OPEN WIDE OUR HEARTS!
The Enduring Call to Love

A Conversation with Danielle Brown on Racism and the USCCB Pastoral Letter

Please join us for a live webinar on Wed. Sept. 9, 2020 at 7:00 PM ET

Presenter: Danielle Brown, USCCB Associate Director, Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Washington, DC

President Peter Kelly, GCM, MD recently posted a notice to all American Association members about racism. In his letter, he stated that “racism has no place in our world. We persevere in our commitment to follow Christ and to serve neighbor, as we stand with the bishops of our country to fulfill our nations sacred promise — to be a beloved community of life, liberty, and equality for all.”

This past weekend Cardinal Sean O’Malley made it a priority in his weekly blog to address the sin of racism. He stated “in the Church, we have a long-standing concern about the issue of racism in our culture and in our country. In the year 2000, for the new millennium, I issued a pastoral letter on racism, “Solidarity: Arduous Journey to ‘The Promised Land.’” More recently, in 2018, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops produced a very valuable document, “Open Wide Our Hearts.” This week, I mailed a copy of “Open Wide Our Hearts” to all the priests of the Archdiocese.”

Further, Cardinal O’Malley said “we hope that these pastoral letters will spark some reflection and discussion in our parishes, Catholic schools and programs of religious education. The fall Social Justice Convocation will take up the theme of racism, which is certainly a very important and timely topic for serious reflection on the part of our country and, in a special way, on the part of members of our Church.”

Danielle Brown is the associate director for the Ad hoc Committee Against Racism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She will be discussing “Open Wide Our Hearts,” the USCCB pastoral letter in which, “the bishops say that racism arises when, either consciously or unconsciously, a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior and judges other people of other races or ethnicity as inferior or unworthy of equal regard.”

The USCCB pastoral letter addresses many points, and its variety and depth are best unpacked “in person.” Danielle will help us unpack the document so we have a better understanding when we read it on our own.

About Danielle

Danielle M. Brown, Associate Director of the ad hoc Committee Against Racism at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), was born and raised in the Archdiocese of Detroit. She is a lawyer licensed in the State of Michigan. Before coming to the USCCB in May 2018, she served on several boards, commissions, and ministries in Lansing, Michigan, including co-founding and leading one of Renewal Ministries’s first young adult discipleship chapters, I.D.916, now known simply as I.D. She was also a diocesan delegate at the USCCB Convocation of Catholic Leaders and the National Black Catholic Congress in 2017. Previously, she was a three-time governor appointed appellate administrative law judge in the State of Michigan, and an assistant deputy legal counsel to the Governor of the State of Michigan.

Please contact Craig Gibson, KM, for information on how to join this webinar.