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By Ty Salvant, NOLA Catholic Parenting
Six years ago, I received an intriguing email that has had a lasting impact on my life:
“For two years, we have prayed Our Family Prayer asking God’s help in our battle today against violence, murder and racism. Archbishop Gregory Aymond is now asking us to take action to help bring an end to the grievous sin of racism in our church and in our community. The archbishop has designated the month of October as a time to focus on this issue. Eight sites throughout the archdiocese have been selected to host a series of four discussion sessions each. The materials used will be Archbishop Alfred Hughes’ letter, “Made in the Image and Likeness of God, a Pastoral Letter on Racial Harmony” and an accompanying study guide.”
I’m not quite sure what I expected, but I was hopeful. It had been a year since the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, and I was still raw. As a mother of three black boys quickly approaching their teen years, I had lots of concerns.
While I appreciated and enjoyed the opportunity to share, there were no concrete next steps. I was left wanting more. Days, weeks and months passed; life continued. The following year, the archdiocese held its 9th General Synod that I eagerly participated in to share the visions and priorities placed upon my heart.
Days, weeks and months passed; life continued. My boys were getting closer to the ages of the boys who continued to be ignored, incarcerated or murdered.
In 2016, there was once again an email invitation to attend the Archbishop Hughes’ letter series from my parish, St. Dominic. Pleasantly surprised, I attended with my husband and oldest son. While just as meaningful as my previous attendance, the end result was similar. There was no visible movement in our community after the series ended.
Then things changed. I was asked and accepted an invitation to join the Office of Racial Harmony Implementation Committee. The committee consists of archdiocesan employees and lay citizens working to achieve the mission: to assist parishes, schools, administrative offices and individual Catholics in the archdiocese to faithfully learn and implement ways to promote racial harmony to build a more loving, accepting and respectful community.
Over the past few years, there have been many frustrations with intermittent sprinkles of success. The mere fact that our archdiocese is one of few in the country to have an Office of Racial Harmony gives me hope. The work of that office will continue in June under the leadership of Father Daniel Green and the Office of Black Catholic Ministries.
For those of you who followed Matthew Kelly’s “Best Lent Ever,” a recent challenge was to do the necessary/ possible/impossible. It was necessary for me to attend the discussion session to make it possible to join the committee with a seemingly impossible goal of achieving racial harmony.
Even though we would like the problem of racism to have been solved yesterday, the reality is we can’t let what seems an impossible task prevent us from doing anything we can to move toward a solution. We have to remember that nothing is impossible with God, so, we believe our goal is possible. We persevere in taking what steps we can to change hearts, change minds and change policies while praying that whatever we think, say and do is building up the Kingdom of God, where everyone is truly equal.
Ty Salvant is a New Orleans native, cradle Catholic and stay-at-home mom. She was a research associate at LSU Health Sciences Center, where she met her husband Derrick. They’ve been married for 18 years and have five children ages 16, 15, 13, 12 and 8 with a sixth due in December. She has been a homeschool teacher of her children for 13 years.
Salvant is leading a discussion series on Archbishop Hughes’ pastoral letter, “Made in the Image and Likeness of God,” May 29, June 5, 12 and 19, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at St. Dominic, 775 Harrison Ave., New Orleans. Please send comments to [email protected]. Visit the blog featuring three new posts a week at www.nolacatholicparenting.org.