Have you ever watched your kids play video games? With many of the gaming systems, there is a reset option. The reset button automatically restarts the entire system from the beginning, abruptly ending whatever was on the screen. The reset option can come into play when there is a glitch or a situation too difficult to overcome. It is similar with our computers. They can malfunction for a variety of reasons. The errors of a computer system, and our frustration level, make it unable to function anymore. We then have to reboot to restore everything to working order.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have recognized the tremendous negative impact racism has had, and continues to have, on our culture and society. While it is good to be aware of racial injustice, we must always be willing to act in response to it in order to see changes made. Our Catholic response to injustice calls us all to rebuild and plant according to a new approach: one that condemns racism and all of its effects and takes steps toward building a society free from its grasp. In a sense, we must be willing to push the reset button in an effort to build up a society where we can eliminate racial injustice forever.

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has the potential to heal the wounds of racial injustice. Because it first and foremost honors life and the dignity of the human person, CST is critical to any endeavor that looks to create peace and promote justice. The dignity of the human person drives our fight against the injustice of racism because it recognizes that every one of our brothers and sisters, in their individual and infinite value, is worth defending.

CST also emphasizes that the Church and state ought to care for the greatest good of all persons. CST promotes solidarity, which is a sense of the responsibility we each have toward one another. Solidarity recognizes that there is unity within the Church in which we are committed to one other, working for the good of one another. Finally, CST favors distributive justice, which requires that a community give to its citizens in proportion to what they give and need. This is seen in our fundamental call to selfless service in our Catholic faith.

Taking care of the needs of others is giving them what is due to them. It is not just being good people — it makes us agents of justice (CCC 2446). We each have a responsibility to rid our society of racial injustice. It is time that we allow ourselves to push the reset button, and with the tools we have through the Church, work to put an end to racial injustice forever.

1. What are some of the privileges/blessings our family shares in our daily life? What might it be like to live without some of those things we find so valuable?

2. What is your response to hearing some of the fundamental beliefs of Catholic Social Teaching? Where in our world do you see these beliefs being lived out?