The Catholic Church in the US needs to do way more to address racism in its own house. This isn't a bold statement but an obvious truth.

So what's the path forward? I have a few initial, scattered thoughts. One obvious move would be to add an entire section on the sin of racism to examination of conscience materials.

People need specific examples and guidance and clear definitions. As someone who has taught race for years, there is plenty of disagreement about how to define it and what examples of it are. The church needs to bring more clarity and practical guidance.

Another issue is that lots of racism isn't a positive act of will, but negligence. And systemic racism deals with social structures, not personal sin. Your average Catholic needs better guidance about how to think about these differences vis-a-vis their practical life.

We also need to address the fact that Catholics are underrepresented in the landscape of Catholic apologetics and ministry. There should be serious efforts to remedy this that pay serious attention to black RC communities, whose concerns are marginalized.

And I think we need a serious reckoning with our past on these issues--the good, the bad, and the ugly. We should not resist this--that resistance is pride, the root of all sin. Jesus preached intrinsic dignity, radical equality, humility, penance, forgiveness, love.

What we need is that poverty of spirit Jesus preached--we cannot confront the reality of our own racism without it. This is basic. Sackcloth and ashes, people! This is our wheelhouse.

One reason why many folks will resist these efforts is bc these issues are so politicized and divisive. I get it; I'm not naive about the land mines . BUT, that is even more reason for the Church to intervene, in a way that is in keeping with its universal call.

People will also resist bc they feel the Church is beleaguered enough as it is. Again, that's pride and fear of the world. If a purified Church is smaller, then so be it. Jesus never preached popularity.

It's fashionable right now to seem to care about racism and there's a lot of empty virtue signaling connected with that. What we really need is something much deeper, an actual commitment to some difficult work in our churches. It's not going to happen without leadership, tho!

Dealing with race can't always be reactive. We need to be dealing with it in ordinary ways, not just in response to another crisis. It seems to me the US Church is largely reactive and I think that should change.

The Church has a rich and brilliant tradition of social teaching that has always taught dignity, equality, solidarity, and justice. That is where we should turn in thinking about how to address our current crises. CST connects the dignity of life issues with race issues.

All the resources we need are within our own tradition--what we lack is the clear vision and leadership to confront racism in a clear, systematic, serious, and dedicated way.

But we also need the will and the dedicated resources to translate that tradition into meaningful praxis. Yes, there will be heated disagreement about this. Yes, there will be a need for compromise. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, it must be a long term commitment and not a fad.

There's no way to do any of this without humility and charity in the thick, theological sense. There is no bureaucratic, technocratic answer to sin. We don't need better marketing. We don't need consultants. We need serious witness to Christ.