The Archdiocese of Baltimore is launching a monthlong racial justice campaign that it hopes will spur community unity with Catholic social teaching as its guide.
The program will include everything from Mass to prayer services, listening sessions and Stations of the Cross.
Erin Younkins, director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the archdiocese’s Institute for Evangelization, said the program was started at the behest of Auxiliary Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., the vicar for Baltimore City and Hispanic Catholics.
Bishop Lewandowski wanted to explore an “annual anti-racism campaign that provided parishes with prayer, service, education and advocacy.” He said he meets people throughout the archdiocese regularly who ask how they can get involved in combating racism, but they don’t know where to get started.
“We hope this program gives people things that are concrete, practical, doable and meaningful,” Bishop Lewandowski said.
He said people can participate in the campaign with something as simple as praying the rosary or a novena, or as complex as forming a parish book club or organizing a prayer service.
“We look at this as just getting the feet wet,” Bishop Lewandowski. “Then we hope people will commit to doing practical things the entire year. We’re trying to ignite a spark.”
The archdiocese’s Racial Justice Coordinating Council was instrumental in developing the program.
“Racial issues have become so politicized that we wanted to start a conversation with God and Catholic social teaching at the center,” Younkins said, “That’s the only way to make progress.”
The archdiocese plans to kick off its “In God’s Image: A Racial Journey for All” program with a prayer service at St. Bernardine in West Baltimore Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Adrienne Curry, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Black Catholic Ministries, spearheaded the production of the campaign with Younkins. She said it is important to note that the program will be a year long with its initial steps coinciding with Black History Month.
“We have a very diverse archdiocese, and it’s important for people to know each other’s backgrounds and histories,” Curry said. “If we put aside our differences and concentrate on our similarities as Catholics, we can build our community.”
Younkins said the campaign is about “renewing a parish commitment to racial justice by using this four-week campaign to assess various aspects of racial harmony within a parish and community and to make a plan of action that should span the entire year.”
Archbishop William E. Lori implored all to participate.
“Black History Month is not merely time marked on the calendar to passively reflect on the achievements and struggles of African Americans and the enduring pursuit of equality among people of color,” he said. “We are guided by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ along our journey to racial justice, and we are given the chance each February to find ways to be intentional and recommit ourselves to the cause. Although each one of us moves at the pace of our life experiences, when it comes to understanding and eradicating the sin of racism, we can use education and intentional action to further ourselves along the path.
“To promote progress in our homes, parishes, schools, workplaces and communities within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, I am inviting each of you to embrace this work alongside me.”
The archdiocese plans to provide resources to parish teams to help initiate racial justice committees and will have a dedicated webpage with additional information.
“It is exciting to be working alongside the archdiocesan (Racial Justice Coordinating Council) and to be following the archbishop’s vision for progress,” Younkins said.
She said the archdiocese planned to use this inaugural year as a pilot program and expand it each year.
In announcing the initiative, Archbishop Lori said, “In God’s Image” is more than a program. It highlights the Gospel’s invitation for “each of us and our parish communities to reflect on the call to solidarity and the life and dignity of the human person and to recommit to education and meaningful, measurable action,” he said.
For more on the campaign, visit: https://www.archbalt.org/in-gods-image/
Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org
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