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Family Remembers Mother for Advocacy, Vision for Racial Harmony

Donna Grimes, who died Dec. 10, was a renowned speaker and author who championed unity among people of all races in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2023, she retired as Assistant Director in the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (Photo: Courtesy of Grimes family)

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — On the evening of Thursday, April 4, 1968, Donna Grimes was eagerly anticipating her 12th birthday when chaos erupted in her hometown of Washington, D.C.

Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at 6:01 p.m. in Memphis. Rioting ensued near Grimes’ home, as well as in Baltimore, Chicago, Louisville, and Kansas City.

As an adult, Donna would serve as the Assistant Director in the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In that capacity, she staffed the bishops’ subcommittee on African American Affairs.

Donna retired in 2023 as a renowned speaker and author who fought for unity among people of all races in the Church. 

She died on Dec. 10 following a lengthy battle against several ailments.

Now, nearly two months later, two of her three children are sharing her legacy of service and how it was informed by her growing up in a Catholic home during the turbulent Civil Rights Movement, which included the assassination of King.

“It was a memory that was cemented in her mind,” said her daughter, Nyle Grimes, of King’s assassination. “I remember her talking about how sad she felt, and I think it fueled her for what she later did.”

Donna authored several books, including “Tell Them About the Times When Jesus Came” in 2005 and “All God’s People: Effective Catechesis in a Diverse Church” in 2017.

“She knew her purpose was to be a bridge between communities for peace and justice in the world,” said her son Kamau Grimes. “The spirit that she would speak from was one of bringing people together. Whatever she said, you could be assured that it was going to have a positive intention.”

Nyle said her mother was the eldest child of James and Phyllis Toliver in a sixth-generation Catholic family. “I guess we’re one of the few black Catholic families that have always been Catholic,” she said. “My mom took a lot of pride in that.”

As the eldest, Donna was the “heartbeat and moral compass” of her family — a peacemaker who worked to settle sibling disputes. Thus, she made an effortless pivot to advocating for social justice and community activism, according to Nyle.

Donna also was a lifelong catechist who inspired her children to become educators. Kamau and her youngest son, Ayinde, are both school teachers. Nyle, her oldest child, is a business analyst. But she, too, is a catechist at the family’s parish, St. Teresa of Avila, in Washington, D.C.

The parish is steeped in the richness of black Catholic worship with lively music and preaching. Nyle said her mother started going there as a young woman, noting that she felt no need to join black Protestant churches famous for lively worship because she already had that at St. Teresa of Avila.

“She was able to say, ‘I’m already full. Now I can go out and do God’s work,’ ” Nyle said. “That is what allowed her to not only keep the faith but to fall in love with the faith even more. My parents were married there. My brothers and I received all of our sacraments there.”

Donna earned a degree in speech pathology-audiology from the University of Virginia. Subsequently, she worked for the federal government as a contracting officer and supervisor.

After much prayer and reflection, she shifted her career in 2000 to work at the USCCB, first as an education specialist for the conference’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Next, Donna was promoted to assistant director in the USCCB’s Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church. In that role, she helped draft Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism,” which was published in 2018. 

The secretariat’s executive director, Maria del Mar Muñoz-Visoso, praised Donna’s work and called her “a bright light” who was strong-willed but always respectful, forthcoming, and interested in what others had to offer.

“She was a fighter and did not let anyone, or anything, including the health problems that plagued her in recent years, deter her from doing what she thought was right,” Muñoz-Visoso said. “Even in retirement, she kept calling to check on us and to offer her time and expertise to assist with conferences and presentations on intercultural competencies, Black Catholic matters, and anti-racism work.”

Aside from her books, Donna also wrote numerous guest columns for the former Catholic News Service. For example, in 2018, she penned an article that described, in part, the efforts by the USCCB to promote social justice and reconciliation. 

She wrote that the bishops had established an “Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism by which they will identify actions that church leaders at every level can take to foster healing and racial reconciliation.”

“To be clear,” Donna added, “if the people of God are sincere about addressing racism and reducing its effects on individuals, communities, and institutions, a natural focal point is Catholic education and catechesis — developing curricula in partnership with seminaries, schools, colleges and universities, campus ministry programs and diocesan and parish formation programs.”

“Thankfully, we don’t have to tackle this alone,” she added. “We have a great advocate who desires to fill us with love. In the words of St. Augustine, ‘May your creed be for you as a mirror. 

“Look at yourself in it to see if you believe everything you say you believe.’ ”

Nyle and Kamau said their mother cherished the Catholic value of honoring the life and dignity of the human person, including incarcerated people. Beyond her work at the USCCB, Donna also mentored women released from prison, helping them return to society by gaining employment skills and finding church homes.

“Her Catholic faith informed her social activism,” Kamau said. “The causes near and dear to her heart were poverty, especially looking out for the least and the lost — all of those values from the Beatitudes.”