Systemic racism still haunts the U.S. Catholic Church, writes Tia Noelle Pratt. The church must strive to become a place for diverse peoples to come together.

“This evil affects everyone, and all communities are affected by racism,” said Bishop Shelton J. Fabre.

‘Who else has written so keenly and movingly about hope, evil, endurance, pain, greed, transcendence, all the things that make us human?’

Morrison’s work conveyed the pain, sacrifice and trauma that exemplifies so much of the African-American experience.

Black Catholics have been at the forefront of the push to get the Vatican to confront the church’s racist past and present.

"We must all take responsibility to reject language that ridicules, condemns, or vilifies another person because of their race, religion, gender, age, culture or ethnic background," the archbishop said.