Professor Veryl V. Miles of The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law), recently authored a column in Catholic Standard on Black Catholic History Month and her contemplation of Black Americans currently on the path toward sainthood. The article is accessible for viewing here.

Catholic Standard
Date: November 2, 2023
By: Veryl Miles
Preparing for Black Catholic History Month: A personal perspective

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This year I am also mindful of the growing number of studies about the Catholic Church’s role in the enslavement of Black Americans, its treatment of Black Americans within the Church community, and efforts of reconciliation with this history. Publications and research about the Catholic Church’s role during slavery and its aftermath have shed new light on the complicity of the Church in the nation’s oppression and exploitation of Black Americans. We have seen several Catholic universities and colleges examine their own unique history with Black Americans, and like the history of our nation it has been painful, and yet this has led some institutions to find a pathway to reconciliation with that history. This has been something of a renaissance in Black American history, particularly notable in a time when many have debated the appropriateness of Black history in the teaching of American history in our schools or have even revised this history for their convenience and sensibilities.

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