The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced the formation of a new Ad Hoc Committee against Racism, following the violent protests last month by white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The committee will be chaired by Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, who called racism “America’s original sin”.
A 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 others were injured when a car rammed a crowd of people opposing the far-right rally. Two police offers also died in a helicopter crash, as they were responding to the protests.
“I look forward to working with my brother bishops as well as communities across the United States to listen to the needs of individuals who have suffered under the sin of racism and together find solutions to this epidemic of hate that has plagued our nation for far too long,” Bishop Murry said in a statement. “We are called to be a better people than what we have witnessed over the past weeks and months as a nation.”
Making matters worse, in the days following the violence, President Donald Trump drew a moral equivalence between the rally organisers and the counter-protesters, saying: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”
This statement prompted Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich to tweet: “When it comes to racism, there is only one side: we stand against it.”
The initial statement from USCCB president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo after the Charlottesville violence failed to mention racism. The outcry was swift and the next day the bishops issued a more forceful statement signed by both the cardinal and Bishop Frank Dewane, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice.
The failure of some bishops to confront the racism that emerged during Mr Trump’s presidential campaign has been a sore spot for many Catholics.
“I am thankful for Cardinal DiNardo’s leadership in initiating the committee and very pleased with the appointment of Bishop Murry to head it,” Stephen Schneck, associate professor of politics at the Catholic University of America, told The Tablet.
“That said, I admit to frustration that it took the horrors and lives lost in Charlottesville to wake the Conference to act.
“The rise of dangerous alt-right racism was utterly obvious over the last year as it crawled out from the shadows to be given shocking acceptance in some quarters of American public life,” he said.
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