The Catholic Church Remembers MLK
To commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here are two passages from Church documents on his life and work. The first is taken from Pope John Paul II’s address at the Meeting with the Black Catholic Community of New Orleans in 1987. The second is taken from the Letter to National Committees for the Year 1998, The Holy Spirit and Ecumenism, drafted by the Ecumenical Commission of the Central Committee of the Great Jubilee Year 2000.
“Even in this wealthy nation, committed by its Founding Fathers to the dignity and equality of all persons, the black community suffers a disproportionate share of economic deprivation. Far too many of your young people receive less than an equal opportunity for a quality education and for gainful employment. The Church must continue to join her efforts with the efforts of others who are working to correct all imbalances and disorders of a social nature. Indeed, the Church can never remain silent in the face of injustice, wherever it is clearly present.
In the most difficult hours of your struggle for civil rights amidst discrimination and oppression, God himself guided your steps 
along the way of peace. Before the witness of history the response of non-violence stands, in the memory of this nation, as a monument of honour to the black community of the United States. Today as we recall those who with Christian vision opted for non-violence as the only truly effective approach for ensuring and safeguarding human dignity, we cannot but think of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, and of the providential role he played in contributing to the rightful human betterment of black Americans and therefore to the improvement of American society itself.
My dear brothers and sisters of the black community: it is the hour to give thanks to God for his liberating action in your history and in your lives. This liberating action is a sign and expression of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, which in every age is effective in helping God’s people to pass from bondage into their glorious vocation of full Christian freedom. And as you offer your prayer of thanksgiving, you must not fail to concern yourselves with the plight of your brothers and sisters in other places throughout the world. Black Americans must offer their own special solidarity of Christian love to all people who bear the heavy burden of oppression, whatever its physical or moral nature.”
All Christians agree that the Holy Spirit is the sanctifying spirit.
In many places Christians have acknowledged in their midst martyrs and exemplary confessors of faith, hope and charity – both men and women. Some of these, such as Francis of Assisi, Roublev, Johann Sebastian Bach, Monsignor Romero, Elizabeth Seton, the martyr Anuarite of Zaire, and Martin Luther King, have been for various reasons recognised beyond confessional boundaries. Ecumenical groups could look at the example of some of these witnesses with a view to identifying how the work of the Holy Spirit can be distinguished in them and what their role might be in the promotion of full communion.
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Here is an interesting news story sent to me by a friend:
No doubt, the election of President Obama is one of the final stages of the Dream. But it is certainly not the final stage.
This is a moving video, set to U2…
Given that the final stage of MLK’s dream was:
I would agree that we aren’t there yet. :)
I think we are quick to beatify MLK. Just for the sake of discussion…
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Dr. King was, for all that was great about him, an adulterer, sexual libertine, lecher, and wanton womanizer. In this he set the moral tone for others. Of the movement leaders Frady writes, “They were . . . a raunchy troupe for the most part, some roistering outrageously at times among whatever likely young ladies were at hand—the movement generally, for that matter, was hardly ‘a sour-faced, pietistic’ adventure, one veteran has since attested; ‘everybody was out getting laid.’” King was a celebrity always surrounded by likely young ladies. On his last night on earth—the night of the unforgettable declaration, “I have seen the promised land” —King returned to the motel and “flung himself into a final, all-night release into carnal carousal” with no fewer than three women in succession. For years the FBI and, through the FBI, political opponents had tapes of King’s nocturnal debauches and attempted to use them for purposes very much like blackmail. Coretta knew…
Richard John Neuhaus
No doubt, the election of President Obama is one of the final stages of the Dream.
Yup, the dream of using federal funds to kill children around the world:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html
Actually, I thought it was Dr. King’s dream that color wouldn’t matter. Ironic that everyone else can’t get over it.
We rightfully remember his principles and his rhetoric – which were very powerful – but having a whole day devoted to celebrate, essentially, one person does take away from others in the movement. I would support, instead, something like an “Equality under the law” day.
“Actually, I thought it was Dr. King’s dream that color wouldn’t matter. Ironic that everyone else can’t get over it.”
As always, the tsi-tsi fly trolls at VN are tone deaf to the rudiments of American history.
As always, the tsi-tsi fly trolls at VN are tone deaf to the rudiments of American history.
Definitely -
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
hmmm
Calling someone a tsetse fly is possibly the greatest insult of all time, one that I will use frequently. Thanks dog.
Tim – the point is to have a color-blind society *after* healing the wounds of slavery and racism. *Then* King’s dream of a truly color-blind society will have been fulfilled. He was not proposing that as the means, but the dreamed-for end toward which we all should work.
Right, the end where color doesn’t matter. How exactly did any you said contradict that?
Some people would never accept that end, as it would end their own sense of purpose. Like the quarterback who plays too long, the parent who won’t let go, like Jesse Jackon and Al Sharpton who can’t let go of their only source of income and power.
Not sure what you mean, Tim – are you arguing for different means to achieve Dr King’s dream?