BLACK PRIEST, WHITE CHURCH

by Lawrence Lucas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 1970

Father Lawrence Lucas is a priest of the Catholic Church. Moreover, he is black, even though, as he says, ""Lawdy, I went through the whitening process""--that is, the seminary. His message is obvious enough from the title: the Roman Catholic Church in America is a white church, designed for, run by, and attuned to, white people. Every black man who is a Catholic must either go through a whitening process of his own, or sit in the back of the Church. What has all this to do with the universal Church founded by a man who ""died for all men""? Nothing at all. And that is Father Lucas' point, which he illustrates by drawing upon the experience of years of observation, reflection, struggle, humiliation, and sometimes upon the bitter oversimplifications that those years have generated: ""Morality is laws, traditions and customs that justify white supremacy. . . . Peace is equivalent to not disturbing the white tranquillity of mind. . . . Law and order is nigger control."" Lucas' book, however, is not an attack upon the American Church or the American hierarchy. It is an extraordinarily moving plea for a reformation of attitudes; or rather, an impassioned sermon on the necessity for American Catholics to become Christians.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION