St. Dominic Parish Alabama pilgrimage was educational, inspirational

About 20 members of St. Dominic Parish in Shaker Heights traveled to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama recently to visit Equal Justice Institute Legacy Sites. The pilgrimage provided educational opportunities that allowed the travelers to connect with Africans who were kidnapped then sold into slavery through displays, images and audio messages.

The group was part of the parish’s Racial Equity Task Force, which evolved from a series of discussions about racism among a small group of parishioners in 2019. In 2020, parish-wide events were held and in order to continue the work, the task force was established formally in 2021. There are about 25 members who organize DEI activities to raise awareness and foster learning and interaction, including prayer services, education, multicultural celebrations and saint-of-the-month profiles.

Margaret Bernstein, task force communications chairperson, said its goal is “to establish a clear connection between our Catholic faith and the work of anti-racism, and to provide learning opportunities for our parishioners around issues of equity and inclusion.”

The pilgrims visited the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor 1954-1960, as well as the Dexter Parsonage, where he and his family lived. They prayed a Station of the Cross on the porch where dynamite exploded on Jan. 30, 1956, while Coretta Scott King and her infant daughter were inside.

The group then went traveled 54 miles west to Selma, traveling in the reverse direction of the historic 1965 voting rights marches. They heard from Diane Harris, who was a 15-year-old participant in the marches. She described the violence marchers faced and spoke about their courage, faith and commitment to non-violence.

The pilgrims prayed a Station of the Cross and drove to the western end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the historic steel arch structure spanning the Alabama River, where they walked to the other side, following the path civil rights marchers took.

“As we made our way across, some of our delegation prayed, some sang songs, some walked arm-in-arm or alongside a partner and others ambled by themselves,” said Meredith Manning, a co-founder of St. Dominic’s Racial Equity Task Force. She said she imagined the mix of emotions civil rights marchers might have felt.

Later, the Edmundite Missions, an organization that serves people living in poverty-stricken communities in the Deep South, hosted the group for a dinner and discussed its work.

The pilgrims’ final stop was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, described as “the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, humiliated by racial segregation and presumed guilty and dangerous.” It includes more than 4,000 names engraved on more than 800 steel structures that hang from the ceiling and rise from the floor.

“As we walked underneath and among the structures, many of us were moved to quiet tears,” said Father Tom Fanta, St. Dominic pastor.

“The trip was profound and I am so grateful to have experienced it in the company of fellow parishioners, with the enthusiastic support of our pastor and in the context of prayer, reflection, sharing and restorative truth-telling,” Manning added.

St. Dominic hosted this year’s diocesan Juneteenth celebration, presented by the Office of Black Catholic Ministries.