‘Time to break cycle of violence’

Church leaders around the United States have responded to a series of race-related killings last week with statements, sermons and tweets of grief and solidarity. In separate incidents, five white police offers were shot dead by a black man, Micah Johnson, during a protest rally in Dallas. The march was against police killings of two black men, Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

“The assassination of Dallas police officers … was an act of unjustifiable evil,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the US bishops’ conference. He called for “national reflection” in the wake of the killings. “In the days ahead, we will look toward additional ways of nurturing an open, honest and civil dialogue on issues of race relations, restorative justice, mental health, economic opportunity, and the question of pervasive gun violence,” he stated. The bishops’ conference so far has done little to support President Barack Obama’s call for stricter gun control measures. Kurtz’s statement did not directly refer to the killings of black men by police.

In Chicago, where 340 people have been killed in gun violence this year, Archbishop Blase Cupich issued a statement that began: “Again we begin our day shocked by news of lives lost overnight – this time those of five police officers working to ensure the people of Dallas could assemble in a peaceful anti-violence protest. This latest tragedy comes directly after deaths in Louisiana and Minnesota.”

Commenting on rising racial and social tensions, the archbishop warned: “Every corner of our land is in the grip of terror fuelled by anger, hatred and mental illness and made possible by plentiful, powerful weapons. Anyone at any time can become a victim. It is time to break the cycle of violence and retaliation, of fear and powerlessness that puts more guns in our homes and on our streets.”

Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas took part in an inter-faith service the day after the killings and held a special memorial Mass in his cathedral on Sunday.