Will There Be Racists in Heaven?
Will There Be Racists in Heaven?
Richard G. Malloy, S.J., Ph.D.
Director of Mission and Ministry Cristo Rey Jesuit Hgh School, Baltimore MD
“If you hate black people now, and you get
to heaven and meet black people there, you’re not going to want to stay. And that will be your hell.”
Whenever I’ve preached on racism, it
almost always gets blowback.
“Father, there’s no place for politics in
the pulpit.”
“You’re condemning all white people.”
And what someone said and was then
reported to me, “He’s just another N***** lover.”
I was born three months before Rosa Parks refused
to give up her seat. In September of
1955, segregation was legal, lethal and largely unquestioned. If you opposed racist policies and overt
racists, you would not just get mocked on twitter; you would be murdered. Yes, that’s exactly what happened to three
young civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964. Cheney, Goodman and Schwerner were shot, and
then buried in an earthen dam.
Yes, there has been progress. Yes, two thirds of African Americans are
firmly ensconced in the middle class, and Oprah is richer than the Queen. Yes, we elected an African American
president.
But “Yes We Can” has swung back to “No we
won’t.”
Think of the murders of
Pastor Pinckney and eight others at a Bible Study in South Carolina in 2015.
Think
Charlottesville 2017. Remember the murder
of Heather Heyer.
Think the massacre in El Paso, August
2019.
And now add the names Breonna Taylor,
George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery.
What does the Catholic Church have to say
about racism?
Back in 1998 when racial tensions were
exacerbated in Philadelphia, PA, the Catholic Archbishop Cardinal Bevilacqua promulgated
a pastoral letter entitled “Healing Racism through Faith and Hope.”[1] Bevilacqua wrote, “Racism a moral disease and
it is contagious. No one is born a
racist. Carriers infect others in
countless ways through words and attitudes, deeds and omissions. Yet, one thing is certain - the disease of
racism can and must be eradicated is.
… In short, racism and Christian
life are incompatible.”
He
makes clear that we cannot be united with God if we are not united with one
another. “Jesus is clear that this is a matter of holiness and a matter of
salvation. Our attitudes and actions
towards others enter the mystery of our communion with God. Racism is a sin that weakens and diminishes
this sacred union....”
Prophetically
he teaches, “Racism has been condemned as a sin many times… For the truth to have an impact on us, for it
to really set us free, it must become our truth. It must be operative within us. It must penetrate and ignite our minds and
hearts.”
Last
August, after the massacre of 22 people in a Wal Mart, the Bishop of El Paso
Texas issued “Night Will Be No More,” an even stronger condemnation of racism.[2]
Bishop
Seitz asks how we are to comprehend the massacre, another shooting that leaves
us “feeling dazed, wounded, fearful and helpless.” He asks, “How should we think about racism
and white supremacy?”
He
raises to consciousness the mystery of evil and how it seeps into our minds and
lives in our hearts. “This mystery of
evil also includes the base belief that some of us are more important,
deserving and worthy than others. It includes the ugly conviction that this
country and its history and opportunities and resources as well as our economic
and political life belong more properly to ‘white’ people than to people of
color. This is a perverse way of thinking that divides people based on heritage
and tone of skin into ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’, paving the way
to dehumanization.”
“In
other words, racism.”
He
charges that, “If we are honest, racism is really about advancing, shoring up,
and failing to oppose a system of white privilege and advantage based on skin
color. When this system begins to shape our public choices, structure our
common life together and becomes a tool of class, this is rightly called
institutionalized racism. Action to build this system of hate and inaction to
oppose its dismantling are what we rightly call white supremacy.”
Bishop
Seitz calls this the work of the father of lies (John 8:44) “incarnate in our
everyday choices and lifestyles, and our laws and institutions.”
“God
gave the earth to everyone, not just the privileged. We must all work together “to ensure all our
children have access to quality educational opportunities, eliminate inequality
in the colonias, pass immigration reform, eradicate discrimination,
guarantee universal access to health care, ensure the protection of all human
life, end the scourge of gun violence, improve wages on both sides of the
border, offer just and sustainable development opportunities, defend the
environment and honor the dignity of every person.”
There
is not an option to opt out. “This work
of undoing racism and building a just society is holy, for it ‘contributes to
the building of the universal city of God….”
Here
in the City of Baltimore, back in the 1960s, Cardinal Archbishop Shehan called
for all Catholics to heed our obligation to promote racial equality. He joined with other faith leaders calling
for abolishing discrimination in rental housing and real estate. For that, he received death threats.[3]
I hope no one is contemplating violence
against those who will build the new Mother Mary Lange Catholic school, a $24
million, 66,500 square foot complex in West Baltimore.[4]
Truth is truth. Rev. Martin Luther King said, “We must all
learn to live together like brothers, or we will perish like fools.”
In 2018, the United States Catholic
Bishops forcefully stated that racism and racist attitudes and actions are
destructive of human life. All ways in
which life is threatened contradict the love proclaimed by the Gospel.
“It is not a secret that these attacks on
human life have severely affected people of color, who are disproportionately
affected by poverty, targeted for abortion, have less access to healthcare,
have the greatest numbers on death row, and are most likely to feel pressure to
end their lives when facing serious illness.”
Our bishops teach that “racism is a life
issue.” They call us “to speak
forcefully against and work toward ending racism.”[5]
To put it bluntly, to be Catholic is to be
anti-racist. In Christ, we are all
brothers and sisters. We are preparing
ourselves for heaven by the way we live with and love one another now.
There will be no racists in heaven. Racists need not apply.
Jesuit Father Richard G. Malloy is the
director of Mission Integration at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Baltimore,
and author of Being on Fire and A Faith That Frees, both from Orbis Books.
[1] Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua. 1998.
“Healing Racism Through Faith and Hope.”
(Philadelphia Archdiocese).
[2] Bishop Mark Seitz. August 2019.
“Night Will Be No More.” https://www.hopeborder.org/nightwillbenomore (Diocese of El
Paso, TX)
[3] Antero Pietila. 2010. Not
in My Neighborhood. (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Pp. 190-191).
[5] United States Catholic Bishops Conference. Open Wide Our Hearts. The Enduring call to
Love. A Pastoral Letter on Racism.
Washington, DC, 2018, p. 30. http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/racism/upload/open-wide-our-hearts.pdf
Labels: catholic, catholic church, catholic social teaching, Cristo Rey, jesuit, jesuits, justice, malloy, racial justice, racism, Richard G Malloy, social justice
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Monday, July 20, 2020
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The vast majority of hungry people (827 million) live in developing countries, where 14.3 percent of the population is undernourished.
Asia has the largest share of the world's hungry people (some 552 million) but the trend is downward.
If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.
One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight.
One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.
80 percent of the world's stunted children live in just 20 countries.
66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.
WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.
