Catholic Bishop Terry Steib of Memphis has drawn a lot of attention recently for saying that racism persists in the church, and offering the controversy over President Obama’s appearance at University of Notre Dame as an example.

In Philly earlier this month to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the U.S. black bishops’ pastoral letter, “What We Have Seen and Heard,” Steib, who is black, said racism still exists in the church “and cited the recent furor in Catholic circles over the honorary degree awarded by Notre Dame University to Obama,” according to the Catholic Standard & Times, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Steib has spoken out on politics before, saying last October that Catholics “cannot be a one issue people” and asking this May “Is it love for one another that causes some among us to wish that President Obama will fail when we are as a nation struggling with two wars and the worst economic conditions in our country in fifty years?”

I called Bishop Steib’s offices in Memphis, to ask if he might be willing to amplify his Philadelphia comments, or provide some more context for them. His spokesman, the Rev. John Geaney, said the bishop doesn’t talk to the media. “That’s what I’m for,” Geaney said. When I asked for a copy of Steib’s address, Geaney said he’d get back to me.

In the meantime, I contacted Lou Baldwin, who wrote the piece for the CS&T and who graciously agreed to transcribe the comments Steib made on racism. (The address was almost an hour long and I couldn’t ask him to transcribe the whole shebang.)

So, with Baldwin’s help. This is what Steib said about racism in that Sept. 12 address:

“I … know there is a subtle racism that still exists within our Church that leads to a mistrust of the Church among our young African American men and women. (snip)

Slowly we are moving away from that mistrust to trust in our Church and thereby trust in the Universal Church. You may ask, “What do you mean by subtle racism? Well, recently and particularly because of the awarding of a degree to President Obama at the University of Notre Dame, the question racism among the bishops of the country has been raised. I am only raising it because Archbishop Quinn in an article in the America Magazine said that continuing confrontation with President Obama and his administration sends the message that the bishops are insensitive to the heritage and continued existence of racism in America. Archbishop Quinn said that.

When President Obama was inaugurated four buses full of African Americans Catholics drove for more than 19 hours to be present for the historic moment., but they felt that their celebration was muted because they had heard that so many of our bishops did not seem to understand the significant moment. They seemed not to understand what the whole world took to heart – that President Obama’s election was creating or beginning a whole new era that rejected racial stereotypes and it was opening the door to more embracing international relationships.

But many of our Church did not share that jubilation. And this people, I will admit to you too. Nothing was done during other administrations, nothing was said when other presidents who favored the war in Iraq with its constant killing, or who favored capital punishment were given awards in the name of the Church, even though those presidents were not adhering to Catholic Right to Life principles. Because of his clearly unacceptable stand on abortion many who are leaders in the church are willing to pillory President Obama with direct confrontation rather than with clear moral teaching about abortion and public law.”