Reflecting on the Significance of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies and the Journey Toward Reconciliation

About Fr. Timothy Kesicki, SJ:

Fr. Timothy Kesicki, SJ is the Rector of the Bellarmine House of Studies at Saint Louis University. He also serves as Chair of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust, which funds the work of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. Before this, he served as president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States based in Washington, D.C. He served as provincial superior of the Chicago and Detroit provinces from 2008 – 2014 and was president of Saint Ignatius High School from 2000 – 2008. He has done graduate work in philosophy, theology, and educational administration at Loyola Chicago, Santa Clara University, Xavier, New Orleans, and Columbia Teachers College.  He has ministered with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Uganda and secondary schools in the Midwest. He currently serves on the boards of Loyola University Chicago, and Pine Ridge Indian School in South Dakota. Father Kesicki entered the Jesuit Order in 1984 after graduating from John Carroll University. He was ordained a priest in 1994.  

In 2017 Fr. Kesicki apologized for the history of Jesuit slaveholding and the 1838 during the Liturgy of Memory, Contrition, and Hope at Georgetown University. He continues the work of reconciliation and restorative justice through the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation.

About Monique Trusclair Maddox:

Monique Maddox (she/her) is President & CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit partnership that works to mitigate the dehumanizing impacts of racism while dismantling the continuing legacy of slavery in America through truth, racial healing, and transformation.

With more than 30 years of corporate experience, Monique has helped companies of all sizes make pivotal decisions that have facilitated their growth and success. After a career in IT leadership at companies such as Wells Fargo and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Monique founded Macrame Technologies to help organizations transform business processes to mitigate risk.

In 2016. Monique learned that her family had been owned and sold by the Catholic Church. This discovery altered her life purpose, inspiring her to become deeply involved in the Descendant community’s response. Monique now heads a Descendant-led vision to grow a $1B foundation that will positively impact current and future generations of Descendants. The Foundation provides a scholarship program for Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding, offers a program to help

elderly Descendants age with dignity in their homes, and supports critically important racial healing programs throughout the country.

Monique is also an active angel investor and a limited partner in Groove Capital, Tundra Ventures, Gaingels, and other independent venture investments focusing on making capital accessible to female and minority founders and to those who have been historically excluded or marginalized through traditional venture capital protocols.

Monique serves on the Board of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust, the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, and the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University.

About President Reynold Verrett

Dr. Reynold Verret is the sixth president and second lay leader of Xavier University of Louisiana. Of the 107 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and 262 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States, Xavier is the only Catholic HBCU in the nation. Prior to acceding to the presidency of Xavier, Dr. Verret has served as provost at Savannah State University and at Wilkes University. As chief academic officer, he led the university initiatives to enhance the quality and diversity of academic programs, develop the faculty and promote interdisciplinary efforts especially between the humanities and sciences, and to create cooperative relationships with neighboring institutions and with other partners at the K-12 and higher education levels.

He has served also as Dean of Arts and Sciences at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. As faculty in Chemistry at Tulane University and also at Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Verret took great pleasure and satisfaction in the education of students at the undergraduate and graduate level. For many years, he led the Department of Chemistry as its chair at Clark Atlanta University. As a biochemist and immunologist, Dr. Verret studied the functions of immune cells, especially the mechanisms of resistance to the lytic properties of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Other areas of interest included fundamental properties of biological membranes and development and identifications of biosensors and biomarkers.

Throughout his career, he has dedicated effort to increase the number of US students pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines and continuing to advanced study, and to mitigate the shortage of qualified STEM teachers. He has served on a number of professional organizations and advisory bodies, including those of the National Institutes of Health, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and Catholic Relief Services. He has received awards and fellowships for teaching and scholarship. Dr. Verret received his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University and the Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyin the laboratory of the late Har Gobind Khorana. To these degrees, were added postdoctoral experiences as fellow at the Howard Hughes Institute for Immunology at Yale and the Center for Cancer Research at MIT.