WASHINGTON — Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr., the nation’s most senior African-American Catholic active prelate and an advocate against injustice, says his ministry beyond the normal episcopal retirement age is one of speaking truth, remembering the forgotten, and advocating for Black Catholics.
The 78-year-old prelate has served in Washington since 2017 and is currently the only mainland Black Catholic bishop outside of the Southern United States. He spoke with BCM during the fall plenary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which took place in Baltimore earlier this month.
“I serve as long as the Lord gives me strength to do so,” he said of his continued service well past his mandated retirement request at the age of 75, which was submitted to the Vatican under but is only accepted at the behest of the pope.
“I have to believe that if my resignation hasn't been accepted, it's because there is something [God] wants me to do, and if I'm open, I'll hear and be able to work that way.”
Most Rev. Roy E. Campbell, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington and Chair of the Subcommittee on African American Affairs reflects on the importance of Black Catholic History Month and the enduring faith of Black Catholics.
— U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (@USCCB) November 18, 2025
Let us continue to celebrate the gifts of Black Catholics,… pic.twitter.com/pVwXBJHlPm
Born in the Washington area during the height of segregation in the region, Campbell recounted his experience of traveling across the District to attend church at a historically Black Catholic church, which he only later learned was due to the mistreatment of African Americans at his local White parish.
He later enrolled in school at the latter parish and went on to be ordained in 2007 after a three-decade banking career. He has served as pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Largo, Maryland, since 2010.
Campbell says his own experience of inequality serves as a reminder to speak up for the marginalized today, including Black people, women, Latinos, and immigrants who currently face abuse from the second administration of President Donald Trump.
Campbell’s position on diversity, equity, and inclusion recently became a national headline, when a reflection he authored for the USCCB—based on a homily he gave during a Mass for Black History Month in February—was deleted from the episcopal conference’s website after conservative backlash. Campbell says the essay, “DEI Means God,” was written at the request of the USCCB and that he is unsure whether it will be put on their website again.
“They got hate mail from it,” he told BCM in Baltimore. “[The reflection] came from addressing what I saw in February, a month after the current Administration got in.”
Campbell has since doubled down on the need to recognize the diversity intended by God in the world and in the Church, and to “stand up for the truth.”
“God is diversity. He is equity, you know? Three divine persons. That's diversity. But so united in unison, their distinct personalities, they're one God. Equity: They are equal in majesty. Always have been, always will be. And inclusion, that three is one. And that is the way he created us, in his image and likeness.”
Nate Tinner-Williams
Campbell’s ministry also extends beyond the Archdiocese of Washington with the National Black Catholic Congress, which he has led as president since 2019. The nonprofit group organizes an eponymous conference every five years and publishes an attendant pastoral plan, intended to help guide Black Catholic ministry across the country.
The last gathering took place in 2023 after a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Campbell has revealed that the next gathering will take place in 2028 rather than returning to the previous schedule. The location of the event is yet to be determined but is being planned out by the NBCC board, which consists of appointed and elected leaders from national Black Catholic organizations.
Campbell says the board is also focusing on how to help Black Catholics with pastoral planning in the interim period, with various social, economic, and ecclesial changes that take place in the years between NBCC gatherings.
“We're trying to see how we can help those who attended before, in pastoral planning,” he said.
“I think that's important for Black Catholics, that they have a way of planning the future, to thrive in their churches, in their neighborhoods, in their parishes.”
Campbell says the NBCC is also planning online and other events to help the Black Catholic community, much like the webinar series the organization hosted ahead of the 2023 national gathering in Maryland.
Whether national or local, Campbell’s role among the auxiliary bishops in Washington—which have historically included at least one Black Catholic since the mid-1970s—looks set to continue along a path of justice-focused ministry, especially in the current climate of uncertainty radiating from the White House itself.
“Sometimes we have to honestly look at ourselves and say, ‘What do I have to do to change?’ and ‘What do I have to do to speak the truth and live that truth?’” Campbell said.
“That's what each of us is called to do. And when we do that, we can have peace, because we’ll have justice, because we'll see each other as equal to ourselves.”
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
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