The Church addressing racism and what to do about it

Jan 15, 2015

By Daniel Mulhall
Racism has been in the news of late, but it is nothing new. At the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 — after racial taunts were hurled at players of African descent in earlier games — many matches began with the players leading the fans in a pledge against racism.

In the United States recently, people have taken to the streets to protest the failure of grand juries to bring charges against white police officers who had killed unarmed black men. Some view this is as an example of racism.

What guidance, if any, does the Catholic Church offer in these matters? Racism is the belief that people from a particular race possess specific characteristics or abilities that mark them as inferior or superior to others. Racism is experienced frequently through subtle and blatant acts of prejudice, discrimination or violence. Racism is seen throughout history and is a reality in every country and culture around the world.

Racism may be more obvious in some cultures and more hidden in others, but the feelings of superiority over another is seemingly a common human trait.

While the belief that all people are created by God and deserve to be treated with equal dignity and respect is a core principle of Catholic belief, it wasn’t until 1537 that Pope Paul III denounced the subhuman treatment of indigenous people by colonizers, and, in 1888, Pope Leo XIII denounced slavery and began to articulate what is now called Catholic Social Teaching, a field of study that is still developing. Pope Francis recently added to it with his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel.

In the document Gaudium et Spes, the bishops at the Second Vatican Council spoke out against racism, although they did not use that particular word. They wrote in No. 29 that “every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, colour, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”

This passage is quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the only reference made in the catechism on this topic.

The Catholic bishops of the United States forcefully spoke out against racism in the 1979 pastoral letter Brothers and Sisters to Us. The letter stated that “racism is an evil which endures in our society and in our church”.

Continuing, the bishops noted that racism is “a sin that divides the human family, blots out the image of God among specific members of that family, and violates the fundamental human dignity of those called to be children of the same Father. ... The sin that makes racial characteristics the determining factor for the exercise of human rights ... is a denial of the truth of the dignity of each human being”.

In Brothers and Sisters to Us, the bishops noted that while great changes have been made to the laws of the United States, racism continued. They wrote that “only external appearances ... have changed” since their original letters on racism were published in 1958 (Discrimination and Christian Conscience) and 1968 (National Race Crisis), and that fundamental change had not occurred. Racism had not been eliminated.

The letter called attention to the pervasive aspect of racism and how racism is linked to economic oppression and discrimination. What the US bishops wrote in 1979 could just as easily be written about American society today, with the document’s emphasis on the “fundamental changes” taking place within the economy that “threaten to intensify social inequalities in our nation”.

The letter spoke of “limited resources, restricted job markets and dwindling revenues” that put great economic pressure on “the poor and racial minorities”. The bishops stated that the economic crisis “reveals an unresolved racism that permeates our society’s structures” that is less blatant but is “harder to combat and easier to ignore”.

In 1988, the Vatican Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace issued the document The Church and Racism: Toward a More Fraternal Society, which affirms the teaching found in Brothers and Sisters to Us.

But what can ordinary Catholics do to bring about fundamental change in racial attitudes and behaviour? In Brothers and Sisters to Us, the bishops called us to a “radical transformation” in ourselves and in society.

We are asked to review our personal attitudes and judgments to see how race affects our decision-making and behaviour toward others, and then to change our racially charged thoughts and actions.

Racism can be overcome, oppression stifled and fear relieved by choosing not to think and act out of racial bias and fear. Think about it, and pray without ceasing.