>From March 2006 to June 2007, six Indian priests arrived in Owensboro. The first three were assigned two small rural parishes each, in the rural Lake Barkley region.
In one, the people were so afraid that the diocese would close their parish that they were relieved and elated to hear about the Indian priest. But in another church, a parishioner had only one question: How dark is his skin? Some of the foreign priests had confided their apprehensions to Father Venters. They had studied American history in school and knew about racism, the civil rights movement and the Ku Klux Klan. I told them that, as much as I hated it, there is prejudice but its nothing like when I was growing up, Father Venters said. In a parish that received an Indian priest, five older couples asked to leave, objecting to his accent. In the end, only three changed parishes. http://tinyurl.com/9568gk
