13th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Msgr. Edward Michael Miller Peace Walk
Saint Bernardine Catholic Church
January 19, 2026
I am delighted to be with all of you today. Thank you, Msgr. Bozzelli and the community here at St. Bernardine for hosting the 13th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. / Msgr. Edward Michael Miller Peace Walk. And how blessed we are to have as our main speaker, Dr. Taylor Branch.
The weather is cold but our hearts are warm. Some say that the cultural temperature for non-violent protest has cooled, but we are here to say that Dr. King was a visionary and that his approach should once again bring warmth and light to our culture. And merely the memory of Msgr. Miller who served this community with such great pastoral care, warms our hearts . . .and our hearts glow even more warmly over the fact that Msgr. Bozzelli serves with the same warmth and vision.
It is important that we remember and emulate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., especially in this time when our country is badly polarized, when politics has turned violent, and public rhetoric, vitriolic. By turning our attention once again to the principles of non-violence that Dr. King taught and exemplified, we can find a better way forward in the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equity. Some mistakenly think that non-violence is weakness, but Dr. King showed us how to be passionate and courageous in the pursuit of justice while never resorting to violence and in the process won some hearts and minds that otherwise might have remained hardened to his message and his cause.
This year we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This is a moment of remembrance and also a moment of responsibility for us all. Our nation has been, from its founding, a land of possibility. Yet it has also been a land of profound contradictions. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all are created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights – and yet we know all too well that many remain excluded from those very rights. We remember best when we are unafraid to face our failure as well as our success.
Together we shall march, just as Martin Luther King, Jr., marched. Together we shall march into a future full of hope. Together we shall stand, courageously and peacefully, for justice.
Thank you and God bless you!