US Bishops travel to the Deep South to discuss the legacy of racism and impacts on society, the legal system

 

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Moved by pastoral letter against racism, US Bishops journey to Deep South

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, director of a U.S. organization working to end the death penalty, accompanies several Bishops in their exploration of the connections between the legacy of racism in the United States and its impacts on the criminal legal system today.

By Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network*

Eight years ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) authored a pastoral letter against racism. Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love explores the questions “what is racism?” and “how do we overcome this evil?”

“Racism,” the bishops write, “is a life issue,” and “a perversion of the Lord’s will for men and women, all of whom were made in God’s image and likeness.” For a society to move on from the “social structures of injustice and violence that make us all accomplices in racism,” the way forward, the bishops said in their letter, must include meaningful, personal encounters:

“To work at ending racism, we need to engage the world and encounter others—to see, maybe for the first time, those who are on the peripheries of our own limited view.” (Open Wide Our Hearts)

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago. In March 2026, I had the privilege of traveling to the Deep South for such an “encounter” with six U.S. bishops, as well as staff and consultors from the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation. This Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama was the second collaboration between Catholic Mobilizing Network and the USCCB to bring U.S. bishops to Alabama. In the 19th century, Montgomery was one of the most prominent slave-trading locations in the United States. In the 20th century, it became the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.

The trip provided an opportunity to explore how the legacy of 400 years of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation continues to shape our justice system, and to engage in the restorative work of truth-telling and reconciliation in the United States.

I felt privileged to walk alongside these episcopal leaders as they lived out what they committed to eight years ago. Our experience in Alabama was a journey of truth-telling and an exploration into what is required of the Church, its leadership, and its faithful in order to be ministers of hope and reconciliation in the face of systemic racism in the United States.

Lenten Journey Reveals the Promise of Easter

It was no coincidence that this trip fell during the season of Lent. Our sojourn would be one of head and heart, of remembrance, repentance, prayer, and preparation for Easter’s renewal.

The first day of our journey included an unforgettable meeting with Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama whose decades of inspiring work has provided legal representation to people who have been wrongfully convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI has become a lifeline for marginalized people in Alabama and a trailblazer in its effective legal and narrative change efforts. Through the development of “Legacy Sites” across the city of Montgomery, EJI elevates the connections between mass incarceration and excessive punishment and the entrenched challenges of racial and economic injustice.

As he expanded on issues of racism and injustice embedded within our criminal legal system, Mr. Stevenson explained how one of the most insidious consequences of the “cancer” of racism is the narrative of racial hierarchy and of Black inferiority. More specifically, he stated that the suspicion of dangerousness and guilt assigned to Black and Brown people is what drives over sentencing and overincarceration of people of color to this day. Just as Lent invites us to reflect on Jesus’ temptation by the devil while fasting in the desert, so too did our Lenten encounter with Mr. Stevenson bring to light how we face temptation today of racism’s social sin.

Against this backdrop, he spoke of Church leaders as key “facilitators of transformation” for society, because they know that confessing the truth and repenting from sin are what opens hearts to redemption and reconciliation. As the United States struggles to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the manifestations of racial injustice today, Mr. Stevenson encouraged us to help society to be set free from silence and engage in truth-telling, while always holding on to hope.

Our meeting with Mr. Stevenson was one of a dozen encounters on a 48-hour journey through Montgomery and Selma. We anchored ourselves throughout these encounters by praying the Stations of the Cross as we visited key sites of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s — such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s parsonage — met with local leaders, and deepened our understanding of the realities of capital punishment today. With our eyes, ears, and our hearts, we contemplated Christ’s journey toward Calvary and reflected on the nearness of our Savior to the suffering we bore witness to.

As Catholics, we understand it is through the witness of the suffering of Christ’s passion that the light of Easter morning comes. The same is true about our Lenten experience in Montgomery and Selma.

Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Bishop of the Diocese of Jackson Mississippi shared, “We have to get to the truth, as Sister Thea Bowman would say, the truth of what the reality was, so that there can be reconciliation.”

In remembering the deep harm and raw pain of racial terror and structural racism, we also heard testimonies of the movement of the Holy Spirit and in the light of faith, resistance, and resilience.

“Despite all the struggles that people have faced in their lives, despite their sufferings and pains of the past,” reflected Bishop Felipe Pulido, Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego, “they still have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that truly gave them hope and resilience to continue their lives.”

Surely, the Cross reveals the depth of God’s love and the empty tomb offers a sign of God’s saving power. Our faith rests in the assurance that life will always have its victory over death. Indeed, the commitment to make this truth-telling journey marked a profound act of Easter hope.

Steps of the Journey

In addition to meeting with EJI founder Bryan Stevenson, we visited all three Legacy Sites established by the organization: The Legacy Museum: From Slavery to Mass Incarceration, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, which honors the lives and memories of the 10 million Black people who were enslaved in the United States between 1619 and 1865.

Bishops on the Lenten experience celebrate Mass with Bishop Steven J. Raica of Birmingham, Alabama and pastor of Resurrection Catholic Parish.

Together we celebrated Mass in Catholic parishes and shared meals with pastors and local leaders — including individuals who have been active in the community since the Civil Rights Movement.

Fr. Manuel Williams, C.R., a Montgomery native and pastor of Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South shared his rich experiences of resilience and hope as a leader of a vibrant Catholic parish engaged in the ministries of education, evangelization, healthcare, social services, and advocacy. Fr. Andrew Jones, pastor of The City of Saint Jude — which was the final stop for the Selma to Montgomery marchers before arriving at the State Capitol on March 24, 1965 — told the history of his parish’s efforts to preserve the Church’s key role in the Civil Rights Movement and shared stories of how the parish expresses its commitment to human rights and social justice today.

These profoundly moving personal encounters were not easy. Bishop William Wack, Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee described it this way:

“Some the things that really affected me were seeing the sculptures and the art and the photographs of the true reality of slavery and racism and how that's led to a continuation through lynching and mass incarceration. Just seeing that and then talking to some people who were part of the Civil Rights Movement, you know, in the 50s and 60s, and hearing their voices, that was really important for me as well.”

What the Lord Requires

On the final morning of our trip, we stood at the base of hundreds of hanging steel columns, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The columns stand as a visual reminder of the bodies left hanging in the horrific violence of 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950. Again, we turned to the Passion, concluding with the final Station of the Cross.

We prayed together, recalling the inspiration provided in Open Wide Our Hearts:

“You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Bishop William A. Wack leads the Stations of the Cross at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the infamous 1965 “Bloody Sunday,” when voting rights marchers traveling from Selma to Montgomery were attacked by police.

As we work to “do justice,” the pastoral letter reminds us that justice is defined “where we are in right relationship with God, with one another, and with the rest of God’s creation.” Integral to this relational justice commitment is listening to the stories of those who are personally impacted by the sin of racism.

In the effort to “love goodness,” the letter invites us to consider the example of Christ’s suffering on the cross: “It is through his Cross that we learn the greatest lesson about love.” Reflecting on Christ’s own execution at the hands of the state offers an expansive understanding of love that seeks unity and restoration in the face of racial injustice, dehumanization, and division.

And in the effort to “walk humbly with God,” the letter encourages those in positions of Church leadership to “make formal visits to institutions of culture and learning” and to engage in meaningful experiences that deepen understanding of our nation’s complex racial history.

We are an Easter people living in the promise of the Holy Spirit. That is why we accompany one another in Alabama — in a prayerful posture of openness, encounter — and ask for God’s grace to become reconcilers in our wounded world. Our Lenten journey created a profound opportunity to remember our country’s deep wounds of racism. This time together helped us all see more clearly how systemic racism has given way to a pervasive narrative of revenge and retribution that marks our current criminal legal system.

With each Station of the Cross that we prayed throughout our journey, we recited: “Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” This simple prayer reveals the depth of God’s love and His abundant mercy. And through it, our appreciation for this restorative truth-telling work grew within us. 

Gratefully, the light of the Resurrection illuminates our path to understanding the depths of suffering in a new way, so that we can spread the Good News of Easter as facilitators of transformation and of restoration, wherever the ravages of systemic racism persist today.

* Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a national organization in the United States that mobilizes Catholics and people of goodwill to end the death penalty, advance justice solutions in alignment with Catholic values and promote healing through restorative justice approaches and practices. For more information and to join the movement, visit catholicsmobilizing.org.

Increasing Catholic Prison Ministry a goal across all U.S. Dioceses

 Coalition aims to have an active prison ministry in all US dioceses, get more laity involved

written by Simone Orendain

An inmate puts away the items used on the altar following Mass at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility in Kansas. (OSV News photo/Karen Bonar, The Register)

(OSV News) — Those who accompany the incarcerated have said there is a lot to do in ministering to a population that has committed crimes and had to live with the consequences of those actions.

This population of men and women often comes from backgrounds of drug use, multiple arrests and instability in employment and housing.

Yet, the work of Catholic prison ministry has been mostly carried out quietly. So much so, that it has long been thought of as something only priests and religious do. This has meant that lay involvement “is almost nonexistent,” according to Karen Clifton, executive coordinator of the online-based Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition, or CMPC.

“A survey was sent out,” she told OSV News. “And the problem was, we got a lot of responses that said we know somebody in our diocese is doing this work, but we just don’t know who they are and what they’re doing.”  

Pope’s inquiry

The survey went out to all the dioceses across the country after Pope Francis asked his U.S. nuncio about the state of prison ministry in this country. That was after his 2015 visit to a Philadelphia-based correctional center.

Clifton said the pope’s inquiry came as several Catholic prison ministry and advocacy groups banded together in search of national guidance. Both events coincided to form the coalition in 2018, now made up of more than three dozen ministries across the country. The idea, said Clifton, is to have an active prison ministry in every diocese. CMPC was formally incorporated last year.

Bishop William A. Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, the coalition’s episcopal adviser, told OSV News the coalition addresses three main concerns through online seminars and resources.

“To form people, to help to train would-be ministers, chaplains, and also to support those who are doing this ministry because, like a lot of ministry, it can be difficult,” he said. “People are often isolated, who are doing it in their dioceses, and so we wanted to be that support and also (be) a place for formation. And to advocate for certain things that we need to do the ministry.”

Philadelphia-based Augustinian Father Jeremy Hiers has participated “in a lot of (CMPC’s) workshops.” For more than 50 years, his province has been active in the ministry. Since 2021, he has gone to the state prison in Chester, just south of the city, to give the sacraments to inmates and celebrate weekly Mass in a rotation with his brother friars.

“(Catholic inmates) proactively put together the liturgy,” he told OSV News. “They plan the music. They plan who’s going to take part in the liturgy, the various roles from altar serving to reading, and so I think it’s something that they very much count on happening every Sunday. And it’s something that they make sure they invite one another to. So it’s a real community.”

Father Hiers also visits those at the infirmary who were not able to attend Mass. Then he spends two to three minutes with each man in the maximum-security wing. 

Just north of Chester, the Augustinians also have a degree program at Phoenix state prison, where inmates can work toward an associate or bachelor degree in general studies from Villanova University. 

Father Hiers said other orders do offer Bible study and spiritual resources at Chester. Still, many laypeople have told him they want to do the ministry, and he sees a role for them to fill the gap in accompaniment between Masses.

Laity involvement

But, he said, “it’s very easy to go inside if you’re ordained. It’s not as easy for people who are not ordained. … If I could be king for a day, that would be the first thing I would fix. I would make it much easier for laypersons to find a way to help.” 

In the meantime, he encouraged them to become pen-pals with inmates.

“When you go inside, you have a limited amount of time because of the security procedures. And you have a large demand of people and you can only spend a little bit of time with each one, but when you write a letter, that person has your full attention, and you have theirs. And you can develop a much more meaningful relationship that way,” said Father Hiers. 

At Lansdowne, Virginia-based Prison Fellowship, the country’s largest Christian prison ministry, the most popular programs are relationship-based, according to Cody Wilde, senior vice president of correctional programs. 

The organization’s cohort-based “academy” program has 500 hours of classes on subjects ranging from criminal thought patterns to conflict resolution. Wilde said participants answer extensive surveys that measure growth in “six core values.” He told OSV News it is effective with inmates because they are mostly coached by graduates.

“They get to model not what perfect looks like, but what healthy looks like,” said Wilde. “What it’s like to be a little bit further along in the journey and to have that life-on-life interaction. Then there’s the third dimension, which is community. What you need is a person on your right and your left who’s going through the same experience.”

He explained participants start to practice “a new way of being” and naturally gravitate toward deeper life questions. They have the option to go further by exploring those questions more explicitly within the Christian context. 

While Prison Fellowship’s peer-led programs differ from Catholic ministry’s sacramental foundation, they are based on the fundamental teaching of accompaniment found in verses 35-36 of Matthew 25.

“I love that Jesus didn’t just say, ‘Go out and have warm feelings toward one another and love them,’ but he said, ‘Help them: those who are hungry and homeless and poor and aching, and imprisoned and sick.’ … It reminds us that this is bodily. This is something that is very physical and we need to share our faith that way,” said Bishop Wack. 

The coalition’s Karen Clifton said there is strong interest among the laity to do the ministry. However, she cautioned the goal is not to “fix people or proselytize” but to accompany, and this takes discernment.

“For them to go through a process of understanding, making sure that they’re grounded in prayer, that they have spiritual reflection and supervision, and that they have someone to process with, in what they’re doing. Because this is different than other ministries. They’re working in a traumatizing environment and/or they’re working with traumatized people,” she said.

Simone Orendain writes for OSV News from Chicago.

A new Bishop for Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese

From A Soup Kitchen to The Panhandle – For Summer Kickoff, Pope Plays Wack-The-Noles

Over recent weeks, the growing community at St Ignatius Martyr parish in Austin has been planning a “bash” for their pastor’s 50th birthday.

However, the Pope now sends word that their late June event for Father Bill will now double as a farewell... to Bishop-elect Wack.

In an unheard-of act on a US civil holiday, this Memorial Day indeed brings an appointment – at Roman Noon, Francis named the South Bend-born priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross (a onetime vocation director at Notre Dame) as sixth bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, tapped to lead a minority fold of 70,000 across the broad swath of the heavily-Evangelical Florida Panhandle: a charge spanning two time zones and some 14,000 square miles. (In a shot circulated this past March, the bishop-elect is seen test-piloting the new parking lot on his parish plant.)

Even as Papa Bergoglio has long taken any notion of holiday weekends for the Stateside press to the shredder, today's move is simply on a different plane, and in more ways than one at that.

His ordination reportedly set for late August, Wack succeeds Bishop Gregory Parkes, the Florida State alum sent on a fittingly giant leap across the Sunshine State late last year with his transfer to St Petersburg, the province’s second-largest post. Yet where Parkes was already quite familiar with and devoted to Noles Country from his college days, his successor arrives sight unseen... so in this instance, any expectation that a lifelong son of the Fighting Irish will lead The Chop on Day One might be a bit much to ask.

Described by Whispers ops as “a simply joyful priest” and “the kind of guy you’d want for everything [in ministry],” the bishop-elect’s road since his 1994 ordination has been unusually varied, and features an especially potent example of the identikit Francis has repeatedly demanded for those to whom he entrusts the mitre and crozier.

Before his stint until today at the Austin parish, Wack served for seven years as director of Andre House, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in a Phoenix drug corridor where, according to a recent interview, he and his team would serve more than 500 plates every night on top of caring for the daily laundry and lodging of anyone who came.

Already a veteran of social media – a trait which will serve him well given the spread he inherits – Wack posts audio of his homilies online... his reasons for being “really keyed up” about yesterday’s preach now in the open:

Said by an associate to “not be given to administration” – a common (but not universal) lack among Francis' recent Stateside appointees – that hasn’t stopped the Panhandle pick from making his goal in pledges for a $2.5 million capital campaign for his Texas parish. Still, Wack nonetheless has the good fortune of inheriting a charge where the locals report no major pressing issues. Meantime, with the diocese’s Hispanic population steadily ticking up due to an influx for its service industries, the elect brings ample proficiency in Spanish, a first for the bishop there.

As local media were quietly alerted on Friday – and, Florida being Florida, was then brazenly announced in Pensacola Cathedral at yesterday’s Masses – a 10am Central presser has already been called at the western hub’s Chancery. One of the US church’s few twin-seat dioceses, the joint see cities are some 200 miles apart, a roughly three-hour drive.

Among other aspects, it is of note that Wack’s appointment marks but the latest instance of Francis choosing an American bishop from a remarkably large family. The seventh of ten kids born to a doctor and a nurse, Bill was eventually followed into the CSCs by his brother, Neil, who was ordained a decade later and now holds his brother’s onetime vocations post at Notre Dame. Yet as the brothers' social feeds are each unusually sparse, it's even more salient how both follow the son of another Midwestern "tribe" who ostensibly shepherded this appointment across the finish line from his seat on the Congregation for Bishops – namely, Blase.

All that said, just a few weeks ago, an Austin pastor was but a face in the crowd among the 5,000-odd faithful who converged from across Texas for the church’s annual Advocacy Day at the Lone Star Capitol (above) – an event highlighted by the bishops' breakfast with the turf's first governor from the fold since Mexican rule.

And with today’s move, Bill Wack suddenly becomes Catholicism’s principal voice in the capital of what's now the third-largest state