Racism | LA Catholics

“Change requires listening, dialogue, and action. Therefore, over the next year, the dioceses of California are committing to measures aimed at understanding and combating the sin of racism by examining our own conscience and probing civil society and our own institutions for signs of the structures of sin.

-California Bishops in Initiative to Address Personal, Collective Sin of Racism

Our country continues to see the effects of racism, our foundational sin. As we combat racism in our community, we must acknowledge the hurt of our brothers and sisters, offer compassion, and work for a peaceful way forward between brothers and sisters.

Read, Study & Discuss

California Bishops Announce Initiative to Address Personal, Collective Sin of Racism

Responding to the Sin of Racism – USCCB

Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Discuss the Letter from the Birmingham Jail – USCCB

Read, Study, & Discuss Writings from the US Bishops on Racism

Bishop Braxton’s The Racial Divide in the United States: A Study for the World Day of Peace – USCCB

Reconciled Through Christ: On Reconciliation and Greater Collaboration Between Hispanic American and African American Catholics – USCCB

Brothers and Sisters to Us – A letter from the US Bishops

What We Have Seen and Heard – A letter from the US Bishops

Learn about Black Catholic Saints

The Catholic Church in the US has been blessed by the steadfast faith of black Catholics, including a number of American saints. The National Black Catholic Congress has a list of some notable saints including Ven. Henriette Delille, foundress of the first African American religious order, Ven. Pierre Toussaint who devoted himself to charity and fundraised to build St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, and Servant of God Augustus Tolton, who had to study in Rome because no US seminary would accept him, and yet returned as the first African-American priest in the US.

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St. Peter Claver, Pray for Us.

Mary, friend and mother to all, through your Son, God has found a way to unite himself to every human being, called to be one people, sisters and brothers to each other. We ask for your help in calling on your Son, seeking forgiveness for the times when we have failed to love and respect one another. We ask for your help in obtaining from your Son the grace we need to overcome the evil of racism and to build a just society. We ask for your help in following your Son, so that prejudice and animosity will no longer infect our minds or hearts but will be replaced with a love that respects the dignity of each person.Mother of the Church, the Spirit of your Son Jesus warms our hearts: pray for us.

Amen.