The events of the past weeks call us to read, study and reflect on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – A Pastoral Letter Against Racism.” This document gives us guidance for further reflection, understanding and action as we respond to the murder of George Floyd, the ensuing protests, and the underlying racism in our country.
This document calls racism “one particularly destructive and persistent form of evil.” Our faith requires us to work against racism because we are all children of God, all made in God’s image and likeness. Racism violates human dignity. The bishops “unequivocally state that racism is a life issue.” Pope Francis recently added in condemning the death of George Floyd: “My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life”
In response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement, some respond “but all lives matter.” But we have not acted as though all lives matter. The pastoral states: “we must admit the plain truth that for many of our fellow citizens, who have done nothing wrong, interactions with the police are often fraught with fear and even danger.” The bishops acknowledge the reality that African Americans, Latinos and other minority groups face discrimination in hiring, housing, educational opportunities and incarceration. In my own family and in my religious community, I have heard their experiences of racial profiling.
My Mexican American brother-in-law was frequently stopped by the police in his neighborhood, but his white stepsons were never stopped.
My religious community, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, committed us to conversion by this statement: “We will deepen our response to the unrecognized and unreconciled racism past and present within our community.” Unrecognized? In the pastoral, the bishops recognize and acknowledge the historical and institutional racism in our county, our institutions and our Church. St. John Paul II also recognized this when he called racism “the most persistent and destructive evil of the nation.”
As Catholics, especially white Catholics, have we taken the time to recognize and learn the historical reality of racism that our African-American, Latino, indigenous and Asian brothers and sisters experienced as they contributed by their work to building this country on plantations, railroads, mines, and in so many others ways? Have we taken the time to learn about the present reality of racism in the justice system, in the workplaces, and even in our churches?
Cardinal Peter Turkson recently noted the lack of welcome Catholic immigrants from Africa have often felt in U.S. Catholic churches, and many have left the Church. Do we personally and individually invite new parishioners, especially those from a minority group, to join parish organizations?
One sign of welcome in our churches and schools is the décor. Do we have religious art that reflect the broad diversity of the Church? In every part of the world where the Catholic faith is practiced, there are depictions of saints from that culture. Does our religious art and our faith formation programs include multiple cultures and races such as St. Josephine Bakhita, the Sudanese patron saint of trafficked victims, or Venerable Father Augustine Tolton, born a slave and the first African-American priest in the United States?
Also often unrecognized, as the bishops state, “too often racism comes in the form of the sin of omission, when individuals, communities, and even churches remain silent and fail to act against racial injustice when it is encountered.” As an individual Catholic, am I willing to speak up even with family and friends, when I hear a racist remark or respond to a racist remark on social media? To stand by in silence is to be complicit.
As a white Catholic, a sin of omission for many of us is that we have not recognized that we live in a society that privileges white people. While I may not feel privileged, I am not afraid when I get stopped by the police for speeding, and I am never followed around inside a store or asked for my ID when I use my credit card. When I travel within the U.S., I do not take my passport because I don’t anticipate any problems going through security. One of my Mexican-American Mercy sisters told me that she always carried her birth certificate, passport, and drivers’ license.
The pastoral states: “What is needed, and what we are calling for, is a genuine conversion of heart, a conversion that will compel change, and the reform of our institutions and society. Conversion is a long road to travel for the individual.” I have served on the Sisters of Mercy Institute Anti Racism Transformation Team for 10 years. I am still learning, still becoming aware of my implicit or unconscious biases, and am still working on conversion.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and president of the USCCB, said, “We should all understand that the protests we are seeing in our cities reflect the justified frustration and anger of millions of our brothers and sisters who even today experience humiliation, indignity, and unequal opportunity only because of their race or the color of their skin.”
To end racism requires both an individual conversion of heart and a reform of our unjust racist systems and institutions. We are encouraged by the pastoral to be on this journey in faith because “in Christ we can find the strength and the grace necessary.”
Mercy Sister Rose Marie Tresp is director of justice for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas South Central Community.