Читать книгу Healing the Racial Divide - Lincoln Rice - Страница 4

First, I would like to thank Arthur Grand Pré Falls. The passion and vigor behind his life and writings has been an inspiration for me. The decades of his life that he dedicated to racial justice were a constant source of reinvigoration in getting back to work on this project. Furthermore, Arthur’s own unique vision of the Catholic Worker movement continues to challenge my own appropriation of this movement.

Professionally, I owe my eternal gratitude to Bryan Massingale—my dissertation director. My initial interest at St. Francis Seminary had been in spirituality and scripture. His obvious enthusiasm for moral theology and its importance for twenty-first century Catholicism are in no small way responsible for my further studies in the subject. I also owe my gratitude to the rest of my dissertation board. Patrick Carey was supportive of a PhD student who came into his office wanting to write a paper on Arthur Falls, without any real sources at that moment. Daniel Maguire is a testament to the importance of conscience and the need to intelligently—and at times humorously—interact with our great Catholic tradition. Jon Nilson’s own willingness to become an apprentice to James Cone and black Catholic thought serves as an example par excellence for how white Catholic theologians should address racism. I would also like to thank Karen A. Johnson, a fellow researcher at Wheaton College, who was willing to share with me her own discoveries related to Falls.

I am also thankful to the Marquette Theology Department for its commitment to high academic quality and its generous funding of my classes. I am thankful to the family of Cyril E. Smith (1900–1969) for funding my first year of dissertating in the form of the Smith Family Fellowship, which allowed me to perform research in Chicago.

I am thankful to the many faith communities that have supported me over the years: the Casa Maria Catholic Worker, St. Michael Catholic Church, and Blessed Trinity Parish in Milwaukee; St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church and Catholic Central Grade School in Green Bay; and, of course, my parents, Curt and Cele Rice—and their parents, who passed on to them a faith that they in turned passed on to me.

Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Laura Pope. She has always supported me on this project. No words can express my sincere gratitude for her.