By Gina Christian
OSV News
The U.S. Catholic bishops have deepened their commitment to combating racism by making permanent a subcommittee dedicated to working for racial justice and reconciliation in society.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Sept. 10 that its Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism — established in 2017 under then-USCCB president, and now retired, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas — has been made a permanent USCCB body.
The move, approved by the USCCB’s administrative committee Sept. 9, will place the committee, now named the Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, under the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
That committee’s mandate “includes Catholic social teaching on issues of domestic concern such as poverty, housing, the environment, criminal justice, and other challenges that often have a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” said the USCCB in its Sept. 10 media release.
USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said the subcommittee “continues the important work of the temporary ad hoc committee.”
The bishops formed the ad hoc committee days after the violent Aug. 11-12, 2017, “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, at which white supremacists protested the planned removal of Confederate statues following two city council votes. Amid clashes between rally participants and counter-protesters, James Fields drove his vehicle through a crowd of the latter, killing paralegal Heather Heyer and injuring dozens. Fields is now serving two life sentences.
In his Sept. 10 statement, Archbishop Broglio — who referenced the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts” — said, “As we call for a genuine conversion of heart that will compel change at both individual and institutional levels, I invite all Catholics to join us as we carry forward this work to recognize and uphold the inherent dignity of every person made in the image and likeness of God.”
The new subcommittee is set to begin work after the USCCB’s November plenary assembly.
Human Rights Watch said that “racial justice remained a pressing human rights concern in the United States in 2024.”