I converted to Catholicism in 1952. I was attending Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, which was founded by Saint Katherine Drexel for Black and Native American students. She was not officially declared a saint by the Church at the time but achieved sainthood in 2000. I had made a vow with my best friend from high school that I would not let those Catholics convert me. I was Baptist and he was Methodist. What we knew of the Catholic Church was that Catholics worshipped statues.


My freshman year, I was impressed by two Catholic student friends. They were easygoing, loving, generous people. One found it difficult to stay in the “state of grace.” I had admired that student for trying so hard. It piqued my interest in learning more about Catholic teachings. During the summer of my freshman year, I talked with my parents about taking instructions in the Catholic faith. When I returned to Xavier University for my second year, I enrolled in a theology class. I was impressed when we talked about encyclicals, especially Rerum Novarum, which addressed the rights of workers to organize. Several other things in that class impressed me also. Based on that information, I decided I would become Catholic. I saw the Church as a good vehicle for making positive changes in the world. I wrote to my parents and told them of my plans, and they approved. However, my older sister who was home at the time said that all hell broke loose in the household because of my decision. 


When I went home for the summer after my second year, I informed my parents that I would be attending St. Paul Catholic Church, the only Catholic Church in my hometown of Leesburg, Florida, USA. The congregation was all white, and my parents were very concerned that I would be mistreated there. My father decided he would drive me to church and wait until mass [the service] was over, to make sure I was safe. My first service at that church was eventful. At that time, when we received Communion, communicants knelt at the Communion rail. When I knelt down to receive Communion, all of the whites got up and refused to receive Communion with me. When I received Communion and left the Communion rail, they knelt down to receive the Sacrament.


At the end of mass as I was leaving, a woman of Irish ancestry approached me, apologized, and introduced me to her son. She stated that they would look for me the next Sunday so I could sit with them, and she would see to it that this incident would never happen again. As I was getting in my father’s car, he instructed me that I should never talk to a white woman without some witnesses. I returned to the church the following Sunday and sat with the woman and her son. We went up to receive Communion together, and no one got up from the Communion rail.


The summer went along uneventfully, but my parents were still fearful. I returned to Xavier University for my third year and joined the Interracial Council, founded by students from the Catholic colleges and universities. Two priests were our spiritual directors—one from Xavier and one from Loyola University. We planned to take action in different areas of the city. One action was visiting orphanages, another was integrating the Catholic churches of the New Orleans Archdiocese, and the third was integrating the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. We visited the orphanages as an integrated team without any incidents. We strategized for the integration of the churches and the schools.


My senior year at Xavier, we began our integration work at the Catholic churches. A letter was written by the Archbishop to all churches to welcome us. Teams of one Black student and two white students were sent to various churches to attend mass. My team went to the front of the church to about the fifth row, sat down, and waited for mass to begin. An usher approached us and stated that I had to move to the back of the church where the Colored section was. One of the white students responded that we were not going to move. Shortly after, mass started, and a policeman came to escort us out of the church. All of the teams returned to our respective campuses and reported our activities to our spiritual advisers, who then encouraged the Archbishop to send out a stronger letter to the pastors of the churches. We were asked to return to the same churches that we had gone to before, which we did. An usher approached us again and said we had to move to the back. One of the white students spoke to the usher and asked him to check with the pastor about the letter he had received from the Archbishop welcoming all Catholics to the churches. He checked with the pastor and when he returned said I could stay—and told us we were troublemakers. We continued to attend various churches, without many incidents.


To integrate the Catholic schools, we made arrangements with the principals to speak at one of their assemblies. We talked about all of us being brothers and sisters, the children of one God, and that all Catholics should be accepted at the schools. I graduated in 1953, and the schools began to integrate the following fall.


Afterward I was inducted into the armed services. I met a young white man who had been a senior at one of the schools I had spoken at, and he recognized me. He stated that he had gone home and enthusiastically spoken with his parents about the schools being integrated. His parents had vehemently disagreed with him. They had informed him that if he did not change his mind, they would not be paying for his college education. So he’d joined the army.


I continued to work for social change in different places, particularly in the Catholic Church. My next breakthrough was in the Los Angeles [California, USA] Archdiocese, where we formed the Catholic Human Relations Council of Southern California (against the Archbishop’s wishes). Our first effort was getting Catholic support for a fair housing proposition on the state ballot. The Archbishop opposed our efforts and did not encourage Catholics to participate. We had other activities that we participated in, but with the opposition from the Archbishop it was difficult to organize Catholics for social change. The Archbishop later retired, and a more progressive archbishop was appointed. He was encouraged by a priest who had worked with the Catholic Human Relations Council and recommended to the Pope that I be made a Knight of Saint Gregory, for my efforts in social change in the Catholic Church. It was the highest honor that can be given to a Catholic layperson. I got it in writing.


I came into Co-Counseling in 1982. In 1992, a jury acquitted three white Los Angeles police officers who had beaten Rodney King [a construction worker turned writer and activist after the police brutality]. Many in the Black community protested, and some Korean merchants and their stores were attacked. A gathering of Korean and Black Catholics met under the auspices of the Archbishop (who was in attendance). I demonstrated the Co-Counseling listening technique with a Korean merchant. He expressed his forgiveness for what had happened. I asked him how he felt when he first heard the news about his store, and tears came to his eyes. It was a step toward bringing the two groups together, and the Archbishop later said that this was what was needed in all the Catholic parishes.


There are many stories.