Conference opens dialogue on challenges of faith, Catholic experience

“Compassion is hard work walking with someone in their stuff,” said Father Steven Bell, CSP, about confronting obstacles to faith in his “Shaking the Salt and Switching on the Light” presentation at the Unity Explosion Conference  June 9.

Father Bell added that compassion means getting down in the gutter with someone who finds himself there.

Darren Davis followed up his morning presentation on the “The Call: Learn, Think, Pray and Act!” panel with his “Context and Challenges of Black Catholic Religiosity” presentation in the afternoon. He introduced the challenges to religious engagement among Black Catholics and their sense of belonging in the Church.

“We are fully Catholic,” Davis said about some objections to Black Catholic authenticity. “We have endured, persevered and arrived,” he said. “The Catholic Church is our home church.”

Unity Explosion began 29 years ago as a liturgically-focused and faith-based evangelization conference to embrace and recognize the gifts that American Catholics of African descent have brought to the Church. The 2018 conference is being held in San Antonio.