Jesuit priests pledged Monday to raise $ 100 million for the descendants of people enslaved by the Catholic order as part of a new racial reconciliation initiative in the United States, the New York Times first reported.
Why it’s important: It is one of the largest movements of an institution to atone for slavery and “the greatest effort of the Roman Catholic Church to amend the purchase, sale and enslavement of black people,” officials and historians told the NYT. church.
Leading the news: Protests over systemic racism over the past year have pushed lawmakers and companies to make or consider repairing slavery.
Details: In a “first unique partnership” between slave and slave descendants, the Truth & Reconciliation Descendants Foundation was created by the GU272 Descendants Association and the Jesuits “in pursuit of racial healing and justice,” for statement of the Catholic order.
- The foundation is “rooted in the events of 1838, when 272 enslaved men, women, and children were sold by Jesuit owners at Georgetown University to plantation owners in Louisiana,” according to the statement.
- A New Orleans bank later acquired by JPMorgan Chase used these enslaved people as collateral. JPMorgan will be a trustee and will provide services that include planning and advice.
What to expect: The group aims to support the educational aspirations of descendants for future generations and to actively promote, promote and support programs and activities that “highlight truth, accelerate racial healing and reconciliation, and promote racial justice and equality to United States, “according to the statement.
- “The Foundation aims to develop a full understanding and reconciliation with the many higher education institutions and other entities that benefited from slavery,” the statement added.
Note: The pledge is far below the $ 1 billion demanded by leaders descending from the Catholic order.
- But the Rev. Timothy P. Kesicki, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, and Joseph Stewart, acting president of the foundation, told the Times that this was the long-term goal.
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