Race barriers can shatter with common cause

By Kevin Fitzpatrick
Contributing writer

James Joyce’s declaration in “Finnegan’s Wake” –  “Here comes everybody!” – has become famous for its description of Catholicism.

This must be balanced by Martin Luther King’s declaration: “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o’clock Sunday morning.”

While we must hold these two statements in tension, as Catholics we know our faith life does not stop at the door of the church vestibule; rather, we are sent into mission as we exit the church building.

At Catholic Charities in the Office of Justice and Peace and Cornerstone Builders, we work to bring these wide range of Catholics together in mission, and in a particular way, in our collaboration with the Racial Harmony Commission. 

Very often, small things lead to bigger things. For example, Dominican Father Sergio Serrano and I happened to be the first to hop on a videoconference with the commission. As we were talking, Father Sergio expressed concern about the number of people coming to his office seeking assistance who, because of their legal status, were not able to receive the benefits other citizens had received. I put him in touch with our division director, Tom Costanza, so that our bilingual case workers could seek out means of financial assistance.

For the past two years, Sister Theresa Berlin, Stephanie Dupepe at our northshore office and I have been able to organize Peace Prayer Walks in the “30s” neighborhood of Covington, which is a low-income, predominantly African-American neighborhood. For a little over an hour, we walk, pray and sing through the neighborhood. 

The Peace Prayer Walk convenes the neighbors, members of St. Peter Parish, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and seminarians from St. Joseph Seminary. We end with an agape meal of hotdogs, chips and soft drinks, a meal with the small children in mind!

Through our work with the Racial Harmony Commission, Jennifer Rogers of Sacred Heart Parish in Lacombe was able to connect with Deacon Reggie Seymour at St. Genevieve Parish in Slidell to find ways to ensure their parishioners and neighbors are counted in the 2020 census. Our office has been able to put them in touch with resources to help them accomplish that task.

Because of the leadership of Walter Bonam, members of the Racial Harmony Commission have conducted listening sessions in the past year as a follow up to the U.S. bishops’ document on race, “Open Wide Our Hearts.” The commission also conducted racial sobriety sessions with parishes in the past few years, which brought people of different races together to learn from one another’s life experiences. This story was captured eloquently in the Clarion Herald by Beth Donze, who attended the sessions as a member of St. Pius X parish.

Through our work with Cornerstone Builders and the annual Symposium for Systemic Change, Ronnie Moore and I have worked to bring people of faith together with formerly incarcerated people, to seek ways we can bring about change in our criminal justice system. While addressing the systemic issues of our criminal justice is the stated objective, an added benefit is that people from all walks of life, the formerly incarcerated, parole officers, the mentally ill, parishioners from urban, rural and suburban parishes, and students from our high schools and universities come together and see each other as partners for a larger goal.

It seems the best way to break down the artificial barriers in our society is to find common cause with people who may be different from us but who share the same concerns and desire for a better future for our neighborhoods, our state and church!

Kevin Fitzpatrick is director of the Office of Justice and Peace with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. He can reached at [email protected].