Religious leaders need to attend to the "spiritual wounds" at the heart of America after civil unrest continued after two more black men were shot dead by police in the US.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested over the weekend in a number of cities in the US as local communities vented their anger at the seemingly growing number of black people being shot dead by police. Uneasy standoffs occurred in Baton Rouge, Texas, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, where Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile were both sot dead by police within two days of each other.
Police also said this weekend that the gunman who allegedly shot and killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas, last week and seriously wounded another in an apparent revenge attack, had enough explosives in his home to wage a terror campaign.
"Broken may be too strong [to describe the United States' spiritual situation], but there certainly are wounds," Father Jenkins said before the protests. "At least in some aspect, the challenge is spiritual. ... We are at point where there are just great fears and uncertainties and animosities and divisions, and people are playing on those divisions and doing it successfully and effectively.
"It is a spiritual problem and spiritual leaders have to address that and cannot contribute to the divisiveness."
"I'm a person of faith. At the heart of faith is that hope is deeper than fear," Jenkins added. "I think that's the message that spiritual leaders have to communicate."
Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge said as campaigners gathered to protest the death of Sterling: "This week in our community, as in our nation, and as in our world, we find ourselves facing the many emotions that accompany acts of violence". "We experience sadness, anger, frustration, and fear. To all these, our Lord invites us to renew our trust in his promise of fidelity, to increase our prayer, and to renew our commitment to peace and mercy toward one another.
"Truly, we are all called to be ministers of healing to a hurting world," Muench added. "May fear not lead us into despair. May anger not move us to inflict pain upon others. Rather, moved by the grace of Christ's suffering for us, may we in turn impart that grace to one another."
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