St. Louis archbishop leads prayer for peace after violent protests

St. Louis, Mo., Sep 19, 2017 / 15:55 pm

The Archbishop of St. Louis led an interfaith group of religious leaders in prayer for peace and justice on Tuesday, after protests over the weekend turned violent.

"It is in this humble spirit of peace that we gather together as one human family this afternoon to both pray and reflect. Each one of us brings a heavy heart, but also a faith-filled heart," Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis said at the Ecumenical Prayer Service for Peace in downtown St. Louis.

Archbishop Carlson led the prayer service after several days of protests took place in the city over the acquittal of a former police officer in a 2011 shooting.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Timothy Wilson on Friday acquitted former officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder charges, stemming from a 2011 shooting of 24 year-old Anthony Lamar Smith after a car chase.

According to a court document reported by the Washington Post, the district attorney charged that Stockley was heard threatening to kill Smith during the car chase, and, once he drove into Smith's car, got out and shot five times into the car, killing him.

"This Court, in conscience, cannot say that the State has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, or that the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense," Judge Wilson said, reported by CNN.

After Friday's ruling, Archbishop Carlson called for prayer and forgiveness, and exhorted members of the community not to react with violence.

"We must ask God for peace in our own hearts and share it with those around us," he said. "Violence does not lead to peace and justice – they are opposing forces and cannot coexist. I implore each of you to choose peace!"

Protests of the ruling began on Friday evening, and also occurred on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Protests on Saturday and Sunday reportedly began peacefully, but turned violent after dark when buildings were damaged and police officers were assaulted. Reports claimed that a small contingent of the protesters were violent.

The city's police department reported making 123 arrests on Sunday, after orders to disperse were ignored by some individuals who blocked street intersections.

At Tuesday's interfaith prayer service, Archbishop Carlson thanked those in attendance for showing a "sign of your commitment to peace," and thanked other religious leaders present for their "leadership" and "moral witness."

According to St. Paul, "we are one in the Lord," the archbishop said, exhorting the audience to remember their "truest identity as children of God, capable of bringing God's peace to every corner where division and violence would seek the upper hand."

He said that "peace is not an unrealistic dream that would blind us to the sin and brokenness of humanity," but rather that peace and justice go together.

"One cannot cry for peace and ignore justice, and vice versa," he said. "We do not demand justice without peace in our hearts."

Other religious leaders from Christian denominations, as well as a Jewish rabbi and an imam, cited long-standing issues in the city of "endemic racism," poverty, gun violence, and inequality of education, as well as the history of slavery in the area in the 1800s.

Fr. Ronald Mercier, SJ, Provincial superior of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province, also cited the need to address the roots of injustice.

To "seek only an end to violence without addressing its roots" would be "dangerous," he said. "The fruit of injustice is violence."

"For too many people," he said, "justice is an unfulfilled reality." He noted that "the sin of racism" present in the area "deprives all of us of an inability to feel at home."

"Yes, we need to pray today for the gift of peace," he said, "a peace that God wants to give us."