Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation under the direction of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development seeks to teach about and to witness to the intrinsic dignity of the human person as an antidote to the grave sin of racism.  The Subcommittee works to identify, develop, and implement concrete strategies to confront the racism that still pervades our society and our Church today. This work is rooted in Scripture and Church teaching about the dignity of the human person, created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). Through collaboration, education, and advocacy, the Subcommittee seeks to strengthen the Church’s unified and ongoing response to this persistent evil.  

“Even though Christ’s victory over sin and death is complete, we still live in a world affected by them. As bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, we want to address one particularly destructive and persistent form of evil. Despite many promising strides made in our country, racism still infects our nation.” (Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, 2018). Racism lives in a particular and pernicious way in the United States, in part because of the complex history of slavery in the country, and the beliefs and policies that sustained it. African Americans have suffered intensely from those who have committed, and continue to commit, the sin of racism. But racism has also ravaged the lives and livelihoods of many other groups of people, and its targets and destructive manifestations are ever evolving.

This mandate includes the following areas of responsibility: 

• Focused evangelization with an aim toward understanding racism and the need for healing and reconciliation;
• Creation and dissemination of theological, liturgical, pastoral, and community resources;
• Education and catechesis, including work with dioceses and parishes, about racism and effective models to respond to it;
• Listening sessions, dialogues, and convenings concerning racism within and outside of the Church, including its roots and impacts (spiritual and civil, individual and structural), as well as the voices of people suffering because of it;
• Implementation of the USCCB’s pastoral statements on racism;
• Communications strategies that promote effective responses to racism;
• Provide support and resources for bishops and dioceses to assist their efforts to convert the hearts of those who harbor racist beliefs and to respond to incidents of racism affecting those within their care;
• Outreach and coordinated activity, including interfaith and ecumenical work, to combat racism;
• Support and encouragement for financial and other investments in efforts, programs, and strategies to address racism;
• Advocacy focused on issues that perpetuate or are a result of racism.