Dear Friends,
In a conversation with a parishioner recently, she wondered about the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning racism. She said that she had relatives who were frequently making statements that were racist. These relatives did not live in Nebraska and are Catholics who claimed to strictly follow Catholic Church teaching. They seemed to dismiss Pope Francis and his recent statements about racism. So she was wondering what the Church has consistently taught. Maybe you have wondered the same thing during these recent protests and debates about racial inequality.
I encouraged the parishioner to have her relatives listen to Pope Saint John Paul II. In his Angelus message of August 26, 2001, he said, “In the last decades…marked by the worrying resurgence of aggressive nationalism, ethnic violence and widespread phenomena of racial discrimination, human dignity has often been seriously threatened. Every upright conscience cannot but decisively condemn any racism, no matter in what heart or place it is found. Unfortunately, it emerges in ever new and unexpected ways, offending and degrading the human family. Racism is a sin that constitutes a serious offence against God. The Second Vatican Council reminds us that ‘We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than brotherly fashion, for all men are created in the image of God…Therefore, the Church reproves, as foreign to the will of Christ, any discrimination against people or any persecution of them on the basis of their race, color, social condition or religion.’”
Pope Saint John Paul II recommended that to overcome racism “we must practice the culture of reciprocal acceptance, recognizing in every man and woman a brother or sister with whom we walk in solidarity and peace. There is need for a vast work of education to the values that exalt the dignity of the human person and safeguard his fundamental rights. The Church intends to continue her efforts in this area, and asks all believers to make their own responsible contribution of conversion of heart, sensitization and formation.”
God desired every one of us to have the same original parents. God desires that humanity be a family. The Catholic Catechism makes this clear, “Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for ‘from one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth…” Racism denies that unity. The Catechism continues, “’This law of human solidarity and charity,’ without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures, and peoples, assures us that all people are truly brethren.”
Those words remind us how seriously racism violates God’s will for us. It contradicts the meaning of the Incarnation and threatens our salvation. With the Incarnation, Jesus entered human history to transcend and transform the divisions of human sinfulness. He calls us to a communion with one another, a unity that reflects the unity of God’s own being.
If we are to follow the example of Jesus, then we must be keenly aware that every person is formed in the image and likeness of God. Every person must be treated with a deep reverence and respect. For we are all sons and daughters of the one God, in whose sacredness we share. God intends that we all live in harmony, that we practice a love that unites us and reflects our fundamental equality as human beings.
Therefore, the Church teaches that racism is a serious offense against God precisely because it violates the innate dignity of the human person. At its core, racism is a failure to love our neighbor. Since we cannot claim to love God unless we love our neighbor, we can only be one with God if we reject racism and work aggressively to remove it from our personal lives, our church, and our society.
If one’s heart is not open to the truth, one may never comprehend the Church’s teaching on this issue. Now you know and if you accept these teachings, you can be clear with others what we believe and what the church teaches.
Peace,
Fr. Damian