June 5, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write to share with you important news about immediate steps the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be taking as we grapple with the deep anguish and racial tension we are currently witnessing locally and throughout our country.  While these steps were being planned prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, the current crisis our country faces in the wake of the killing of George Floyd urgently demands that we move forward with these initiatives as quickly as possible.

Effective immediately, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs. Sherita Thomas as the new interim director for the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Sherita currently works for T. Rowe Price and is the former chairwoman of the archdiocesan Black Catholic Ministries board. She is the Global Associate Engagement Manager at T. Rowe Price where her experience includes key roles with the T. Rowe Price Foundation, Diversity and Inclusion, and Global Client and Investment departments. She recently completed her term as president of St. Agnes Home School Association and grew up attending St. Edward’s parish. She is currently a member of New All Saints Catholic Church.

Also effective immediately, the Archdiocese has retained the assistance of a team of consultants from the Udarta Consulting firm, who will work with Mrs. Thomas to implement the recommendations outlined in my second pastoral reflection on racism, “The Journey to Racial Justice: Repentance, Healing and Action.” The consultants include:

• Howard Ross, a nationally recognized expert on diversity and inclusion with significant experience in working in community-wide initiatives.
• John T. Butler, whose experience includes decades of ministry in the Catholic Church and national consultation on organizational and leadership development, diversity and inclusion.
• Dominic Perri, who has also worked extensively with national, diocesan and local Catholic institutions, and who brings a rich background in conducting interviews, focus groups and surveys that will be a key part of the listening necessary for this initiative.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — The Knights of Columbus called on the nation’s Catholics to participate in a novena beginning June 7 to pray for national unity and an end to racism amid the unrest following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

“We ask all people to come together in solidarity to forge a path forward — free of discrimination and hate — for our nation,” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. “The Knights join Pope Francis in urging all to express their anger and cries for justice in nonviolent ways to end the sin of racism.”

June 7 is Trinity Sunday, which the Knights chose as the start of the novena “because of its inherent theme of unity,” said a June 3 news release. A “Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity” for the novena can be found at www.kofc.org/en/resources/communications/national-unity-novena.pdf. The last day of the novena is June 15.

The novena prayer asks God “to bring together in your love all whom hatred and racism have separated.”

“We must show love for one another, praying that all people come to understand that injustice to any black person is injustice to all persons and that all of us, regardless of our differences, are children of God made in his image and likeness,” Anderson said.

For the Knights’ 2 million members worldwide and their families, “this understanding starts with prayer.”

“May we pray for the strength to learn from the courageous example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and from the leadership of our Holy Father, and to continue to work to build a society that recognizes the dignity and brotherhood of all,” he added.

According to the Knights, since its founding in 1882 by Father Michael J. McGivney, the Catholic fraternal organization “has been open to all races and nationalities.” In World War I, it was the only organization to run integrated facilities.

In the 1920s, the Knights commissioned a black history by W.E.B. Dubois, an influential African American sociologist, historian, educator and rights activist during the early 20th century, while it also was “openly opposing the racial and religious intolerance of the Ku Klux Klan,” the news release said.

On May 27, the Vatican announced Pope Francis had approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney, clearing the way for his beatification. It did not announce a date for the beatification ceremony.

The sainthood cause of Father McGivney (1852-1890), was formally opened in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1997, and he was given the title “servant of God.” In March 2008, the Catholic Church recognized the priest heroically lived the Christian virtues and gave him the title of “venerable.”

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori joined faith leaders from across the city June 3 to pray for peace and healing after more than a week of nationwide protests and unrest in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic keeping most Marylanders inside their homes, about 250 masked people filled the park outside St. Vincent de Paul Church in the heart of downtown near Baltimore Police Headquarters and City Hall. The event was also livestreamed on Facebook, where it was viewed more than 7,900 times.

A group of Lutheran parishioners held banners reading “Racism is a Sin” and “Thoughts and Prayers and Action.” Catholic priests such as Father Joshua Laws, pastor of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, held homemade protests signs. His read, “Black Lives Matter.”

“The spectacle of the killing of George Floyd that outraged the country once again has shaken us from the mount behind the walls where we so readily hide,” Archbishop Lori said as he opened the service. “But we are confronted with the ongoing suffering of people of color who suffer from the sin of racism.

“We felt compelled to come together in this moment, compelled to come together with our elected officials, our civic leaders and members of our congregation simply to pray.”

Faith leaders from Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities attended the service along with local leaders, including Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes and City Councilman Eric Costello.

“Certainly, we are in tough times, tumultuous times, and much, if not most, of what we are feeling is because of law enforcement,” Harrison said. “It is our duty and our responsibility to be proactive, to bring about change. And so we are certainly happy to be a part of an interfaith prayer service, because prayer is the thing that gives us hope that we can get better, that we can heal, and that we can change.”

The faith leaders and community members offered nine prayers to symbolize the nearly nine minutes Floyd suffered as Officer Derek Chauvin restrained him by putting his knee against Floyd’s neck, cutting off his breathing.

Darlene Cain, whose son was killed by a Baltimore City police officer, offered a prayer for Floyd, urging healing between the police and the community.

“We’re here for the hurt that we feel for George Floyd. We are here hurting, God, our families, our children,” Cain prayed. “For all that’s gone on, all the video that’s gone viral. God help us. God help us to believe that we’re going to be alright again one day.”

Ray Kelly, a parishioner of St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore and director of the Citizens Policing Project, offered a prayer for the city and called for the just treatment of all.

“As I pray for our city and our residents, I hope this demonstration and service today is also a reminder that we have strength, we’ve walked this path before and we are enduring this type of situation with the utmost legitimacy,” he said.

The service ended with a solemn nine minutes of silence interrupted every minute by the sound of a single bell tolling. Many who attended bowed their heads and kneeled.

Floyd’s death was recorded by bystanders and the video has been viewed around the world by millions. Bystanders repeatedly pleaded with the officers that Floyd was struggling to breathe and Floyd himself can be heard on the video begging for help.

Police officers said Floyd appeared to be visibly drunk and had used a counterfeit $20 earlier in the day. An autopsy commissioned by his family found that Floyd died of asphyxiation. However, the medical examiner determined the cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest or heart failure.

Chauvin has been fired and charged with second-degree murder. Three officers – Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, – were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

However, Chauvin was not charged for several days and he initially faced a lesser charge of third-degree murder. The other officers were charged June 3 – more than a week after Floyd’s death. Those delays – along with years of similar in-custody deaths of black people at the hands of police officers – helped fuel the nationwide protests that have grown to include almost every major U.S. city.

During the mass protests, a police station was set on fire in Minneapolis and stores have been looted in cities across the country, drawing condemnation from President Donald Trump and other conservative leaders. Protest organizers argue that the looters were opportunistic criminals and outside agitators. They represent a small minority compared to the millions of people demonstrating peacefully, organizers said.

Protesters have been calling for an end to the police brutality that disproportionately targets people of color. A recent Washington Post analysis found that black people are twice as likely as white people to die at the hands of police despite being only 13 percent of the population. Protesters have also urged Americans to address issues of systemic racism that can affect access to quality healthcare, housing, education and employment.

While Baltimore experienced widespread unrest and destruction of property after the in-custody death of Freddie Gray in 2015, the current demonstrations in the city have largely been peaceful.

Indeed, when a group of protestors marched past St. Vincent de Paul Church and Baltimore Police Headquarters chanting “No Justice. No Peace” people at the prayer service applauded and cheered.

“We are the protesters,” said the Rev. Brenda White, the pastor of Allen AME Church in West Baltimore, who attended the service. “This is where we decide that we are going to represent Christ and love to protest the status quo. Who would be indifferent? So the mere fact that we are here, it is a protest against evil.”

And she had some encouragement for protestors as the demonstrations continued.

“Do it with grit and grace. Be determined to be resilient and show the shape of God’s law and God’s compassion for this world,” Rev. White said.

Email Tim Swift at tswift@catholicreview.org

Copyright ©2020 Catholic Review Media.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — It’s called “taking a knee,” and many professional athletes around the country have made the gesture publicly to protest police brutality.

Lately, even police officers showing solidarity have kneeled around the country before those protesting the May 25 killing of George Floyd, who died after being filmed pinned to the ground with a knee to his neck, constrained by a police officer in Minneapolis.

Until June 1, no Catholic bishop had publicly participated in the gesture but that day, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, became the first. Surrounded by priests from his diocese who also kneeled with him and holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign, he put both knees on the grass at El Paso’s Memorial Park, where a protest had taken place a day earlier and closed his eyes.

Was he nervous?

“Oh, yeah,” he said in a June 3 interview with Catholic News Service. “It’s difficult to know what a bishop should do. But I’ve had some excellent advisers, people and priests. I tried to listen to them, listened to my heart. Sometimes, you just have to take the leap into the unknown.”

The photo of him kneeling went around the world via Twitter and ended up on an Italian website for the Diocese of Rome. Perhaps it was there that his boss, Pope Francis, saw it.

On June 3, shortly after the bishop finished with his daily Mass in El Paso, the pontiff gave him a ring.

“I answered and a voice said in English that he was the Holy Father’s secretary,” Bishop Seitz said. “The Holy Father would like to speak with me. Would I like to speak in Italian or Spanish?”

He chose Spanish.

“The Holy Father said that he wanted to congratulate me for the words I am saying. He also called Archbishop (Jose H.) Gomez (of Los Angeles),” Bishop Seitz said, recalling the phone call. “I told him I felt it was very important at this time to show our solidarity to those who are suffering. I told him I had just come from Mass at which I was praying for him and I always do. He thanked me and said that whenever we celebrate Mass, we are praying together, he where he is and me at the border. I told him that I am very honored to serve here.”

The phone calls to prelates in the U.S. shows “that the Holy Father is aware of what’s happening in this country and is anxious for the church to be responsive in a pastoral way to participate in the response, in solidarity with those who have experienced racial discrimination,” he said.

In a public statement released June 4 on the killing of Floyd, he reflected of an image he saw on video of “a young white woman at a protest near the White House who put her body in front of a young kneeling black teenager as police officers in riot gear approached.”

“As Jesus said, ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,'” he wrote. “It’s a scene of solidarity and self-giving that has played out across the country so many times in the last week. Here in El Paso there were two young police officers who knelt down with protesters here during our protest and it helped diffuse some tension. There is something profoundly eucharistic about that and I’m so inspired by our young people. They are teaching us something.”

Last year, Bishop Seitz wrote a pastoral letter on racism, weeks after an Aug. 3 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, a violent and bloody event that authorities believe targeted Latinos. Up until the pandemic, he regularly visited survivors of the shooting in the hospital and ministered to families who lost loved ones in the event he calls “la matanza,” which means “the slaughter” in Spanish.

Guillermo Garcia, 36, the last patient in the hospital because of the mass shooting, someone whom Bishop Seitz visited, died April 27, bringing the death toll of the deadly incident to 23.

“That ‘matanza,’ that event opened my eyes to the presence of people whose thought patterns are very influenced by racially prejudicial ways of thinking and that it’s not just a benign kind of problem in our country but a problem that can lead to death,” he told CNS. “So, it gave me a new sense of this, that this isn’t an abstract kind of issue. It’ s an issue that has a tremendous impact on people’s lives. And it’s not just physical harm that comes to them but also to the ability of their potential.”

He said that for people to reach their potential as God intended, they also need to be seen as God sees them, but when others look at them with distrust, without the goodness that God sees in them, it’s also hard for the person to see him or herself that way and “I think that’s one of the subtle but extremely important ways that this systematic prejudice influences people,” he said.

So, he felt it was important to show solidarity.

“The pope, from day one, has called the church to be a field hospital. If there were ever a time, with COVID and the killing of George Floyd, for the church to be there in solidarity and support of people, this is it,” he said. “We need to show our love and compassion and respond to the call to peaceful actions, giving them the support they need. Action can be strong for fundamental things … to be looked at and changed.”

When he kneeled, when he took part in “taking a knee,” it was taking part in what he said was something akin to the liturgy.

“I taught liturgy in seminary. In good liturgy, our faith is brought to life. I think what we’ve seen play out over the last couple days is maybe a little bit like liturgy,” he said in his statement. “I think that sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that Christianity is a dead letter religion. That it’s about things that happened a long time ago or about words on a page.

“But every day at Mass, when I kneel before Jesus in the Eucharist, I’m reminded that he is alive and present. That Christianity is an event happening right now. The drama of salvation is something playing out every day. And we all have a role to play.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis as a white officer knelt on his neck for an extended time, drew sorrow and anger across the United States, spawning nationwide protests against police brutality and societal racism in its wake.

That sorrow was felt acutely by members of the Baltimore-based Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic religious society of priests and brothers that since 1871 has served the African-American community with pastoral and sacramental ministry, educational and charitable outreach, and by working for social justice.

After Floyd’s murder, Bishop John H. Ricard, the Josephites’ superior general and a former auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, issued a statement saying, “The Josephites look with horror and disbelief at the killing once more of a black man by the police in Minneapolis this week. This is but another tragic and sad reminder of the legacy of America’s original sin of slavery and its aftermath, the continued violence against people of color.”

In that statement, Bishop Ricard also said, “We must not slack in our vigilance to address the neglect of American society toward African Americans, which is glaringly evident during this pandemic in the differences in health care, employment, housing and education.”

“For over a century, the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart has dedicated itself toward the needs of African Americans,” he said, “especially to those of the spirit and the soul, deeply wounded by racism and racial prejudice and to shoulder with them in procuring justice and solidarity and will continue to do so until this land lives up its creed that all are created free.”

But for Bishop Ricard and the other Josephites, their shared sorrow over a national tragedy would be followed that week by personal sorrow over the death of two brother Josephite priests from COVID-19, Josephite Father Frank Martin Hull and Josephite Father Joseph John McKinley, who both had lived at the Josephite Senior Residence in Washington.

And one week earlier, another longtime Josephite priest who lived there, Josephite Father Jeremiah Dermot Brady, died at age 96.

“It’s been quite a week,” said Bishop Ricard in a phone interview with the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington Archdiocese.

Josephite Father Paul Oberg, rector of the order’s retirement residence in the nation’s capital, confirmed that Father Hull and Father McKinley, who had underlying health issues, died from the coronavirus. The two priests died within hours of each other — Father Hull May 26 at age 96, and Father McKinley May 27 at the age of 83. The rector said Father Brady died of old age May 20.

The rector said another retired Josephite priest who had been living at the residence was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was in the hospital and recovering.

See related commentary: George Matysek remembers Father Hull

“These were good priests, and they had very productive ministry. They were good examples to me and to so many others who followed after them,” said Bishop Ricard, who is the retired bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida. He led the diocese from 1997 until his retirement from that post in 2011.

Father Hull, a native of Philadelphia, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was ordained as a Josephite priest in 1957 in Washington.

During his 63 years as a Josephite priest, Father Hull taught at the order’s St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, was editor of the Josephite Harvest magazine for 14 years beginning in 1963, and served as a spiritual director and vice rector at St. Joseph Seminary and on the Josephite General Council as an area director.

He served in parishes in Houston and New Orleans, before serving in parishes in Washington and in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. After retiring briefly in 2012, Father Hull served in parish ministry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Washington when he was in his late 80s. In his 90s, he served as director of the Josephite Archives in Baltimore and then when the archives moved to Washington.

Father McKinley was a native of Kelayres, Pennsylvania, who made his first profession in the Josephite society in 1960 and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Ricard in 1985 in Washington. Over the years, he served as a vice principal at St. Joseph Industrial School in Clayton, Delaware, and taught at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He was a pastor in Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans and Washington. In the early 1970s, he served three years as assistant treasurer at the Josephites’ headquarters in Baltimore.

After his service as a pastor, Father McKinley worked for more than 20 years as a traveling Josephite, providing pastoral ministry at many parishes, substituting for sick Josephites, filling in for priests on vacation, and during transitions of priest assignments at parishes. During that time, he served people in 12 parishes in Louisiana, 11 parishes in Alabama, six parishes in Mississippi, and one parish in Washington and Texas. He retired in 2014 and moved to the Josephites’ Senior Residence in 2018.

Father Brady, a native of Cork, Ireland, was ordained as a Josephite priest in 1951 in Washington. His nearly seven decades of priestly service included serving in parishes in Baltimore and Washington, including St. Pius V and St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore before he joined the faculty at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He was also the former rector of St. Joseph Manor in Baltimore.

Later parish assignments took him to Delaware, Louisiana, Virginia and Alabama.

Also see:

Remembering Father Hull

Ugandan ordained a Josephite priest at the West Baltimore parish he served as deacon

‘Resilient faith:’ Josephites celebrate 125 years of ministry

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Observing with great concern the social unrest unfolding in the United States, Pope Francis said no one can claim to defend the sanctity of every human life while turning a blind eye to racism and exclusion.

Addressing all “dear brothers and sisters in the United States” during his livestreamed general audience June 3, the pope said, “Today I join the church in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and in the entire United States, in praying for the repose of the soul of George Floyd and of all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism.”

“Let us pray for the consolation of their grieving families and friends and let us implore the national reconciliation and peace for which we yearn,” he said in Italian.

The pope said he has “witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd,” a 46-year-old man, whose last moments of life were recorded on a widely disseminated video showing a white police officer in Minneapolis pushing down on his neck with his knee May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead.

“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. At the same time, we have to recognize that ‘the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost,'” he said, quoting Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The pope prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, to assist “all those who work for peace and justice in your land and throughout the world. May God bless all of you and your families.”

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out nationwide to protest Floyd’s death. And many of the country’s Catholic bishops joined the calls for justice.

Four officers from the Minneapolis Police Department were fired May 26, including Derek Chauvin, with whom Floyd pleaded “Please, I can’t breathe” as he held him down. Chauvin is facing third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — For three hours on the morning of May 30, Father Joe Gillespie walked Lake Street in Minneapolis, surveying the destruction in his neighborhood.

The Walgreens a block from his parish church, St. Albert the Great, was a burned-out shell, its ceiling completely collapsed. Plywood covered most business’ windows, either because they had been smashed out, or to protect them from further vandalism. Graffiti covered buildings’ facades, some of it memorializing George Floyd, an African American man who died while in the custody of a white police officer during an arrest on Memorial Day.

One of his favorite restaurants, Midori’s Floating World Cafe, had been set ablaze, and he talked to the owners as they were cleaning up the mess. A day earlier, they had posted online that they didn’t know if they would be able to reopen, and thanked their customers for the support over the 17 years they’d been there.

“They were literally in tears,” said Father Gillespie, a Dominican priest, standing in St. Albert’s narthex in red vestments following a Pentecost vigil Mass. “Their place was just destroyed. All the windows were broken.”

The day before, a fellow Dominican, Brother Peter Lewitzke, described a similar walk he had taken with Dominican Father Jerry Stookey, pastor of nearby Holy Rosary Church.

“It really does shake you to have to walk through that,” said Brother Lewitzke, who recently finished a yearlong internship in campus ministry at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

He walked past businesses he has visited, including a barber shop whose owner he has gotten to know. “He gives free haircuts to homeless people,” he noted in an interview with The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The barber shop’s windows were smashed, as were those in a nearby library.

“That upsets me,” he said, “but I think the important thing is that we don’t allow all of that to dismiss what started this in the first place. We can’t let the cycle of violence and anger continue endlessly.”

St. Albert and Holy Rosary are the closest parishes to the Minnehaha Shopping Center, where the riots began May 26 with the looting of Target and the first fire at AutoZone. And, after three nights of chaos in the city, including protesters’ destruction of the Minneapolis Third Precinct police building, Father Gillespie said people in the neighborhood felt abandoned by police and uncertain about the future.

The largest deployment of the National Guard in Minnesota history brought order to the city that night, but in the evening, St. Paul and Minneapolis residents were preparing for the worst. The interstate highways closed at 7 p.m., and curfew began at 8 p.m. In south Minneapolis, residents were instructed to fill bathtubs and trash bins with water and keep garden hoses ready in case they needed to extinguish fires, turn on their lights, and, if they felt comfortable, sit in their yards to discourage vandalism.

Karen Bohaty, 69, a St. Albert parishioner who lives in south Minneapolis, said she was aghast at what happened to Floyd, but was angry about the related riots and the destruction across the Twin Cities. She had questioned whether it would be safe to attend Mass that night, the first time the parish was celebrating a public Mass since mid-March, due to the coronavirus pandemic. She was relieved the church hadn’t been vandalized.

Not all churches were so lucky. At the Basilica of St. Mary on the outskirts of downtown Minneapolis, a small interior fire damaged a few pews, Father Gillespie said. Basilica director of marketing and communications Mae Desaire confirmed to The Catholic Spirit the basilica received minor damage overnight May 28, but wouldn’t speak to the details.

“At this time, we pray for peace and healing in our city,” she said in a prepared statement.

Throughout the day May 30, people from across the Twin Cities flocked to Lake Street to help clean the rubble.

Chris Damian, 29, a parishioner of St. Thomas More Church in St. Paul, headed to the clean up on his bike, but accepted a ride from a woman who stopped when she noticed he had a broom. “Because when the worst comes to the Twin Cities, the best comes out of the Twin Cities,” he posted on Facebook.

Father Paul Shovelain, the 32-year-old pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in New Brighton, Minnesota, also spent time that day cleaning up on Lake Street. Wearing clerics, a mask and a backward sun visor with “MPLS MINN” across the band, he prayed an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be via Facebook Live for “our world, our newly ordained priests” — May 30 was ordination day in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — “and for the repose of the soul of George Floyd.”

Behind Father Shovelain was Cup Foods, the site where Floyd was arrested and, while handcuffed on the ground, repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe” and called out for his mother, while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck, even as bystanders pleaded for the officer to let him breathe. He continued to kneel on Floyd, even after Floyd became unresponsive. A bystander filmed the incident and shared it on social media.

Floyd was later pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. Chauvin and three other officers involved were fired. Chauvin was arrested May 29 and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other ex-officers have not been arrested.

Twin Cities-area Catholics are among Minnesotans still processing the horror and tragedy, and grappling with their role — and the Catholic Church’s — both in fighting racism and rebuilding the city.

St. Joan of Arc Church in south Minneapolis planned to hold a virtual prayer service June 2. The church is located just a mile-and-a-half from Cup Foods, the convenience store where Floyd was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 to buy cigarettes around 8 p.m.

Cynthia Bailey Manns, the adult learning director at St. Joan of Arc, who was scheduled to co-lead that prayer service, said May 29 it took two days for the reality of Floyd’s death to sink in. It reminded her of other recent police-involved deaths of unarmed black men.

“There’s that sense of denial — here we go again. This can’t be real. How many? How many more times?” she asked. “And then it was just a sense of heaviness.”

For a while, her prayer has been “Lord help us, and how much longer?”

“It dawned on me yesterday,” she said, “that God is saying the same thing: ‘I have given you all that you need to figure this out. I’ve gifted you with reasoning, intellect, compassion, empathy … love, all the things you need to figure out how to live with each other and to honor the sanctity of life. I’m weeping with you, because you guys are really struggling to figure this out and learn from the lessons of the past.'”

Floyd’s death is part of a “400-year-old struggle,” said Manns, who is African American, referring to the beginning of slavery in America.

“When you watch a man die on a video, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen this. … Two months ago, the man who was jogging gets shot. We watched him die,” she said. “Remember, this is a part of our history. We have watched our ancestors be lynched. We have watched them be killed and dragged from trucks. All of that is in our legacy. There’s trauma. And when something like this happens, it stirs it all up again.”

Those interviewed drew a distinction between people justifiably protesting Floyd’s death — mostly peacefully — and opportunists who spearheaded the looting and arson. However, Manns said she could understand the anger, although she made clear she didn’t condone the vandalism now rampant in many major U.S. cities.

“I understand that sense of, ‘How many times can you say something and hope someone would hear it?’ and not only is it discounted, but you as a human being are discounted,” Manns said.

Manns holds a doctorate of ministry in spiritual direction and is the coordinator of the Spiritual Direction Certificate Program and is a member of the theology faculty at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. She said she would like to see the local church provide more resources for ministry to black Catholics, and she has been involved in trying to revive an archdiocesan initiative.

Brother Lewitzke believes change is needed on individual and structural levels, and through the love of Christ. Racism can’t simply be reduced to a social issue, he said.

“There’s a spiritual component as well, and we have to pray for the conversion of our society. We have to pray for change. We have to pray for justice, which will likely include gathering together with people outside of our own traditions — be it other Christians, non-Christians, etc. We need all the help we can get.”

Archbishop William E. Lori harkened back to the first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit shook the house where Jesus’ disciples had gathered and came with a fire of charity to consume every false idol.

“This Pentecost, let us ask the Spirit to shake our house – to shake us out of complacency over the pandemic of racism and to fill us with fiery determination to defeat this heresy and sin, and to do so with the truth and love of Christ, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” he said.

The admonition came in the archbishop’s May 31 homily at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland for Pentecost Sunday, considered by Catholics as the birthday of the church. Although some churches in the archdiocese opened for public Masses for the first time since mid-March, the cathedral, located in Baltimore City, was in one of a few jurisdictions that still restricted public worship, so the Mass was livestreamed for viewing.

“During these past weeks, I have referred often to the pandemic that has afflicted so many individuals, families and communities across the globe,” the archbishop said in the homily. “While we hope and pray that the coronavirus will soon loosen its grip upon us, on this Pentecost Sunday we must acknowledge another infectious disease that continues to plague our society, namely, the pandemic of racism.”

He said this pandemic has many symptoms, but is often epitomized by the death of George Floyd while he was being detained by a Minneapolis policeman. Floyd died after the policeman kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.

The archbishop said that the events in Minneapolis echo the crisis in Baltimore in 2015 after Freddie Gray died in police custody. He noted that the U.S. bishops, in a 2018 Pastoral Letter Against Racism, said that the interactions of many citizens, notably those who are brown and black, with the police “are often fraught with fear and danger.”

The archbishop acknowledged that those in law enforcement have a difficult job and face significant challenges in their duties. He welcomed the statement of Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison that “condemned, unequivocally, the killing of George Floyd and pledged to continue local efforts of law enforcement reform and renewal.”

On this feast of Pentecost, the archbishop called on the faithful to “acknowledge that we live in a society torn asunder by racism.”

“Loving others, loving our neighbor, cannot be an abstraction. Can we say that we love our neighbors while remaining indifferent to their plight? Can we say we love others as Christ has first loved us while pretending not to notice the grave inequities that are all around us? If ever we needed a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it is now,” the archbishop said.

He noted that the Gospel reading for Pentecost reminds us that before he left the earth, “Jesus breathed on the Apostles, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.’” The love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit allows victory over sin and death.

“But the reality of that victory does not take hold unless and until we acknowledge our sins and our failures; unless and until we take responsibility, not only for our personal sins, but also for our involvement in and indifference to the engrained injustice that surrounds us,” he said.

The Spirit enables us to be bold in witness to the truth and love of Jesus. No less than the early disciples who received the Spirit, we need to be bold and convincing witnesses of the Risen Lord.

“But our witness to the Lord’s redeeming love will be incomplete and deeply flawed, if it is clouded, wittingly or unwittingly, by racist assumptions, attitudes, or actions,” he said.

He encouraged all to educate themselves about racism, for example, by reading the most recent U.S. bishops’ Pastoral Letter Against Racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” or the two pastoral reflections Archbishop Lori issued in 2018 and 2019 about the journey toward racial justice.

Video of Archbishop Lori’s May 31 Pentecost Mass follows; story continues below.

“With the help of the Spirit, let us seek to be wise and loving advocates of racial justice,” he added, noting that we must detect the “inflection of racism” in our hearts and ways of doing business.

“Let us not be afraid to ask if we are living up to what the Lord intended us to be. And let us not be afraid to make changes where change is needed,” the archbishop said.

Before the Mass, Archbishop Lori met with members of the local media to discuss the situation in Minnesota and other parts of the country and to talk about the reopening of churches.

He addressed the sorrow, shock and sadness that has gripped the nation over the killing of Floyd. That such injustice can still occur in the United States causes anguish and anger in all of us, especially since it was caused by those charged with upholding the laws and defending civil rights.

“I would say as a religious leader that we cannot espouse our faith, we cannot live our faith without addressing forthrightly the lingering pandemic of racism that is in our society and without defending the rights of the many people who have been harmed, as Mr. Floyd has been harmed,” the archbishop said.

He offered his sympathies to Floyd’s family and promised to renew efforts on his part and by the Archdiocese of Baltimore community “to address the scourge of racism, racism that poisons the minds and hearts not only of individuals, but indeed of our society and our community.

“We also continue to pray for peace in Baltimore and throughout our country. Understandably, there is tension in our city. Understandably, there is anger and there is anguish,” he said.

He commended those who maintain the safety of all as the community grapples with this issue.

“We recognize that the peace we seek demands the ongoing search for justice, and it demands that we, not for a moment, let up on our efforts to address and to eliminate racism,” Archbishop Lori said.

Answering a reporter’s question, he noted that in the U.S., we are free to speak and express our convictions, and it’s a good thing that people can express their thoughts and feelings, he said, “over what happened in Minneapolis and what has repeated itself far too often across our country. My plea is to do this thoughtfully and peacefully without the destruction of property or life – but to do it in a way that will bring about constructive change at all levels of law enforcement and in society at large.”

He also discussed the joy at being able to reopen some of the archdiocese’s parishes for public Mass. Parishes will be allowed to celebrate Mass at one-third of capacity only if the local jurisdiction is allowing religious services for more than 10 people and the parish has taken all the precautions necessary for sanitizing and maintaining social distance.

Noting that state and some regional guidelines allow for religious services at 50 percent of capacity, the archdiocese is being more conservative in its guidelines.

“I think it’s prudent to show extra caution because many of our churches do not allow for flexible seating; we have pews. And I think we don’t know quite what to expect as we reopen,” he said. “So, I think the decision was made that it’s better to open a little smaller, see how it goes. And then as we enter into a second phase, we can accommodate more people in our churches.”

He praised the clergy and religious and their co-workers for helping to keep their communities connected while Masses were suspended and for all the work they are doing to reopen safely.

“Conditions are very different as you move from place to place and parish to parish. What we have to keep front and center in our minds is the health of those we serve. And we recognize that a lot of people who would love to come to church are at risk,” the archbishop said.

He said parishes will be encouraged to continue livestreaming Masses to help reach those who are not yet comfortable returning to Mass, as well as the homebound, and those who may not come to church often even when there are no restrictions. “This is a wonderful way of bringing the Mass into their home. That said, there is no substitute for worshipping in person, no substitute for receiving our Lord in the holy Eucharist,” he said.

He said many people are eager to get back to church and he and his brother priests will be happy to see them.

“I’m very happy to see this day come. … While I certainly am glad to do the online livestream Masses, there’s no substitute for looking out and seeing God’s people, being with them, interacting with them. And, of course, sharing the Eucharist.

“As we move toward reopening, I’m very happy to see this day. But I also recognize there’s a lot of work that lies ahead of us,” the archbishop said.

Also see:

Bishops ‘sickened’ by Floyd’s death, say racism ‘real and present danger’

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@catholicreview.org

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Catholic bishops said May 29 they “are broken-hearted, sickened and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes.”

“What’s more astounding is that this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences. This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us in a spirit of determined conversion,” they said in a statement about the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

In recent weeks, Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man in Georgia, was fatally shot ,and three white men were arrested and are facing murder charges in his death. In March, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman, died at the hands of white police offers when they entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when convenient,” the bishops said. “It is a real and present danger that must be met head on.”

“As members of the church, we must stand for the more difficult right and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference,” they said. “We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy and justice.”

“Indifference is not an option,” they emphasized and stated “unequivocally” that “racism is a life issue.”

The statement was issued by the chairmen of seven committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism; Archbishop Nelson J. Perez of Philadelphia, Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell of Los Angeles, Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development; and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago, Subcommittee on African American Affairs.

Floyd, 46, was arrested by police on suspicion of forgery. Once he was handcuffed, a white officer pinned him down on the street, putting his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes. A now widely circulated video shows Floyd repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” He appears to lose consciousness or die and was later declared dead at the hospital.

The next day, hundreds of people protested at the intersection where police officers subdued Floyd, demanding justice for him and the arrest of the four officers involved. The officers were fired May 26 and as of midday May 29, local prosecutors filed criminal charges against at least one of the now former officers: The one seen putting his knee on Floyd’s neck, identified as Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

The federal Justice Department promised a “robust” investigation into the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s death.

Protests in Minneapolis have turned to violent demonstrations and lasted several days, prompting Gov. Tim Walz to bring in the National Guard May 29. The protests sparked similar rioting in at least a dozen U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, New York, Louisville, and Columbus, Ohio.

The bishops in their statement pointed to their “Open Wide Our Hearts” pastoral against racism approved by the body of bishops in 2018. In it, they said: “For people of color some interactions with police can be fraught with fear and even danger. People of good conscience must never turn a blind eye when citizens are being deprived of their human dignity and even their lives.”

In their May 29 statement, the committee chairmen called for an end to the violence taking place in the wake of the tragedy in Minneapolis but also said they “stand in passionate support of communities that are understandably outraged.”

They joined with Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis in praying for the repose of the soul of Floyd “and all others who have lost their lives in a similar manner.”

In anticipation of the feast of Pentecost, May 31, they called on all Catholics “to pray and work toward a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit” and pray to “to rid ourselves of the harm that bias and prejudice cause.”

“We call upon Catholics to pray to the Holy Spirit for the spirit of truth to touch the hearts of all in the United States and to come down upon our criminal justice and law enforcement systems,” the bishops said urged every Catholic, regardless of ethnicity, to “beg God to heal our deeply broken view of each other, as well as our deeply broken society.”

Here is the full text of their statement:

We are broken-hearted, sickened and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes. What’s more astounding is that this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences. This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us in a spirit of determined conversion.

Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when convenient. It is a real and present danger that must be met head on. As members of the Church, we must stand for the more difficult right and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference. We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.

While it is expected that we will plead for peaceful nonviolent protests, and we certainly do, we also stand in passionate support of communities that are understandably outraged. Too many communities around this country feel their voices are not being heard, their complaints about racist treatment are unheeded, and we are not doing enough to point out that this deadly treatment is antithetical to the Gospel of Life.

As we said eighteen months ago in our most recent pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” for people of color some interactions with police can be fraught with fear and even danger. People of good conscience must never turn a blind eye when citizens are being deprived of their human dignity and even their lives. Indifference is not an option. As bishops, we unequivocally state that racism is a life issue.”

We join Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis in praying for the repose of the soul of Mr. George Floyd and all others who have lost their lives in a similar manner. We plead for an end to the violence in the wake of this tragedy and for the victims of the rioting. We pray for comfort for grieving families and friends. We pray for peace across the United States, particularly in Minnesota, while the legal process moves forward. We also anticipate a full investigation that results in rightful accountability and actual justice.

We join our brother bishops to challenge everyone to come together, particularly with those who are from different cultural backgrounds. In this encounter, let us all seek greater understanding amongst God’s people. So many people who historically have been disenfranchised continue to experience sadness and pain, yet they endeavor to persevere and remain people of great faith. We encourage our pastors to encounter and more authentically accompany them, listen to their stories, and learn from them, finding substantive ways to enact systemic change. Such encounters will start to bring about the needed transformation of our understanding of true life, charity, and justice in the United States. Hopefully, then there will be many voices speaking out and seeking healing against the evil of racism in our land.

As we anticipate the Solemnity of Pentecost this weekend, we call upon all Catholics to pray and work toward a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for a supernatural desire to rid ourselves of the harm that bias and prejudice cause. We call upon Catholics to pray to the Holy Spirit for the spirit of truth to touch the hearts of all in the United States and to come down upon our criminal justice and law enforcement systems. Finally, let each and every Catholic, regardless of their ethnicity, beg God to heal our deeply broken view of each other, as well as our deeply broken society.

Also see:

Archbishop William E. Lori’s statement on the death of George Floyd

– – –

Editor’s Note: The full text of the bishops’ 2108 pastoral against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” can be found online at https://bit.ly/2XLbpYv.

Read Archbishop William E. Lori’s pastoral letters on racism here. 

A video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed man repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe,” and who appears to lose consciousness or die while being pinned down, is “gut wrenching and deeply disturbing,” Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda  of St. Paul and Minneapolis said in a May 27 statement.

“The sadness and pain are intense,” Archbishop Hebda said of the circumstances surrounding the May 25 death of George Floyd. “Let us pray for comfort for his grieving family and friends, peace for a hurting community and prudence while the process moves forward. We need a full investigation that results in rightful accountability and veritable justice.”

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori also voiced his concerns in a May 28 statement, writing that “we mourn the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd.”

“We share the sense of outrage and intense feelings of helplessness of so many others who have now viewed the searing images of his final moments of struggle,” Archbishop Lori said. “All who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ are obligated to work relentlessly to defeat the painful and persistent reality of racism in every instance and wherever it is manifested.”

Archbishop Lori said “our hearts ache for the family of Mr. Floyd as we pray for them in this hour of their great anguish. We pray also for the people of Minneapolis as they now come to terms with this latest instance of injustice and with God’s help begin to bind the wounds that it has exposed.”

A bystander filmed part of police’s confrontation with the 46-year-old Floyd, an African American restaurant worker from St. Louis Park, Minnesota. who was reportedly arrested on suspicion of forgery. Floyd was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. The four officers involved Floyd’s arrest have been fired, and the FBI is conducting a federal civil rights investigation. The officer who pinned Floyd is white.

The death inspired hundreds of people to protest May 26 at the intersection where police officers subdued Floyd. Some protesters vandalized police vehicles and the building for the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct building, where it is believed the officers involved worked. Police employed tear gas and flash grenades to disperse the crowd, and some protesters hurled rocks and water bottles at police.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called May 27 for charges to be brought against the officer who pinned Floyd with his knee.

Violent protests and looting continued the night of May 27 and led to the shooting death of a man. Frey called for calm, saying, “We cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy.” He has asked the National Guard to come in to help keep the peace.

In his statement, Archbishop Hebda called for respect for all people and asked for prayers for Floyd and his family.

“Particularly at this time when human fragility has been brought into focus by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are called to respect the worth and dignity of each individual, whether they be civilians in need of protection or law enforcement officers charged with providing that protection,” he said.

“All human life is sacred,” he said. “Please join our Catholic community in praying for George Floyd and his family, and working for that day when ‘love and truth will meet (and) justice and peace will kiss’ (Psalm 85).”

Archbishop Hebda also posted on Twitter May 27 that he offered Mass that morning for Floyd and his family. “In these days before Pentecost, we pray that the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, might help ease our collective pain, promote justice, and bring about greater respect for all human life.”

In a video message posted May 27, the pastor of St. Paul’s historically black Catholic parish called on his parishioners “to agitate” their community, Church and world for racial justice and healing.

Father Erich Rutten, pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul, shared his vision for his parish following Floyd’s death.

And while Father Rutten said he doesn’t know all the details of the situation, the video posted online, now well circulated, showing a white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck while Floyd, who is handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe, “seems so egregious.”

“I am saddened. I am sickened. I am angered. And I am tired of such things happening again and again,” Father Rutten said. “How long, O Lord, must we endure such things?”

Some people think white supremacy is a concept for university or talk radio debate, he said, but “here is a case where white supremacy has cost someone their life.”

“The misguided idea that white people can somehow push people around, or that we own this country, or that we own Minneapolis leads to terrible disrespect, leads to poverty, leads to, in this case, violence, and in many cases, violence,” said Father Rutten, who is white.

In contrast, God’s love, as revealed by Jesus, shows people that they are all children of one God, equally subject to Christ the King, he said. “We are all brothers and sisters.”

In other reaction, the General Council of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, said Floyd’s “anguished cry, ‘I can’t breathe,’ as an officer pressed his knee into his neck, harkened back to the cries six years ago of Eric Garner, another unarmed African American man who died in New York police custody.”

Floyd’s cry “brings to mind the long and growing list of African Americans who have been killed, seemingly for no reason other than being black,” the women religious said, and quoted Mayor Frey: “Being black in America should not be a death sentence.”

The Dominicans said they were “deeply troubled and distressed by the violent assault” on Floyd, resulting in his death.

“Our Christian faith tradition holds that we are all one people, one body; each made in the image of God,” their statement said.

The Dominicans referenced a videotaped sermon by the Rev. Otis Moss III, a prominent Chicago pastor, addressing another recent fatal shooting, that of a 25-year-old black man, for Ahmaud Arbery, in Georgia. Three white men are in custody and face a hearing on murder charges.

In the sermon, titled “The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery,” Rev. Moss “speaks of racism as a virus that has infected the spirit and soul of our country,” the Dominicans said.

He said Arbery’s death “is not an anomaly but a historical pattern of behavior that binds every American to an unexamined history of our nation.”

“Rev. Moss powerfully summarizes that unexamined history in his 22-minute sermon. It is a history that we Americans must acknowledge — and then set ourselves on a soul-searching course, powered by courage and love, to make real the ideals of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded,” the women religious said.

Signing the statement were Dominican Sisters Patricia Siemen, prioress; Frances Nadolny, administrator and general councilor; Mary Margaret Pachucki, vicaress and general councilor; and Patricia Harvat and Elise D. Garcia, general councilors.

George Matysek Jr. contributed to this story in Baltimore.

“People should be able to say that man, that woman – they’re Christian,” said Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, in his reflections during the 41st annual Social Ministry Convocation’s closing service Feb. 29. “Your actions will say who you are.”

Bishop Madden pointed to the group of people on the stage at Mercy High School who were to be honored for their work in the parish and the community, calling them “shining examples of how we all can bring the love of Christ.”

Honorees have visited the sick, ladled soup, comforted the bereaved, collected school supplies and helped pregnant women.

Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Gwynette Proctor said people often asked her if she felt safe when she was executive director of Christopher Place Employment Center, a Catholic Charities’ outreach in Baltimore. Not only safe, but grateful, she said.

“They don’t have to let me in their lives,” she explained.

They were the inspiration for her life’s work, she said.

“If you create an environment where they can succeed,” she said, “they do.”

Sister Gwynette, a graduate of Mercy High School in Baltimore, returned to her alma mater as one of three honorees at the Social Ministry Convocation. Also honored were Michael G. Middleton, Sr., who directs the Disciples of God youth group for St. Cecilia and Immaculate Conception parishes in Baltimore, and Pat Shannon Jones, executive director of the Immigration Outreach Service Center, headquartered at St. Matthew Parish in Baltimore.

A Sister of Notre Dame de Namur for 40 years, Sister Gwynette received the Doris Johnson Award, for her work for justice. She has served as coordinator of Urban Youth Ministry, director of Our Daily Bread and Christopher Place Employment Academy and director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

“I always hope and pray that I’m going to be used as an instrument for God’s message,” said Sister Gwynette, who is retiring though she plans to begin working for the Baltimore-based National Black Catholic Congress. “I want my whole life to be about empowerment, for people to see possibilities they never saw before.”

Middleton received the John Hook Parish Award, honoring commitment to social justice ministry through a parish setting. Since 2007, some 200 youths have participated his program which is well known for its annual camping trips. (Click here to watch a related video.)

“I realize everything I have has been given to me, if not by God then by my family and others in my life,” Middleton said. “The least I could do is give back.”

He credits his team, including his wife Phyllis, for the program’s success. “It’s important to help the young church as much as we can,” he said.

Pat Shannon Jones, a nurse and epidemiologist whose career took her around the world, has served since 2007 at the Immigration Outreach Service Center. She says she believes in a life of contemplation and action. “It became my mantra,” she said.

The recipient of the International Peace and Justice Award, she said she has been blessed by her work advocating for immigrants.

“What you get back is far greater than what you give,” she said.

Some 320 people attended the convocation. Ansel Augustine, former director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, offered the keynote address. Bishop Madden led both the opening and closing prayers.

Parish leaders in social justice were also honored with the P. Francis Murphy Social Ministry Recognition Awards. This year’s awards went to

• St. Alphonsus Parish, Carol Lapeau, Chris Hermann
• St. Ambrose Parish, Bencine Blake, James Bell
• St. Ann Parish, Elizabeth M. Lutz, St. Ann Racial Justice Circle Members
• St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Laura Weatherington, Anthony “Tony” Landers
• St. Cecilia Parish, St. Cecilia Soup Kitchen Ministers, Dr. Larry Martin
• St. Dominic Parish, Louise Knorr, Dennis Sullivan
• St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Suzie Hill, Tom Curtin & Kate McAvinue
• Immaculate Conception Parish, Bernadine Douglas
• St. Joan of Arc Parish, Mary Ellen Dunn, Terry Welker
• Most Precious Blood Parish, Bernard Glendon
• St. Pius X Parish, Elizabeth Wagner, Clair Myer
• Shrine of the Little Flower, Mary Catalfamo
• St. Stephen Parish, Betty Morgan
• St. Thomas More Parish, John Gray
• St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Alana Florio

Also see:

Shaky Peace: Catholics labor to lessen violence in Baltimore City

Third cousins continue family tradition of religious life

Immigration outreach among CCHD grant recipients in Baltimore Archdiocese

Immigrants find help making way in classroom, society