During a church service that preceded the 1-mile Maafa Procession, Fair apologized on behalf of early bishops named in the report and other leaders who "perpetuated" slavery.

"Here in St. Louis, these names are all familiar to us, but the labor and efforts of these enslaved people contributed just as much to the building of the local Catholic Church," he said.

Some who survived the Middle Passage were bought and sold by Catholics in the same area as Saturday's service and procession.

"We acknowledge the legacy of slavery in this area — the blood, the sweat and the tears of enslaved people that soak the earth beneath our feet in St. Louis, Missouri," Frances Warren Brown, of St. Josephine Bakhita Church, said from the pulpit Saturday at the Old Cathedral. "This legacy persists today, as we continue to work towards racial justice, equity, liberation and community."

St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski said from the pulpit that enslavement "continues today in racism." He said acknowledgment and asking forgiveness are key pieces of the new report.

"It is a document where we say we can only move forward if we know our history," he said.

Rozanski, a successor of the early leaders mentioned in the report, said he draws hope from the example of Cardinal Joseph Ritter, who, amid protest, ordered St. Louis Catholic schools desegregated in 1947.

"(Ritter) took great criticism because of his faith, but yet he stood for what was right," Rozanski said. "He stood for Christ. He stood with courage."

Asked in an interview if Rozanski had plans to incorporate the findings of the report into the Catholic school curriculum, like at Bishop DuBourg High School in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood, he said: "First of all, we just want to get the report out."

Asked if money would be set aside to find living descendants of those enslaved, Rozanski said: "We are certainly looking for any descendants so that they can be aware of the report. We'll see how we need to proceed from here."

That early church leaders owned slaves has been known for "a long, long time," said Margaret Toney, 69, one of about 7,500 Black Catholics in the archdiocese. But public acknowledgment was noteworthy to her.

"You can't go forward without asking for forgiveness, and even though there is nobody in this (group) that was enslaved or owned slaves, we still need to acknowledge it," she said in an interview at the Old Cathedral. "I am proud of my church."

Meanwhile, as more Catholic organizations have released details about their slaveholding history, some remain on the sidelines.

A group of sisters from the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, which started what became Visitation Academy in Town and Country, owned slaves. A draft report outlining that history has been compiled but not released.

"One of our challenges is how to properly communicate our story to the Viz community at large, and we think they should hear it for the first time from us," Ann Hein, a volunteer with Visitation, told the Post-Dispatch by email. "We are working hard on the right methods and timing for that communication."

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