As Adrienne Curry prepares to take on a new role as director of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of Black Catholic Ministries, she hopes to apply her extensive background in the social justice movement and her pastoral experience to support the Black Catholic community in Maryland.
“The bishops said that racism is a sin and it’s an affront to the dignity of the human person,” said Curry, a Chicago native who most recently served as the social action director for the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, “but, as they say, Catholic social teaching is our best-kept secret. So part of my job will be to educate people on the principles of Catholic social teaching and apply it to everyday life. So, definitely, eradicating racism is part of that. ”
For the past year, Curry has worked on her doctoral thesis at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky, studying anti-racism in the Diocese of Youngstown. She begins her new role in Baltimore July 5, succeeding Sherita Thomas, interim director of the office.
In announcing the appointment June 17, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said Curry will “advocate for the needs and concerns of the Black Catholic community and work to enhance the efforts of local parishes to eliminate barriers to evangelization, especially barriers of racial prejudice.”
The archbishop said Curry will serve as a member of the archdiocese’s Journey to the Racial Justice Coordinating Council and will help implement his call for racial justice that was discussed in his two pastoral letters, “The Enduring Power of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Principles of Nonviolence ”and“ The Journey to Racial Justice: Repentance, Healing and Action. ”
Curry ministered in a variety of roles in the Archdiocese of Chicago, including program director for Catholic Relief Services, the US bishop’s Baltimore-based international relief agency. She worked in Lexington as a pastoral associate for parish social ministry. In Youngstown, her responsibilities included overseeing programs of the diocesan Office of Social Action and managing grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
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