Religion: Ambassador of Justice

In race-troubled Detroit last week, at the Church of St. Benedict the Moor, Solemn High Mass was celebrated by a tall, handsome Negro whose brown face and hands contrasted dramatically with the shining white of his alb. The Rev. Dom Basil Matthews, O.S.B., reputedly the first of his race to be ordained a Benedictine priest, had been invited by the Roman Catholic diocese to further its drive for interracial amity.

Detroiters who turned out after Mass for the testimonial banquet in his honor were charmed by Father Matthews' urbane polish, his easy, fluid gestures,...

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