Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion

Black American Catholics have been marginalized by racism in the church to the extent that the two identities are often considered incompatible, according to this erudite debut from Pratt, an assistant professor of sociology at Villanova. Tracing the history of Catholicism in America, she explains how it was founded on the backs of enslaved people, some of whom who were “owned” by Catholic churches or whose sale kept Jesuit institutions like Georgetown University afloat. Later, influxes of white Catholic immigrants—then considered “ethnic whites”—formed “ethnic parishes” in cities that excluded Black Catholics. As the dominance of those parishes waned after WWII, “ethnic white” Catholic immigrants became increasingly Americanized, transferring “racialized language and systematic othering” directed at each other to Black Americans. Pratt attributes the invisibility of Black Catholics partly to blatant exclusion from white parishes as well as a subtler marginalization in “cosmopolitan” spaces where mixed-race congregations are overseen by almost wholly white leaderships. Black Catholics have in response established their own parishes, which—despite being plagued by closings, reorganizations, and lack of institutional support—have succeeded in creating their own distinct identity via unique liturgical traditions, including gospel hymns and call-and-response homilies. Scrupulous and well researched, this is a much-needed portrait of an often-overlooked area of American Catholicism. (Sept.)