U.S. Bishops’s Chairmen express sadness by the denigration of the City of Baltimore in recent public discourse

WASHINGTON- Bishop Nelson Perez of Cleveland, Chair of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church and Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development issued an statement to express sadness by the denigration of the City of Baltimore in recent public discourse.

The full statement follows:

“Painfully, for the past several weeks we find ourselves once more discussing how people, even our national leaders, use language that is divisive and disrespectful. Such language is absolutely incompatible with the teaching of Jesus Christ. Like Archbishop Lori, we were deeply saddened by the denigration of the City of Baltimore in recent public discourse, especially given Bishop Fabre’s recent participation in a very powerful and fruitful listening session in that city on the issue of racism. Constructive dialogue requires, first and foremost, mutual respect and the recognition that each and every person shares in the same inalienable human dignity regardless of their race or national origin. If we embrace this vision of public discussion and dialogue, as we state in the bishops' recent Pastoral Letter on Racism, Open Wide Our Hearts, ‘ the headlines we see all too often today will become lessons from the past.’”

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Bishop Frank Dewane, Bishop Shelton Fabre, Bishop Nelson Perez, Archbishop William Lori, Diocese of Cleveland, Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Diocese of Venice, Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, racism, Baltimore.

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