Let's have a conversation about racism in the Catholic church
Yesterday, President Obama’s approval rating dipped below 40% in Zogby’s latest interactive poll. The fiercely organized opposition to the President’s agenda, especially within the Catholic church, and the hysterical arguments used to oppose him make me wonder whether our church has sufficiently addressed the legacy of racism in American culture.
As a testament to the bishop’s forethought, their 2007 voting guide, Faithful Citizenship, made clear that racism was a fundamental issue of concern for Catholic voters. In one instance, the voting guide paired racism with abortion as an example of intrinsic evils. The guide argued that if someone intentionally voted for a candidate because of his or her known racist tendencies, then one would be directly cooperating with an intrinsic evil. I believe that the bishops were interested in elevating the discussion of race in our society and its effects on our behaviors.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Catholic church has adequately addressed the issue. Some of the fierce and irrational opposition to Obama from the far-right belie a serious deterioration of race relations in our country. For example, over 60 Catholic prelates choose to publicly criticize the University of Notre Dame for hosting President Obama and conferring on him an honorary degree in 2009. Notre Dame had done the exact same thing for President Bush – who supported torture, another intrinsic evil – and seven other sitting presidents before. What set Obama apart? I believe it was his race – at least subconsciously – which allowed his opponents to deny him the same goodwill that had been extended to every other president prior.
I write all this to say that I think we need to seriously revisit the role of race in our public debate. And I think there are two clear challenges to having this conversation. First, a conversation about race is a conversation that very few white people are openly willing to engage in. Second, the most pernicious effects of racism are unconscious. Therefore, in order to have a constructive conversation, we need to be willing to say what we truly think, especially if it makes us uncomfortable.
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