulty mathematical equation. And once a year you hear about the Trinity from the pulpit and the rest of the year we all go about our lives.

But the mystery of the Trinity reveals something powerful to us about God: that God is communion. When we say God is love, we don’t just mean that God is nice or that he loves you, but that he is love. He has always been love and will always be love, because he in himself is a communion of love.

Since before there was time, the Father has been pouring himself out in love to the Son and the Spirit, the Son pouring himself out in love to the Father and the Spirit, the Spirit pouring himself out in love to the Father and the Son. And when God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to live and die and rise for us, Jesus called on his follower to love in the same way. Not just to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Not just to “love your neighbor as yourself.” So much more than that: to love as he loves you (Jn 13:34). And how does Jesus love you? He tells us at the Last Supper: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you” (Jn 15:9).

As the Father has loved him.

That makes the dogma of the Trinity rather more practical than theoretical. The Father loves the Son wildly, ceaselessly, eternally. Which means God loves you wildly, ceaselessly, eternally. And you have to love others wildly, ceaselessly, eternally.

It’s not enough just not to hate. You have to love, to pour yourself out, to sacrifice.

Imagine if God the Son had looked down on his people trapped in sin and plagued by the devil and said, “That’s not my problem.” Imagine if he had seen children abused and said, “Well, I didn’t abuse any children.” Imagine if he had murmured something about “human-on-human crime” and allowed every one of us to wend our way to damnation.

It’s a horrifying image, isn’t it?

God doesn’t love like that. God doesn’t ignore your pain.

My friends, there is a plague in this country. There has been since our founding: a plague of racism and injustice. And let me be very clear: racism is evil. It is a grave sin.

Now I know that many of you don’t hate Black and Brown people. Lots of you don’t even discriminate against them. That’s not enough. You have to fight for them, as Jesus fought for you. You have to listen to their stories. You have to learn about the systems of injustice that have oppressed people in this country for centuries. You have to examine your own areas of prejudice and beg the Lord to make you more like him, with a heart that pours itself out in love.

When Paul talks in the second reading about mending our ways and living in peace, he says that this fighting for justice and unity is the only way that our God who is love will truly be with us. Ignoring suffering and division doesn’t build up the body of Christ, even if you genuinely had nothing to do with it. Loving suffering people, listening to them, fighting for justice in our schools, in our justice system, in our Church—that’s what builds up the body of Christ.

God’s nature teaches us about our nature. He has made us to be like himself: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in kindness. He has made us to pour ourselves out in love. But unlike God’s love, our love is not a pure gift of mercy. It’s demanded by justice. We have to recognize the ways we’ve been complicit, the jokes we shouldn’t have laughed at, the suffering we shouldn’t have ignored. And if we’re going to call ourselves Christians, we have to follow the Spirit’s prompting to grow and learn and love better.

To my Black brothers and sisters1: I’m sorry. I don’t just mean some vague expression of sympathy. I mean I apologize. I apologize on behalf of Church leadership that has failed so many times over the centuries to honor your dignity and fight for your freedom. I apologize on behalf of people who wear the name of Christian while harboring the sin of racism in their hearts. And I apologize for my own behavior, for the ways I’ve been complicit, for failing to listen to you, to fight for you. I’m so sorry.

My friends, this is not a political homily. This is not about police. This is not about protests. This is about a God who is love and is calling you to love sacrificially, even when it’s uncomfortable. I’m just not sure how we can mark ourselves with the sign of the Cross if we’re unwilling to share in the Cross, even in the smallest way, for love of our brothers and sisters.

Ask the Holy Spirit to make you uncomfortable. Ask the crucified Son of God to lead you to love sacrificially. Ask the Father for mercy, mercy, mercy. Pray for justice. Pray for peace. But do the work.

Let us love one another. Whatever it costs.

  1. If I were delivering this address, I would livestream it. And if there weren’t any Black people in the church, I would turn to the camera and say, “To my Black brothers and sisters listening here or online. I would not omit this paragraph. []

Making a New Saint Friend

If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably seen the project I’m working on for Lent: matching people with Saint friends. I’ve been loving the challenge of finding the right match and the responses I’ve been getting, both from the people I’ve matched and from people watching from the sidelines and finding all kinds of new friends. Honestly, I can’t tell you the joy it gives me to see dear, dear friends of mine shared 60 times on Facebook, introduced to thousands of new people who can learn from these Saints what following Christ might look like in their lives.

Through this whole project, people have been asking me where I find out all about these Saints. Honestly, the answer is Google, but I do have some go-to resources that I start with.

  1. Modern Saints by Ann Ball is the reason I love the Saints the way I do. For years after I met Jesus, I was okay with the idea of the Saints’ intercession (Rev 5:8) and the importance of their witness (1 Cor 11:1), but I didn’t really see why one would love them. Then I encountered these books and heard the stories of the Saints told well for the first time. Instead of boring stories that somehow didn’t in any way speak to the love of God, I encountered incredible adventures that gave me hope for the possibility of finding holiness in my own life, with my own struggles. And they’re so compelling that I actually wanted to keep reading, even after my self-imposed quota of spiritual reading was up! These two books are among the six most important books I’ve read in my life–grab a used copy of volume one and volume 2 today (or get them on kindle so you can search within the book for particular topics you’re interested in).
  2. Faces of Holiness by Ann Ball is a new discovery for me, and just as good as the earlier volumes. This one doesn’t seem to be available electronically.
  3. The Big Book of Women Saints by Sarah Gallick is also fantastic, though quite different. It has the stories of 365 different female Saints, and while Ball’s book gives the full story of each Saint, Gallick gives you a bite-sized taste, just enough to whet your appetite and send you to Google for more. This is an excellent book to get on Kindle so you can search within it.
  4. My 2017 articles on Aleteia were all about Saints. If you click here, you can scroll through and learn about 50 different Saints. Or you can search for a Saint with my name to see if I’ve written about them. There’s little that makes me crazier than Saint stories made dull and saccharine, so I can promise you one thing: these stories won’t be boring. (And if you want this and the Saint ninja project to turn into a book, you can support that by letting me know when you’re out of town and want me to hunker down in your house for a couple of weeks to write, because I can’t get anything done on the road.)
  5. www.catholicsaints.info is my favorite website, especially for seeing all the options for Saints on a particular day or for searching for a particular issue. Do a site search for a key word (piano or depression or Madagascar) and you’ll find a really good beginning to your research.
  6. Saintly Solutions to Life’s Common Problems (and its sequel) by Fr. Joseph M. Esper are wonderful books where you can look up struggles like anger, doubt, and marital problems to be pointed to Saints who walked the same path. It’s just a first step as it doesn’t give their whole stories, but it’s a great first step.
  7. Saints Behaving Badly by Thomas J. Craughwell is a fun read, but do me a favor and when the bishop asked you where you found your confirmation Saint, don’t tell him that I gave you a book with this title (as one of my students may have done into the microphone during confirmation).
  8. Louis de Wohl’s books are all fantastic. They’re novels, so you’ll have to do a little research to find out what’s truth and what’s fiction, but they’ll give you a sense of the Saint that will really help build a friendship rather than just an interest.
  9. Various other books–my Goodreads Saints shelf might help.
  10. My social media accounts have plenty of Saint stories–if you’re not following me yet on Instagram or Facebook, do it! And you can search my Facebook page for Saint’s names or features of their lives, or just look through my #blackSaints #AsianSaints and #LatinoSaints hashtags.

That’s all I’ve got for the moment–what other Saint books or websites do you love?

A Letter to My Bishop

Friends, I’ve been praying and thinking quite a lot about what I actually want our bishops to do. I thought I’d share my thoughts with you. I’ll be mailing them to my bishop (and, in some form, to several other bishops). Feel free to adapt my words and use them in your own letter-writing, or to find excellent templates at The Siena Project. Your bishop’s address can be found here.

Your Excellency,

 

You know why I’m writing. It’s the same reason everybody’s been writing. Priests abused children and adults, bishops coerced seminarians into unspeakable acts, and everybody seemed to know. And nobody seemed to care.

I don’t know what you knew. Perhaps your conscience is entirely clear. Perhaps you removed every abusive priest from ministry, chastised and reported abusive and negligent bishops, and wrote the Holy Father when you heard rumors. Perhaps you have been an exemplary priest and a saintly bishop. If so, I thank you. With fierce, desperate gratitude, I thank you.

But perhaps not. If you have been a part of this vile infection plaguing our church, even just through looking the other way, I beg you to confess your sins–not only sacramentally but publicly. You may be judged harshly by those you failed to shepherd; you will be judged more harshly by the Shepherd who appointed you if you continue to abandon your flock.

I can’t know which is the case, but I choose to believe you are who you say you are: a lover of God and servant of his people. And I’m sure that you feel lost and confused and exhausted right now. Believe me, I’m praying for you. Your PR department recommends polished statements and your people demand that heads roll, regardless of whether or not the possessors of those heads have been proven guilty. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be a bishop right now. And perhaps more demands from your people just add to that weight. But in the hope that you are genuinely seeking to bring healing to this broken Church, I’d like to offer some suggestions of practical things to do right now–this week. Come November, I’ll have more thoughts about what the USCCB as a whole ought to do. But today, I offer these thoughts for your prayerful consideration:

  1. Begin by inviting a full investigation by the state’s attorney general and encourage all other bishops to do the same. Open all the files, whatever they contain. All of this will come out in the next ten years–if we deal with it all at once, the Church in America may survive. If we drag it out, we continue to torment survivors, endanger children, and abdicate any moral authority we still retain. The condemnation of wicked men could never cause such scandal as our secrecy has.
  2. Work to extend statutes of limitations such that justice can be wrought in this world as well as the next.
  3. Meet personally with survivors and their families. Meet on their terms: where they want, when they want, with whom they want. Allow media if they prefer, but do not make this a photo opp.
  4. Host town hall meetings throughout the diocese. Listen. Apologize. Don’t defend.
  5. Publicly ask the Holy Father to invite an investigation of what Vatican officials (including the Holy Father) knew about McCarrick and when. We have had enough of silence. Now is a time for fathers to answer their confused and frightened children, not to stand by impassively as the family self-destructs. I do not want Pope Francis to resign. I want him to lead the way in transparency and (if necessary) repentance.
  6. Establish a policy of surveying seminarians semi-annually about their experience of and concerns about seminary life. Visiting the seminaries you send your men to is essential, though it alone is not enough. Make it clear that those reporting sexual misconduct or the abuse of authority will always be granted a meeting directly with you. Their concerns will not go unheard.
  7. Commit yourself personally to public acts of penance and reparation. Bishop Reed in Boston has taken the lead on this, engaging in an act of prayer and fasting that has stunned the Catholic world. Ask the Lord how you can take a stand, showing survivors and all the wounded faithful that you will fight for us, that you will sacrifice yourself for love of Christ and for love of us.
  8. Call on the clergy of your diocese to return to the practice of Friday abstinence. Encourage them to undertake other acts of penance and reparation on behalf of their fallen brother priests and for the healing of the Church. Remind them that they became priests for the salvation of souls and that no good thing comes without effort. The demons attacking our church will be cast out only through prayer and fasting.
  9. Exhort all priests of the diocese to offer a Mass of Reparation every Friday between now and Christmas. (The Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Cross and the Feast of All Souls are, of course, universal feasts that cannot be replaced by votive Masses, though both are particularly connected to this cause as well. It is, I believe, in your power to remove all obstacles to celebrating a Mass of Reparation for every other Friday between now and Christmas.)
  10. Ask every parish to recite the St. Michael prayer following each Mass (before the closing hymn on Sundays) for the purification of the Church and her protection from all evil influences.
  11. Continue preaching on this and asking your clergy to do the same. Not every homily needs to be an apology on behalf of the clergy, but too many Catholics have heard nothing at all and feel abandoned. Just mention that this is a hard time in the Church, that you’re sorry for those who have suffered, and that Jesus loves us in our pain–we just need to know that you aren’t pretending that this is business as usual.
  12. Finally, Your Excellency, if there is anything at all in your past that, if exposed, would force you to resign, skip the drama. Resign now. Tell us everything and retire to a life of penance. Owning up to your sins, begging forgiveness, and doing public penance may just get you canonized one day. Diverting blame and keeping your head down may earn you a place in hell. Catholics are in the habit of forgiving repentant sinners. This isn’t a hard choice.

You will, I hope, forgive my forwardness. But my Church is under attack and you, Excellency, have been clothed in armor and given a sword to defend her. I may pray and fast (and I do), I may call for reform, I may stand before thousands and point them back to Christ in the midst of this chaos they long to run from, but only you can be our shepherd.

Thank you for the gift of your priesthood and for the courage and wisdom with which you lead our local Church. I pledge to pray for you daily by name as you seek to be faithful in carrying out the work of the Spirit.

Yours in Christ through Mary,

Meg Hunter-Kilmer

Books to Buy for Mother’s Day (Or New Alumnae)

Mother’s Day is coming up, and for many of us, that means shopping for the perfect present, whether it’s for your mom, your wife, your godmother, your children’s godmothers, your sister, or a woman who’s been like a mother to you or your kids. (Plus graduation’s coming up, and many of us are looking for gifts for young female grads, as well.) And while flowers are nice and jewelry is lovely, there’s really nothing better than a good book.1 So here are some of my favorite books written by female authors and largely geared towards women–which isn’t, of course, to say that you have to get a book written for women, just that this is a women’s holiday and these are (largely) women’s books. Pick from one of these and you won’t be disappointed.

Ponder is a book of reflections on the rosary that uses lectio divina and some journaling techniques to help women enter deeply into the mysteries of the rosary. It’s a beautiful book to help you get started reading Scripture or to transform the way you pray the rosary. There’s a great online community where women share their reflections and experiences of praying through the readings, or you can get your own group together to meet up each week. Plus, I wrote two of the essays!2

There’s also a children’s version available so your kids can practice reading Scripture, too. Designed for 8-13-year-olds, it’s got coloring pages, puzzles, and discussion questions to get you praying with your kids.

Jen Fulwiler’s new book, One Beautiful Dream, is simply amazing. She writes about her struggle to balance life as a mom with doing what she’s passionate about, but it’s a book that will speak to the heart of any Christian, particularly women. I wrote more about it here, but suffice it to say that it’s riotously funny and also likely to make you weep.

The best women’s Bible study book I’ve ever encountered is Who Does He Say You Are? by Colleen Connell Mitchell. Colleen enters deeply into Scripture and wrestles with the stories like a Protestant instead of using them as a framework to make a point, as Catholic Bible studies often do. When I read this book, I kept getting frustrated because she would say something that would just wreck me and I didn’t have time for deep introspection at the moment. I learned to read right before my holy hour because every time I read, the Holy Spirit started working. It’s great for a group study or just for an individual looking to get to know the Gospels better.

If you know a woman who doesn’t yet have a Bible (or doesn’t have a Catholic Bible, or doesn’t have a Bible she likes), the new Catholic Journaling Bible is just lovely.3 It’s got beautiful artwork and calligraphy and wide margins that make me almost sinfully jealous. It’s the NABRE (the translation we use at Mass) complete with footnotes, and it would make a beautiful guest book at a wedding.

My Sisters the Saints, by Colleen Carroll Campbell, is a powerful memoir that will appeal to women across the spectrum, from agnostics to daily communicants. Campbell’s journey from party girl to 20-something speechwriter for President George W. Bush to infertility to high-risk pregnancy will keep you reading, and along the way she’ll introduce you to half a dozen Saints you needed to know better. This is a particularly good gift for women who aren’t that into Jesus–everyone will find something to identify with here.

If you’d rather give a book that has more than six Saints, The Big Book of Women Saints is a great choice.4 I’m very picky about my Saints books, and while this isn’t my favorite ever, the author does an excellent job of telling the stories in a pithy way that makes you want to learn more. There’s a Saint for every day of the year, many of whom you’ve never heard of before, and a Scripture to go along with her. Plus there are quotations from many of the Saints so you can read her actual words. It’s a great way to make some new Saint friends, and with an entry each day, it’s a good invitation to have some discipline in your spiritual life.

Full disclosure: I haven’t read Mary Haseltine’s new book on pregnancy and birth, but everyone I love loves it. My friend Christina said Made for This: The Catholic Mom’s Guide to Birth is the only book you need to read about pregnancy and childbirth, and that woman read a ton of books when she was pregnant. If you know a woman who’s expecting–even if it’s not her first baby–this is a must-read.

And now for something completely different: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is a beautiful book about God’s love for the human soul. Rivers was a romance novelist before she met Jesus, and this book reads something like a historical fiction romance novel, but with powerful themes that will honestly transform your prayer life. Redeeming Love is a retelling of the book of Hosea set in the Gold Rush, with Michael Hosea modeling the love of Jesus for his bride. I’ll warn you that there’s some reference to sexual assault and prostitution, so you’ll want to be aware before picking up this book, but the story’s so powerful that I think it’s worth pushing through for most people. (If you want to give it to a younger woman–say, a high school girl–have her mom read it first to get a sense of whether her daughter is ready for the intimacy found in the book. It’s nothing graphic, but it could be too intense for younger girls.)

So there you have it–my favorite books for Christian women. What else ought to make the list? I’m always up for a book recommendation!

  1. Take note, gentlemen: if you’re looking to woo me, books. Also lilacs. []
  2. It’s my first time being published, so you should buy it just because you like me. []
  3. Buy it on Jet. For some reason it’s really cheap there. []
  4. Despite its unfortunate use of the word “women” as an adjective instead of the appropriate “female,” but we’ll blame the publisher for that. []

One Beautiful Dream: Not Just a Catholic Mom Book

A few years ago, Jen Fulwiler’s much-anticipated memoir came out, a book that described her conversion from atheism to Catholicism. Something Other than God was a great read–I know because I bought it as a gift for my mom and borrowed it immediately after giving it to her. I recommended it to all kinds of people as a remarkable account of Jen’s journey.

So when I heard Jen had another book coming out, I was excited. Then I read about the topic–how she balances family life and pursuing her passions. It’s a great topic, and really important, but I’m not a mom. Still, Jen’s a great writer, so I figured I’d give it a read so I could recommend it to my many mom friends.

Last week, I came home to find a package on my doorstep. Inside was One Beautiful DreamI was scheduled to be on Jen’s radio show the next day, so I figured I’d get started on the book.

I was so excited to talk to her about it the next day.

Six hours later, I closed the book with a contented (and bleary-eyed) smile and went to bed, but not before texting my sister to say good morning.1 I had read until 6 a.m. And I wasn’t a bit sorry about it.

The next day, I picked the book up again, this time with a pencil. The first time through, I had been so caught up in the story and so busy laughing that I hadn’t marked up my book. I don’t remember the last time I liked a book too much to write in it. Not to worry–I knew I needed to reread, so the second time through, I underlined and bracketed and annotated to my heart’s delight.

This book is so good.

It’s hilarious, so funny I literally laughed out loud in my house all by myself. It’s a compelling story, filled with cringe-worthy moments and cliffhangers at the end of chapters. How does a suburban homeschooling mom have so many cliffhangers in what the world would see as a mundane life? I don’t know, but Jen is a master storyteller. It’s moving, frequently bringing me to tears, then to a realization that I needed to pray about whatever point Jen had just made. Honestly, there are things in this book that I’ll be praying about for months, maybe years.

Because this isn’t a Catholic mom book. Sure, it’s great for Catholic moms. But Jen’s discussion of discernment and passion and sacrifice and being at peace with your gifts and flaws? This stuff is relevant to every Christian. So let me tell you who I think should read this book:

Catholic moms. Jen is so real about the (sometimes soul-sucking) work that comes with having a lot of little kids, or even with big kids whose needs make it hard to find time for what she calls your “blue flame,” the things that make you come alive. She talks about guilt over her discontentment in her stay-at-home mom life and how she and her husband worked on building a family culture that would be nourishing to all of them. She points out the way different women’s gifts manifest differently in motherhood and how all our competition is ridiculous. If you need to feel better about yourself as a mom, to find strategies for parenting in a way that uses your gifts, or to seek balance in your life so that you have some creative outlet, this book will inspire you in ways you can’t imagine.

Non-Catholic Christian moms. Y’all, this book is published by Zondervan. You know it’s not some crazy Catholic hoo-doo. Now, Jen’s Catholic, and she’s not trying to hide it. But this book is about a woman who loves Jesus and is trying to honor him in her life, through her family and her work. Every time she talks about funny Catholic stuff, she explains it. And her account of what was going on in her heart as God led her to have six children (as an introvert!) will help you understand some of your Catholic friends with the big old homeschooling van. Plus, all the above about peace and balance and not comparing.

Women without kids. Yes, this book is about how Jen worked to be present to her family while pursuing her passions. But ultimately, it’s about how she fought against the devil’s lies, the ones telling her she wasn’t good enough, to follow the Lord. It’s about discernment and communication. And it’s an invitation to live selflessly, whether or not self-sacrifice is foisted upon you by a gaggle of children. Believe me when I tell you that you will benefit from reading this book whether you have children or not. If for no other reason, read it so you can start sobbing at chapter 35–so beautiful.

Men with kids. Gentlemen, if you’re married, this book will give you insight into what your wife is struggling with. And while some of what this book is wrestling with is particularly difficult for women, everyone with a family and a job has to figure out what work sacrifices to make for family and what family sacrifices to make for work. Seeing the way Joe and Jen deal with tough decisions and tricky conversations might help your communication skills. If nothing else, read it for some of Joe’s gems. Like the time Jen told him she was expecting and asked how he felt about the new baby. “I want to wait until I know how you feel. I’ll be devastated or excited or whatever you want me to be.” Well played, Mr. Fulwiler. Well played.

Men without kidsHonestly, it’s just a funny book. But there are points in here that will challenge anyone, like when Jen talks about living a love-first life, about how much of our happiness lies in shifting our expectations, and about how asking for help is a gift to the person helping you. And maybe spending a few hours reading about life with a million kids will help you in your vocational discernment….

People who can’t quite seem to avoid getting pregnant. If you deal with hyperfertility and (like Bl. Maria Quattrocchi) the thought of another baby fills you with dread, reading about Jen’s experience of openness to life will give you a lot to think about. She reframes the conversation about how to survive one more baby, wondering instead how she could live without that child when she’s a 50-year-old who will visit Jen in the hospital one day. It may not get you excited for your fourth under four, but it’ll definitely give you some hope.

Whoever you are, I think you’ll enjoy this book. Unless you don’t like laughing. Or wisdom. Or laughing and crying and taking a long, hard look at your life all in the space of 3 pages. If that’s you, skip this one. Otherwise, head over to Amazon and grab a copy (or 5) today!

FYI, I got this book for free because Jen’s awesome, but y’all know I’m too lazy to write a whole long review about a book I didn’t love. Opinions are very much my own.

  1. She asked how the book was. I said great. She asked if she could borrow it. I didn’t answer because I really didn’t want to lend it to her because I had loved it so much that I was feeling very possessive. []

An Asian Saint a Day

Do you know when the Gospel first got to Asia?

When I ask this of fairly educated people, they often guess the 16th century, with St. Francis Xavier.

“Earlier.”

“Maybe something to do with Marco Polo in the 13th century?”

“Earlier.”

“Ummm…maybe during the Patristic period?”

“Let me help. Where was Jesus born?”1

“…Bethlehem.”

“Which is in Israel. And what continent is Israel on?”

“Oh, shoot. Asia.”

Yup. The Gospel was first preached in Asia. The angels sang Gloria in Asia, to an Asian couple with an Asian baby. The Apostles were all Asian.

But people don’t usually mean the Middle East when they say Asia. So, okay. When did the Gospel first get further east? Into, say, India?

52.

That’s a year.

52 AD.

That’s when St. Thomas took the Good News to India.

China was first evangelized in the 7th century.

Much of Asia didn’t have any missionaries sent to them until much later, but they’ve certainly made up for it in the meantime. Korea alone has 103 Saints, 124 Blesseds, and 133 Servants of God. Japan has 26 Saints and 188 Blesseds. Not to mention the many, many Middle Eastern Saints. Or the 120 Chinese. Or the thousands of Vietnamese martyrs.

Let’s just say, if all the statues in your Church are of white people, it’s because y’all aren’t looking very far from home. (Also, my celestial bestie is Japanese, so you should really get to know him.)

The Catholic Church is not a white Church. It wasn’t when it started and it sure as heck isn’t now, when it’s most alive in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. To celebrate, I’ll be sharing a different Asian Saint on Instagram and Facebook every day. I’d love it if you’d join me and get to know our beautiful and incredibly diverse family in heaven.

  1. You would be amazed at how often youth answer “Jerusalem” to this question. I know they know better, they’re just not thinking. []

How to Make a Pilgrimage to Every American Saint

Several years ago, I started falling in love with the Saints, with the witness they provide and the encouragement I find in their holiness despite their brokenness. And since I spend a good amount of time abroad, I got to visit lots of different Saints. It’s much harder to do in the US, I thought, but then I flew back from Europe and accidentally visited five Saints in six weeks. Turns out, it’s not as tricky as it might be, if you’re being intentional about it. So over the course of about 14 months, I managed to visit every Saint and Blessed in the US.

It’s much easier when you’re a hobo, of course, but some of these Saints might be driveable from your home–or a good excuse for a family vacation to paradise. If you’re looking to join me in visiting every American Saint, here’s how to do it–in the most epic Catholic road (/air) trip of all time.

We’ll begin just across the border in Montreal (though since we’re about to visit St. Kateri’s hometown you can skip this one if you must. This is where she’s buried, though, and you’ll get three extra Canadian Saints, too).

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Saint, is buried in the mission church on the Kahnawake Mohawk reservation just south of Montreal. The church is called St. Francis Xavier and is a beautiful witness to authentic inculturation, with prayers written in English and Mohawk throughout the church. You can pray in front of the tomb of the young woman who endured ridicule and persecution but never gave up her faith.

They also have a great gift shop.

A few miles north is the incredible shrine to St. Joseph, built by St. André Bessette. In all honesty, I really don’t like the upper basilica, but there are some beautiful images of St. Joseph down below, as well as thousands of crutches left by people who came with disabilities and left walking on their own. Also, the body of St. André, the first Saint of the Congregation of the Holy Cross.1

Canes and crutches no longer needed thanks to his intercession.

Not too far from St. Andre is the church housing the body of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, though it’s closed for half of January and all of February, so plan accordingly. We didn’t get to go inside, but said hi from the street.

I’m sure it’s lovely when it’s open.

Half an hour north of the city is a beautiful church stunningly situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where St. Marguerite d’Youville is buried, a woman whose life reads like a soap opera but ends with a halo.

The chandeliers are remarkable.

Heading south from Canada (though really, you ought to make a detour to visit the Canadian shrine to the North American martyrs–it’s amazing), we’ll spend a little more time with St. Kateri in her hometown of Ossernenon. The shrine at Auriesville is the burial ground of St. Rene Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. Jean de Lalande. Ten years after the martyrdom of St. Isaac and St. Jean, St Kateri Tekakwitha was born in this town. The blood of the martyrs is truly the seed of the Church.

Four Saints in one village is nothing in Europe, but it’s a huge deal in the US.

Continuing south, we’ll stop in northern Manhattan to visit St. Francis Xavier Cabrini. While you’re in town, swing by St. Patrick’s Cathedral to visit a handful of Venerables and Servants of God (Ven. Fulton Sheen!) and make your way down to Staten Island to see Dorothy Day and Fr. Vincent Capodanno, both Servants of God.

St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, bottom; Jesus, top.

Fulton Sheen, Pierre Toussaint, and Terence Cooke, all at St. Pat’s.

Because she’s not far out of our way, we’ll swing through Convent Station, New Jersey to say hello to Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a sort of American St. Thérèse. The church will probably be locked, but if you go through the convent, you may find a Sister who’s excited to tell you all about her. (Look for the Holy Family Chapel on the grounds of the College of Saint Elizabeth.)

She likely died of a burst appendix, so a good intercessor in cases of appendicitis.

From there, we’ll head down to Philadelphia, where we’ll visit St. Katherine Drexel and St. John Neumann. Though I visited St. Katherine Drexel at her motherhouse just north of the city, apparently her relics will soon be moved to the cathedral in downtown Philadelphia, not far from St. John Neumann’s shrine. If you’re headed to visit her, I’d call the motherhouse and see what the status is. If she hasn’t been moved yet, you can always go try to sweet talk one of the Sisters into letting you make a visit–it’s worth the detour from St. John Neumann to give it a shot.

He seems to have been absolutely tiny. (His body is in the crypt. I have no idea what’s in the sarcophagus-looking thing in the main church.)

She’s a beautiful intercessor for racial justice.

Next we’re off to see the very first native-born American Saint to be canonized, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, MD, just down the street from Mount St. Mary’s University.

Featuring my niece, Elizabeth Anna, who considers St. Elizabeth Ann Seton her “best Saint friend” and is proudly showing off her Saint block that is now a third class relic.

Now it’s finally time to leave the East Coast and head inland to visit some more Saint friends. Our first stop will be in Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, to see St. Theodore Guerin (spoiler: she’s a woman). Make sure to visit the adoration chapel while you’re there–it’s beautiful.

Her tomb is inside the museum.

Here’s the monstrance.

Further west, we’ll find St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (and Imo’s Pizza) in St. Charles, MO. It’s an…interesting chapel. But Jesus is there, and so is our Saint friend, so we’re calling it a win.

I kind of love it when they don’t update their tombs to say “Saint” because her being their Mother is so important.

Now we have to drive the rest of the way across the country, so we might as well stop by Oklahoma City to see Bl. Stanley Rother. He’s the United States’ first native-born martyr and our first beatified native-born priest, plus he’s an Oklahoma farm boy, so he’s all around awesome. He used to be buried out in his hometown, but his body has been moved to a chapel at the cemetery by the OKC Pastoral Center while they get an amazing shrine built.

I can’t find the picture of his grave, so you’ll have to settle for this shot of me with two seminarians, Bl. Stanley’s sister, his brother, and his sister-in-law, nbd.

Stop through Chimayo if you like on your way to the Carmel Mission, one of many mission churches established by St. Junipero Serra, our most recently canonized Saint.

It’s really a beautiful, peaceful spot.

From there I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to hop a plane to Hawaii. If you can make it out to Molokai to spend time in the leper colony where St. Damien de Veuster and St. Marianne Cope worked, that’s awesome! But if not, you can stop by the cathedral in Honolulu and visit their relics there.

Part of his body is in Belgium and she’s got a museum in Syracuse, NY, but you can’t truly visit them without going to Hawaii, right? Right.

Apologies to Bl. Solanus Casey and Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, who didn’t make this road trip because they were geographically inconvenient. If you want to add Detroit and New Orleans to your list, you will have hit every single (U.S.) American Saint and Blessed.2 Don’t even get me started on Venerables and Servants of God…. (Pro tip: www.findagrave.com is your best resource for all of them.)3

Bl. Solanus Casey, future patron Saint of ice cream, pray for us!

If you go see Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, then you get to eat in New Orleans. Double worth it.

So there you have it, folks: how to visit every American Saint (and Blessed). Share your pictures with #AmericanSaintsPilgrimage and tag me (@mhunterkilmer on Instagram) so I can be excited with you. And to make it even easier, here’s a map!

Click the link for more details, though not exact addresses. You can find those by visiting the websites linked above.

  1. Go Irish!! []
  2. And you can visit Ven. Henriette DeLille while you’re in NOLA. []
  3. Pretty sure nobody voice searches “Where is [X] buried?” as much as I do. []

A Saint a Day for Black History Month

Last week, I sat in the back row of an adoration chapel in Texas. In that row with me sat an Asian woman, a black woman, and three Hispanic women.

On New Year’s Eve, I went to Mass in Georgia. Watching people go up for communion, I was awed at the diversity. People from India, East Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa, North and South America, even Europe–this really is a universal Church we belong to.

And, whatever your church’s stained glass windows may suggest, the Saints are a remarkably diverse group as well. There are ten times as many Chinese Saints as American Saints, and while many of the ones we know best are white, even some of those aren’t as blond and blue-eyed as the statues in our Irish-built churches would lead us to believe.

So for Black History Month, I thought it might be nice to get to know some of the many Saints with roots in Africa. With some of the older ones, it’s hard to know exactly what race they may have been, but to my mind there’s no reason to assume someone from North Africa didn’t have some traditionally African features.

I’ll be sharing one of these Saints (or Saints-to-be) every day over on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #BlackSaints, so follow me over there to keep these heroes of the faith before your eyes this month. FYI, this is just a small sampling of the many, many black Saints. And believe me, there are some incredible stories in here.

  1. Bl. Victoire Rasoamanarivo
  2. Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo (1848-1894) was born a pagan princess and ultimately became an activist, a contemplative, and a national hero. After she converted to Catholicism in her teens, she experienced extreme persecution from her family, even an attempted assassination arranged by her husband. When Bl. Victoire was 35, the queen of Madagascar sent all the priests in the country into exile. They left the care of the Church in Bl. Victoire's hands. When the government locked the churches, she presented herself before the queen and the prime minister to object. When they stationed soldiers outside to bar entry for prayer, Victoire calmly approached the armed men, saying, “If you must have blood, begin by shedding mine. Fear will not keep us from assembling for prayer.” She stared them down, then led the assembled community into the church. After the missionaries' return, she worked with prisoners, lepers, and the abandoned poor, and when the uncle who had so persecuted her fell out of favor with the court, she cared for him as well. Finally, at the age of 46, this strong and courageous leader went home peacefully to Christ. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  3. St. Moses the Black
  4. St Moses the Black was basically a land pirate. A former slave, he became the ringleader of a band of 75 outlaws. This guy delighted in murder, fornication, and revenge, once swimming the mile-wide Nile with a dagger in his teeth to knife a guy whose dog had barked at him. Eventually, his brigandry got the better of him and he ran to a monastery in an attempt to avoid the police. Once there, he was overcome by the love of Christ and begged to be received as a monk. It took him quite a while to adjust to life as a monk; once four robbers broke in and Moses beat their faces in before remembering himself. He then tied them up and took them to his abbot, sheepishly saying something like, “It used to be I woulda killed them, but I’m thinking that’s not how we do?” His monastic life was extremely difficult, as one might expect of a man accustomed to action and terrible sin, but he fought for years to overcome his temptations and ultimately became a priest and then an abbot himself, leading dozens of souls in the way of holiness. When another group of outlaws was approaching the monastery, Moses urged his men to flee, saying of himself, “Those who live by the sword must die by the sword.” He welcomed his murderers with open arms and was rewarded with a martyr’s crown. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  5. Bl. Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa
  6. Bl. Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa were teenage catechists martyred in Uganda in 1918. Daudi was born around 1902 and Jildo around 1906, both to pagan families, but they took to heart the preaching of the missionaries and were both baptized in 1916. Not long after, the catechist in a remote village died, leaving those villagers with nobody to instruct them in the faith. After some time, Daudi convinced the local priest that he and Jildo were ready to take on the role of catechist, and 18 months after being baptized, they were setting out alone to a village known to be unsafe. Shy Daudi took the lead in instruction while the more excitable Jildo led the children in games and songs. But there were those who saw Christianity as an imposition of the British Empire, and thus the two young men as tools of colonialism. Despite their youth and gentle natures, they were killed for their faith in October of 1918. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  7. Pope St. Victor I
  8. St. Martin de Porres
  9. Servant of God Augustus Tolton
  10. Ven. Henriette deLille
  11. St. Josephine Bakhita
  12. Sts. Augustine and Monica
  13. St. Charles Lwanga
  14. Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
  15. St. Mary of Egypt
  16. Ven. Pierre Toussaint
  17. Servant of God Julia Greeley
  18. St. Antonio Vieira
  19. Servant of God Mary Elizabeth Lange
  20. Sts. Timothy and Maura
  21. St. Cyprian of Carthage
  22. Our Lady of Kibeho
  23. Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
  24. Ven. Teresa Chikaba
  25. St. Maurice
  26. Bl. Isidore Bakanja
  27. St. Simon of Cyrene
  28. Bl. Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta
  29. Bl. Benedict Daswa
  30. St. Benedict the Moor
  31. Ven. Zeinab Alif

I’ll drop in every day to share an image of a different black Saint along with their story, in brief. If you just can’t wait, click through to this great site for an introduction to some of the Saints we’ll be getting to know later this month. So head on over to Instagram and let’s rejoice in the remarkable universality of our Catholic Church.

What the Saints Did in the Face of Racism

This weekend a bunch of men (and some women) in polo shirts and khaki pants grabbed their tiki torches and showed their true colors to a world of white people who responded in stunned disbelief while people of color raised an eyebrow at how very shocked we all were. They flew swastikas and screamed hatred without even having the decency to hide behind hoods and masks and while there weren’t many there were far too many. And they were heavily armed, many of them, but unmolested by police, though it doesn’t take much research to see that other protestors aren’t accorded the same rights. And didn’t they go to middle school and read Anne Frank’s diary and don’t they know this wasn’t their land and can’t they see that nothing about what they’re doing is okay???

So we wring our hands and #Charlottesville because what do you say when people who look like you have gone absolutely crazy? Obviously you condemn it. Obviously. But these things keep happening and everybody knows racism is bad and I’m just so tired of it all.

We don’t get to be tired.

Or rather, if you’re tired, you get to push through. You get to nap and get up and keep going. You get to keep fighting this because if you’re reading this you’re likely white and so you have an obligation. We can talk some other time about the use of the word privilege, but right now I just need you to know that your privilege is a currency that you can spend on yourself or on others. If you have the ability to ignore this situation and you do, that is privilege spent on yourself. If you have the ability to ignore this situation and you choose instead to speak, to fight, to donate, to pray until your knees are bruised, that is privilege spent on the marginalized.

That’s what the Saints did.

We’re a 2,000-year-old Church with some Saints who were very much products of their time (not to mention the racist sinners who have often been the face of the Church), but we’ve also got Saints who poured their life’s blood out for the truth that racism is evil. We’ve got Saints who were prophets against slavery and Nazism, Saints who literally gave their lives to protest the filth being spewed by white supremacists in Charlottesville this weekend. So if you’re staring at your phone unsure what to do or say or retweet, maybe their witness will help.

St. Katharine Drexel gave up an enormous fortune and a brilliant future as a socialite to begin a religious order devoted to working with African-American and Native American children. She literally gave up everything–most especially the respect of her peers–in order to fight individual and institutional racism, taking a fourth vow “to be the mother and servant of the Indian and Negro races.” And she suffered for it, notably through the opposition of the Klan. Once members of the KKK threatened a white pastor at one of the churches where Drexel’s Sisters worked; the Sisters prayed, a tornado hit the Klan headquarters, and the cowards in white hoods kept their distance from the warriors clad in black.

  • Make a donation to a Cristo Rey school, a system of Jesuit high schools that work with largely minority populations to educate them and prepare them for the work force.
  • If you’re a teacher, consider working at a school that serves underprivileged minority students. If you’re a student, reach out to inner city summer programs and see if you can volunteer. (Try the Missionaries of Charity.)
  • Pray for the conversion of white supremacists (or, barring that, for the necessary acts of God).

St. Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped from her Sudanese village when she was about 7 years old and sold into slavery; she was so traumatized by the events that she forgot her own name and was called “Bakhita,” which means “lucky one,” by the slavers. She was beaten bloody and ritually scarred for years until she was sold to a “kind” Italian family of slave owners. Serving as their little daughter’s lady’s maid, she accompanied the little girl to a convent school, where she heard the Gospel for the first time and determined to be baptized. When the family returned and told her to go with them to Sudan, Bakhita refused. After nearly 15 years of doing everything she was told, she threw a metaphorical fist in the air and resisted, unwilling to leave the Sisters before being baptized. Eventually, the case went to court where a judge ruled that Bakhita (who had the support of the future Pope St. Pius X) had been free from the moment she arrived in Italy, establishing a precedent that not only was the slave trade illegal in Italy but also the possession of slaves. She went on to become a Canossian sister and at the end of her life declared that if she met her captors again she would kiss their feet because without their evil acts she would never have come to know Christ.

  • Contribute to a group that provides legal aid to the underprivileged.
  • Choose to forgive people whose racism has impacted you or those you love.

St. Peter Claver gave his whole life to serve slaves, calling himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.” Born in Spain, he became a Jesuit priest and spent 40 years in Colombia, where he would meet slave ships as they arrived from Africa and plunge into the hold with food, medicine, and the Sacrament of Baptism. He said, “We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips,” and in so doing earned himself the right to preach of the gentle, loving Savior common to all men. He preached to Europeans as well, but avoided the hospitality of the slave owners whenever he could, preferring to sleep in the slaves’ quarters instead. He visited hospitals and prisons, making friends for God and securing the enmity of many who profited by the ignorance of their slaves. It’s said that he baptized nearly 300,000 people in his 40 years as a priest.

  • Consider the importance of corporal works of mercy as well as spiritual works. Feed hungry people.
  • Research the ways in which black people today are still suffering from cycles of poverty and incarceration that began with slavery. We are not saying this is your fault. But learning how people have suffered and continue to suffer can make us more compassionate.
  • Educate yourself on how human trafficking happens in this country and around the world. Do something about it.

Blessed Emilian Kovch is one of dozens of Saints killed for their opposition to Nazism. Some were killed simply for being Catholic, but many lost their lives specifically for fighting the racism of the Nazi regime. Fr. Kovch was a husband, a father of 6, and an Eastern Rite Catholic priest. He preached against anti-Semitism, stared down a mob of Nazis, and baptized Jews by the thousands in defiance of Nazi orders forbidding it. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, from which he wrote his family asking that they not seek his release as the prisoners had need of a priest. After celebrating Sacraments for a year in the camp, he died far from his family but surrounded by his children.

  • Consider marching in just protests (for example, counter-protests against guys with swastikas) and taking a much smaller risk than Bl. Emilian’s.
  • If you’re a priest or deacon, preach against racismSomehow Christians have missed the message that you can’t be a follower of Jesus and a racist–fix that.
  • Use your privilege as currency, speaking up when you don’t have to about issues of race and injustice.

Venerable Henriette Delille could have passed. Her mother called herself white when asked by the census, as did her siblings. But Henriette wanted to show other free women of color that their lives didn’t have to be dictated by the racist system, that they could be black and truly free. While Henriette’s mother wanted her to live as the concubine of a rich white man, as she herself had done and as Henriette’s sister had as well, Henriette chose Christ. She began a religious order of women of color to serve the elderly. Though many Church and state officials opposed a religious order of African-American women, her small group of educated black women eventually became the Sisters of the Holy Family.

  • Talk about issues of race, both with people who are comfortable with the topic and with those who aren’t.
  • Attend Mass at an African-American or Filipino parish or go to the Spanish or Vietnamese or Portuguese Mass at your parish and get to know people who are different from you.

Servant of God Augustus Tolton was the first African-American Catholic priest to acknowledge his African heritage publicly. (The Healy brothers were mixed race and chose to live as white men.) Born a slave in 1854, Tolton and his family escaped to Illinois where he first began to discern a call to the priesthood, despite the racism he endured at the hands of white Catholics. But while his pastor supported his vocation, he was rejected by every American seminary because of his race. For years, Tolton persevered, waiting in hope that he would one day be permitted to serve at the altar. Finally, he was accepted at a seminary in Rome and prepared to serve in the African missions as the American bishops were quite sure that the American Church wasn’t ready for black priests. But Rome saw differently, and Fr. Augustus was sent first to Quincy, IL and then to Chicago where, despite constant struggles with prejudiced clergy and laity, he served his people tirelessly, dying of exhaustion at only 43.

  • Work to be welcoming of international priests serving in your parishes, getting to know them as individuals and encouraging other parishioners not to write them off because they’re “hard to understand.”
  • Learn about the history of racism in the American Catholic Church–and the issues we still deal with today.

Servant of God Bartolomé de las Casas worked for 50 years to end the enslavement of Native American peoples, advocating to the Spanish crown that they be permitted to rule themselves. Though he had been a slave owner himself, he was struck by the Christmas Eve sermon of Antonio de Montesinos, in which the good friar condemned the leading citizens of Santo Domingo:

You are in mortal sin, and live and die therein by reason of the cruelty and tyranny that you practice on these innocent people. Tell me, by what right or justice do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible slavery? By what right do you wage such detestable wars on these people who lived mildly and peacefully in their own lands, where you have consumed infinite numbers of them with unheard of murders and desolations? Why do you so greatly oppress and fatigue them, not giving them enough to eat or caring for them when they fall ill from excessive labors, so that they die or rather are slain by you, so that you may extract and acquire gold every day? And what care do you take that they receive religious instruction and come to know their God and creator, or that they be baptized, hear mass, or observe holidays and Sundays? Are they not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves? How can you lie in such profound and lethargic slumber? Be sure that in your present state you can no more be saved than the Moors or Turks who do not have and do not want the faith of Jesus Christ.

Las Casas, already a priest at the time, said hearing Montesinos was a pivotal point in his life and it sparked him on a course that made him the first great advocate of the rights of native peoples in the New World.

  • Interact with your elected officials in meaningful ways and help them see that there is no ethical or prudential justification for pandering to racists.
  • Have the courage to speak up when people make mildly–or appallingly–racist comments.

There are others, of course, other missionaries who valued the differences of those they served (St. Francis Xavier, much?), other priests who publicly decried racism (like St. Paul), other Sisters who served minorities (St. Theodore Guerin), other Saints of color who endured racism (Kibe). But here you have a start, a witness to the fact that Christians have to take a stand against racism in word and in deed. For many of us, the most we’ll suffer is discomfort. Not concentration camps or lynchings or death threats on social media. That is a privilege. Exercise your privilege by refusing to be silent.

 

(Here are 50 more suggestions of how to imitate the Saints in seeking to heal our divided nation. Please feel free to recommend more Saints in the comments.)