Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle. Like many of the Apostles, we know little about Bartholomew. His personality was secondary to his encounter with Jesus, and his willingness to accept the mission of bringing Christ to all the world. As created by God, each of us is holy as God is holy. As we navigate through this day, let us try to see each person we encounter - in person, via media or other ways - as a holy child of God.
Looking for a way to talk to young people about racism? Check out this link to Everyone Belongs.
Implicit bias deals with biases people develop unconsciously.
“Racism can often be found in our hearts – in many cases placed there unwillingly or unknowingly by our upbringing and culture.” – U.S. bishops, Open Wide Our Hearts
This lesson for 5th graders that contains information and questions for reflection that adults will also find useful.
"The Catholic community is blessed, enriched and profoundly challenged by the faith of Native Americans in our midst. We ask the Catholic community to join us in seeking new understanding and awareness of their situation and in committing our church to new advocacy and action with our Native American brothers and sisters on issues of social justice and pastoral life which touch their lives."
National Conference of Catholic Bishops,1992: A Time for Remembering, Reconciling, and Recommitting Ourselves as a People: Pastoral Reflections on the Fifth Centenary and Native American People.
This article from US Catholic magazine discusses how prayer, study and work, based on Benedictine practices, can lead us to discern anti-racism.
Civil War Writer Daniel Rudd advocated for Black Catholics. You can read about him and his work here