At Black Catholic Congress Youth Town Hall, Cardinal Gregory and Bishop Steib discuss vocations, community and racism

At a July 20 town hall gathering with Catholic youth at the National Black Catholic Congress XII, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory joined Bishop J. Terry Steib, the bishop emeritus of Memphis, Tennessee in encouraging young people to keep the faith and follow their dreams.

The two churchmen spoke on the first day of the four-day National Black Catholic Congress being held at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in Fort Washington, Md.

Both speakers hold historic titles – Cardinal Gregory is the first African American cardinal, and Bishop Steib was the first African American bishop of the Diocese of Memphis. Bishop Steib, a member of the Society of the Divine Word, was appointed in 1993 as the bishop of Memphis after earlier serving as an auxiliary bishop in St. Louis, he served in Memphis until his retirement in 2016.

Cardinal Gregory was named the archbishop of Washington in 2019 after earlier serving as the archbishop of Atlanta, the bishop of Belleville, Ill., and as an auxiliary bishop in Chicago. Cardinal Gregory was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2020. During the youth town hall, Cardinal Gregory noted that he and Bishop Steib were first appointed as bishops six weeks apart in 1983.

The program opened with the two young Catholic moderators – Trey Phillips from the Diocese of Austin, Texas, and Adriana Dorner from the Diocese of Brooklyn – asking the cardinal and bishop about their call to the priesthood. Dorner serves as a junior ambassador in the Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns in the Diocese of Brooklyn, and Phillips is the junior Texas state president of the Knights of Peter Claver.

Cardinal Gregory, who grew up in Chicago, explained that although his family was not originally Catholic – most of them later converted – he began attending St. Carthage School as a sixth grader and discovered he soon wanted to become Catholic and felt called to priesthood.

“Most 11-year olds, you’re going to be a priest on Monday and firefighter by Wednesday,” Cardinal Gregory said. “But it’s something that stayed with me, and I was very fortunate to have wonderful priests and sisters who taught in the school and they encouraged me.”

In 1961, Cardinal Gregory attended the Archdiocese of Chicago’s high school prep seminary, Quigley South, and he was ordained as a priest for that archdiocese in 1973. 

Bishop Steib described growing up in Louisiana and watching his father work in the sugarcane fields. As a child, he considered which path he wanted to pursue – harvesting sugar like his father, or becoming a doctor or policeman or a minister. He said he knew he wanted to help people so he decided the best way to ultimately do that was to become a priest. He eventually attended St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and St. Michael’s Mission House Seminary in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained as a priest of the Society of the Divine Word in 1967.

When asked what they say to students who think they may feel a calling to religious life, Cardinal Gregory told the young members of the Church to “listen to the voice.”

“I hope all of you have a lot of dreams right now of possibilities. What would God want you to do … What would you do in life that would make you happy? And in all of those dreams, those thoughts, if one of them is, ‘I think I’d like to give my life in service of the Church,’ what would that mean?” Cardinal Gregory said. 

The bishop and cardinal went on to discuss the importance of actively participating at Mass. Cardinal Gregory encouraged young people to prioritize human connections and personal relationships outside of their online worlds and smart phones. 

Near the close of the session, the floor was opened to members of the crowd who had questions for Cardinal Gregory and Bishop Steib. One audience member asked if they had experienced racism.

Cardinal Gregory said he doesn’t believe there is an African American person alive today, even in a multicultural and multiracial community, who has not experienced racism.

“So yes, I’ve experienced racism, but I’ve also experienced people turning their lives around. My classmates in the seminary were all white kids. And so, it’s an opportunity for them and for me to encounter each other,” Cardinal Gregory said, adding that these experiences include people getting out of their “comfort zones” to get to know one another and acknowledge each other’s gifts.

“But yes, the experience of racism is real and it has affected my life … but I never gave up,” Cardinal Gregory said. 

Bishop Steib shared that his Catholic church growing up had segregated seating. 

“We were separated, Black folks sat in the back of the church, white folks sat in front of the church,” Bishop Steib said. “When I said I wanted to be an altar boy, I couldn’t because we just didn’t have African American altar boys.”

After the town hall, Terrence Carter and Zoe Smallwood from the Archdiocese of New Orleans reflected on the gathering. 

Carter said he appreciated the opportunity for young Catholics to come together and build “a stronger relationship with God and with Jesus Himself,” and to reflect on what they are called to do in life. 

Smallwood, who said it was inspiring to hear the vocation stories of Cardinal Gregory and Bishop Steib, noted that she was attending the event with her grandmother.

“My priest himself recommended me to come here as a representative for my parish. So, I was very honored (that) I was recommended to come here, and I’m glad that I did,” Carter said. 

Carter and Smallwood shared what surprised them the most during the town hall.

Carter said he was surprised when the bishops discussed how they had experienced racism. He appreciated how they stressed the importance of keeping balance in their daily lives and maintaining friendships as they became priests and bishops. 

Both said that events like this, where they can come together as youth members of the Church and can express being Black and Catholic, are important.

“We always want to have events where a community can come together and, on top of that, when we young people have questions, we always want answers,” said Carter. “So, this allows us some time to form relationships with other people and have our questions answered so we can look onward.”

Adriana Dorner, junior ambassador for the Brooklyn diocese’s Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns, co-moderated the event and reflected on what takeaways from the conference she hopes to bring back home.

“I feel like the youth are the next generation of the Church, so just to be a part of growing and helping other youth be able to connect with their faith is really important to me, and what I want to take back is just the experience of meeting others, networking, connecting, just getting more into my faith,” she said. 

Fellow Brooklyn youth ambassador Joseph Allen said the event was meaningful to him because it renewed his sense of community in his Catholic faith right before starting college.

“Just being a part of other people who share your faith and to be able to immerse yourself in different cultures, to be able to be a part of this growing family, and to really understand more people in different ways, to understand their viewpoints, to understand how they perceive their faith,” Allen said. “For me, this is important because I’ll be going away for college, so I’ll be away from my home and church in Brooklyn. For me, I want my faith to stay strong while I’m away, so I think having other people, and being able to think more about my faith will help me stay in (my) faith when I’m away in college.”

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