Catholic Bishops Still Think You Are a Racist
.-
As police reform legislation is currently stuck in the Senate, leading
U.S. bishops wrote members of Congress on Wednesday outlining Catholic
principles of policing.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, Bishop Mario Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington, and Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux sent a joint letter to members of Congress on Wednesday “in the wake of the terrible and unjust killing of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many more.”
While many might wish for peace during the present unrest, there can be no true peace without justice, the bishops said.
“When protesters shout, ‘No justice, no peace,’ perhaps without realizing it, they are paraphrasing an axiom of the Church,” the letter said. “A police force that is accountable to its highest standards – discipline, self-control, mercy, and the recognition that every person is made in the image of God – can promote justice and thus bring about peace.”
Racism, the bishops wrote on Wednesday, “remains a problem in the criminal justice system.”
They cited previous letters by the conference on the matter, drawing attention to disproportionately harsh treatment of people of color by police or the fear of many in the African-American community of interactions with police officers given the number of police killings of African-Americans.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, Bishop Mario Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington, and Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux sent a joint letter to members of Congress on Wednesday “in the wake of the terrible and unjust killing of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many more.”
While many might wish for peace during the present unrest, there can be no true peace without justice, the bishops said.
“When protesters shout, ‘No justice, no peace,’ perhaps without realizing it, they are paraphrasing an axiom of the Church,” the letter said. “A police force that is accountable to its highest standards – discipline, self-control, mercy, and the recognition that every person is made in the image of God – can promote justice and thus bring about peace.”
Racism, the bishops wrote on Wednesday, “remains a problem in the criminal justice system.”
They cited previous letters by the conference on the matter, drawing attention to disproportionately harsh treatment of people of color by police or the fear of many in the African-American community of interactions with police officers given the number of police killings of African-Americans.
posted by jope @ June 25, 2020
<< Home