Don’t Let Race Force Split, Black Catholics Are Urged

Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York urged black Roman Catholics on Friday not to let racial differences force them from the church, saying separatist leaders are straying from its message of inclusion.

“The church cannot be exclusive, whether it’s exclusively white, exclusively black, exclusively yellow,” O’Connor said. “We are all one in the body of Christ.”

O’Connor spoke to about 250 people attending a four-day conference of black Catholics, where a primary topic is expected to be the splinter congregation formed recently by a black Washington priest who mixes Roman Catholic liturgy with African and black American religious traditions.

Of the priest, the Rev. George Stallings, O’Connor would say only that he is “praying for everybody involved” and is leaving Stallings’ fate up to local church authorities. The church has suspended him from performing sanctioned Masses and other sacraments but has not moved to excommunicate him.

O’Connor said he did not foresee a mass defection by black Catholics.

The conference, whose theme is “Creating a Spirit of African-American Leadership,” centers on ways to eliminate racism in the church and bring more blacks into top church positions.

One such black, Archbishop Eugene Marino of Atlanta, said he was saddened at the schism highlighted by Stallings’ break, but he pointed to himself as evidence that blacks can attain power within the hierarchy.

“The majority of us intend to stay in the church and bring about change, and a lessening of racism,” said Marino, the first black archbishop in the United States. But Marino said Stallings might accomplish some good with his boldness.

“I think it has shown the leadership of the church that there are these concerns,” Marino said.

Some black Catholics have called for a new rite centering on African and black American religious traditions, but Marino said that would only distance blacks from a worldwide Catholic mainstream that has held Mass in essentially the same manner for centuries.

A spokeswoman at Stallings’ church, the Imani Temple, said Thursday the priest had no plans to attend the conference, held by the National Office for Black Catholics and the National Black Lay Catholic Conference. The groups represent more than 1 million black Catholics.

O’Connor stressed that leaders of black Catholics or of any other ethnic group must not try to teach their own version of Christianity.

The cardinal admitted that church leadership could do more to expunge racism from its congregations.