Building up the Body of Christ
with welcoming arms, loving hearts and joyful worship.
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“To change our world, or our community, we first have to understand it. To understand it usually requires a change in our thinking. And for that to happen, we have to experience more of the world than we can know inside the comfortable confines of our lives.”
-Jim Wallis, Faith Works
USCCB statement on the events in Kenosha, and a call for a day of prayer and fasting:
https://www.usccb.org/news/2020/wake-kenosha-violence-us-bishops-chairman-committee-against-racism-urges-day-prayer-and -
RESOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING RACISM
"Dwell in my Love," Click here to see Cardinal George’s important pastoral letter to the Church in Chicago, Written almost 20 years ago, it is a prophetic letter about “building bridges over the chasms that still divide us.”
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“Open Wide Our Hearts the Enduring Call to Love: A Pastoral Letter Against Racism”
Study guide for “Open Wide Our Hearts. ” To see all reference from the USCCB, click here.
Streaming for free in June, “Just Mercy” is a 2019 American legal drama film starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson. It tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who, with the help of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, appeals his murder conviction.
Movie discussion guide
A video that explains the concept of privilege: Race for $100
Required reading: A Black Catholic syllabus: A reading list on the history of Black Catholics in the United States and their contributions to Catholic theology, history, and activism.
Books, Films and Podcasts about RaceFOR KIDS
13 Children’s Books about Race and Diversity
USA TODAY Article: What do we tell our children?
Aha! Parenting.com Talking with Children about Racism, Police Brutality and Protests
Parent Toolkits: How to Talk to Children about Race and Racism
Embrace Race: 10 Tip for Talking to Children about Race
PRAY
Prayer for Dismantling Racism (by the Pax Christi USA Anti-Racism Team)Dear God, in our efforts to dismantle racism, we understand that we struggle not merely against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities -- those institutions and systems that keep racism alive by perpetuating the lie that some members of the family are inferior and others superior.
Create in us a new mind and heart that will enable us to see brothers and sisters in the faces of those divided by racial categories.
Give us the grace and strength to rid ourselves of racial stereotypes that oppress some of us while providing entitlements to others.
Help us to create a Church and nation that embraces the hopes and fears of oppressed People of Color where we live, as well as those around the world.
Heal your family God, and make us one with you, in union with our brother Jesus, and empowered by your Holy Spirit. Amen.