Martin Luther King Day is a time to promote racial harmony in America
and honor the slain civil rights leader who was “inspired by the
teachings of Christ,” says the head of the Knights of Peter Claver.
“Considering that so many 'church-going folks' were supporting
segregation and Jim Crow laws during the civil rights movement, it is
wonderful that King dedicated his life to employing Christ's teachings
to resist and counter the very social sins of prejudice, racial
discrimination and segregation,” Supreme Knight F. DeKarlos Blackmon
told CNA Jan. 18.
He said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. a Baptist minister, was “a man of
faith and deep conviction” who studied Catholic theology and was
“particularly impressed” with St. Augustine.
King’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” cited St. Augustine's saying “An unjust law is no law at all.”
Since 2010, Blackmon has headed the Knights of Peter Claver, a New
Orleans-based Catholic fraternal order present in about 39 states and in
South America. It takes as its model the Spanish Jesuit priest St.
Peter Claver, who ministered to slaves in Colombia in the 1600s. Its
membership is significantly African-American but the order is open to
all practicing Catholics without regard to race or ethnicity.
The organization was founded in Mobile, Ala. in 1909 by four priests of
the Josephite Fathers and three Catholic laymen to serve
African-Americans and other racial minorities.
Its founders were
concerned the Catholic Church would lose black individuals to fraternal
and secular organizations, at a time when local racism kept many out of
the Knights of Columbus.
The order has six divisions: the Ladies of Peter Claver, two separate
junior divisions for young men and young women, the Fourth Degree
Knights and the Fourth Degree Ladies of Grace.
The Knights of Peter Claver and the Ladies Auxiliary opposed
segregation and worked to transform how communities and cities thought
about race, equality and justice, Blackmon said. They worked with the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the
National Urban League.
The order's leadership and members were “intimately involved” in the
civil rights movement. Civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud, a national
secretary and national advocate of the order, worked with future Supreme
Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to help overturn legal segregation.
The now demolished Claver Building in New Orleans, which was the
Knights’ headquarters from 1951 to 1974, hosted early meetings “that
ultimately launched the civil rights movement,” Blackmon added.
Today, members of the order organize Martin Luther King Day activities
like Masses of Unity, prayer services, days of unity, and programs
commemorating King's vision in addition to their other charitable works.
Blackmon said King challenged America “to live out its creed that all
men are created equal.” He said the observance is an opportunity for
American Catholics to remember King's life and work and to realize the
challenge to work towards Jesus’ prayer that the Catholic Church “may
all be as one.”
He said African-American Catholics should use the day to remember those
who have accomplished “something for the larger community and the
greater good.” He mentioned African-American Catholic bishops like the
late New Orleans auxiliary Bishop Harold Perry and Archbishop Wilton
Gregory of Atlanta, former president of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
Blackmon praised the rise of African-Americans in professions like law, medicine, higher education and politics.
“We have realized numerous African-American and Hispanic cabinet
officials, legislators, and federal judges. We have realized a black
president in the White House,” he said.
However, he added, “there is still yet more to be effected.”
“By the grace of almighty God, by the arduous work of our hands, by the
standing up to be a witness to the saving power of God, we will
overcome prejudice, racism, intolerance, bias, narrow-mindedness, and
chauvinism,” he said.
He said Christians must be “ever mindful of our role in not only
welcoming, but also embracing and helping ‘the stranger’ among us.”
The Knights of Peter Claver aim to serve God and the Catholic Church.
They assist the needy, the sick, and disabled, while developing their
members through fellowship, recreational activities, scholarships, and
charitable work.
Their website is www.kofpc.org.