US bishops' anti-racism chairman announces committee membership

Washington D.C., Oct 4, 2017 / 13:52 pm

In an interview with CNA on Monday, Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, who chairs the US bishops' newly-formed anti-racism committee, revealed the names of the seven other bishops who are committee members.

The bishop members of the committee, Murry told CNA Oct. 2, are Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, and Bishop Martin Holley of Memphis.

Bishop consultants to the committee include Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore; Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice; and Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin.

Lay consultants to the committee will be announced later this week, Murry said.

Murry reflected that "the problems of racism are deep and widespread, and will take time to heal … Young people are understandably frustrated. We don't do them a service by not talking about this, by hoping it'll go away."

"We need to turn to them and say instead of throwing rocks, instead of destroying buildings, and instead of setting cars on fire, let's sit down and talk about what concrete steps can we take to overcome this problem."

The ad hoc committee was announced in August after white supremacists and neo-Nazis rallied in Charlottesville, Va., and a 20 year-old man drove a car into the counter-protest killing one and injuring 19.

The committee will explore ways the Church can address the root causes of contemporary manifestations of racism, the conference said. The bishops will also hold public conversations about racism and race-related problems.