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Lumen Christi’s Black Catholic Scholarly Initiative picked up steam recently with the creation of a steering committee, led by Darren Davis, a professor of political science and the director of the Center for Social Research at the University of Notre Dame. Davis described the initiative, which sprouted as an idea about two years ago, as “extremely necessary” and “long overdue.”
 

“There are many Black Catholic academics and intellectuals, who share a common identity, common concerns, and common ways of thinking about what is happening in the Church and in society,” he said. “For too long, this Black Catholic perspective has been minimized,” he added.
 

Davis noted the existence of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans, which focuses on offering formation for pastoral ministry to Black Catholics. His hope is that Lumen Christi’s Black Catholic Scholarly Initiative will develop instead as a space “where part of the Church does its thinking.”
 

“I would like to see it develop as a place where Black Catholics can turn for insight into different Church policies (and) issues in society,” he said.
 

This year alone, Lumen Christi organized or co-sponsored four webinars in furthering this initiative.
 

The political scientist had presented his book, “Perseverance in the Parish? Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective,” at Lumen Christi in 2018. The book, published by Cambridge University Press, reported the findings of the first national survey of Black Catholics in the United States. The study found that Black Catholics are among the strongest religious identifiers in the U.S. Church, despite the racism and prejudice they experience there.
 

“The Black Catholic experience in the Church has been one of neglect, conflict and ambivalence,” and has shaped a rather homogeneous Black Catholic perspective, said Davis, a cradle Catholic.
 

 In sum, the ongoing presence of Black Catholics in the Church, which “hasn’t always appreciated diversity,” is not a sign that the Church is without racism and prejudice, but that Black Catholics have found ways to navigate and cope with the racism and prejudice in order to persevere in the faith, he said. Religion is extremely important to Black Catholics, so abandoning the Church is not an option, as it would mean they would lose a fundamental part of their identity and heritage, he added.
 

The ongoing presence of Black Catholics in the Church…is not a sign that the Church is without racism and prejudice, but that Black Catholics have found ways to navigate and cope with racism and prejudice in order to persevere in their faith.

His new book, “Racial Resentment: The Rationalization of Equality and Privilege,” co-authored with David Wilson, is slated for release next year by University of Chicago Press. The book explains how “normal, everyday citizens can support, look like, and actually end up in the same bucket as racists” in their commitment to their sense of justice or fairness.
 

The fundamental belief at the heart of racial resentment is that people get what they deserve, or rather what they rightly earn, based on merit. However, when people see that a certain racial or ethnic group receives special treatment in the form of resources or advantages, they develop resentment toward that group.

“When people perceive others benefiting unfairly, that is when (social) problems occur,” he said.
 

These people are not necessarily racist or motivated by feelings of hatred or superiority, but their resentment has the same effect as if they were, in that they wind up supporting racist policies and ideologies, he explained.
 

“Political scientists are very good at pointing out problems, but not at finding solutions,” he said. “We don’t really have a solution (to racial resentment) and, to tell you the truth, I don’t know that there is a solution.”

The need to bring civility and insightful Catholic perspective to public discourse on current social events has led to the creation of a new series on Economics & Catholic Social Thought, organized jointly by the Lumen Christi Institute and CREDO, the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization.

“There were really two inspirations for the series, which started with some panels on COVID-19” in May, said Joseph Kaboski, CREDO president. “The first was the (COVID) situation. There were the beginnings of debate over lives versus livelihoods, but no one had brought a Catholic perspective to the conversations. Then, we realized there was a lot of interest, and these virtual panels were easier to put on and easier for people to access, so we decided to make it a series.”

The first webinar argued in favor of ending stay-at-home orders for the pandemic, saying that the poor and vulnerable were bearing the greatest burden of the economic damage done by the lockdown.

The second webinar urged Americans to move past the health-wealth dichotomy when evaluating the management of the pandemic. Scholars argued in favor of a more robust view of health, one that not only values freedom from disease, but also considers the importance of social interaction, work, productivity, and human relationships. The panel included Fr. Paul McNelis, SJ, Mary Hirschfeld, Joseph Capizzi, and Dr. Daniel Sulmasy.

The third webinar in August included an international group of scholars — Jeanne Lafortune, Sergio Rebello, and Fr. Paulinus Odozor, CSSP, a Spiritan Father originally from Nigeria — who spoke on the global aspects of the pandemic.

In addition to sharing Catholic intellectual thought on current issues with the general public, Kaboski said the new series makes two important contributions.

“First, the quality, honesty, and civility of discourse has certainly been trending down for quite some time, and this series brings serious academics from different disciplines to have real conversation about important public issues,” he said. “Second, and probably related, bringing religious faith to public discourse is increasingly difficult, but it is also increasingly important.”

The new series will continue in December, with a shift in focus away from the pandemic. The panel will discuss food insecurity. Topics for other panels will include Catholic education, the future of work, and the family. Kaboski said CREDO, which grew out of Lumen Christi’s annual conferences for economists, theologians, and Church leaders, has been collaborating with the Institute since CREDO’s founding in 2013, namely with Lumen Christi’s summer seminars on Catholic Social Thought. However, yet another collaboration between the two began recently — a monthly, small-group, online seminar with scholars from across the globe, said Kaboski.

“Lumen Christi brings a strong connection to Catholic scholars from many fields and good organizational capacity,” he said. “CREDO brings connection to leading economists interested in the conversation, so it is very complementary.”