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Les jésuites reconnaissent que l’esclavage est un mal et que la détention et l’exploitation d’esclaves étaient un péché. Aujourd’hui, les jésuites écoutent et apprennent des descendants de ceux qu’ils ont réduits à l’esclavage alors que nous nous engageons dans un processus attendu depuis longtemps de dire la vérité et de guérison. Ce processus continu doit se dérouler à plusieurs niveaux – local, institutionnel, national – et doit se faire en partenariat avec de multiples acteurs communautaires.

If you believe you are a descendant, we invite you to contact us.

Several Jesuit colleges and universities are addressing their histories of slaveholding.

Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope

In 2017, Jesuit Conference President Tim Kesicki, SJ, apologized for the Society of Jesus’ slaveholding.

The Jesuit Antiracism Sodality

JARS works to address racism within the Society of Jesus and its institutions.

Why do we engage in this work? Because we are called to give voice to those whose voices have been marginalized and almost forgotten. We desire to look honestly at our past so that we can, together, change our present and transform our future. Our compass is to name the nameless, to honor those who have been ignored, to admit our part in the horrific history of chattel slavery, and to walk in partnership with descendants as we dream of something new.

Just as the sacrament of reconciliation begins with the humble acknowledgment of our sinfulness, it is only by telling these stories with humility and openness that we begin the process of reconciliation.

Education

We empower students to connect Jesuit slaveholding to modern-day racial inequities and participate in efforts to rectify them.

…slavery was just the first stage, the ‘original sin,’ in our nation’s history of racism and racial injustice. It was followed by a century of legal segregation and now a half-century more of entrenched inequality that truly are the legacies of slavery and racism. They are part of the ‘history’ and ‘memory’ in what we are examining.

4511 W. Pine Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108

SHMR@jesuits.org
314.758.7159