I am deeply honored and pleased to receive the famous James J. Hoey Award. No citation could give me greater personal satisfaction. None could I value more highly. This award has been given over the years to a distinguished group of Americans, – a group which I can join only with feelings of great inadequacy and humility.
I am especially happy that the large gathering present here today provides me with a welcome opportunity, which I eagerly accept, to explain that this award has been given to me, not for some personal merit or work of mine, but as a representative of the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago. Our Chicago Council — with all its officers and directors, with its able staff and devoted chaplain — are the actual persons whose hard work last summer makes it possible for me to stand before you now as the recipient of this famous medal. Without them we would never have developed the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice. To them, therefore, to Monsignor Daniel M. Cantwell, to Lloyd Davis and his assistants, and to all our directors and officers I must express on this occasion my heartfelt thanks.
They labored hard and long to make the National Conference into a reality. Many days last summer, in the hot and humid month of August, the staff of the C. I. C. in Chicago was busy planning for the First National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice. Many problems had arisen, so many, in fact, that we sometimes wondered whether we would be successful in creating this first, national gathering of Catholics for Interracial Justice. We were receiving compliments, mostly from our friends, and we were getting complaints; — from nearly everyone else. Each day we wondered who would win out: —the pessimists or the optimists. Then, one day which I shall never forget, a letter arrived from the Archbishop of San Antonio, Texas, Robert E. Lucey. My eyes fell upon these words: —
..."In spite of tragedy and crisis, the times in which we live are fascinating. In every nation where men are free, concepts of justice and liberty are regaining their ancient dignity. The force of truth, the logic of life’s realities, and the power of the spirit are compelling assent to the proposition that human rights are inviolable.”
The letter continued: — ..."Almighty God has loosed upon the earth an irresistible force: the clergy and the laity of our ancient Church, armed with truth and grace, praying and studying, laboring and longing for justice and morality and peace. The drama is unfolding. Some of us may live to witness the glorious pageant of a world in love with God...”
I reread that letter. Its eloquent phrases burned themselves into my mind. Listen to them again.
“Almighty God has loosed upon the earth ... an irresistible force ... the clergy and the laity of our ancient Church ... the drama is unfolding ... some of us may live to witness the glorious pageant of a world in love with God...”
What confidence! What optimism! What hope, and faith, and charity were contained in these words which came to us in Chicago from the Deep South, from Texas, land of State’s Rights, Texas, where a segregated society was accepted, traditional, even integral to the whole social structure of the region.
I thought to myself: — if Archbishop Lucey in San Antonio can speak with such clarity and courage and charity, why should we in Chicago hesitate?
We redoubled our efforts: — to raise the money, to obtain the prominent speakers, the expert consultants, the housing accommodations, the meeting rooms. And over the weekend of Labor Day we were rewarded by the presence of more than 400 delegates to our convention, representatives from 40 of the 48 states, and even one from Little Rock itself.
Your great Father LaFarge was there; your well-beloved George Hunton; Lawrence Pierce, President of the Brooklyn C. I. C.. In fact, so many were on hand from New York that special voting rules were adopted to prevent the New Yorkers (and the Chicagoans) from running away with the show.
The convention lasted four full days. The schedule was crowded with speeches and discussion. Many members of the C. I. C. met fellow members from other cities for the first time. Protestants and Jews participated. The convention opened many eyes, hearts, and minds.
But what, you may ask, did it prove? What lasting benefit, if any, will it confer? Was it actually worth the candle, and if so, why?
Answers to these questions are not easy to express in a few words, in a few minutes. But George Hunton has asked me to share my reflections on our Conference with you. And I am happy to do so.
Everyone who attended the convention will agree, I believe, on a few fundamental points.
First of all, the convention was a great re-affirmation of faith. Just at the moment when the United States Supreme Court was sitting in emergency session to consider the Little Rock problem, our convention spoke out — loud and clear — in support of Catholic, moral teachings on the race question. Here are the very first words adopted by the Conference.
“God, the Father and Creator of all of us, has asked us to live together in justice and love, to share the fruits of the earth, to assist and help each other grow in wisdom, virtue and grace.
“He has asked us to love Him by loving our neighbor. We do not love our neighbor when we ostracize him, or discriminate against him, or segregate him, because of the color of his skin, or the place of his birth, or any other accident over which he has no control.
“It is, therefore, the love of God that urges us to labor more self-sacrificingly for the rapid, just, and peaceful attainment of equal human rights in the civic community and in the life of the Church.
“May God pour out His help upon us in these historic times when the world watches us and when He watches us. Without God we con do nothing. With Him all human problems have a just and right solution if we — as we now do — rededicate ourselves to doing God’s will at the present moment.”
Secondly, the convention became an examination of conscience. Hour after hour the delegates scrutinized and analyzed the thoughts, words, and deeds of Catholics, on the difficult problems of interracial justice. They did not avoid or gloss over our failures as Catholics to achieve fair employment practices, full integration in our schools, equitable admission policies and staff procedures in our hospitals. Nor did they forget our parishes, or our national, Catholic, fraternal and spiritual organizations, some of which were charged with creating “scandal” by their failures to live up to true Catholic principles. Not content with glittering generalities, the delegates worked out specific steps which could be taken, now, at this time, to improve race relations in our country. They wrote down what should be done concerning schools, employment, housing, parochial and institutional life. They left few stones unturned.
One resolution adopted by the conference said this: “In humility and hope, we beseech the prayers of the Catholics of Asia, Africa and Latin America that the Holy Spirit may help Americans to achieve unity in social life.”
"--May the Catholics of the young nations of Africa pray for us!
"--May the Catholics of the historic lands of Latin America pray for us!
"--May the Catholics of the ancient lands of Asia pray for us!”
“We, the children of God, in the blessed land of the United States of America ask their prayers that our nation may attain interracial justice...”
Those words reveal the dedication and humility of the delegates who sought guidance, inspiration and light through the medium of hard work and prayer at this convention. They truly worked at their examination of conscience.
Third: The conference became a genuine call to action. Far from being content, self-satisfied, or smug, the delegates saw that much needs to be done.
They called for the creation of 50 new councils and the strengthening of existing ones.
They established a national Interim Committee to “study the possibility of some form of closer association of the various councils.” They assigned two field representatives to work with this new national committee.
Delegates attending the conference felt a sense of urgency about the race problem and a holy impatience with the notion that racial problems will somehow solve themselves. They passed a resolution which stated:
“We recognize the fact that it may not be possible to achieve the breakdown of segregation and discriminatory practices universally overnight and that certain sections of our great country have a more difficult problem than others, but we believe there is no place where some steps in the right direction cannot be taken now. The road to the goal of breaking down artificial racial barriers may be a long one, but no one can excuse himself from beginning the journey to walk that road...”
These are the words, and this is the spirit, I believe, of true Catholic action.
As Father LaFarge phrased it, “Patience is a virtue, but it should never be used as an excuse for no action at all.”
Fourth: The convention proved how effective the clergy and the laity can be when they work together with similar dedication to a righteous cause. I wish you could have seen the work sessions. Priests and laymen with coats off, sleeves rolled up, and pencils sharpened, arguing and discussing late into the night until they had jointly created the resolutions and policies of our convention.
It was an inspiration. It proved one overwhelmingly important point, namely, that when the clergy and the laity of our ancient Church work together they become truly the “irresistible force” described by Archbishop Lucey.
The time is gone, Ladies and Gentlemen, when the work of the Church can be confined to the sacristy or sanctuary. Priests and nuns no longer can do the job alone. The laity must recognize their true mission within the Church and get on with the task of fulfilling it.
The late Archbishop of Chicago, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, taught us that the laity does not merely “belong to the Church.” He said the laity “is” the Church. Just as he periodically ordained and commissioned priests to do their indispensable work, so he commissioned laymen and laywomen to a work unique in its own way, and equally indispensable. He approached the laity not as one dispensing welfare — even if supernatural welfare through the sacraments — but as one seeking co-laborers. “I need you,” he would say, “I depend on you.” And he meant it.
Cardinal Stritch called upon the laity not just to assist himself and his priests. Instead, he gave himself and his priests to assisting them. Under him the laity found their dignity recognized — and their minds and energies challenged. This illustrious Cardinal of Charity loved his people — but he loved them so much he wanted them responsible and free.
In keeping with this tradition, the time has arrived, I believe, when we must demonstrate in our lay organizations the very marks of the Church itself: That it is One, Catholic, Holy and Apostolic. Our lay movements, our C. I. C. movement, must become ever more and more One, Catholic, Holy and Apostolic.
The C. I. C. must become One in mind and soul and in action — just as our recent National Conference said it should when the conference created a national committee for the first time.
The C. I. C. must become ever more Catholic as the National Conference said it should when the conference pledged its filial devotion to and support of all our bishops and priests.
The C. I . C. must become ever more Holy as the National Conference said it should when the conference implored God’s blessing, asked for the prayers of all the faithful, and urged all delegates to work more ardently within and for the Mystical Body of Christ.
The C. I. C. must become ever more Apostolic as the National Conference said it should when it urged its members to carry the word of the Gospel and the principles of social justice into labor unions, business organizations, education, into all movements for world peace and social harmony.
In Chicago when addressing the opening session of the National Conference, I said these words: —
“A Catholic Interracial Council is not a council of one side against another; it is not a council for the advancement or protection of this people or that, but — to borrow the motto of one of our great foundations — it is a council for the advancement of man, for the advancement of man in his understanding of what it is to be a man — in himself and in others.”
To the extent that our National Conference helped to spur men on toward an understanding of what it is to be a man, and toward an understanding of how we must treat our fellow men in order to be truly and fully human ourselves, to that extent the Conference was a success.
If it achieved this goal, it will have made a contribution to the development of that “irresistible force” which Archbishop Lucey described as “the clergy and the laity of our ancient Church, armed with truth and grace, praying and studying, laboring and longing for justice and morality and peace.”
If we have done this, the Archbishop’s words may prove to be true — “Some of us may live to witness the glorious pageant of a world in love with God...”
