By Dr. Ansel Augustine
Assistant Director of African American Affairs, USCCB
For Black History Month 2025, Pax Christi USA will offer a weekly reflection focused on a well-known person or aspect of Black Catholicism in the United States.
“If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.” – St. Katharine Drexel
“Press forward, fear nothing” is the motto for the centennial anniversary of Xavier University of Louisiana, the only Black and Catholic University in the United States. It is also the only Catholic university in the area founded by a saint – St. Katharine Drexel.
Who would have imagined that 100 years ago, St. Katharine Drexel’s dream of creating a Catholic institution of higher learning would not only survive but thrive in the way that it has. Xavier has created leaders in various fields of leadership and service. Its impact has also been felt through, but not limited to, its housing of Freedom Riders during the civil rights movement; the creation of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies which shaped many leaders from the Black Catholic community; the tenure of Dr. Norman C. Francis who was the longest serving college/university president among all schools; the innovative leadership of current president Dr. Reynold Verret; its consistent leadership in sending African Americans to medical schools; and the anticipated opening of its own medical school, which will create a pipeline for more Black medical professionals to enter the field. (Plus its undefeated football team, when it existed.)
Pressing forward while fearing nothing
It was the racial realities of her time that motivated St. Katharine Drexel to use her family’s banking fortune in Philadelphia to create programs to assist Black and Native American Catholics around the country. Threats from various groups, including the Klu Klux Klan, did not deter her. She was a woman of deep faith, and she knew this was an assignment from God and, no matter what she faced, God would be with her to continue the journey. Even amidst challenges from white patriarchy, St. Katharine Drexel continued on her mission because God was in control, not mortals.
The model for allyship
As a white woman, St. Katharine Drexel models what true allyship looks like in today’s society. Many folks see the issues that communities on the margins face, but do not know how to address them, or, despite having good intentions, they may create more problems with a “savior complex” rather than authentically encountering the gifts that already exist in that community and truly journeying with the community. What St. Katharine Drexel modeled was the following:
- She used her privilege to create opportunities for those on the margins.
- She fearlessly challenged those in power to protect and defend those opportunities.
- She saw Christ in all, and did not adhere to the dehumanizing norms of her time; like Jesus, she was countercultural.
- She used her faith to empower the voices of those on the margins. She did not need to be in control, or the center of attention. She made sure African Americans and Native Americans were able to dictate what they wanted and used her resources/influence to allow them to lead themselves.
As you read this, let us be encouraged and motivated by St. Katharine Drexel’s example and wisdom to continue to create a just society. No matter what may happen, let us “press forward and fear nothing.”
Dr. Ansel Augustine serves as the Assistant Director of African American Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; is on the faculty of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana, Graduate Theological Foundation, and Loyola University New Orleans’ Institute for Ministry; and is the former director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
He has a wealth of ministerial experience with youth and young adults which he has shared through presentations and gatherings with Pax Christi USA’s Young Adult Caucus.
He is the author of the award-winning Leveling the Praying Ground: Can the Church we love, love us back? (Orbis Books, 2022), which includes an entire chapter dedicated to allies such as St. Mother Katharine Drexel, and of the upcoming book Praying with Our Feet: Encountering God in the margins (Loyola Press, June 2025).