By Father Joe Folzenlogen, SJ

HAMILTON DEANERY — What is racism? How is it present in my own life? What response am I called to personally, and what challenge does it present our church?

CT/FATHER JOE FOLZENLOGEN, SJ

Notre Dame de Namur Sister Teresita Weind and Gloria Leigh review the schedule.

In preparation for the day, commission members read Rising to Common Ground: Overcoming America’s Color Lines, a book written by Danny Duncan Collum for the JustFaith program.

Sister Teresita began by defining racism as prejudice plus the abusive use of power. Power is a challenging reality for us to deal with. It can be negative, but it can also be positive, she said.

In her opening meditation, Sister Teresita invited the commissioners to recall the power that raised Jesus from the dead, God’s energy and presence. That same power is at work in us, operating in paradoxes of loud and quiet, unyielding and subtle, big and small, rule and service, rich and poor, knowing much but believing deeply.

The first task she proposed to the group was for each person to select a passage from the assigned reading and share how they had been touched and challenged by the book and by the passages chosen by other members of the commission.

African-American members of the commission shared some of the pain they had felt and still feel as a result of racism, even within the Catholic Church. White commissioners spoke about the difficulty of moving beyond denial to acknowledge the privileges they enjoy.

Sister Teresita asked the group to describe the "common ground" the book’s title urges people to rise to. Participants pointed to basic human values, values that can be present even in the midst of material poverty.

Possible action steps were also discussed, and there was unanimity in the group that this session was just a beginning — racism is an issue that requires ongoing attention.