Toward a Catholic Malcolm X?

I confess to being a bit surprised when I was invited to participate in a discussion concerning the state of “critical Catholic Studies.” I often experience that my interests and concerns – especially regarding racial justice and the intersections of race and sexuality – are not at the core of what might be commonly construed as “Catholic.” At best, these matters are peripheral or marginal to what many consider to be a genuinely Catholic intellectual enterprise.

So, to honor the request that we be direct, pointed, provocative, and brief in our contributions, I will focus mine upon the following questions: Is there room in the discipline of Catholic Studies for a Catholic Malcolm X? Or better stated (presuming a too facile affirmative reply), what kind of space would be allowed or allotted for his/her voice? Is a “Catholic Malcolm X” an oxymoron or impossibility in Catholic Studies? To broaden my questions beyond a specific figure, I ask: Is there space for black religious radicalism in Catholic Studies?⁶ Should there be? Let me explain the questions.

I titled my 2010 CTSA Presidential Address, “Vox Victimarum, Vox Dei: Malcolm X as Neglected ‘Classic’ in Catholic Theological Reflection.”⁷ I wanted to signal to the Catholic guild of scholars not only the necessity of engaging the Black experience, but also the need to engage the entirety of that cultural experience – including currents of Black Nationalist or radical race thought – instead of only those aspects of the Black experience considered safe or unthreatening.⁸ I was later told that some of those in attendance, upon discovering the title in the convention program, remarked, “Has Bryan lost his mind?” After the address, a colleague admitted in an email that while grateful that I had addressed this topic, s/he would never have done so, given what my colleague called “the bourgeois nature of the CTSA and Catholic theology.” These reactions are telling and indicative of the problem with not only Catholic theology, but also with the way “Catholic Studies” as the field is usually and commonly construed. For in the U.S. context, Catholic intellectual engagement is marked by a dearth of serious engagement with black radical thought and critique.

To further explain: By a space for a “Catholic Malcolm X,” I mean the reconstitution of Catholic Studies through its encounter with subversive voices which, like Malcolm’s, would boldly declare, “Catholicism has failed us.” And by “us,” these voices would intend not only African Americans but all racial identities. Because all are harmed by the reason for Catholicism’s failure – and by extension, Catholic Studies’ failure, insofar as Catholic Studies engages and reflects upon Catholic life and practice: “It’s failure to address racism.”⁹ By calling for a reconstitution of Catholic Studies, I contend that its marginal considerations of race or episodic forays with either critical race studies or radical black thought are not simply sins of omission that can be rectified through an expanded reading list or the addition of authors of color to an accepted canon. Rather, this limited engagement with the reality of racialization and its injustices stems from a fundamentally idolatrous symbol system of a white God.¹⁰ The consequence of this idolatrous symbol system is that for Catholic Studies, “Catholic” = “white.” Thus what makes Catholic Studies “white” is not the racial identity of the majority of its participants, but the pervasive, albeit tacit, conviction that “Western European aesthetics, music, theology, and persons – and only these – are standard, normative, universal, and truly “Catholic.”¹¹ A discipline constituted by a normative whiteness will have very limited space for a Catholic Malcolm X, to say the least. To create such a space would entail a thorough-going revision, not a modest retooling.

This is the essence of Black Radicalism: it is nothing less than a passionate commitment to the subversive conviction that black people – indeed all persons of color – are fully human. Regardless of disagreements over tactics and rhetorical expression, what unites black radicals is an unwavering commitment to the full humanity of black people. What makes this a radical undertaking is the forthright and candid...