National Catholic Ministry Leaders Experience to Montgomery & Selma, AL
Reflect on the racist roots of the capital punishment and mass incarceration systems and how the Church can advance truth-telling and healing.
Journeying as Pilgrims of Hope: A Special Jubilee Year Experience
On November 5-7, 2025 CMN invites National Catholic Ministry Leaders to join us for in Montgomery and Selma, AL.
Every 25 years, the Catholic Church recognizes a special year to “proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and letting the oppressed go free.” A year that proclaims liberation, conversion, and reconciliation to mark a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God.
We will answer the Holy Father’s call to be Pilgrims of Hope by exploring the heart of racial violence and resilience and discerning — through encounter, prayer, and dialogue — how we as Catholics leaders are called to play a more active role in meaningful efforts to move our country forward.
Why we do it
Since 2022, CMN has hosted 8 delegations of national Catholic ministry leaders in Montgomery and Selma, AL, including. During three days, participants witness landmarks of racial violence and resilience in Montgomery and Selma — the cradle of the domestic slave trade, of the Confederacy, and of the Civil Rights movement.
Participants unpack how the legacy of our nation’s history of slavery, lynching, and segregation is manifest in contemporary injustices, such as mass incarceration, capital punishment, and the racial disparities embedded in them. Through encounter, prayer, and dialogue, participants discern how Catholic leaders are called to answer these guiding questions:
- What is the relationship between the nation’s past and modern-day systems of oppression, particularly related to the criminal legal system?
- What is required of the Church, its leadership, and its faithful in order to be ministers of reconciliation?
- How can the Church and its members play a more active role in truth-telling and meaningful efforts that move our ministries, communities, Church and country forward?
On this trip you will…
Further your knowledge of the history of the Civil Rights Movement where key events happened, with community members who were present.
Sites of the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Dexter Parsonage | Young Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Congregation from 1954 to 1960
Sites of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches for Voting Rights
- Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
- The Catholic City of St Jude
- Meet with a life-long Civil Rights activist who participated in the March
Understand the connection between the history of slavery and racial terror, and the modern-day systems of mass incarceration and capital punishment.
- The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration
- The National Memorial for Peace and Justice: A sacred space for truth telling and reflection about lynching and its legacy
- The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park: Honoring the legacy of emancipated people
- Meet with an attorney from Equal Justice Initiative
Pray and discern how Catholics can play a more active role in truth-telling to move our nation towards justice and healing.
- Encounters with Catholic ministries: Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South & the Edmundite Missions in Selma
- Mass, group prayer and meditation times
- In-depth sharing times with fellow national Catholic ministers
“Racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart.
These encounters will help open our minds and hearts more fully and continue the healing needed in our communities and our nation.”—U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – A Pastoral Letter Against Racism (2018)
Individual Participation
Are you interested in traveling with CMN to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama? Follow the link below to submit an application to be considered for an upcoming trip. Our next trip — which will be a special Jubilee Year experience — will take place November 5-7, 2025.
CMN hosts your group
You can also let us know if you’d be interested in bringing your entire group, ministry, or community to Alabama.
Since 2024, CMN has led 5 groups of sponsored Catholic network leaders including a diocese, a parish, and religious communities. In March 2023, CMN organized a delegation for U.S. bishops, in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee against Racism.
Please fill out this interest form if your diocese, Catholic organization or ministry network is interested in convening a delegation. We will be in touch with you.
