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Catholic News Herald

Serving Christ and Connecting Catholics in Western North Carolina
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112318 sister pattyCHARLOTTE — Conversations about how to combat racism are continuing among Catholics in Charlotte, and their latest effort to encourage racial unity and promote social justice featured the leaders of Pax Christi USA.

Pax Christi USA is a national Catholic peace movement founded in 1972, part of Pax Christi International. Sister Patricia Chappell, its executive director, and Sister Anne-Louise Nadeau, director of programs, were hosted by Our Lady of Consolation Parish in Charlotte Nov. 16-17, where they met with local Catholic leaders from parishes that have been working to bridge the divide between races in Charlotte following racial protests that erupted in 2016. The racial protests, sparked by a police shooting, led to the death of a young member of Our Lady of Consolation Parish.

Members from that parish joined with parishioners from St. Peter, St. Gabriel, St. Luke and St. Matthew churches – vowing to improve racial relations among Catholics, one person, one conversation, one encounter at a time.

Pictured: People gathered to hear Sister Patricia Chappell, executive director of Pax Christi USA and member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, speak at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte Nov. 16-17. (Photo provided by Morris Whitaker)

Catholic teaching is clear, both sisters noted in their talks: racism is a sin and every Catholic has an obligation to speak out against it.

“We have to deal with economic and interracial injustice,” said Sister Patricia. “Being a Catholic organization, we must begin with our own beloved Church.”

Sister Patricia noted the U.S. bishops’ approval last week of a new pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love.”

“Despite many promising strides made in our country, racism still infects our nation,” the pastoral letter stated. “Racist acts are sinful because they violate justice. They reveal a failure to acknowledge the human dignity of the persons offended, to recognize them as the neighbors Christ calls us to love.”

The pastoral letter also stated: “As Christians, we are called to listen and know the stories of our brothers and sisters. We must create opportunities to hear, with open hearts, the tragic stories that are deeply imprinted on the lives of our brothers and sisters, if we are to be moved with empathy to promote justice. ...We must invite into dialogue those we ordinarily would not seek out. We must work to form relationships with those we might regularly try to avoid.”

Sister Patricia noted that the bishops called for concrete steps to combat racism – covering topics such as racial slurs and jokes to racial profiling, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments. Racism is a personal sin, but also a collective or social sin, she emphasized.

“We as parishes and dioceses are going to be mandated, not just if we feel like it, but mandated, to look at the issues of systemic racism,” Sister Patricia said. “We need to get behind our bishop, our clergy, our systems and our diocese, or it won’t happen.”

Nearly all of the U.S. bishops, including Bishop Peter Jugis, voted for the pastoral letter, she noted, “but we cannot be satisfied until it is spoken about on every pulpit, talked about in every school, in every diocese and in every office. It’s our mandate, as baptized Catholics, to be concerned about systemic racism. We have no other choice (but) to be our sisters’ and brothers’ keeper. You and I are the Church, but some of us don’t believe it. Therefore, some of us get scared to address the bishop or the Church. Catholic social teaching says to every one of us: we have the right to organize.”

112318 Sister Patty ChappellSister Patricia Chappell spoke as part of an ongoing campaign by several Charlotte parishes to encourage dialogue between white and black Catholics and promote racial unity in Charlotte. (Lisa Geraci | Catholic News Herald)In her remarks, Sister Anne-Louise acknowledged that confronting with honesty the impacts of “white privilege” on her own life has been difficult.

“I have lost friends during the way, but I like the woman I have become,” she said.

Talking about race, Sister Anne-Louise emphasized, “is not about putting more guilt on people, it is not about shaming. It is just about talking about the truth, and sometimes the truth has got to hurt a little bit before anything good comes out of it.”

As with past events, participants gathered in small groups to talk about racism, their own experiences and memories, and how their Catholic faith informs their view of the problem. Several people brought up instances where they were discriminated against, or heard family members use racially-tinged terms in referring to people of color. Some said they felt embarrassed to talk about race, or pressured not to talk about it.

“We must deal with systemic racism that exists in our Catholic Church, systemic racism that exists in our nation and in the world. We have to be able to do it openly, honestly, relevantly – but also frankly,” Sister Patricia said. “In order to be in right relationships, we need to be able to tell the truth. People of color, we can’t do it by ourselves, because if we could have, we would have done it a long time ago. White folk, you can’t do it by yourselves. We have to do it together. But in order to do it together we have to deal with the pain and the hurt, with the rage, and the reverence of who we are called to be, and that is children of God. We are all called to be children of God.”

The day ended with suggestions for practical action, including: finding ways (individually and collectively) to get out of one’s social, racial and cultural “comfort zone”; being more empathetic; reaching out to others and finding ways to work together; addressing the “isms” of society with children; reaching out across parishes and continuing cross-cultural work; forming a delegation to dis-cuss with Bishop Jugis how the Charlotte diocese could implement the new pastoral letter; and fostering further discussion.

— Lisa Geraci, correspondent

More online

Read the full text of the U.S. bishops’ new pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love”