Speakers recall Msgr. Baroni as colleague, mentor, inspiration

Published: 2005-10-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Mahdi Bray remembered approaching a long-ago street rally for blacks in Washington when he saw a white man with a Roman collar in their midst. He was so startled he asked black activist Stokely Carmichael who he was. "That's Geno the priest," Bray said Carmichael told him. "He's cool." Bray's comments were made as part of a panel discussion on "The Re-Creation of Coalitions: Minorities and Urban Ethnics, Faith Based and Secular," during the Oct. 24-25 "Forum on Public Morality" conducted in Washington. The forum, sponsored by the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation, was held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the birth of Msgr. Geno Baroni, who became the first federal assistant secretary for neighborhoods during the Carter administration, and before that was president of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs. Msgr. Baroni died in 1984. Panelists embraced Msgr. Baroni as a colleague, mentor and inspiration for the work they do today.

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