Welcome to Friday. One New York parish recognizes the need for racial justice. Former NCR editor Tom Roberts says that the McCarrick report is just one step toward dismantling a long history of clericalism.
Enlarged photographic images of Breonna Taylor of Louisville, George Floyd of Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery of Glynn County, Georgia, all Black people killed by law enforcement and those claiming to uphold the law, have graced the interior of St. Francis Xavier Church in New York this summer.
At the conclusion of each Mass, a time which many Catholic parishes use for announcements, the church invites Mass-goers to recite a pledge to uphold racial justice. While the photographs are now gone, as the parish moves into a new liturgical year, the pledge remains.
The parish recognition of racial justice that took place over the summer, after the killing of Floyd and others sparked protests across the country, was part of a long educational process, parishioner Boreta Singleton told NCR.
"We remember their lives and that we have a long way to get to justice," she said.
You can read more of the story here.
More background:
The story of St. Pope John Paul II was assumed over before it was ready, writes former NCR editor Tom Roberts. The Vatican's long-awaited report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is the most persuasive evidence that calling John Paul II "The Great" was applied too soon.
"John Paul II, confronted with the most damaging scandal the church faced in centuries, ignored the disturbing warnings from victims and from bishops entrusted with the care of the flock and instead embraced the adulation and counsel of serial predators," Roberts writes. "In doing so, he became not a figure of the courage that he persistently demanded of others, but the highest profile example of a corrupt hierarchical culture responsible for perpetuation of the abuse disgrace."
The greatest value of the report, says Roberts, is establishing that for all of his achievements, John Paul II was just another member of a culture that has "deep underlying maladies that became manifest in the abuse crisis."
"What he did, which warrants condemnation today, was not extraordinary at the time," Roberts writes. "He did what was expected of one deeply invested in and rewarded by the culture."
You can read more of his commentary here.
More background:
- While Pope John Paul II's canonization has been increasingly questioned in light of the McCarrick report, don't expect the more than 40 schools in the U.S. named after the late pope to change their names anytime soon.
- In NCR's editorial, we write that given what we know now about the long-lasting repercussions of the decision-making of Pope John Paul II, the U.S. bishops should seriously consider whether American Catholics can continue practices that publicly celebrate him.
- Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese writes that the McCarrick report shows why it's a mistake to canonize popes (or anyone) quickly after their deaths.
- All of NCR's coverage of the McCarrick report can be found here.
More headlines
- As NCR editor, Heidi Schlumpf writes to assure you that her job is to pursue the truth, not "sell the news." And in the journalistic ethical tradition, we protect sources from the powerful, not the powerful themselves.
- NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters writes about how the Trump-Pence campaign continues to deny the election results, which is a failure by Republican leaders to confront the president's continued effort to undermine our democratic process.
Final thoughts
NCR Executive Editor Heidi Schlumpf has joined Season 7 of "The Francis Effect" podcast with co-hosts Franciscan Fr. Dan Horan (columnist for NCR's "Faith Seeking Understanding") and David Dault, executive producer and host of "Things Not Seen: Conversations about Culture and Faith." Listen to the latest episode here and catch up on all of the episodes for this season here.
Until Monday,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY
