Black Church Studies Colloquium Lecture

The Catholic Church and the Racial Divide in the United States

Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Bishop Emeritus of Belleville, IL

Edward K. Braxton, Bishop Emeritus of Belleville, Illinois, delivers a lecture for the Notre Dame Africana Studies Colloquy on Black Church Studies in conjunction with the 31st Annual Meeting of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium. In his address, “The Catholic Church and the Racial Divide in the United States,” Bishop Braxton will explore the longstanding racial divide in the United States and in the Catholic Church. He will examine the reasons why this divide will not be bridged easily in the future.

Live stream

This public lecture is part of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium 2021 Annual Meeting, hosted by the University of Notre Dame. 

The Colloquy on Black Church Studies was launched in 2013 to provide opportunities for conversation about the Black Church — its opportunities and challenges — as well as the future of that interdisciplinary endeavor, Black Church Studies, devoted to its critical examination. Utilizing a paradigm both global and discursive, one of its larger aims is to facilitate conversation among clergy, laity, scholars, and the general public about the role of the Black Church in the Africana World. 
 
An initiative of Notre Dame’s Department of Africana Studies, it has sponsored lectures by a number of notable scholars and church leaders, including: Drs. Ronald Peters (former President, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta GA); Barbara Holmes (former President, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities); Alton Pollard (former Dean, Howard University Divinity School and current Dean, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary); and Otis Moss, III (Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, IL).

The Black Catholic Theological Symposium, founded in 1978, seeks to foster an ethical community of scholarly dialogue characterized by a commitment to the fundamental humanity of all people; a regard for plurality of cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds; and the development of an authentically Black and Catholic theology. More information at BCTS.org

Sponsors

Department of Theology
Department of Africana Studies

Co-sponsors

Campus Ministry
College of Arts and Letters' Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, Henkels Lecture Fund 
Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism
Initiative on Race and Resilience
McGrath Institute for Church Life
Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study