Following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, the Catholic Church should acknowledge its own history of involvement in colonialism, slavery and segregation, Villanova University history professor Shannen Dee Williams said.

“Contrary to popular belief, African slavery did not begin in the land area that became the United States in 1619," Williams said in a letter published in the Aug. 16 bulletin of Saint Cecilia Parish in Boston. “Instead, the Catholic Church introduced slavery in present-day South Carolina and then Florida in the 1500s.”

For black Catholics, “racism became a pro-life issue in the 15th century when the issuance of several papal bulls including Dum Diversas (1452) and Inter Caetera (1493) not only authorized the perpetual enslavement of Africans and Native Americans but also morally sanctioned the seizure of ‘non-Christian’ lands and the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” Williams continued.

She proposes five ways Catholics can “do the hard work of racial justice”:

• Learn about the history of anti-black racism in the church.
• Challenge racism within the Church and require teaching of the history of black and brown Catholics in church schools and seminaries.
• Donate to racial justice organizations, “especially those working to end mass incarceration.”
• Call upon the Church to “formally acknowledge and apologize for its histories of slavery and segregation.“
• Pray for “all victims of racism and state violence. Pray also for those in positions of power.“

The protests have put the nation and the Catholic Church "on the precipice of monumental change or devastating setback," Williams said.

She noted that the church also has a long history of fighting for racial justice.

“Black Catholics have long known what all Catholics must come to know: If racial justice and peace will ever be attained, it must begin in the Church,” Williams concluded.