“They should have been able to turn to their church in their time of grief,” Massingale said. Among his first funerals as a priest was that of a gay man whose family wanted no mention of his sexuality or the disease. His ordination in 1983 came in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that disproportionately affected gay men and Black Americans. “I realized that no matter what the church said, God loved me and accepted me as a Black gay man,” he said. He said he came to terms with his own sexuality at 22, upon reflecting on the book of Isaiah. “The problem with the church’s teachings on racism is that they are written in a way that is calculated not to disturb white people.”Īt Fordham, a Jesuit university, Massingale teaches a class on homosexuality and Christian ethics, using biblical texts to challenge church teaching on same-sex relations. “The phrase ‘white nationalism’ is not stated in that document it doesn’t talk about the Black Lives Matter movement,” he said. bishops issued a pastoral letter decrying “the persistence of the evil of racism,” but Massingale was disappointed.
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Some of its institutions, such as Georgetown University, were involved in the slave trade, and it has struggled to recruit African American priests.Ĭonversely, Catholic schools were among the first to desegregate and some government officials who opposed racial integration were excommunicated. Catholic Church has had a checkered history with race. adults identify as Catholic and close to 80% believe opposing racism is essential to their faith, the survey found. adults who were raised Catholic no longer identify as such, with many becoming Protestants, according to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center. Catholic Church is a reason for the exodus of some Black Catholics he says the church is not doing enough to tackle racism within its ranks and in broader society. “I see it as my mission to make the church what it says it is: more universal and the institution that I believe Jesus wants it to be.”įor Massingale, racism within the U.S. “I’m not going to let the church’s racism rob me of my relationship with God,” he said.
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Massingale says he considered leaving the Catholic Church, but decided he was needed. “The first parishioner to greet me at the door said to me: ‘Father, you being here is the worst mistake the archbishop could have made. Massingale recalled another incident, as a newly ordained priest, after celebrating his first Mass at a predominantly white church. Thereafter, the family commuted to a predominantly Black Catholic church. “This would not be a very comfortable parish for you to be a part of,” he recalled the parish priest saying. The Massingales also experienced racism when they moved to Milwaukee’s outskirts and ventured to a predominately white parish. Massingale said his father couldn’t work as a carpenter because of a color bar preventing African Americans from joining the carpenters’ union. His mother was a school secretary and his father a factory worker whose family migrated from Mississippi to escape racial segregation.īut even in Wisconsin, racism was common. Massingale was born in 1957 in Milwaukee.
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“Preach!” a worshiper shouted in response.
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In his homily on a recent Sunday, Massingale – who became public about being gay in 2019 - envisioned a world “where the dignity of every person is respected and protected, where everyone is loved.”īut the message of equality and tolerance is one “that is resisted even within our own faith household,” he added. The Vatican holds that gays and lesbians should be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered” and sinful.