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Please read this statement from our President and CEO, Michael P. Grace

At Catholic Charities Fort Worth, we are deeply grieved and angered by the systemic racism in our country and are committed to being part of the long-overdue change that is needed. Many of our clients, colleagues, and community members are disproportionately affected not only by poverty, but also by the brokenness within our culture and within people’s hearts and minds. While we are not a new or transformative voice in this conversation, we refuse to let silence perpetuate the abominable and crippling racism happening in our country. We want to acknowledge the deep hurt, trauma, and the urgent need to listen, be educated, drop defenses, and work together as God’s children towards a just and equitable future.

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  – John 13:34-35

Additional resources and statements we stand in solidarity with and seek to amplify:

Statement from Pope Francis
“Today I join the Church in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and in the entire United States, in praying for the repose of the soul of George Floyd and of all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism. Let us pray for the consolation of their grieving families and friends and let us implore the national reconciliation and peace for which we yearn. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, intercede for all those who work for peace and justice in your land and throughout the world.”
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Statement from Bishop Michael Olson
“Jesus does just that when He responds to the scribe by uniting the first two commandments: the love of God and the love of neighbor, so that each cannot be separated from the other. This means that as a person, I cannot truly love God without loving my neighbor. My neighbor includes every human being created in the image and likeness of God. It also means that I cannot truly love my neighbor without loving God. So, I cannot truly love God, without following His commandments. I cannot truly love my neighbors without truly respecting them and treating them justly. The response of Christ also indicates that justice and love are inseparably united.”
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Statement of U.S. Bishop Chairmen
“Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when convenient. It is a real and present danger that must be met head-on. As members of the Church, we must stand for the more difficult right and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference. We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.”
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Statement from United Way of Tarrant County President and CEO, Leah King
“It is impossible to be black in this society and live without undue stress, flat out impossible. What are normal activities over the course of a day can bring upon dread and anxiety to those of us who are black. Driving, jogging, barbecuing, birdwatching, sleeping in your own bed in your home, hanging with family playing video games in your living room- you get the picture. Or do you? The phrase “I can’t breathe” is not just something that we’ve grown too accustomed to hearing as yet another black man is publicly killed at the hands of police.  Sadly, it is how your black and brown brothers and sisters feel throughout a good part of each and every day.”
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Op-Ed by Stand Together Foundation CEO Brian Hooks and Urban Specialists founder Omar Jahwar
“If we are to live up to our ideals as a country, then the way our institutions function in practice must reflect a deep belief in people –in all people:  in our schools, communities, businesses, and our system of justice. And all Americans must commit to break down the barriers that betray that belief.  As long as anyone among us is treated as less than an equal part of our shared humanity, we all have much more to do.”
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Additional Resources
Pastoral Letter from Bishop Michael Olson
CCUSA Condemns Killing of George Floyd
USCCB Website on Racism
Catholic Charities USA Social Policy Paper (2008) Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good