Southern Catholic leaders called helpful in ending segregation

Published: 2008-01-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- More than 50 years ago, Catholics were a distinct minority in the South's religious landscape. Still, there were some Catholic leaders who used their moral authority to help another minority -- African-Americans -- overcome the burdens of Jim Crow and make desegregation possible. Speaking Jan. 4 during a panel presentation at the American Catholic Historical Association's meeting in Washington, Cecilia Moore pointed to a North Carolina bishop and a convent in Danville, Va., as two leading lights in the fight against segregation. Moore, a professor at the Marianist-run University of Dayton, in Ohio, identified Bishop Vincent Waters of Raleigh, N.C., and the Society of Christ Our King, which had a convent in Danville, in her presentation, "Living With Jim Crow in Virginia and North Carolina: Black and White Catholic Experiences of Racial Segregation." The two-hour panel focused on race, religion and gender issues in the South in the 35 years following World War II.

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