Submitted by Jim McCrea (not verified) on Oct. 06, 2009.
European ethnic loyalties tended to trump church loyalties, especially in the US at the time of the vast migration from all over Europe. Why else close proximity of various church buildings in major cities, each one with a different ethnic history --- and rivalry? I agree that the church cannot preach what it won't practice, but African churches don't need to feel inferior in this respect to European churches.
Racism, as well, has been endemic in the US church. One small case in point dealt with Archbishop Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S. Baltimore, late 1850s, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of women religious of African descent. The Abp tried to suppress this order because he was not comfortable with black sisters, even though his predecessor (Abp. Whitfield) had been nursed to health during a cholera epidemic by one of these sisters who subsequently perished from cholera.
European ethnic loyalties
European ethnic loyalties tended to trump church loyalties, especially in the US at the time of the vast migration from all over Europe. Why else close proximity of various church buildings in major cities, each one with a different ethnic history --- and rivalry? I agree that the church cannot preach what it won't practice, but African churches don't need to feel inferior in this respect to European churches.
Racism, as well, has been endemic in the US church. One small case in point dealt with Archbishop Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S. Baltimore, late 1850s, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of women religious of African descent. The Abp tried to suppress this order because he was not comfortable with black sisters, even though his predecessor (Abp. Whitfield) had been nursed to health during a cholera epidemic by one of these sisters who subsequently perished from cholera.
See www.questia.com