Good Samaritan to guide prayers for racial healing

Above: St. Martin de Porres, canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII and the first black saint of the Americas, is the patron saint of seekers of racial harmony. (Photo by Christine Bordelon, Clarion Herald)

STORY UPDATE: Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, the previously scheduled reception for this event has been canceled. Those who cannot attend the Aug. 25 prayer service in person are encouraged to watch it live, via Facebook (and answer the related reflection questions with those in their inner circle). For more information or to access the live stream of the event and the discussion questions, visit http://nolacatholic.org/racialhealing. The prayer service also will be recorded and added to the archdiocese’s YouTube channel.

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

On Aug. 25, the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Racial Harmony Commission and the St. Martin de Porres Society of St. Dominic Church will co-sponsor “How to Be a Voice for Human Dignity in our Community,” using a prayer service on racial healing written in 2018 by the United Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and presented locally for the first time.

The prayer service, led by Deacon Michael Whitehouse, will begin at 6 p.m. at Transfiguration of the Lord Church, 2212 Prentiss Ave., in New Orleans.

“This prayer service is designed to help Catholics to realize that everything we do to promote racial harmony is grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church; it’s grounded in our faith,” said Ty Salvant, a St. Dominic parishioner and part of the Racial Harmony Commission’s 15-member group of clergy, religious and laity led by Auxiliary Bishop Fernand Cheri and formed by Sister of the Holy Faith Teresa Rooney, former head of the archdiocese’s Office of Racial Harmony.

The reading for the prayer service will be “The Good Samaritan” parable in St. Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus reminds us that everyone is our neighbor and must be treated with mercy and love, no matter their race, faith or condition in life.

The subsequent reflection will examine how the sin of racism divides the human family and how Jesus, through the Good Samaritan, urges us to take action whenever we see racial injustices taking place.

The prayer service will conclude with an examination of conscience, the act of contrition, a pledge to seek reconciliation and act justly, and a discussion of how Catholics might actively cultivate peace in their families, schools, faith communities and workplaces.

Will precede fall workshops

The Aug. 25 prayer service was designed as a precursor to a new, three-part series of racial healing workshops that the commission will be offering in every deanery of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in the fall. Although dates and locations have yet to be announced, the three workshops will be presented in the following order:

• The first will focus on “Made in the Image and Likeness of God,” the 2006 pastoral letter on racism written by Archbishop Emeritus Alfred Hughes.

• The second workshop will examine “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter on racism, co-written by Bishop Shelton Fabre of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in his role as chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

• The third and final workshop will be based on a letter composed by the archdiocese’s Racial Harmony Commission that was inspired by Bishop Cheri’s presentation, “Let the Church Roll On,” in which Bishop Cheri reflects on his personal experiences with race and racism in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The Aug. 25 prayer service will be live streamed at http://nolacatholic.org/racialhealing.

To read the prayer service in advance, go to https://www.usccb.org/resources/prayer-service-racial-healing-our-land.

bdonze@clarionherald.org