The following is an excerpt of an opinion piece that appeared in the Sept. 25 edition of the Chicago Tribune written by Cardinal Cupich and Bishop Horace E. Smith, MD, titled “Systemic racism is real, and all Americans play a role in addressing it.” Readers can access the full piece here. It has been a summer of anguish for Black Americans. Six months after Breonna Taylor was shot to death by Louisville police officers in a botched drug raid, the nation is once again seized by grief, anger and despair over the spectacle of another young Black person killed by police — and no one has been indicted for her killing. After three days of deliberation, a Kentucky grand jury has charged one now-former police officer with recklessly endangering Taylor’s neighbors, even though she was the one who ended up dead. We write on behalf of a group of pastors that also includes the Rev. Ira J. Acree, senior pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church; the Rev. Chris Harris, pastor of Bright Star Church Chicago; the Rev. Marshall Hatch, senior pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church; and the Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ. As pastors who minister to Black families, brown families, Asian families and white families, we find ourselves once again faced with the horrifying question: Why does this keep happening, and what can we do about it? After we do our part to bind up the deep psychic wounds of our parishioners, neighbors, friends and family members, we are left asking, what now? Pray for peace, march for peace, work for peace — yes, peace. This is what Christians are supposed to be for, believing as we do in the Prince of Peace. And who could argue against it? In the face of wanton violence, we are called to take responsibility for building a culture of nonviolence. But while peace may be necessary to the cause, it is insufficient, for creating a culture of peace requires something that ensures its endurance. That something is what we call justice.
Church leaders urged to be trailblazers in addressing systemic racism When deadly, racially motivated violence erupted in a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, a Pittsburgh synagogue, a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and most recently in Buffalo, New York, Catholic Church leaders have responded.
Statement of Cardinal Cupich on the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York On Saturday, May 14, a gunman used an AR-15, high-capacity assault weapon to murder 10 Black Americans at a Buffalo grocery store, wounding two bystanders. Many of his victims were near or beyond retirement age, including Pearl Young, 77, a grandmother of eight who taught Sunday school, and Katherine Massey, 72, a civil-rights advocate who had written in favor of stronger gun-safety laws.
Deacon shares memories of schoolmate Emmett Till, an 'unwilling martyr' "He wasn't special. He was just a little boy." Deacon Arthur Miller, of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, shared this memory of Emmett Till, his boyhood neighbor and schoolmate, in a recent talk hosted by the Diocese of Springfield at the Bishop Marshall Center.