
Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob greets attendees at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Prayer Service on Saturday, Jan. 18, at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Milwaukee. (Photo by Greta Taxis)
In 1967, less than a year before he was to be assassinated at the age of 39, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged America to be like Nicodemus.
Addressing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August 1967, Dr. King invoked the memory of that famous Pharisee who visited Jesus under the protective cover of darkness, wishing to know how he might be saved.
Instead of remonstrating him for his individual sins, Jesus told Nicodemus that something more radical was necessary. To be saved, he must undergo a total transformation — to “be born anew.” (John 3:3)
America must likewise embrace such a complete transformation, if the sin of racism is ever to be overcome, said Dr. King. “We must go from this convention and say, ‘America, you must be born again!’”
These remarks, titled “Where Do We Go From Here” (not to be confused with Dr. King’s book of the same name), served as the theme of the 34th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Prayer Service, held Saturday, Jan. 18, at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Milwaukee,
“Dr. King’s message draws from the past, but it also orients us to the future,” said Shanedra Johnson, Director of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Office for Urban Ministry, as she called the attendees to worship.
The service is an annual opportunity for Catholics to gather with members of other faith traditions in prayer, song and the reading of Scripture, celebrating the legacy of the civil rights icon.
It was also Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob’s first public event following his Jan. 14 installation as Archbishop of Milwaukee.
“When I look back at memories of my life and memories of coming to Milwaukee, I’ll know that it started here,” said Archbishop Grob. “And I don’t think there’s a better place, I don’t think there’s a better cause, to gather and to be a part of, than being here this afternoon.”
“The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that civil rights alone would not solve the race problem in America,” said Fr. Fred Alexander, O.C.D., who delivered the keynote address for this year’s service. “Because being a minister of the Scripture, the word of God, his strategy was always to reach the hearts of Americans through the imperatives of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
A Discalced Carmelite, Fr. Alexander has served in many pastoral settings, both urban and rural, throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, including the former St. Florian Parish in West Milwaukee, the Central City Parishes in Milwaukee (which later condensed into All Saints and St. Martin de Porres parishes), St. Mary of the Hill Parish in Hubertus and the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee.
In his remarks, Fr. Alexander highlighted the enduring inequalities that exist today for Americans of color, despite the achievements of Dr. King. Often, these are inequalities of opportunity and resources, economic imbalances or the result of unconscious bias.
These problems stem from a lack of “encounter,” Fr. Alexander said, noting that, although segregation is officially illegal, it is still deeply ingrained in American culture and social habits.
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and (the Voting Rights Act of) 1965 ordered that we work in the same places, eat in the same establishments, occupy the same hotels,” he said. “But then at the end of the day, we go back to our segregated neighborhoods, where we live and worship and (go to) school separately.”
Echoing the ongoing invitation of Pope Francis for Catholics to work toward a “culture of encounter,” Fr. Alexander called for “more genuine encounters between people of color and white Americans.”
“In 2025, we’re still asking the same question that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King asked back in 1967: Where do we go from here?” said Fr. Alexander. “I still believe that the prophetic voice, the wisdom, the strategy, the direction can only be found in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior — in the Gospels and in Scripture. Amen?”
The congregation responded with an emphatic “Amen!”
“We’re all Nicodemus,” said Fr. Alexander. “We struggle to make sense of Jesus. We wrestle with trying to reconcile his Gospel with the demands of the world that’s placed on all of our shoulders. Like Nicodemus, we find ourselves coming to Jesus in the middle of the darkest night, seeking hope and consolation.”
As Christians, said Archbishop Grob, we struggle with the coexistence of our hope for heaven — a true and present reality — and the imperfections we find within ourselves and throughout our fallen world — also true and present realities. Archbishop Grob described it as “the already and the not-yet.”
“The inbreaking of the Kingdom of God has already been done. It’s already happening,” said Archbishop Grob. “But we also realize that God’s kingdom is not fully complete. Look around us. Look at our streets. Look at our world. How people treat one another. Cruelty and violence, racism and bigotry. The disregard for the human person and the disrespect for human dignity. There is much work still to be accomplished before God.”
Completing that work is “not (just) an option,” said Archbishop Grob. “It’s a mandate. We must … speak the word of truth into what can seem like overwhelming darkness. If we’re not going to do it, who’s going to do it? If we don’t have reason for hope, who does? Who are we, then? What difference does it make that we claim to be followers of the one who hung on the tree?”
The annual prayer service in honor of Dr. King was first held in January 1991 at the Sacred Heart School of Theology by Rev. Patrick Wells, then a seminarian for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, in cooperation with the Archdiocesan Office of African American Ministry.