What's Happening

March 26, 2025, Chicago – Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, was honored in early March as Founding Director of the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program. The program at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) provides Black Catholics with scholarships and professional and spiritual formation to serve Black Catholics in pastoral ministry.

The program is named after Venerable Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), the first recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. He is among six prominent U.S. Black Catholics whose causes for canonization in the Catholic Church have been opened.

Sister Jamie completed her doctorate from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before becoming a Professor of Systematic Theology at CTU. “CTU is a graduate theology program that prepares men and women for mission all over the world,” she said. “When I came to CTU, I was delighted because it helped me translate my theological study into something that would help people in their involvement” in the Church’s mission. She served at CTU from 1986 to 1998.

Sister Jamie said she and others at CTU realized that few Black Catholics were involved in ministry among Black Catholic parishioners. The Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program was developed in collaboration with Father Donald Senior, President of CTU, and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who wanted a place to train Black Catholics in ministry.

“In order to encourage Black participation, we set up the Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program,” along with a scholarship program to provide for tuition and books, Sister Jamie said. “A lot of people were working in the parishes but didn’t have money for the program. I was interested in providing education that grounded them in Catholic theology.” 

Sister Jamie said the program offers a Master’s in Divinity (MDiv) as well as a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS). The MAPS program had a pastoral component, requiring students to participate in practicums in the community and to write about their experience from a theological perspective. 

The goal, Sister Jamie said, was to help students “address the specific needs of Black Catholics in urban settings and to make sense of who God is and who Jesus is in the context of the Black community in the United States in particular.”

Over the years, Sister Jamie said, the program benefited the Black Catholic community. “They have priests, Sisters, and lay people doing more effective, theologically grounded ministry,” she said. Graduates of the program were trained to educate their parishioners about Jesus Christ.

“We developed the method of analysis that was not just left-brain but right-brain,” she explained. “How do you see yourself, your identity in your mission and in your ordinary life? You have to demonstrate your love for Jesus by loving your neighbor. This would compel you to be engaged in justice ministry … helping people to change their behavior to a right relationship with God, neighbor, and self.”

Sister Jamie said the 35th anniversary celebration included dinner and a recognition award for herself as founding director of the program. But she particularly enjoyed the celebration because it brought together former and current faculty members and students of the Tolton Program. “The real highlight for me was seeing [the Tolton Program’s] effects and meeting old colleagues from CTU,” as well as realizing the success of the program: the graduates made a positive impact on Church and society, she said.

During the celebration, she said, “My most profound rejoicing was to recognize that the founding of the Tolton Program was of God – because if it’s of God, it will grow. It has grown and continues to grow.” 

Read more about the celebration and the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program in this article in the Chicago Catholic.

 

Caption for above feature photo: Kim Lymore, Director of Catholic Theological Union’s Tolton Scholars Program, holds a photo of Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. Seated in front of her are Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, center, with two current Tolton Scholars: Gardis Watts, left, and Kianda Boyd.
Photo Courtesy of Catholic Theological Union
 

By Sister Judy Byron, OP, Portfolio Advisory Board Member and 
Maxwell Homans, Shareholder Advocacy Associate for Mercy Investments

February 18, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Beginning in 2024, several prominent companies announced that they are ending or modifying their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs aimed at hiring and supporting a more diverse workforce and supplier base. These announcements followed recent legal decisions regarding affirmative action programs, anti-DEI campaign rhetoric in the recent election cycle, and a flurry of anti-DEI shareholder proposals at companies in recent proxy seasons. 

Ford Motor Company was among the first to announce changes in its DEI programs, citing an “external and legal environment related to political and social issues [that] continues to evolve.” The Portfolio Advisory Board joined other investors in filing a shareholder proposal requesting that the company disclose analysis that the company undertook before making changes to its DEI policies and practices.
 
Ford’s announced changes included no longer participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) survey on corporate practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) employees; not linking compensation to diversity goals; and changing the focus of employee resource groups. 

In a subsequent meeting with Ford, the company assured investors that its commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering. The company said it has not put out a public clarification of its position because it wants to avoid feeding the media narrative grouping it with DEI rollbacks, but it immediately reached out to its largest investors to inform them of its continued commitment to DEI. 

Speaking with Ford to hear firsthand why the changes were made and how it plans to continue fostering a working environment based on belonging and individual potential was helpful. However, we anticipate that the proposal will remain on the proxy ballot and hope that Ford will use the opportunity to explain its decision publicly.

Walmart announced in December that it will be rolling back some of its DEI initiatives and modifying its DEI language while continuing to encourage “a sense of belonging” for its employees, customers, and suppliers. PAB and other investors have engaged with Walmart for more than 30 years, including numerous dialogues and proposals that flagged the business and financial risks to Walmart associated with systemic racism, discrimination, and inequity as well as the significant benefits of advancing DEI. 

On January 15, the PAB and other Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) investors sent an Investor Statement to CEO Doug McMillon and issued a press release expressing our deep disappointment regarding Walmart’s recent announcement about its DEI commitments. Subsequently, investors met with Walmart about its DEI program changes and we plan to continue engaging the company on that issue.

Early executive orders from the new Trump Administration have fueled fears that companies could come under federal investigation for their DEI programs and policies, and more companies, such as Target, have recently announced changes in their programs. We anticipate that urging companies to continue to prioritize DEI will be a significant focus for our engagements with U.S. companies for some time to come.