“When we allow freedom (to) ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Martin Luther King, Aug. 28, 1963
These words from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 remind us of how precious freedom is, how difficult it is to obtain and how easily it may be lost. Most people today were not born during the years that Dr. King led the fight for equality for “all of God’s children.”
Dr. King’s martyrdom and the work of thousands of others to overcome the racism so endemic in our society has brought about many changes, but his dream is far from becoming reality and the ugly specter of racism still stalks our land.
As Christians it is incumbent on us to confront racism wherever we see it. Freedom is indeed dearly won and easily lost. In this struggle we all must be “freedom fighters.’
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Black Catholic Community for their outstanding evangelization outreach. The community obtained a grant from the Black and Indian Mission Collection to promote the “Come Home for Christmas” program within the Black Community. With the funds from the grant two “Come Home” billboards were purchased, one on Interstate 35E and the other on Interstate 20. The boards were viewed by thousands of drivers every day. In addition, seven parishes joined in the effort and placed “Come Home” invitations in several newspapers.
Although our Black Catholic Community is small, its evangelization impact is huge and an example to all of us of how we should reach out to evangelize others
This post is also available in/Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish