The Feast Day of Saint Peter Claver leads some among us - perhaps most especially Black Catholics - to reflect on what our patron Saint Francis de Sales described as unidiversity.
The universality of the Body of Christ is a key tenet of our Catholic faith. We also know that we are called to be One Church. But sadly, we live in very splintered and fractious times. Interestingly enough, Peter Claver and Francis de Sales both lived in times of tumult and hostility. The late 16th century was a time in dire need of people of great faith, who could effectively spread the Lord’s Gospel by the unique way each ministered to God’s people.
For Claver, his call was to literally provide loving care and kindness by tending to both the spiritual need for the sacraments and treating the physical wounds of hundreds of thousands of enslaved men and women (during a 33-year ministry, in present-day Columbia, South America). Because of his efforts to help these poor enslaved souls, Claver risked his own life. For de Sales, his call was to educate and inform a church community in urgent need of reform. One of de Sales’ most enduring messages is that “God sees humanity as a great and varied garden, with each person beautiful in his or her own uniqueness.” Many who live in the 21st century seem to have forgotten that message, but St. Peter Claver and St. Francis de Sales left templates for how we can still teach this most important lesson.
Those of us who have opened the doors to our homes or soup kitchens to serve refugees -- from the storms that consistently batter Haiti or the militant troops that have returned to threaten the people in Afghanistan -- may not risk losing our lives like St. Peter Claver. But by living our lives according to the Beatitudes, we are definitely making a bold and clear statement about unidiversity. And while offering a course to high school seniors about how saints during ages past and from around the world were reformers may not seem like a radical notion, in our times, it is. The saints from times past were either born into aristocratic wealth (like de Sales) or to impoverished families (like Claver). Yet they did not seek to malign those who are different, but instead recognized others’ innate dignity and worth, as members of the Body of Christ.
We live in a world and at a time when it is easier to teach students to memorize all the commandments and quote many encyclicals than it is to find daily examples of Catholics living the Salesian virtues of gentleness, respect, and gratitude. But, our recognition of our students’ unique talents and gifts gives us good reason for optimism and confidence that we will succeed.
Thank you, Saint Peter Claver and Saint Francis de Sales for providing such rich lesson plans.
Mr. Kevin O. Williams
School Minister/Theology Teacher
Father Judge High School, Philadelphia
