Dear Friend,

Sister Mary Peters, a leader of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, may have said it best. Speaking to a fellow sister during the 1960s, she said, "Once you have marched in Selma, Sister, you can never stay home again." These words must surely encapsulate the experience of many people of faith - including Catholics - who were called to Selma, to Mobile, to Memphis throughout the 60s and to Washington on a hot August day in 1963.  We are asking you to continue this Catholic Social Justice Tradition and march with us and others on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. 

Catholic nun and priest marching during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s

Included among Catholic leaders during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was the visionary aspiring sociologist-turned-activist, Matthew Ahmann, who founded the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ).  He was an organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and was a featured speaker.  Additionally, among the Catholic bishops who distinguished themselves there was The Very Rev. Patrick O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, DC, who gave the invocation at the 1963 March and was at the national forefront of integrating Catholic schools (in Washington, DC).  

We are called to continue the grass roots activism that emerged from the ordinary people who courageously illuminated our Catholic Social Justice Tradition that August day in 1963.  We hope you may be able to join us, and our friends from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) and other Catholic organizations, in Washington DC on August 24th and 25th and be moved, as Sr. Mary Peters and Matthew Ahmann were, to leave home and "hammer out justice."  See below for the ways you can support these efforts.

Catholics, particularly many women religious, were inspired by the convening of Vatican II and were feeling a new impetus, and opportunity,  to bring their faith into the world.  Today, we are witnessing a similar hope-filled anticipation for the Catholic Church with the unambiguous messages of Pope Francis calling on us to act and help those most in need.  

Matthew Ahmann and Rev. Martin Luther King at the March on Washington in 1963

It seems almost divinely coincidental that leading up to 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March, a confluence of legal, social and economic issues is directing our attention to take a long look at the issues related to racial justice again.  However, the Catholic organizations that formed during the Civil Rights era - including the NCCIJ and the Catholic Interracial Council (CIC) - to address issues of racial and economic justice have faded from our landscape.  Today, there is a realization that the need for the difficult national conversation on race has not abated and also has been delayed for too long - even while we see the metrics of racial injustice indicate a need for change.  Or, to paraphrase Rev. King from his "I Have a Dream" speech, that conversational debt is being called-in this summer as being overdue.

One African American supporter of Catholic Democrats put it this way:  

Pope Francis providing an example for all of us

Catholic Democrats and others are seeking to do our part to continue a legacy of Catholic engagement on racial justice, particularly because the state of issues directly related to it - voting rights, poverty and jobs, criminal justice, full participation in society, cultural bias, learned prejudice, continued racism, and now immigration - have either not changed or have taken on a new form ranging from the concrete to the deceptively subtle.  These issues bring with them the same adverse affects that diminish the lives of too many of our sisters and brothers and the common good.

We will be at the March and are planning several events in conjunction with CACG and other Catholic organizations.  We hope that you can make your way to Washington DC on the weekend of August 24th - 25th.  These events include the following:

We will be sending out more detailed information in the days ahead.

We are asking for your help.

Please see our participation form to provide the above information.

For information on other events, as well as recommendations for lodging and buses that may be leaving from your area for the August 24th March on Washington, see the 50th Anniversary March on Washington Web site and go to the National Action Network.

Peter Paul & Mary singing If I Had a Hammer at the March on Washington in 1963

We leave you with this: the Civil Rights Movement was in part defined by the music of the day, and many of you will remember Pete Seeger's song, "If I Have a Hammer," popularized by Peter Paul and Mary - they sang it at the March on Washington.

In gratitude,

The Catholic Democrats Team