Racial harmony discussions set in archdiocese

 
   Two years after praying “Our Family Prayer” against violence, murder and racism, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is offering a vehicle by which Catholics can open a dialogue and take action.
   In October, Archbishop Gregory Aymond will invite individuals to participate in discussion sessions on racism. The sessions will delve into former Archbishop Alfred Hughes’ “Made in the Image and Likeness of God, a Pastoral Letter on Racial Harmony,” released in 2006.
   “The archbishop didn’t want this letter to be written and put on a shelf,” said Holy Faith Sister Teresa Rooney, liaison of the Office of Racial Harmony. “He wrote an implementation plan for parishes, schools, individuals and archdiocesan offices.”
Progress has been made
   After writing the letter, Archbishop Hughes created the Office of Racial Harmony to ensure every facet of the archdiocese – administration, schools, parishes and individual Catholics – would consider their response to racism.
   The Office of Racial Harmony has since celebrated an annual prayer service (the most recent was Sept. 5 at St. Angela Merici), spoken at archdiocesan priest deanery meetings, held workshops on “racial sobriety” facilitated by Father Clarence Williams, invited parishes to create Racial Harmony committees and held breakfasts for these committees to network and share ideas.
   A Racial Harmony committee created a guide for the discussion sessions by dividing Archbishop Hughes’ pastoral letter into four distinct parts, creating topics for each session: “My Own Story”; “Racism’s Damage to the Individual and to Society”; “Our Archdiocesan Heritage and Our Response”; and “The Need of the Church and of Us as Members to Respond.”
Sessions are four weeks
   Each session will include readings from the pastoral letter that correspond with the topic; prayer; Scripture readings; time for silent reflection; small group discussions that open with questions to move participants toward action that breaks down the barriers of racism; and Our Family Prayer.      
   “I think it is a very good tool,” Sister Teresa said about the guide. “Participants have something in their hands that’s based on a scriptural setting.”
   At the first meeting of each group, a recorded message of Archbishop Hughes explains the history of the letter. On the final night, Archbishop Aymond urges participants into action.
   “I wanted the letter to be something that could be studied and reflected on and, hopefully, later, some reactions,” Archbishop Hughes said. “That’s why I shared my own self-reflection. … “I hope that whatever reflection takes place will invite people to take little steps.”
How the letter emerged
   Archbishop Hughes said the issue of racism had been ruminating in him for years, long before he came to Louisiana as bishop of Baton Rouge in 1993. (He was named coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans 2001 and served as archbishop from 2002-09.)
   In his hometown of Boston where he served as a priest then auxiliary bishop, he experienced a de facto segregation of people by neighborhood and remembered participating in a 1973 protest of the Boston School Committee’s refusal to desegregate the schools. When he moved south, he noticed inherent segregation and wanted to address the issue through a pastoral letter with an action plan.
   “We know that the racial issue is an underlying issue in many of the major challenges we face socially – whether it’s education, business, the political life, health care,” Archbishop Hughes said. He thinks people have emotional reactions to racial incidents but don’t take time for self-reflection about their own history that might explain the reactions.
   “I think helping people to do self-reflection is a positive thing,” Archbishop Hughes said.
   The pastoral letter’s initial release was timed on the 50th anniversary of Archbishop Joseph Rummel’s landmark 1956 Pastoral Letter, “The Morality of Racial Segregation.” Then Hurricane Katrina hit and delayed its release until December 2006.
   “In the post-Katrina period, situations arose that brought up the importance of addressing the issue,” he said. And the letter was issued “to stimulate self-reflection, discussion and hopefully, action.”
   Several parishes and schools implemented racial harmony discussions but others were too embroiled in Katrina recovery, making it difficult to establish it as a priority. The discussion groups might change that once people embrace the subject.
   Archbishop Hughes said he has seen progress, nonetheless, in areas such as public education and the diversity of businesses and entrepreneurs that have come here since Katrina.
What can be done
   The sessions are geared to ignite a spirit of action in attendees “to move toward action that will break down the barriers of racism,” Sister Teresa said.
   As the pastoral associate at St. David in the 9th Ward – a parish that was merged after Hurricane Katrina with St. Maurice and created a more racially mixed parish – Sister Teresa knows that racial harmony is achievable.
   “I see the blend working well,” she said. “People from St. Maurice have taken over leadership roles” such as in the choir and finance committee.  
   Sister Teresa said some might find it difficult to realize a shift in racial attitudes if only the big picture is imagined. But each person is capable of a contribution.
   “You can change something in your little area of the world,” she said. “Each of us can make some difference and collectively it gets done. We have to pray and say we are all God’s children, but we really have to believe that and act it out and treat each other truly as brothers and sisters.”
   Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected]

Racial Harmony SESSIONS
All sessions are from 7-8:30 p.m.
 
St. Joan of Arc, 529 W. 5th St., LaPlace: Tuesdays, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22
North Shore Pastoral Center, 69090 Highway 190, Covington: Tuesdays, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22
St. Anthony of Padua, 234 Angus Dr., Luling: Thursdays, Oct. 3, 17, 24, 31
Brother Martin High School, 4401 Elysian Fields Ave., New Orleans: Mondays, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28
Archbishop Chapelle High School, 8800 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie: Mondays, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28
St. Alphonsus Church, 2030 Constance St., New Orleans: Wednesdays, Oct. 9, 16, 23, 30
St. Bernard Church, 2805 Bayou Road, St. Bernard: Wednesdays, Oct. 9, 16, 23, 30
St. Joseph the Worker, 455 Ames Blvd., Marrero: Tuesdays, Oct. 29, Nov. 12; Mondays, Nov. 18, 25
   To register, call the Office of Racial Harmony at 861-6272.