In August 2013, Catholic Democrats teamed up with leaders from the US Bishops’ Office of African American Affairs, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, and other Catholic organizations to host an event in conjunction with the 50th commemoration of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech "I Have a Dream". An opening mass of celebration featured the Gospel Choir of Holy Redeemer Parish in Washington DC, with a homily by Fr. David Bava surveying the history of Catholic efforts related to slavery and civil rights. A wide-ranging discussion entitled, “A Catholic Conversation on Race, Religion and the March on Washington” was moderated by Ralph McCloud, the director of the USCCB's Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The discussants included United States Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, National Pax Christi USA President Sr. Patricia Chappell, John Carr (Director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought &amp; Public Life at Georgetown University), and USCCB Assistant Director for African American Affairs Donna Toliver Grimes. The event filled Holy Redeemer Church, and was well-received as the only public celebration of the role of Catholics in the Civil Rights Movement. Catholic Democrats President Krueger, who conceived the event, was quoted in the National Catholic Reporter, saying it "was intended to be a bridge between Catholic involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the unfinished business of the 1963 march today based on the Catholic social justice tradition. It is a 'next first step' on a journey that we hope may serve as an impetus for a national conversation on racial justice in parishes, dioceses and faith-based communities across our land."