New book promotes unity

During the racial turbulence that defined the 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once called 11 a.m. on Sunday the “most segregated hour in America.”

King was referring to a time when many people were attending services at their own particular place of worship but few of those churches were integrated.

Nearly six decades later Father Josh Johnson, vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge and a popular speaker and author, said perhaps not much has changed.

“It’s a tragedy what Dr. King said is still true today,” Father Johnson said. “Many of our schools, our businesses, our sports, places in the secular community are integrated. The one place that is not integrated is our churches.

“If you don’t believe me then go to your church on Sunday and look around and tell me what do you see.”

Developing and implementing effective strategies to achieve racial equality in the pews is the focus of Father Johnson’s latest book, one he calls the most important book he has written. “On Earth As It Is In Heaven: Restoring God’s Vision of Race and Discipleship” is a practical guide addressing the racial divide and how people can begin to engage each other in prayer, relationship, worship and service in their wider communities. 

“When we do this, the racial divide will be healed,” Father Johnson said. “We will be transformed. If we don’t do this, then there is going to be division.”

Father Johnson said the basis of the book is Jesus’ final mandate to his apostles: make disciples of all nations. Father Johnson explained the word “nation” comes from the Greek word “ethos,” meaning ethnicities.

He said at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, disciples, the Virgin Mary and other women who had gathered together and they all began to carry out the Lord’s final instructions.

He said the fruit of their ministry was building what was written in the Book of Revelation when St. John said in his glimpse of heaven he saw men and women from every race, nation, tribe and tongue worshipping God together.

“So that’s what heaven looks like,” he said. “Our goal is for our earth to look a lot more like heaven, especially for our churches to look a lot more like heaven.”

But as he traverses the nation giving talks, Father Johnson sees a lack of diversity in many Catholic churches, calling it a “huge problem.” 

“We are not fulfilling what Christ wants,” he said. “Jesus told us he wants unity. And until we are all one it’s going to be an issue.”

Father Johnson said the devil, at least in the United States, has been able to cultivate division, to the point where many parishes are divided. 

But he is encouraged that church leaders he meets have a hunger to create that unity but are admittedly either uncertain or perhaps even a bit fearful knowing how to make that happen. 

“People are telling me to help them so they can do a better job,” he said.

Father Johnson said that constant desire he hears from church leaders to help them bridge the racial divide is the inspiration for the book, which is gleaned not only from his own personal experiences but also individual stories that have been shared with him. 

Additionally, he shares stories where parishes have been successful in building that unity on the parish level. 

Father Johnson said when he visits a new church he first looks at the parish boundaries and strongly encourages pastors and parishioners to do the same. Although boundaries may not seem that diverse, he stressed pastors and parish leaders must look around what he called the “secular land,” meaning the businesses, workplaces, neighborhoods surrounding the church.

“Whatever that looks like is what the church should look like,” Father Johnson explained. “From there you know who is coming and who is not. The ones not coming are the ones you should go out to invite to attend church.”

He said the Code of Canon Law states pastors are responsible to minister to Catholics in the parish boundaries. 

“So if the boundaries of my parish (include) Black and white and Asian and Latino and indigenous, men and women, young and old my church should look like that,” he said. “We need to break out of our holy huddles, to get out of our comfort zones and meet everybody who lives in the geographic boundaries of our parishes and do what the apostles did 2,000 years ago and invite them to discipleship, invite them to a relationship with Jesus Christ, invite them to a relationship, to a small Bible study group, to our adoration chapels, to our food pantries and our St. Vincent de Paul ministries of the poor and begin to share life with them,” he added.

Intentionally forming relationships with people who are different in age, gender, ethnicity, social standing and economics is critical, he said, adding that by doing so one can learn how to survive in a relationship with others and be a bridge for them to come to the sacraments.

As a result those individuals can be a bridge to a deeper conversion. 

“We all need each other and need help to transform each other,” he said.  

Father Johnson said he wrote the book to assist church leaders to do a better job of becoming disciples. 

“My audience is the leaders in the church and they are the ones who are not doing this yet but they want to do it,” he said. “They have a hunger for it.”

Father Johnson said he believes he was “created to write this book so I think this book has the capacity to transform the nation.”

 Catholic leaders who have read advanced copies have been vocal in their praise, Father Johnson said, noting he has already received endorsements from Bishop Robert Barron of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Archbishop William D. Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

“This book seems to be a gift for our times such as this,” said Father Johnson. “I’m grateful the Lord has allowed me to write this book.

“I can’t wait to see unity in the body of Christ, I can’t wait to see the end of  racial divide in our nation. It’s possible.”

He said hearts and minds along with practices and politics can be transformed and the book is one of the many tools the Lord can use to bring about renewal and restoration across the country.

The book can be pre-ordered through Ascension Press and Amazon and will be shipped beginning May 19. It will be available in bookstores soon.