A Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism
“Racism occurs because a person ignores the fundamental truth that, because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God.” - Open Wide Our Hearts , 2018 Pastoral Letter Against Racism by the Bishops of the United States

St. Vincent Pallotti often reflected on how all of humanity is created in the image and likeness of God. It is what motivated him to act in care of others. He believed that we must do all that we can to alleviate the suffering of all human beings since we cannot permit another image and likeness of God to suffer. As Catholics, we are called to be in prayerful solidarity with our brothers and sisters who suffer the effects of the sin of racism. We need to live an ongoing conversion of heart with the help of the grace of Christ to eliminate ways, which perpetuate the sin of racism. May we work for deep and systemic change in our society that leads to greater unity, peace, justice, and love for all human beings from the time of conception to the time of natural death.

Pope Francis underscored the intrinsic connection among racism, human life, and dignity at his General Audience on June 3: “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
Watch Recent Webinar: 
The Dignity of Black Lives: A Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism
The Catholic Apostolate Center hosted a webinar on June 11th entitled “The Dignity of Black Lives: A Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism” with Deacon Ajani Gibson of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. This webinar sought to address the many questions about the appropriate response of the Church outside that of statements in times of crisis. Deacon Ajani presented an exploration of the reality of racism in the Church and the necessary place of the Church in the fight against racism.

To watch the webinar or to listen to the presentation, please use the links below.
Catholic Apostolate Center Resources
The Center collaborated with the NBCC on preparing participants for their Congress in 2017. The NBCC represents African American Catholics in the United States. All of these videos, as well as the slides used in the videos, can be found here .

Additionally, we have recently updated our Cultural Diversity Resource page with additional resources from the USCCB , the Vatican , and other organizations. Listen to our On Mission podcast here and our interview Catholic Social Teaching - The Dignity of the Human Person here .
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Response
In response to the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing national protests, seven bishop-chairmen from committees in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement emphasizing the evil of racism and the need for listening as well as ways to enact substantive, systematic change. Archbishop Gomez, President of the USCCB , in his own statement echoed the seven bishop-chairmen and emphasized removing racism in our hearts and throughout all of our actions as a society.

Both statements by Archbishop Gomez and the seven bishop-chairmen emphasize the USCCB ’s pastoral letter, Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love from 2018. This pastoral letter “invites conversion of hearts, minds, and institutions in order to address the evil of racism that still exists in our communities.” They also developed a bulletin insert for the pastoral letter which describes ways practical conversations can occur to combat racism. The USCCB has also developed a resource page for Combatting Racism which can be found here .