The Deacon

It was about 3:30 a.m., and I was working the midnight shift as a police officer in a suburb of Chicago. My partner and I were dispatched to investigate a suspicious person described as a black male wearing a dark hoodie and acting strange. He was walking in an affluent neighborhood. We responded to the scene and located the subject, and as we checked him through the database, we asked him what he was doing. He said that it was a nice night, that he had some thinking to do, so he just went for a walk. After we determined that there were no wants or warrants, my partner and I let him go with a warning and told him to stay in his own neighborhood from now on and not bother the nice people in the affluent neighborhood.

When we got back in the squad car, this grizzled veteran said to me, “That’s our job, kid. Keep the Blacks away from the white neighborhoods and everything will stay calm.” Thirty-two years later that episode still bothers me.

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Deacon Offers a Catholic Response

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers offers a Catholic Christian response to racism in the book “Building a Civilization of Love: A Catholic Response to Racism” (Ignatius Press, $18.95). Deacon Burke-Sivers distinguishes the sin of racism from the kind of instinctive bias that marks mankind and offers an approach firmly rooted in Scripture, natural law, Tradition and our identity as children of God. He takes an honest look at critical race theory, liberation theology and the Black Lives Matter movement and weighs their merits. And he asks, “Is there anything contained in them that Catholics can use to facilitate the healing and reconciliation of racial division?

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I recently attended the National Association of Diaconate Directors Convention at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. There, we were treated with warm hospitality, excellent speakers and enthusiastic camaraderie. Among the many workshop presentations and keynote addresses, one in particular stood out for me. The Most Reverend Shelton J. Fabre, the archbishop of Louisville, spoke to us about the document Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism. This document was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was approved by the full body of bishops, it has been authorized for publication and implementation, and I urge you to read it.

Address the Issue

Archbishop Fabre asked us when we last preached a homily about racism. I was stung by that question because, if I’m being honest, I don’t think I ever have. Indeed my silence in the pulpit is as loud as my silence was in the squad car 32 years ago. Yet, the document calls racism “one particularly destructive and persistent form of evil [which] still infects our nation.” That’s because “all humans share a common origin. We are brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and — all too often — hatred.” Prejudice, fear and hatred are decidedly not diaconal emotions.

The bishops tell us that racism is a moral problem that requires a moral remedy — a transformation of the human heart — that impels us to act. The bishops urge us to acknowledge our sinful deeds and thoughts, and to ask for forgiveness. Then, we are asked to take responsibility for correcting the injustices of racism and healing the harms it has caused.

Deacon formation programs are called upon to find new and creative ways to raise awareness, analyze curricula and to teach the virtues of fraternal charity. Finally, the bishops admonish deacons to “preach with regularity homilies directed to the issue of racism and its impact on our homes, families and neighborhoods, particularly on certain feast days and national holidays.”

What the bishops are calling for is a genuine conversion of heart that will compel change and the reform of our institutions and society. In this regard, each of us should adopt the words of Pope Francis as our own: “[No] one think that this invitation is not meant for him or her” (Evangelii Gaudium, No. 3). All of us are in need of personal, ongoing conversion … and let it begin with me.

DEACON VICTOR PUSCAS is director of diaconate formation for the Diocese of Joliet, in Illinois. He holds a D.Min. degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.