A Reconciliation Journey with Open Hearts

Monique Trusclair Maddox and Katrina Albrandt on Santa Clara University’s campus

By Tracey Primrose

On Palm Sunday in 2016, Monique Trusclair Maddox was leaving Mass when she received a New York Times alert sharing an article about Georgetown University. She opened the story to read about a little-known chapter in the school’s history: In 1838, Jesuit leaders at Georgetown sold 272 slaves to settle debts, helping to ensure the college’s survival. She says, “Not only did these priests stand by as families were torn apart and loved ones were shipped from plantations in Maryland to Louisiana, but they also gave them rosary beads to encourage them to keep the faith.” Among them, Monique would later learn, was 3-year-old Jackson Hawkins, her second great grandfather. She went through Holy Week that year “wrestling with this history.”

A decade ago, Monique, a practicing Catholic and active member of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in her hometown of Edina, Minnesota, was unaware that her ancestors had been owned or sold by Jesuits. Today, as the president & CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation formed by the Descendants of Catholic enslaved people and the Society of Jesus, her work is fueled not only by what happened centuries ago but by her belief that truth and reconciliation is the only way forward.

Fr. Scott Santarosa, SJ, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, was asked by Fr. Sean Carroll, SJ, provincial of the Jesuits West Province, to serve as his delegate for reconciliation with Descendants. The former provincial of the Jesuits West Province, Fr. Scott met Monique in 2020 as the foundation was getting started. As painful as this history is, he is committed to keeping it “on the front burner.”

Not far from where Fr. Scott lives in San Diego, a Descendant named Katrina Albrandt, was, like Monique, coming to terms with her own family history. She too had read the New York Times article, and research by a cousin later confirmed that she is a Descendant of the 272. But she admits that she did not respond with her full heart until she watched a police officer wantonly murder George Floyd. “It just clicked into place, the dots all connected, and I was devastated. I literally mourned. I remember feeling the pain.”

Fr. Scott Santarosa, SJ, Monique Trusclair Maddox, Katrina Albrandt, and Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, on the train from Santa Clara University to the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley

An active member of Immaculata Catholic Church in San Diego, Katrina initially channeled her anger and grief into creating and leading a racial justice ministry for her parish. She also began to engage with other Descendants. She is grateful for the “excellent record keeping of the Jesuits, which allowed me to learn about my ancestors which has become just precious to me.” Her fourth great grandfather, Robert Mahoney, and his wife and 10 children were among the first to be rounded up and sold. He never had a chance to say goodbye to his parents.

When Fr. Scott learned that a Descendant lived nearby, he reached out to Katrina. “Kat graciously came to Our Lady of Guadalupe and visited the parish. We hit it off, and I asked her if she would be willing to come back and spend time with my community.”

Not long after, the Jesuits in San Diego welcomed Katrina for Mass, dinner and a conversation. “I got to pray with them, we talked, and they listened to my story,” she recalls. “They asked questions and met me with open hearts. It was just a very tender meeting, and they felt like family.”

Fr. Scott remembers the “beautiful conversation” and the laughter at dinner. “It was a great night, and every single Jesuit talked about how graced it was.” The evening with Jesuits was so successful that Fr. Scott approached Monique, in her role as head of the foundation, about doing a West Coast tour for Jesuits. Monique brought in Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, who serves as chair of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust and is rector of the Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis. In 2017, on behalf of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Tim, then president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the U.S., offered an apology to Descendants at a Georgetown University event attended by Monique and close to 100 other Descendants.

Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, publicly apologized to Descendants in 2017 at Georgetown University.

Last November, Monique and Katrina joined Fr. Scott and Fr. Tim in Los Angeles for the first stop of their West Coast tour. They headed to Loyola High School, where Monique participated in a panel discussion on restorative justice attended by faculty and students, including a group from Verbum Dei Jesuit High School.

Next, they drove to Loyola Marymount University (LMU), where more than 50 Los Angeles-area Jesuits had gathered at LMU’s Jesuit community. Fr. Tim presided over a beautiful Mass with Monique and Katrina serving as lector and extraordinary minister. Fr. Scott introduced Monique and Katrina to the community before they each shared their experiences of learning about and living with their families’ history. Jesuits were invited to ask questions and offer reflections, and Fr. Tim added his perspective on the Society’s work with Descendants. Mass, dinner and a social hour followed with conversations well into the night.

Katrina Albrandt with Patrick Saint-Jean, SJ, a student at the Jesuit School of Theology

The following day, the group flew to the Bay Area to meet with Dr. Julie Sullivan, the president of Santa Clara University, and her cabinet. That evening, they replicated the format of the LMU visit with the Jesuit community at Santa Clara. Fr. John Mossi, SJ, who serves in benefactor relations for the Jesuits West Province, was part of that meeting. While he was familiar with the story of the tragic events of 1838, the “compelling testimony of Monique and Katrina brought home the collective wrong of the Jesuits and the Church in a completely different way. The fact that these exceptional women came to our house, came for Mass and were part of social made it very heartfelt, touching and experiential. I was moved by their presence, their storytelling and their beautiful transparency.”

In Berkeley, the group met with Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, the dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University (JST), and Julie Rubio, JST’s associate dean. Before meeting with JST faculty, students and staff, they had lunch with a group of Jesuit theology students. That evening, they had Mass and dinner before an experience of sharing with JST’s Jesuit community. The next day, they headed to Spokane where they met with Gonzaga’s Jesuit community. They followed the same format in Spokane, culminating in nine presentations and collective sharing over four days.

Monique Trusclair Maddox, Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, Katrina Albrandt, Julie Rubio, Fr. Scott Santarosa, SJ, and Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, at the Jesuit School of Theology

Both Monique and Katrina believe the biggest takeaway of this experience of encounter is the gift of reconciliation. “We’re part of Jesuit history. You can’t talk about Jesuit history without talking about their history of enslaving people,” Monique says. “At the same time, we’re the first group to come to the Church to say, ‘Let’s partner together, let’s do good in the world, and let’s walk that path with Jesus to the cross and show what true reconciliation looks like.’”

For Katrina, “Racism is foundational not only to the origin story of our country, but our Church, and that needs to be acknowledged. If we do this well, this effort by the Society of Jesus and the Descendants of the 272 can be held up to our Church to say, ‘This is a way to heal that demonstrates reconciliation in the Church in a way that hasn’t really been shown in the past.’”

About the Jesuits she met along the way, Katrina says, “They were amazing. They were beautiful. I won’t forget the people we encountered.”

For his part, Fr. Scott was consoled by the four-city tour. “We can’t put our heads in the sand. We have to contend with these larger issues, and one of them is the relationship that we have with Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding, which, whether we in the West agree or not, is part of our history too. When we rid ourselves of the belief that this doesn’t concern us and roll up our sleeves and go deep, that’s when we are at our best.”