BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : WHY POPE FRANCIS 1. MUST MAKE AN APOLOGY TO AFRICAN AMERICAN FOR THE SLAVE OWNING JESUITS CATHOLIC SLAVE OWNERS IN AMERICA.:

the Jesuits of the Maryland Province had always relied on plantation to support there ministries. The estates were extensive, totaling 12,000 acres in 1634. When the Jesuits arrive in Maryland, Lord Baltimore awarded them quasi-estates in which they were permitted to live off the rent of tenant farmers. However the system was totally antiquated and romantic not related to reality and they realized they were not going to make any money so the Jesuits turned to indentured servants from Europe. As the indentured servant dropped off the Jesuits once again found a new way to work the land. By the 1680's they relied upon a fully developed slave  system. Compared to other plantation owners in the area when it came to slavery, the Jesuits slave owners were no better or wore than them.

Religious or not, slave had been gifted by wealthy Catholic families to the Jesuits to help sustain the church. The abolition of slavery was not an issue in the area until the early nineteenth century, when George Town Jesuits became deeply divided over the slavery issue. In a generation divided, the older group of Jesuits mostly European born, felt a patriarchate connection to their slaves unwilling to sell them. A younger group of American born a minority felt that the money should be invested in plantation should be spent on institution in cities like New York and Philadelphia with rapidly growing Catholic population.