Archbishop of Santa Fe John Wester addressed the issue of contemporary and historic racism in America during a Wednesday night prayer service with the African American Catholic community of the archdiocese at St. Joseph on the Rio Grande Church.
“Mr. Floyd’s death and that of so many other black and brown men and women pains us, and it should,” Wester said in a statement issued prior to the prayer service. “Pain signals that something is not right in our relationships and community. The source of our pain is the sin of racism and violence.”
The Archbishop went on to say, “While we pray for our first responders that they will be safe, at the same time I understand the frustration, pain and hurt of so many people of color in our country. We can no longer ignore the source of our pain. We cannot just stand by and do nothing. We cannot continue to live with so much hate and violence festering within our community.”
People, he said, should bear witness to what is happening in our community, and “speak and act in love when we see racism around us.”
