About CROSS

Catholic Religious Organizations Studying Slavery (CROSS) was established in March 2021 by representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Jesuit Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation project. It would grow to encompass 15 men and women representing eight dioceses and six religious organizations who convened to study the records of enslaved peoples within Catholic archives.

This project is the embodiment of a discussion that has been ongoing for over a decade in Catholic archives and history communities, where questions have been raised about access to records of people who were enslaved.