Matthew 5:4647

1
Matthew 546-47

• For if you love those who love you, what reward
  do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the
  same? And if you greet only your brothers and
  sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do
  not even the gentiles do the same?

2
Chapter 8

• Race
• Beyond Stereotypes to the American Dream

3
Discrimination

• Discrimination
• The denial of individuals or groups the right to
  participate in community
• Motivated by prejudice fueled by power
• Based on ethnicity, gender, creed, socio-economic
  status
• Discrimination is the root cause of Racism

4
Discrimination on a Social Level

• Large-scale exclusions made by an institution or
  entire society
• Recent examples
• Apartheid in South Africa
• Segregation
• Denial of voting rights for women before 1920

5
Current discrimination

• Discrimination continues in our society today ---
  usually in less noticeable ways
• Indirect result of many individual acts of
  discrimination
• Patterns of unjust activity that promotes
  exclusion and separation

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3 current examples

• Wage Gap
• Difference between the amount paid to different
  groups of people for their work.
• Educational inequalities
• Lack of funding in certain districts lower
  expectations (crippling effect)
• Housing segregation
• Unjust lending practices lease agreements
• Contribute to other examples of societal
  discrimination

7
Cycle of Exclusion

• Stereotypes ? Prejudicial attitudes ?
  Discriminatory actions ? Reinforcement of
  negative stereotypes
• As this cycle continues, society becomes more
  entrenched in exclusion and reduces its respect
  for human dignity

8
The Sin of Racism

• a personal sin and social disorder rooted in the
  belief that one race is superior to another. It
  involves not only prejudice but also the use of
  religious, social, political, economic, or
  historic power to keep one race privileged
• Moving Beyond Racism, 2000.
• Racism ? combination of prejudice and power

9
Racism the fruit of exclusion

• Despite an end to legalized slavery and
  segregation, racism still exists in this nation
• Racism is an evil that endures in our society
  and our Church. Despite apparent advances and
  even significant changes the reality of racism
  remains. In large part it is only external
  appearances that have changed
• Brothers and Sisters to Us, 1979

10

• Racism is a sin a sin that divides the human
  family, blots out the image of God among specific
  members of that family, and violates the
  fundamental human dignity of those called to be
  children of the same Father. Racism is the sin
  that says some human beings are inherently
  superior and others essentially inferior because
  of races. It is the sin that makes racial
  characteristics the determining factor for the
  exercise of human right. It mocks the words of
  Jesus "Treat others the way you have them treat
  you." Indeed, racism is more than a disregard for
  the words of Jesus it is a denial of the truth
  of the dignity of each human being revealed by
  the mystery of the Incarnation. 
• Brothers and Sisters, 1979

11
Jesus and Humanity

• John 11-18
• Powerful Christological passage setting the tone
  of Johns Gospel
• Incarnation the Word became flesh
• Through his birth as a human, Jesus gives the
  greatest example of inclusion
• Sharing in our humanity demonstrates Gods desire
  to be inclusive
• Fully realized in the crucifixion event
• Philippians 21-11
• Pauls classic Christological passage
• Demonstrates true inclusion

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The Good Samaritan

• Luke 1030-37
• When asked who is my neighbor? Jesus responded
  with this parable
• Example of loving despite differences
• Mutual hatred of Jews and Samaritans
• Dating back to the Diaspora
• The true neighbor was the enemy
• All are part of Gods creation
• Command of Jesus
• Go and do likewise
• We must treat all with compassion and love

13
The Woman at the Well

• John 44-42
• Important passage in many respects
• Messianic Overtones
• whoever drinks the water I shall give will never
  thirst
• my food is to do the will of the one who sent me
  and to finish his work
• Importance of the Samaritan Woman
• As an enemy
• As a woman
• As a sinner
• Powerful example of inclusion

14
The Vine and the Branches

• John 151-17
• Image of the Kingdom of God
• I am the true vine
• Union with Christ equals life
• Father as the vine grower
• Removes those who do not bear fruit
• Staying on the vine
• whoever remains in me and I in him will bear
  much fruit
• you are my friends if you do what I command you
• Commandment
• This I command you love one another
• No qualifications Just love

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Dwell in My Love

• Written by Francis Cardinal George
• Commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the death of
  Martin Luther King
• Outlined the evils of racism and its impact on
  the people of Chicago
• Three main sections
• Dwelling Together
• Example of the Trinity
• Present Situation
• Future Direction

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Dwelling Together

• Example of the Trinity
• Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• God, the Creator
• Intention of God for humanity to live in harmony
  and love
• Jesus, the Lord
• Racism contradicts the purpose of the incarnation
• The Holy Spirit
• Sent by Christ to continue his mission

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Present Situation

• Strong parish loyalty
• Mixed Blessing
• Positive impact on Chicagoland Area
• Negative aspect of resistance to racial
  integration
• Factors / concerns related to neighborhoods
• Economics
• Violence
• Blind people of the responsibility to dwell
  together in love
• Must be addressed to foster better sense of
  community

18
Dwelling Together

• As the answer to the question, Where are you
  from? becomes more complicated, we should
  realize that the future of race relations in
  Chicago and its surrounding communities is tied
  to how willing we are as Catholics to live and
  worship in parishes that are diverse communities
  of faith, anchoring neighborhoods where all
  people can live together as members of the one
  human family.

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Four Types of Racism

• New form of Racism today
• Overt racism easily condemned
• More subtle forms covert
• Spatial Racism
• Institutional Racism
• Internalized Racism
• Institutional Racism

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Spatial Racism

• Spatial Racism
• Refers to patterns of metropolitan development
  in which some affluent whites create racially and
  economically segregated suburbs or gentrified
  areas of cities, leaving the poor -- mainly
  African Americans, Hispanics and some newly
  arrived immigrants -- isolated in deteriorating
  areas of the cities and older suburbs.
• Undermine the regional economy and moral basis
• Contributes to violence and other negative
  personal interaction
• Contradicts Church teaching and principles of
  Democracy
• Quality dignity of life based on neighborhood

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Institutional Racism

• Institutional Racism
• Patterns of social and racial superiority
  continue as long as no one asks why they should
  be taken for granted. People who assume,
  consciously or unconsciously, that white people
  are superior create and sustain institutions that
  privilege people like themselves and habitually
  ignore the contributions of other peoples and
  cultures.
• Can be integrated into peoples worldviews

22
Internalized Racism

• Internalized Racism
• Because of their socialization within the
  dominant racial and cultural system, people of
  color can come to see themselves and their
  communities primarily through the eyes of that
  dominant culture. They receive little or no
  information about their own history and culture
  and perceive themselves and their communities as
  culturally deprived.
• Reinforcement of negative stereotypes
• Oppressed groups begin to feel that they are
  destined to be oppressed

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Individual Racism

• Individual Racism
• individual racism perpetuates itself quietly
  when people grow up with a sense of white racial
  superiority, whether conscious or unconscious.
  Racist attitudes find expression in racial slurs,
  in crimes born of racial hatred and in many
  other subtle and not so subtle ways. People that
  are horrified by the Ku Klux Klan might quite
  readily subscribe to racial stereotypes about
  people of color.
• Racial hierarchy
• Individual attitude about other races being
  inferior to ones own race

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Envisioning Our Future

• How can we dwell together?
• Dwelling with God in ordinary life
• Inclusive Communities living with our neighbor
• Economic Justice working with our neighbor
• Supporting culturally diverse social institutions
• Dwelling with God in His Church
• The Eucharist as the Sacrament and Means of
  Communion
• The Empowering Gifts of the Spirit

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What can we do?

• Building Inclusive Communities
• To break the cycle of exclusion, we must work to
  build inclusive communities
• Therefore, let the Church proclaim to all that
  the sin of racism defiles the image of God and
  degrades the sacred dignity of humankind which
  has been revealed by the mystery of the
  Incarnation. Let all know that it is a terrible
  sin that mocks the cross of Christ and ridicules
  the Incarnation. For the brother and sister of
  our Brother Jesus Christ are brother and sister
  to us.
• Brothers and Sisters, 1979.

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Inclusion through conversion

• In order to build an inclusive society, we must
  redefine who and who does not belong
• Called to a change of heart
• Prophetic message from the Hebrew Scriptures
• We must, as individuals, look at our own values
  and determine how willing we are to welcome
  others

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Working for inclusion

• Re-examining our attitudes is only the beginning,
  we must put our analysis into action
• Must occur on the individual, community,
  national, and global levels
• Individual actions ? collective attitutudes

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Martin Luther King Jr.

• Civil Rights leader
• Advocated non-violence in response to racism
• Assassinated
• April 4, 1968
• I Have A Dream

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St. Martin de Porres

• Dominican brother
• Former slave
• Inspiration to African-Americans and multi-racial
  people
• Example of the importance of inclusion

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Toward a Community of Love

• the fullness of love and community will be
  achieved only when Gods work in Christ comes to
  completion in the Kingdom of God. This kingdom
  has been inaugurated among us, but Gods
  redeeming and transforming work in not yet
  complete.
• Church as the Kingdom of God
• Church as the community of inclusion