U.S.

Prayers for healing, justice mark ‘painful’ anniversary of Floyd’s death

By Catholic News Service
Wednesday, June 2, 2021

A man in Lynn, Mass., is reflected in a sign during a vigil on the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd May 25, 2021. (CNS photo/Brian Snyder, Reuters)

WASHINGTON — George Floyd’s murder a year ago left “a hole in the hearts of his family and friends” and “a hole in the fabric of our society,” said the director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd May 25, the first anniversary of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

“Or maybe it just made the hole visible for all to see and witness,” the center’s Lawrence E. Couch wrote in a remembrance of the African American man who died after former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck for over nine minutes.

Nationwide protests against racism and police brutality were sparked by video footage of the treatment of Floyd, who had been apprehended by Chauvin and three other officers for passing a counterfeit $20 bill and was, they claimed, resisting arrest.

“We have endured much over the past 12 months and we have lost many,” Couch said, noting the “nearly unfathomable numbers of people who died from COVID-19” but also “the men and women, boys and girls who have died through violence because they were Black — either at the hands of the police or because of the unsafe neighborhoods where they lived and played. People of all colors and backgrounds deserve to live in safety and with opportunity,” he continued.

“And as people of goodwill, we pray for an America united in love and purpose: united in our aspiration for racial equality, in freedom for all to dream, and an opportunity for all to become who they choose.”

In remembering Floyd, Couch offered prayers “for his family on this painful first anniversary of his death.”

“We pray also for healing and understanding, for mercy, justice and change,” he said. Floyd was “a child of God,” who “had dignity and worth,” added Couch.

Topics:

  • race relations

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