ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a “revolution of conscience” and sought “the conversion of hearts,” Washington Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said during a Jan. 18 Mass remembering the late Civil Rights leader.
“Dr. King was truly a dreamer and a prophet,” the cardinal said. “He came to echo the message of Jesus Christ that we are all truly brothers and sisters.”
Cardinal McElroy was the principal celebrant of the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual Mass honoring the life and legacy of Rev. King.
Held at the Shrine of St. Jude Catholic Church in the Washington suburb of Rockville and sponsored by the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelization and Synodal Renewal’s Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach, this year’s Mass honoring Rev. King had as its theme, “The Church and the Dream: Building Peace through Justice.”
More than 500 people attended the Mass that was concelebrated by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr. and Father Paul Lee, pastor of the parish.
“We live in a blessed country, … but the persistence of the problem of racism and ethnic discrimination continues,” Cardinal McElroy said. While “tremendous progress has been made on so many levels” to combat the evil of racism, he said it continues because “the problem is in essence a problem of the heart.”
Washington’s archbishop called on the faithful to “constantly be seeking the conversion of human hearts,” and to “see each other as brothers and sisters,” because “we all come here as the children of the same God — the Father of us all.”
The cardinal praised Rev. King’s nonviolent approach to combat racism and discrimination because “we cannot advance the fight for racial justice with an eye for an eye.”
In welcoming the cardinal and the faithful to his parish church, Father Lee noted the varied ethnicities among the congregation and said, “We rejoice in the rich diversity of our Church.”
Cardinal McElroy called the diversity of the congregation “an example and testimony of the Catholic faith.”
Father Lee also pointed out that the Mass was being offered at the start of a week that included the federal holiday commemorating the birthday of Rev. King (Jan. 19 this year), the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children (Jan. 22) and the annual March for Life (Jan. 23). He said the Mass would be an opportunity to pray for “the protection of human dignity, solidarity and the healing of our world.”
The prayers of the faithful included the petition that the Catholic Church would always be “a courageous witness to the dignity of every human person.”
On Aug. 28, 1963, Rev. King was among the leaders who organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march included a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that opened with an invocation by then-Washington Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle. It was there that Rev. King offered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
In that “I Have a Dream” speech, Rev. King spoke of his dream where “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day … little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
In his homily, Cardinal McElroy referenced that “I Have a Dream” speech and urged those at the Mass and all of society to “redouble our efforts to eliminate the evil of racism … like Dr. King, we must be dreamers to seek change … and more importantly to dream what our God wants for us.”
In 1964, Rev. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end racial discrimination and segregation through nonviolent means. He was, at that time, the youngest-ever recipient of that prestigious honor.
During the Mass, Cardinal McElroy also prayed that God would bless peacemakers who seek to “establish justice to bring about a true and lasting peace.”
Rev. King was assassinated in 1968 because of his efforts to secure justice and equality for oppressed persons. In late March of that year, he traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to support Black sanitary public works employees who were on strike seeking higher wages and better working conditions.
On April 4, Rev. King was standing on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel when he was mortally wounded by a gunshot fired by James Earl Ray. He was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where after emergency surgery he was pronounced dead. He was 39 years old.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Day federal holiday was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and first observed three years later. It is celebrated each year on the third Monday of January, close to Rev. King’s Jan. 15 birthday. Born in 1929, the late Civil Rights leader would have been 97 this year.
Richard Szczepanowski is managing editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington. This story was originally published by the Catholic Standard and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
