LIM alumnus and adjunct faculty member Dr. Ansel Augustine, D.Min., has garnered national media attention for his expertise on African American Catholic heritage and social justice. Augustine was recently featured in prominent interviews with The Wall Street Journal and National Geographic, offering scholarly insights into the intersection of faith, culture, and history.

In his interview with Robert Barba of The Wall Street Journal, Augustine discussed the new pope's family roots in New Orleans and their African American ancestry in the article "New Orleans Celebrates the New Pope's Creole Roots." He also spoke with Nate Tinner-Williams of National Geographic for "You Can't Tell the Story of New Orleans without Its Black Catholics," where he illuminated the distinctive expression of Catholicism within New Orleans' Black community.

Augustine serves as assistant director of African American Affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and recently celebrated the publication of his latest work, Praying with Our Feet: Encountering God in the Margins (Loyola Press, 2025). The book explores the concept of embodied faith and social action. Augustine recently conducted a webinar about the book's central themes, demonstrating how to "pray with our feet" through active engagement with social justice issues. View it here.

His previous publications include the award-winning Leveling the Praying Field: Can the Church We Love, Love Us Back?, which addresses race and equality within the church, and the African American Catholic Youth Bible. Through his scholarship and ministry, Augustine continues to bridge the gap between academic theology and lived faith experience in marginalized communities.