If You Want Peace, Work for Justice. A Time of Reckoning

May 29, 2019
Dear Friends in Christ,
I write to you today with sadness in my heart at the senseless killing of George Floyd and the tumultuous response that has resulted over the last couple of days in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul. These are challenging days for our community. Yesterday, I released a statement on these events, wherein I called on our civic community to address the persistent and systematic patterns of racial injustice that have afflicted Minneapolis and indeed the state of Minnesota for decades. I sincerely hope that Our Lady of Lourdes can play a role in initiating and/or supporting this community-wide dialogue.

While I do not condone violence as a Catholic priest, I am reminded of the admonition of the wise pope, St. Paul VI who said, if you want peace, work for justice. The lack of justice for people of color in Minnesota and throughout the United States is a national sin and we are at a time of reckoning. The harm that people of color daily experience must be addressed with vigor, candor and with an eye toward restoration and healing. We will not be the country that God intends for us to be until this happens. When Governor Walz references 48 hours of anarchy in his address to the citizens of Minnesota, I would note, in justice, that people of color have experienced decades of anarchy in the privation of respect, dignity and rights that they face daily in the United States. Peace flows from justice.

Catholic social teaching and restorative justice provide important frameworks and tools to help guide this conversation and to bring healing through naming harm and redressing injustice. In a phone conversation with Archbishop Hebda this afternoon, I encouraged the Archbishop to lead Catholics in the Archdiocese to use this opportunity for introspection and dialogue as Catholics discern what constitutes a Gospel-centered response to the racial injustice experienced by our brothers and sisters of color and the attendant violence that has resulted.

Below, I have included a number of resources that you might find helpful, including a recent pastoral letter on racism by the United States Bishops and an article that appeared in Crux where two well-known Catholic African Americans – one traditional and one progressive – decry what they describe as a general apathy among Catholics with regard to the persistence of racial injustice in the U.S. Our conversation at Lourdes regarding this critical issue, related to the common good, will continue.

As the violence escalated and spread over the last 48 hours, I initiated a conversation this afternoon with our Lourdes Leadership Team (LLT) and the Liturgical Logistics Group (LLG) on the question of whether prudence dictated the suspension of reopening public Masses this weekend at Lourdes. The opinion of the group was unanimous in favor of suspending the reopening of public Masses at Lourdes. This suspension will remain in effect until further notice as we continue to monitor the safety and security of the city. Those who had signed up for these Masses are being contacted and Julie Craven is getting the message out far and wide. This was a fairly clear conclusion to reach for several reasons: my duty to provide a safe environment for parishioners and friends planning to attend Mass; the uncertainty of the next 24-48 hours in our community and the lack of available volunteers who are critical to the safe resumption of our public Masses at Lourdes. Stay tuned for more details about when we reopen Masses at Lourdes.

Please join us for the 10 a.m. Livestreamed Mass this Sunday at Lourdes as we celebrate together Pentecost and the gift of God’s Spirit to the Church. I will provide a 30 minute teaching after Mass entitled, Life, Liberty and Equality: Peace Flows from Justice, which will address the issues of respect for life in the womb, religious freedom and racial justice. Please join me.

Stay tuned next week as we announce an exciting line-up of events – Summer at Lourdes which will include opportunities for fellowship, music, learning and fun.

Lastly, I ask you to join me in prayer through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and St. Anthony that our city of Minneapolis and Minnesota would experience soon a new era of authentic solidarity, justice and peace. Our good and gracious God wants nothing less for the children in whose image we are created.
United in Christ,
Fr. Daniel Griffith, Pastor