Statement of Catholic Theologians on Racial Justice
Advent is a season of waiting and of hoping. In the face of conflict, distrust, and division – in the wilderness – we are called to cry out for a different way. In consultation with several others, CMTer and former law enforcement officer Tobias Winright has prepared a statement of commitment to racial justice, which names the particularly difficult hope we might bring to illuminate darkness. We are happy to share the statement here on this blog. Many Catholic theologians, including myself and my co-editor, Jana Bennett, have already signed on to the statement. Please pray and act for truth and reconciliation this season…
Statement: Catholic Theologians for Police Reform and Racial Justice
The season of Advent is meant to be a time when Christians remember the birth of Jesus Christ, when God became human, born on the margins of society. To the poor shepherds, the angelic host proclaimed “peace, goodwill among people” (Luke 2:14), which refers to a shalom that is not merely the absence of conflict, but rather a just and lasting peace, wherein people are reconciled with one another, with God, and indeed with all creation. But this Advent, hope for a just peace must face the flagrant failures of a nation still bound by sin, our bondage to and complicity in racial injustice.
The killings of Black men – including but not limited to Eric Garner, Michael Brown, John Crawford, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice – by White policemen, and the failures of the grand jury process to indict the police officers involved, have brought to our attention not only problems in law enforcement today, but also the deeper racial injustice in our nation, our communities, and even our churches.
As Eric Garner’s dying words “I can’t breathe” are chanted in the streets, and as people of faith, we hear the echo of Jesus’ breathing on his disciples, telling them, “Peace be with you.” His spirit-filled breath gives his disciples, then and now, the power and obligation to raise our voices about the imperative of a just peace in fragmented and violent world.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” speaks searingly to our headline divisions today. The “cup of endurance runs over” again for African Americans and many others of good will. Our streets are filled with those exhausted by the need to explain yet again “why we can’t wait.”
King challenged “white moderate” Christians for being “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice;” and for preferring “a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” This challenge to the White Christian community is as relevant today as it was over 50 years ago. Such a negative peace calls to mind the warning by the prophet Ezekiel, “They led my people astray, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there was no peace” (13:10).
Pope Francis’s warning of the explosive consequences of exclusion and fearful seeking of “security” based on such a negative peace are similarly prophetic:
“Today in many places we hear a call for greater security. But until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode. When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root. Just as goodness tends to spread, the toleration of evil, which is injustice, tends to expand its baneful influence and quietly to undermine any political and social system, no matter how solid it may appear.” Evangelii Gaudium, 59
As Catholic theologians, we wish to go on the record in calling for a serious examination of both policing and racial injustice in the US. The time demands that we leave some mark that US Catholic theologians did not ignore what is happening in our midst – as the vast majority sadly did during the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
● We pledge to examine within ourselves our complicity in the sin of racism and how it sustains false images of White superiority in relationship to Black inferiority. In the words of the US Catholic Bishops Conference, “Racism is a sin: 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.”
● We pledge to fast and to refrain from meat on Fridays during this Advent season and through the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, as well as during Lent, as a sign of our penitence and need of conversion from the pervasive sin of racism.
● We commit ourselves to placing our bodies and/or privilege on the line in visible, public solidarity with movements of protest to address the deep-seated racism of our nation.
● We support our police, whose work is indeed dangerous at times, but we also call for a radical reconsideration of policing policy in our nation. We call for an end to the militarization of police departments in the US, and we support instead the proven, effective results of community policing. Rather than perpetuating an “us versus them” mentality, a community policing approach is more consonant with our Catholic convictions that we are all each other’s keepers and should work together for the common good of our communities.
● We call for a honing of the guidelines for police use of lethal force so that they are uniform in all states within the US and so that the use of lethal force, echoing Catholic teaching on “legitimate defense,” is justified only when an aggressor poses a grave and imminent threat to the officer’s and/or other persons’ lives.
● We support those calling for better recruiting, training, and education for our police so that they may truly and justly do what they have sworn, namely, to “serve and protect” their communities.
● We support new efforts to promote accountability and transparency, such as body cameras for police officers.
● Regarding the widespread dissatisfaction with recent grand jury decisions, and the perception that a conflict of interest exists between local prosecutors and police departments, we call for the establishment of publicly accountable review boards staffed with civilian attorneys from within the jurisdiction and/or for the appointment of independent special prosecutors’ offices to investigate claims of police misconduct.
● Our nation’s pervasive yet too often denied systemic racial divisions compromise our structures of justice – in our view so much so that we support calling for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine race in America. A precedent would be the 2004 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in North Carolina.
● In view of the recent US Justice Department’s report on the pattern of excessive force found in the Cleveland Police Department, we call for similar investigations of the Ferguson Police Department, the New York Police Department, and other police forces involved in the killings of unarmed Black citizens.
● We call upon our bishops to proactively proclaim and witness to our faith’s stand against racism They have authored pastoral statements in the past, and these documents need to be revisited – in parishes, dioceses, and seminaries – and brought to the forefront of Catholic teaching and action in light of the present crisis.
● As Catholic theologians and scholars, we commit ourselves to further teaching and scholarship on racial justice. Our faith teaches us that all persons are created in the image of God and have been redeemed in Christ Jesus. In short, our faith proclaims that all lives matter, and therefore, Black lives must matter, too. As part of this commitment, we pledge to continue listening to, praying for, and even joining in our streets with those struggling for justice through nonviolent protests and peaceful acts of civil disobedience.
We pray that all of these actions will move us closer toward the fulfillment of the hope of the Advent season, toward a time when “love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss” (Psalm 85:10).
Signatures (institutions are listed for identification purposes only):
1) Tobias Winright, Mäder Chair of Health Care Ethics, Associate Professor of Theological Ethics, Saint Louis University
2) Alex Mikulich, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University New Orleans
3) Vincent Miller, Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture, University of Dayton
4) Bryan N. Massingale, Professor of Theological Ethics, Marquette University
5) M. Shawn Copeland, Professor of Systematic Theology, Boston College
6) Susan A. Ross, Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
7) William L. Portier, Mary Ann Spearin Chair of Catholic Theology, University of Dayton
8) Richard Gaillardetz, Joseph Professor of Theology, Boston College
9) Christopher Pramuk, Associate Professor of Theology, Xavier University
10) Mark J. Allman, Professor of Religious and Theological Studies, Merrimack College
11) James F. Keenan, SJ, Canisius Professor, Boston College
12) Lisa Sowle Cahill, Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College
13) Nicholas P. Cafardi, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Canon Law, Duquesne University
14) Brian M. Doyle, Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Marymount University
15) Dolores Christie, Catholic Theological Society of America/John Carroll University (retired)
16) David Hollenbach, S.J., University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice, Boston College
17) William Cavanaugh, Professor of Catholic Studies, DePaul University
18) John Sniegocki, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Xavier University
19) Emily Reimer-Barry, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
20) Kristin Heyer, Bernard J. Hanley Professor of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University
21) Bradford E. Hinze, Karl Rahner, S.J., Professor of Theology, Fordham University
22) Kathryn Getek Soltis, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics and Director, Center for Peace and Justice Education, Villanova University
23) Joseph Fahey, Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College
24) Charlie Camosy, Associate Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, Fordham University
25) John Renard, Professor of Theological Studies, Saint Louis University
26) Kathy Lilla Cox, Associate Professor of Theology St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict
27) Nancy Dallavalle, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Fairfield University
28) Gerard Mannion, Amaturo Professor in Catholic Studies, Georgetown University
29) Laurie Gagne, Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, St. Michael’s College
30) Christine Firer Hinze, Professor of Theology, Fordham University
31) Brian P. Flanagan, Assistant Professor of Theology, Marymount University
32) William J. Collinge, Knott Professor of Theology, Mount Saint Mary’s University
33) Nichole M. Flores, Instructor of Theology, Saint Anselm College
34) Stephen J. Pope, Professor of Theological Ethics, Boston College
35) Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Associate Professor of Theology and U.S. Latino/a Ministry, Boston College
36) Sandra Yocum, Associate Professor, University of Dayton
37) Patricia Beattie Jung, Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics, Saint Paul School of Theology
38) MT Dávila, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics, Andover Newton Theological School
39) James E. Hug, S.J., Spiritual Life Department, Adrian Dominican Motherhouse
40) Mary Doak, Associate Professor of Theology, University of San Diego
41) Anna Floerke Scheid, Assistant Professor of Theology, Duquesne University
42) Paulette Skiba, BVM, Professor of Religious Studies, Clarke University
43) Paul J. Wojda, Associate Professor of Moral Theology, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
44) Marcus Mescher, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics, Xavier University
45) Christopher Denny, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, St. John’s University
46) Kevin Glauber Ahern, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College
47) Rachel Hart Winter, Director, St. Catherine of Siena Center, Dominican University
48) David DeCosse, Director of Campus Ethics Program, Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University
49) Julie Hanlon Rubio, Professor of Christian Ethics, Saint Louis University
50) Holly Taylor Coolman, Assistant Professor of Theology, Providence College
51) Terrence W. Tilley, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology, Fordham University
52) Jason King, Associate Professor, Chair of the Theology Department, Saint Vincent College
53) Laurie Johnston, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Emmanuel College
54) Nancy M. Rourke, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, Canisius College
55) Sally Vance-Trembath, Lecturer, Santa Clara University
56) Karen Teel, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
57) Una M. Cadegan, Associate Professor of History, University of Dayton
58) Ron Pagnucco, Associate Professor, Department of Peace Studies, College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University
59) Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
60) Mary E. Hines, Professor of Theology, Emmanuel College
61) Erin Lothes, Assistant Professor of Theology, College of Saint Elizabeth
62) Joe Torma, Professor of Theology, Walsh University
63) Bryan Froehle, Professor of Practical Theology, St. Thomas University, Miami
64) Matthew A. Shadle, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Marymount University
65) Elisabeth Vasko, Assistant Professor of Theology, Duquesne University
66) Jana Bennett, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
67) Dana L. Dillon, Assistant Professor of Theology, Providence College
68) William George, Professor of Theology and Chair, Theology and Pastoral Ministry, Dominican University
69) Jon Nilson, Professor Emeritus of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
70) Patrick Lynch, S.J., Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, Canisius College
71) Darlene Fozard Weaver, Associate Professor of Theology, Director of the Center for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Duquesne University
72) Matthew Ashley. Associate Professor and Department Chair, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame
73) Tracy Tiemeier, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University
74) David O’Brien, Emeritus Professor, College of Holy Cross and University of Dayton
75) Kate Ward, Flatley Fellow in Theological Ethics, Boston College
76) Eugene McCarraher, Associate Professor of Humanities, Villanova University
77) James P. Bailey, Associate Professor of Theology, Duquesne University
78) Debra Dean Murphy, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, West Virginia Wesleyan College
79) Amy Levad, Assistant Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
80) Jennifer Beste, College of Saint Benedict Koch Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture, Associate Professor of Theology, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
81) Colleen Mary Carpenter, Sister Mona Riley Endowed Chair of the Humanities, Associate Professor of Theology, St. Catherine University
82) Todd A. Salzman, Professor of Theology, Creighton University
83) Jim Caccamo, Associate Professor of Theology, Saint Joseph’s University, PA
84) Kenneth Himes, OFM, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
85) Dawn M. Nothwehr, OSF, The Erica and Harry John Family Endowed Chair in Catholic Ethics, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
86) Thomas M. Kelly, Professor of Systematic Theology, Creighton University
87) Elizabeth W. Collier, Associate Professor of Business Ethics, Co-Director of Center for Global Peace through Commerce, Brennan School of Business, Dominican University
88) Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, Associate Professor, Seattle University
89) Julia Brumbaugh, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Regis University
90) David Burrell, Hesburgh Professor Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
91) Gerardo Rodríguez, Assistant Professor of Theology, Carroll College
92) Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, Professor Emerita of New Testament Studies and Spirituality, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
93) Michael E. Lee, Associate Professor Theology, and Latin American & Latino Studies, Fordham University
94) Brian Stiltner, Chair of Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies, Sacred Heart University
95) Susie Paulik Babka, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
96) Elizabeth Groppe, Associate Professor of Theology, Xavier University
97) David Cloutier, Associate Professor of Theology, Mount Saint Mary’s University
98) Martin J O’Malley, Research Scholar at the Center for Applied Ethics, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena
99) Christopher McMahon, Associate Professor of Theology, Saint Vincent College
100) Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Professor of Theology, Fordham University
101) Christopher Steck, SJ, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology, Georgetown University
102) Elena Procario-Foley, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Iona College
103) Gerald W. Schlabach, Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas, MN
104) William Werpehowski, Robert L. McDevitt, K.S.G., K.C.H.S. and Catherine H. McDevitt L.C.H.S. Chair in Catholic Theology, Georgetown University
105) Timothy P. Muldoon, Division of University Mission and Ministry, Boston College
106) Stephen Wilson, Associate Professor of Theology, Spring Hill College
107) Kelly S. Johnson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
108) Andrew Staron, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Wheeling Jesuit University
109) Michele Saracino, Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department, Manhattan College
110) Claire Noonan, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Dominican University
111) Stephen Okey, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Religion, Saint Leo University
112) Anna Bonta Moreland, Associate Professor of Theology, Villanova University
113) Sallie Latkovich, CSJ, Director of Bible Study and Travel Programs, Director of Summer Institute, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
114) Andrew Prevot, Assistant Professor of Theology, Boston College
115) Kimberly Flint-Hamilton, Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology, Stetson University
116) Margaret A. Farley, Gilbert L. Stark Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics, Yale University Divinity School
117) Boyd Taylor Coolman, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
118) Edward Foley, Capuchin, Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
119) Elizabeth Sweeny Block, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics, Saint Louis University
120) John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Professor of Social Ethics, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
121) Robert Masson, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology, Marquette University
122) Deirdre Dempsey, Associate Professor, the Department of Theology, Marquette University
123) Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Assistant Professor, Marquette University
124) Melody Layton McMahon, Director of the Library, Associate Professor, Co-Editor of New Theology Review, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
125) Rita George-Tvrtković, Assistant Professor of Theology, Benedictine University
126) William McDonough, Associate Professor of Theology, St. Catherine University
127) David G. Schultenover, S.J., Henri de Lubac Professor of Historical Theology, Department of Theology, Marquette University
128) Min-Ah Cho, Assistant Professor of Theology, St. Catherine University
129) Mary Jo Iozzio, Professor of Moral Theology, Boston College
130) Michael G. Lawler, Amelia and Emil Graff Professor Emeritus of Catholic Theology, Creighton University
131) Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ, Assistant Professor of Church History, Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis
132) Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics, Loyola University Chicago
133) Kathleen Dorsey Bellow, D.Min., Convener, Black Catholic Theological Symposium
134) Gerald J. Beyer, Associate Professor of Theology, Villanova University
To be added to this list, email Tobias Winright at twinrigh@slu.edu with your name, position, and institutional affiliation (for identification purposes only).
