Dear Principals and Teachers:
In response to the call from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I am asking each of our schools to take active steps to promulgate the Church’s teachings regarding racism. “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love” is the document prepared by the Bishops and offers us guidance in how to begin and/or continue educating our communities (faculty/staff, students, etc.) regarding the sin of racism.
The sin of racism has and continues to impact our country/world in very real ways. It is my expectation that you will utilize the Bishop’s pastoral letter and the supporting materials as part of your school’s endeavors to teach the truth about racism and what a truly Catholic/Christian response should be. As the Bishop’s state in the opening of the document:
Holy Scripture boldly proclaims, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (1 Jn 3:1). This love “comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a ‘we’ which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is ‘all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28).”
Below you will find a link to my full memo with suggestions for incorporating the teachings of the pastoral letter into your curriculum as well as materials.