But Dolores Foster Williams of Chicago was not exactly pleased.
"I
didn't note any African-Americans on the list," said the 84-year-old
Williams, who has made eradicating racism in the church her life's work.
A
retired teacher and the author of Institutional Racism in the Catholic Church,
Williams sees the lack of an African-American cardinal as the "undeniable
tip of the church racism iceberg."
"The
cardinals are the ones who elect the pope, so we have no representation there.
Why aren't we at the table?" The answer, she says, is blatant racism and
nepotism.
"Caucasian
priests who became cardinals were trained either in Diocesan seminaries or
Order seminaries, and their upward progressions appear to have been fostered by
influential individuals within those domains," Williams wrote on her blog
in September.
And
the elevation of African cardinals, while important, doesn't count, she says:
"Africans and African-Americans are culturally different."
Williams
spoke with NCR in December and again this week after the announcement of the
new cardinals. With an apron around her waist and a gold cross around her neck,
she welcomed me into her South Side of Chicago home, tastefully decorated with
African art, and shared her own experiences of racism in the church.
"I'm
not looking to make a name for myself," she said. "I'm not interested
in being a spokesman for anything, but I feel it should be known. Something
should be done."
In
her book, Williams details the church's history of institutional racism, from
the segregation of the past to the even more insidious, de facto segregated
church attendance of today. That, combined with ...
Heidi Schlumpf
| Jan. 18, 2014
[Heidi
Schlumpf teaches communication at Aurora University outside Chicago.]
in NCR
http://ncronline.org/news/people/where-are-african-american-cardinals
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