The deaths of African Americans at the hands of white police officers–from Michael Brown in Ferguson to Eric Garner in New York to 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, just to name a few–has been dominating the headlines for weeks. These cases bring to light a number of questions involving racism, violence, and policing, all of which are topics that should concern people of faith. And now a number of prominent Catholic voices have decided to speak up on these issues.
A group of 275 Catholic theologians have signed on to a statement calling for police reform and an end to racial injustice. Heading the list is Tobias Winright, the Mäder Chair of Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University and a former law enforcement officer. The rest of the names on the list include a virtual who’s who in Catholic theology, many of whom have been contributors to this magazine (including columnist Father Bryan Massingale, who has written on racial injustice before). They join a number of other prominent Christians in bringing a powerful voice of faith to this critical issue.
Among other things, the statement calls for serious police reform, including overhauled guidelines on the use of lethal force and more accountability in the form of body cameras on officers and independent review boards to examine police misconduct. The theologians also call upon the Catholic community to examine their own complicity in the sin of racism and ask the U.S. bishops to speak out on the issue (the bishops’ landmark pastoral letter on racism, “Brothers and Sisters To Us,” was written in 1979 and last revisited in 2004).
“Our faith teaches us that all persons are created in the image of God and have been redeemed in Christ Jesus. In short, our faith proclaims that all lives matter, and therefore, Black lives–and Brown lives, the lives of all, regardless of color–must matter, too,” the theologians’ statement says. “As part of this commitment, we pledge to continue listening to, praying for, and even joining in our streets with those struggling for justice through nonviolent protests and peaceful acts of civil disobedience.”
Hopefully the entire Catholic community, along with other people of faith, will join together in the movement to end violence and injustice. And what better season to start to work toward peace and harmony than Advent?
Editors’ note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly spelled the name of Professor Tobias Winright. We apologize for the error.
Flickr image cc by The All-Nite Images
