Being Open to Encounter and New Relationships

“To overcome discrimination, a community must interiorize the values that inspire just laws and live out, in day-to-day life, the conviction of equal dignity of all.” Therefore, we affirm that participating in or fostering organizations that are built on racist ideology (for instance neo-Nazi movements and the Ku Klux Klan) is also sinful – they corrupt individuals and corrode communities. None of these organizations have a place in a just society.

As bishops, we encourage… visits to institutions of culture and learning… in Washington, DC …and in Atlanta… By listening to one another’s experiences we can come to understand and to empathize, which leads to those right relationships that unite us as brothers and sisters. This justice finds its source and strength in the love of Christ who laid down his life for his friends.

(to be continued)