“God is speaking to the U.S. right now – are we listening?”

AT LEGATUS SUMMIT WEST, DEACON LARRY ONEY TO OFFER BLACK CATHOLIC VIEW OF RACIAL PROTESTS

Amid racial unrest and protests in the streets, Deacon Larry Oney has appeared on several radio and television programs in recent weeks to offer a Black Catholic leader’s perspective on racial reconciliation.

“I’m just trying to preach the Gospel and make sure the Scriptures, the Word of God, and our teachings on social justice are in the mix of the conversation with all that’s going on in our country,” said Deacon Oney, 63, a Legate of the New Orleans Chapter.

Deacon Oney and his wife, Andi, founded Hope and Purpose Ministries, which carries out the New Evangelization call to proclaim the Gospel. Deacon Oney is also the chairman and CEO of HGI Global, a third-party administration and project management firm.

Deacon Oney, who grew up “unchurched” before entering the Catholic Church in his young adult years, will be a featured speaker at the Legatus Summit West next month in Colorado Springs, CO. He spoke recently with Legatus magazine.

What will you speak about at the Summit?

Principally I’m going to be talking about how to have hope in the midst of all the things going on. I may also speak about some of the issues of the day with race that we’re dealing with. Specifically, I’m going to look at the command in 1 Peter 3:15 to “always be ready to give an explanation for the hope that we have within you.” That’s our duty, particularly as Legates.

How important is that message of hope this year?

Even with the pandemic and the racial strife, it’s an opportunity for a new birth for our nation, for us to look at the health care infrastructure, for us to look at our relationships among people in order to deal with some of the issues that are still present, including the psychological residue from slavery and Jim Crow.

What led you to launch Hope and Purpose Ministries?

Many of the people my wife and I had met who were really struggling in their lives had lost hope. Everybody wants to know his purpose. You can’t know your purpose until you have a relationship with the object of your hope, and the object of our hope is the person of Jesus Christ. Once you belong to God, once you dedicate your life to Him and realize He’s the object of your hope, then He allows you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to discover your purpose.

What led you to the Catholic Church?

I’m Catholic because of the Eucharist, not because we have more rhythm than the Pentecostals and not because our music is better. It’s because we have Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for real, on our altar every time we celebrate the sacred mysteries. Sadly, only 30 percent of Catholics now believe that. If our people really believed in the Real Presence, we’d have packed houses.

What do you make of our country’s recent racial unrest?

This is a time of visitation for us as a nation. When you look at the Scriptures, God is always dealing with Israel as a nation. Well, He’s dealing with us now as a nation, as the United States of America.

This is an opportunity for us to right some wrongs. I’m not talking about crazy stuff like reparations, but it’s an opportunity for us to heal some wounds. It’s like we have this big boil, and it needs to be lanced. We can no longer ignore it. We need to have hard conversations. And it’s time to listen and to reflect on what this is all about, and that’s human dignity.