Civil Rights

“The Church has the right, indeed the duty, to proclaim justice on the social, national and international level, and to denounce instances of injustice, when the fundamental rights of people and their very salvation demand it.” — World Synod of Bishops, 1971

Franciscan Sisters Colleen Waterman, Maigread Conway, and Joachim protest during the Charleston hospital workers’ strike, 1969

Sheriff William Kelly, Bishop Ernest Unterkoelfer, and Lonnie Hamilton await the Poor People’s Campaign March through South Carolina, 1968

A union hat from the hospital workers’ strike which took place in Charleston from March to July 1969

Pope John Paul II visits Columbia, South Carolina, greatly due to Bishop Unterkoefler's work with ecumenical affairs, 1987

Religious leaders come together for an ecumenical prayer service on a day when Ku Klux Klan members march through Charleston, 1987