“In this moment of dual life-threatening epidemics: COVID-19 and racism, the voice of the Church in America is eerily silent when it comes to the racial unrest in this country.”
– Sister Anita Baird, DHM

In honor of this year’s Catholic Sisters Week, Sister Anita Baird, DHM spoke to the NETWORK community about the history of Black sisters in the United States and their work today. Sister Anita, a recognized religious leader, community leader, and racial justice activist in Chicago, presented, “This Is Our Story…This Is Our Song: Black Catholic Women Religious Standing in the Breach.” While the hour-long talk was only enough time to brush the surface of the rich and complex legacy and the often painful history of Black women religious, Sister Anita told the stories of several sisters and the 53-year history of the National Black Sisters’ Conference, as well as her personal journey of becoming Catholic and a member of the Religious Congregation of the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary.

As Sister Anita remarked, “Over 500 years of Black Catholic faith and presence in what is now the United States… is a history that was not just erased, but rather, it was often never documented or recognized by the larger Church, even to this day.” Sister Anita went on to share a wealth of insights into both this history and the Church today. While Black Catholics are sometimes seen as “recent newcomers” to the faith, that is an inaccurate and uninformed assumption.

Sister Anita explained that Black Catholics had an active presence in the United States and in the U.S. Catholic Church for more than two centuries before Declaration of Independence was even written. This began in 1526, when the first enslaved African peoples (who were themselves Spanish-speaking Catholics) were brought by force to what is now the U.S. by Spanish colonists, all with the blessing of the Catholic Church.

As Sister Anita’s description of the history of early U.S. Black Catholics continued, including instances where religious conversion was held as a price for freedom from enslavement, I was reminded of Cardinal Gregory’s February 2021 reflection on Black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He named the often-unspoken truth that many Black Catholics’ ancestors did not come to their faithfulness by choice, but by cruelty. Sister Anita and Cardinal Gregory’s truth telling led me to reflect on how often white people are encouraged to not name racism in our history or the current reality of race in the Catholic Church and in the U.S.

Sister Anita named the three Black Catholic Women included in the group of six Black American Catholic candidates for sainthood, including Mother Mary Lange, O.S.P. She noted that in 1829 when Mother Lange founded the first African-American religious congregation, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, in Baltimore, Maryland, it was still legal to enslave people in parts of the United States and named some of the challenges and tragedies the Oblates faced. White religious orders in the U.S. did not accept African-American women until the 1940s, and Sister Anita told how Eliza Healy (sister of the first African-American bishop, Bishop James Augustine Healy) joined the Congregation of Notre Dame in Canada and served as a superior and Mother Superior decades before then. Even Sister Antona Ebo’s story, shared by Sister Anita, illustrated the racism present in the Church for Sister Antona and the two other Black sisters who joined the Sisters of Mary in 1946. When Sister Antona Ebo marched alongside Congressman John Lewis in Selma following “Bloody Sunday” and spoke out for racial justice in the years following the Civil Rights movement, she was bearing witness to racism that infected even her religious life.

For herself, Sister Anita knew she wanted to be sister since she was young, but as a Black woman was discouraged from considering religious life. Sister Anita spoke about the day when she saw two Black nuns at a department store and followed them around, in awe. After that, Sister Anita says, “I knew I could be a Black woman religious. I had seen them with my own eyes.”

Today, Sister Anita and the sisters and associates who comprise the National Black Sisters Conference continue to grapple with what it means to be Black Catholics, and continue to take their place at the table. Faithful and prophetic, they expose the racism of the Catholic Church and hold the hope that it can change.

Watch Sister Anita Baird’s talk: www.networklobby.org/sistersweek2021.

Learn about the National Black Sisters’ Conference: www.nbsc68.com.

This article was originally published in Connection. Read the full issue here.

In February 2021, NETWORK introduced Build Anew: A Justice Agenda for All of Us.
This policy agenda is inspired by the principles of Catholic Social Justice and comes from encounter with individuals and families across the United States. 

Based on our Build Anew Policy Agenda, we’ve created this #BuildAnew Bingo card to use during President Biden’s address to Congress to see how well the administration is doing at supporting our Build Anew policy areas.

Certain policies and systems seek to widen the income gap, encourage racism, and exclude people based on their identity. At NETWORK, we believe there is no way to achieve justice without intentionally building our political system, economy, and society to be just and inclusive. The Build Anew Agenda includes five policy areas: Economic Security; Healthcare, Housing, and Food; Tax Justice; Our Democracy; and Our Immigration and Justice Systems.

We hope to see President Biden address these important policy areas to work towards Dismantling Systemic Racism, Cultivating Inclusive Community, Rooting Our Economy in Solidarity, and Transforming Our Politics.

Download Your Bingo Card with Instructions Here. 

I am honored to be here with all of you as the new Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. As I begin this new adventure, I ask — if you are a praying person — for your prayers as I transition into this Spirit-filled community. The NETWORK community is full of committed justice-seekers and has been for 50 years. I am grateful to join you in building our country anew.

Today, we are facing unprecedented challenges pushed to the crisis point by the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis has also brought us together in a shared experience out of which so many are calling for federal approaches to root out injustice.

We need federal policies that name and dismantle systemic racism, eliminate the wealth and income gap, and allow all people to thrive so that we truly are a “more perfect union.” I’m excited to educate, organize, and lobby with you, the NETWORK community.

Last week, President Joe Biden, our country’s second Catholic president, sent the letter below to Sister Simone Campbell as she prepared to step down as Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby.

In it he wrote, “As Catholics we are called to serve rather than be served, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. You exemplify these tenets of our faith and I am so grateful for the passion you bring to everything you do. Your support and friendship mean the world. God bless you.”

Read more:

In celebration of Black History Month, NETWORK staff took the time to watch and reflect on the 2-part PBS Documentary Series: The Black Church: This is Our Story, This Is Our Song. Below are some of the staff’s responses to the documentary.

What did you think of the documentary?

“The Black Church was interesting and informative; not only did it tell the the history of Black Christian churches in the U.S., but it also told the story of segregation, terror, and economic oppression experienced by Black people throughout history and the Black-led freedom movements that pushed back against white supremacy.” –Colleen Ross, Communications Director

“I think it was powerful, educational and pushed you to learn more about the Black church. What really struck me was that there is a black church quite separate to that of denomination –Black saints, and a Black form of worship which is overarching identity of Blackness/African American Culture regardless of denomination and this has not been celebrated or nurtured enough.” –Ronnate Asirwatham, Government Relations Director

Did any quotes in the film stand out to you? What were the quotes and why?

“In our experience there is no separation between Church and state.” – This stood out to me because the documentary explains that “politics” was at the heart of the Black Church since its inception. That can still be seen today and is a powerful force for justice. –Lee Morrow, Press Secretary/Elections Manager

“[Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King] used the genius of the Gospel not to make this a Christian nation, but to use his Christianity to make this a just nation” -Michael Eric Dyson
I think this quote instructs us still today about how to use faith to work for justice in diverse coalitions.” –Colleen Ross, Communications Director

Would you recommend our members watch this film? Why or Why not?

“Yes. It was great learning and very important for my personal growth.” –Laura Peralta-Schulte, Chief Lobbyist

“Absolutely. I think it provides important historical understanding for how Christian Nationalism became so embedded in white churches and also how spirituality and resistance and music/art all developed side-by-side in the Black church.” –Sister Emily TeKolste, SP, Grassroots Mobilization

“Yes. I believe our members are hungry for more information on racial justice.” –June Martin, Annual Giving Manager

“Yes, because it is a celebration of the Black Church. It informs our white membership without asking our Black membership to endure something unnecessary, like reading White Fragility. From what I’ve seen, I think everyone can learn from and enjoy this program.” –Lee Morrow, Press Secretary/Elections Manager

What questions should have been asked?

“More focus on the Black Catholic story and key issues.” –Laura Peralta-Schulte, Chief Lobbyist

“Why did the slave owners allow praise houses? There was a part of the film which shows slave owners didn’t allow any praise houses or organizing in any manner and then it shows praise houses. So I would like to know how this came about. B) I think there was a misconception in the film that Arabic is only connected to Islam. In the five minutes that they say they discovered Arabic in the church they talk about Islam in the church. But Arabic is a language not a religion and there are many Christians who worship in Arabic (I myself have attended Catholic mass said in Arabic in South Sudan) so the writings in the church could be from a Christian who wrote something in his native tongue.” –Ronnate Asirwatham, Government Relations Director

Have you watched the Black Church yet? Let us know what you thought, or visit www.pbs.org/show/black-church to watch.