In “Paul’s Letter to American Christians,” Dr. King boldly decries the division, apathy, and moral tepidness of Christians in the face of racial segregation and rampant economic inequality in the United States. Preached in 1958, his critique is, sadly, still relevant and needed as white supremacy, poverty, materialism, and Christian nationalism plague our nation. A recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institute found that over half of Republicans in the United States are either sympathetic toward or adherents to the ideals of Christian nationalism. Among white adherents to Christian nationalism, 66% disagree that white supremacy is a major problem in the United States. And 8 in 10 Christian nationalists agree with the statement “God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world.” In a context wherein Christianity is used to reinforce white supremacy and deny the dehumanizing legacy of slavery, colonization, and segregation, Dr. King’s words are worth repeating “I find it necessary to remind you of the responsibility laid upon you to represent the ethical principles of Christianity amid a time that popularity disregards them.”
There is much to reflect on in this text but I want to be personal and particular in my response as a Roman Catholic whose love for the Church has been renewed by Pope Francis. There are multiple published versions of this sermon. In an earlier reflection (1958), Dr. King, disturbed by the doctrine of papal infallibility as well as the Catholic Church’s refusal to join the World Council of Churches, rightly reminds the Catholic Church that it does not have a monopoly on truth. This does not appear in the 1963 text. Rather, Dr. King names the significance of Pope John XXIII’s invitation to Protestant observers at the Second Vatican Council with “hope that it is the beginning of a development that will bring all Christians closer and closer together.” By expressing the synodal and global character of the Catholic Church, Vatican II can be seen as a significant step away from the hierarchical, sectarian Church that rightly disturbed King. Yet, this is an unfinished project and Dr. King’s appeal for Christian unity, humility and boldness remains prophetic and contested.
We see this in the resistance to Pope Francis among some traditional Catholics. Francis has advanced the vision of Vatican II in his synod on synodality, which invites the whole Church, particularly those who find themselves on the social and ecclesial margins, to discern together. Francis instructs the bishops to listen closely to the people they lead, to build a culture of encounter, and “to become shepherds who smell like sheep.” Like Dr. King, Francis is disturbed by the “pomp and power” (1958) of the Catholic Church and desires a “poor Church of the poor.”
Yet, some Catholics accuse Francis of being too flexible toward divorced and remarried members of the Church, or too political in his positions on migration, or even too “Marxist” in his denunciation of unfettered capitalism. Francis and King closely align on their assessment of “misused” capitalism. King warns, “I am afraid that many among you are more concerned in making money than in accumulating spiritual treasures.” Pope Francis, similarly has denounced a “throw-away culture” which values people for what they produce and possess rather than who they are. A throw-away culture thrives on materialism and the exploitation of others. By making an idol of money, it distracts us from our deeper human longings. Francis contends in his encyclical on the care for our common home, Laudato si, “our current progress and the mere amassing of things and pleasures are not enough to give meaning and joy to the human heart” (LS 209).
Dr. King powerfully names the incompatibility of a throw-away culture and Christianity, which sees all actions, all service, all sacrifice and all progress, to be nothing without love. King reminds a “power-drunk generation” (1958) (and we might imply, a “power-drunk Church”) that true authority comes from prophetic, nonviolent witness. In a context where “material gains” and “scientific advances” have outpaced our moral progress, King reminds Christians of our responsibility to be counter-cultural voices for unity.
Pope Francis regards Dr. King as a model for unity and “liberty in plurality.” In his 2015 address to Congress, Francis named Dr. King among four exemplary US Americans. Along with Abraham Lincoln, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton, Francis sees in Martin Luther King, Jr. the best embodiment of our dreams and potential as a nation. Certainly we have far to go as a nation to live into his dream and we have far to go as a Church to reform our ways. But it gives me hope that today’s Pope looks beyond the walls of the Catholic Church to find truth and inspiration. And I am grateful to Dr. King for his prophetic witness that challenged me to be a better Catholic, a better Christian, and a better person.
