Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori offered the invocation before a “Protest with a Purpose” outside the U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore June 8.
The event came two weeks to the day after the death of George Floyd on videotape while a Minneapolis policeman kneeled on his neck. It evoked the 2015 death, while in custody of Baltimore City police, of Freddie Gray Jr.
The archbishop prayed for the Holy Spirit to consume racism and the conditions that led to the deaths of Floyd, Gray, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others around the nation.
The violent aftermath that followed Gray’s death contributed to a federal consent decree calling for extensive reform of the city’s police department.
The archbishop spoke at the invitation of Ray Kelly, the lead community liaison for that Consent Decree Monitoring Team, a parish leader at St. Peter Claver/St. Pius V in Sandtown, and, in January, the inaugural recipient of the archdiocese’s Faith in Baltimore Award.
“We chose this site, outside the federal courthouse, where officials are overseeing the consent decree,” Kelly said. “We have a conduit. The court is serious about getting this done. Change only comes when the policies and laws change.”
A number of speakers addressed police brutality and racism. They included Erricka Bridgeford, who organizes Baltimore’s “Ceasefire” weekends; Rabbi Daniel Burg of Beth Am Synagogue; and Zainab Chaudry, director of Maryland Outreach for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Organized by the Citizens Policing Project, the protest lasted several hours and highlighted 14 steps that would lead to Baltimore residents being “policed equitably and effectively.”
Those steps range from fully implementing the consent decree to increasing transparency ending state control over the city police department.
“We have a majority white state dictating terms to a majority black city,” Kelly said. “Do we need a better example of systemic oppression?”
The measures include reinstating “relationship-building,” such as the Police Athletic Centers for youths that were once part of Baltimore’s fabric. William J. McCarthy Jr., executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, spoke to that latter point, emphasizing encounters among police and the populace that are non-confrontational.
The crowd included Josephite Father Ray Bomberger, Kelly’s pastor at St. Peter Claver/St. Pius V. Father Bomberger is also pastor of St. Gregory the Great in West Baltimore.
Also see:
Baltimore faith leaders call for peace and unity
Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org
