On September 10, 2026, Bp. Robert Boxie III – newly appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. – made waves with a recent interview in which he intimated systemic racism existing within the Catholic Church.
Vatican Access with Robert Duncan opened both the 1:10 minute trailer and the full 50 minute interview with a clip of Bp. Boxie claiming that “a couple months ago, I became the second African-American bishop in the entire United States.” The post on X for the interview on the Vatican Access account promoted the interview with the provocative statement:
Why are there so few Black bishops in America?
“The short answer is racism.”
But Bp. Boxie’s opening statement in the interview isn’t even true. The reality is that Bp. Boxie is the twenty-ninth African-American bishop appointed in the United States, the first being James Augustine Healy who was consecrated Bishop of Portland, Maine on 12 February 1875. Today, there are fourteen living African-American bishops in the United States, five of which are still active: Bp. Boxie; Simon Peter Engurait — Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux; Jacques E. Fabre, C.S. — Bishop of Charleston; Shelton J. Fabre — Archbishop of Louisville; Jerome Feudjio — Bishop of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Perhaps what Bp. Boxie meant to say is that he is currently the second active US-born African American bishop in the United States, but that isn’t what he said.
Beginning at 35 minutes in the interview, Bp. Boxie defended DEI programs, claiming that the three concepts of “diversity, equity and inclusion” are “biblical, and part of our Catholic tradition.” And then he said:
“God has created the multitude, you know, every race and every culture and every language and every ethnicity, every creed – that that all stems from God. So, um, so diversity, um, you know, the one in the many; that’s a part of God Himself.” (emphasis added)
It is not only completely false to claim that God “created every creed,” but it is also a violation of the First Commandment and blasphemy because it indicates that God is the source of theological falsehoods. But a few minutes later, Bp. Boxie complained that we don’t talk enough about politics. He said:
“One thing that would be off-putting [is] when we don’t talk about the elephants in the room. Certainly, when it comes to our politics, certainly when it comes to policies of our government that are inconsistent with what we believe as Catholics, inconsistent with our Catholic faith, certainly Catholic social teaching; when we don’t talk about these issues in a real and honest and authentic way, and we don’t – Yeah. Again, the elephant in the room: when we just sort of, we don’t want to go there.”
Given this statement, perhaps he would like to explain his political campaign donations to ActBlue (which exclusively funds politicians devoted to grave immorality and condemned social teachings) and to openly pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and pro-transgender Democrat Amanda Edwards. According to the Federal Elections Commission, Bp. Boxie made two contributions to ActBlue ($100 in 2019, and $50 in 2020) and contributed $250 to Amanda Edwards’ campaign on 24 Sept 2025. In the source information, Bp. Boxie identified himself as a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.
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