I received a provocative email recently which encouraged me to address the aspect of race in evaluating the character of human beings here in this column. It emphasized that there is but one "race" in the end, and that is the human race, and so people of all backgrounds ought to be "colorblind" when it comes to interacting or evaluating differences among us. I believe that to be true in one sense, but only partially so. Certainly, it is a central tenet of Catholic faith that all persons, of whatever race or culture, have an equal fundamental human dignity that is a gift from God and not the result of any human achievement. To believe or behave otherwise is to betray our own Church.

The potential problem with stopping there, however, is that such a sentiment can quickly pass over into the belief that "everybody is the same." Here I strongly disagree. Despite our best personal efforts to minimize the conflicts that can arise among people of various races and cultures, there is danger when any one of them presumes to decide exactly HOW everybody is alleged to be "the same." Often enough it boils down to a conviction that the other person is "just like me," and trouble bubbles up when it becomes evident that this isn't the case. I can report what it's like to be an Irish American Catholic (although I can't speak for all of us), but I absolutely cannot tell you what it's like to be an African American Baptist or a Polish American Jew or a Somali American Muslim. There would have to be an actual conversation among us to determine the ways in which we experience ourselves and our world (and God!) variously, even if we live next door to each other. And in the end, I am convinced that the realization will be that not everyone is just like me, nor is there a need for them to be. To engage in that kind of dialog requires a great deal of humility, and sometimes some risk, and often the withholding of harsh judgement. Sadly, our history is replete with instances of cruel oppression of minority populations who were thought to be insufficiently "like me." This is a far greater issue than an American one or a contemporary one.

I think that this has been one of the most vexing issues of the past generation or two, not only for our nation but for our Church: What does the phrase "unity in diversity" really involve when it comes to actual human encounters? When is a person's or group's behavior so "other" that it is no longer human or right, as we understand those concepts? Or on the other hand, when is our own definition of what is "right" so narrow that it suffocates and injures anybody unlike us? I have no easy or quick answer here, but I believe it is the vital question in which to engage. Especially now.