A Catholic Response to Racism

In November 2018, United States Bishops renewed the call to eliminate racism from our midst in their pastoral letter titled “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love.” Fr. John Fahey Guerra, CSsR, reflects on this pastoral letter as well as on St. Paul VI’s encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi (In Proclaiming the Gospel).

Fr. John writes, “Effective evangelization begins by evangelizing ourselves. It is our responsibility as catechized Catholics to examine our reactions in the light of the Gospel in an attempt to better understand where and how the sin of racism has a place in our own heart. We must uproot any trace of prejudice from the human heart in order to become the open and generous people we are called to be. A Catholic response to racism requires openness to all individuals regardless of race.”