Recognizing Our Lady of Victory

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to recognize the parish of Our Lady of Victory and its founding mother, Anna Bates, as they celebrate eighty years of service in faith to the people of Detroit in Michigan's 12th Congressional District.

Our Lady of Victory's story begins in a store front on Eight Mile Road in 1943. Mother Bates was instrumental in ensuring that the parish had a home in Detroit in spite of segregation and other challenges to a predominately Black place of worship. In 1941, the city built an eight- foot segregation wall that extended a half-mile long just blocks from the new Our Lady of Victory mission site. As tensions over disparity and racial injustice came to a head, resulting in the 1943 protests, the wall became a symbol for the increasingly unjust living conditions for Black residents.

Spurred by the protest and increasing tension, Mother Bates spent ten years petitioning the archdiocese to create a house of worship for Black residents who were not permitted to enter any of the neighboring white Catholic Churches. Nearby Catholic parishes were adamantly opposed to welcoming Black Catholics. But Mother Bates persevered. Our Lady of Victory was finally recognized as a parish. Though the parish has relocated over the years, we are glad they are now housed in the St. Scholastica campus in Michigan's 12th District.

Please join me in recognizing of Our Lady of Victory's legacy in the fight against racial injustice, as they celebrate eighty years of service and fellowship in faith.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source