Larycia Hawkins discusses race, religion and politics at Dominican U. in Illinois

[Dwyer]

In fact, at the beginning of the Q & A period, people were told not to even ask about that conflict. Instead, Dr. Hawkins, who has her Ph.D. in political science, spoke on Race and Parish Matters, The Politics of Black Catholic parishes (at Dominican University’s Rosary Chapel) . . .

Two of the black parishes on which she based her research are St. Sabina, 1210 W. 78th Place, and St. Agatha on the West Side, both of which have white pastors, Fr. Michael Pfleger and Fr. Larry Dowling. She responds to critics of that decision by saying that what matters is not the color of the pastors’ skin but their ability to see reality through the eyes of oppressed and marginalized people. In other words, they practice liberation theology . .

That last question was personal. Hawkins (who is not Catholic) knows how to do social science, but to her surprise she found in Catholic social teaching an articulation of the relationship of faith to politics that she has heard “nowhere else.” Citing the encyclical Rerum Novarum in particular, which Pope Leo XIII promulgated in 1891, she said that Catholic social teaching “changed my life.”

riverforest.com/News/Articles/4-5-2016/Culture-war-casualty,-unbowed-/

I’ve been reading the Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, IL; this story was on the front page.

It sounds like this scholar needs to learn a lot more about Catholicism in order to draw accurate factual conclusions about Catholic parishes and American politics.