Extension magazine - Summer 2023
Our president, Father Jack Wall, met Pope Francis in a private audience in Rome as part of a Catholic Extension delegation that included our chancellor, Cardinal Blase Cupich; our vice chancellor, Bishop Gerald Kicanas; and more than 60 women faith leaders. The Holy Father thanked Catholic Extension for "caring for the needs of the poor and most vulnerable."
Our president, Father Jack Wall, met Pope Francis in a private audience in Rome as part of a Catholic Extension delegation that included our chancellor, Cardinal Blase Cupich; our vice chancellor, Bishop Gerald Kicanas; and more than 60 women faith leaders. The Holy Father thanked Catholic Extension for "caring for the needs of the poor and most vulnerable."
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32 INSPIRE<br />
Feature Story<br />
<strong>Extension</strong> | <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2023</strong> 33<br />
March 1965. A nun<br />
demonstrates her<br />
support of the Civil<br />
Rights Movement at<br />
the Alabama State<br />
Capitol.<br />
THE UNTOLD STORIES OF CATHOLICS IN THE SOUTH<br />
Still<br />
fighting<br />
for<br />
DID YOU KNOW that two<br />
of Martin Luther King Jr.’s children<br />
were born in a Catholic<br />
hospital in Montgomery, Alabama,<br />
because it was one of<br />
only a few places where Black<br />
families in the South were not<br />
excluded from quality medical<br />
care?<br />
Did you know that, in 1965,<br />
the famous five-day march<br />
from Selma to Montgomery to<br />
advocate for voter rights culminated<br />
on the grounds of a<br />
Catholic parish?<br />
justice<br />
Did you know that the late<br />
Civil Rights Movement leader<br />
John Lewis, whose skull was<br />
fractured by law enforcement<br />
officials as he crossed<br />
the Edmund Pettus Bridge in<br />
Selma, was treated by a Catholic<br />
health facility that saved his<br />
life? And did you know that<br />
when Lewis opened his eyes,<br />
the first person he saw was a<br />
Catholic priest?<br />
These stories of the Civil<br />
Rights Movement abound<br />
among Catholics in Central Al-<br />
abama, but they are largely<br />
unknown elsewhere. They remind<br />
us of what the Church<br />
has done—and continues<br />
to do—in difficult circumstances.<br />
WELCOMING CIVIL<br />
RIGHTS MARCHERS<br />
Leontyne Pringle remembers<br />
marching from<br />
Selma nearly 60 years<br />
ago with her mother. When<br />
asked if it was meaningful to<br />
her that the marchers stopped<br />
on the grounds of St. Jude<br />
Catholic Church in Montgomery,<br />
she replied with a smile,<br />
“Of course. This is where I<br />
went to school.”<br />
St. Jude Church and School<br />
were founded in 1934 to serve,<br />
educate and give opportunities<br />
to Black children. This was<br />
during a time when the Alabama<br />
state government systematically<br />
hindered the eco-<br />
PHOTO © 1965 SPIDER MARTIN
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