Martin Luther King Jr. can't be understood apart from his faith, Bishop Battersby says

Annual Mass honoring legacy of 1960s civil rights leader calls Catholics to proclaim Jesus as Lord, as Rev. King did

DETROIT — Catholics braved single-digit temperatures to gather Jan. 15 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament to celebrate a Mass for Peace and Justice in gratitude for the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The day was a chance to pray and show gratitude for the civil rights advocacy and ministry of King, a Baptist minister who drew upon his Christian witness throughout his leadership in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said Vickie Figueroa, associate director of cultural ministries and Black Catholic ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“One of the traditions we have in the Catholic faith is to walk along with and be in communion with the saints, those who have walked before us and showed us the way,” Figueroa told Detroit Catholic. “Dr. Martin Luther King was a reverend, and he had beliefs and fought for many things the Catholic faith fights for now: for the dignity of human life, racial equality for all people, fair housing, equal socioeconomic opportunities, for just war, for an improved quality of life from birth to natural death.”

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Gerard W. Battersby celebrated Mass and delivered the homily before an estimated 150 people at the cathedral, echoing St. Peter telling Christ, “It is good we are here,” on Mount Tabor. Likewise, Bishop Battersby said it was good for the faithful to gather to proclaim the kingship of Jesus Christ, a kingship Rev. King boldly proclaimed.

“It is when we gather for the Holy Mass that we manifest our Catholicity as a people of God,” Bishop Battersby said. “It is where we declare, where we assert and boast of the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the world, where we proclaim Christ as Lord, where we declare to be his witnesses, his ambassadors.”

The apostles were able to become ambassadors for Christ because they allowed Christ to change their lives, particularly in the Upper Room, when the apostles emerged and proclaimed to the crowds that Christ was Lord, the bishop said.

“They were these bold witnesses because the encounter they had with Christ changed them,” Bishop Battersby said. “They went from hiding in fear to boldness and proclamation. Read the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and see how Peter became magnificent. He did so by bearing witness to the Risen Lord.”

Just as the testimony — and later martyrdom — of the apostles sealed their witness to Christ, King’s witness — and assassination — were rooted in proclaiming Christ as Lord, Bishop Battersby said.

“Dr. King held witness to the Resurrection, came to know intimately Jesus, the Word of Life, as Lord, who sealed his testimony, his ambassadorial portfolio, with his own blood,” Bishop Battersby said. “It was Dr. King who was bearing witness to Christ. It may or may not have been James Earl Ray who shot Dr. King; it may or may not have been the devil that inspired that tragic day. But I say to you, that God redeemed that violent act and showed the world an affirmation of his discipleship. An unimpeachable testimony of a believer, testifying that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Bishop Battersby said it is impossible to truly understand King’s message without understanding his faith in Jesus Christ, how his calling to speak out for the oppressed and maligned were inseparable from the truth that God is love.

“'Jesus is Lord' is not a slogan; it is the proclamation that God is love,” Bishop Battersby said. “That He sent His only son, that those who might press into this truth that is the Lordship of Jesus Christ might not perish but have eternal life.

“(King) understood, and did so because he was a believer, like Peter in the Gospel,” Bishop Battersby added. “He was bold enough to call a nation to account for its failures, to live out its creed, to be the witnesses it said it was.”