HOW MARIANISTS ARE WORKING TO END RACISM

Bro. Ken Thompson is involved with many students at UD who are from many cultures. Emmanuel Parish is sponsoring a family from Rwanda by giving them housing. St. Vincent DePaul Society helps many Rwandans with food, housing and jobs. (Franklin St. Marianist Community – Dayton)

We live in an African-American neighborhood and work with and serve the African-American community. We also conduct an Urban Plunge Program. (Findlay St. Marianist Community - Cincinnati)

We continually teach and preach against the "sin of racism" in our parish. We support a Spanish community which has its Mass and activities in our parish. We have many blacks, Asians, and Hispanics as members of our parish. (Marianist Community, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish – Helotes, Texas)

Bro. Mike Galvin does advocacy work on behalf of Brazilians, Bro. Mike Kraszewski ministers to minorities at North Cambridge Catholic and Fr. Paul Fitzpatrick works with the Islamic community of Boston through a Christian-Muslim Dialogue and seminary courses on Islam. Paul has also given talks on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Israel. (Boston Marianist Community)

We have welcomed, as members of the community, graduate students from many countries. It has been a rich experience for our community to welcome the gifts, food, culture and prayer from their countries. It also has helped us see America through the eyes of those outside our country. Bro. Frank O'Donnell brings a strong awareness of racism and the need to respond to it to the various non-profit boards he sits on. He also has participated in a racism study circle and belongs to a racially diverse parish that celebrates its diversity well. (Roland Ave. Marianist Community, Baltimore, Md.)

St. John's has an integrated staff and residents. We have worked with Jewish and interfaith groups. We have harbored Ethiopian refugees. We participated in the Rockaway Eucharistic Congress, which was very intercultural. The Delekba Educational Assistance Fund has permitted us to directly help minorities. Offering parish retreats has helped us develop contact with other cultures. (Marianists of Rockaway Park N.Y.)

As a community we have done two parts of the cultural audit. We celebrated Dia de los Muertos and an altares. On Tuesday night we have a wide range of students present. We participated in a posada and in the Martin Luther King Jr. walk. We attended a talk by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. For Our Lady of Guadalupe we hosted a prayer and dinner for Mexican students. (Casa Maria Marianist Community, San Antonio)

Once a month I meet with the Indian (Asian) community, learning from their culture, and once a month I meet with the Filipino community and also participate in their Simbarg Gabi (Christmas novena) and learn their ways. (Daniel F. Doyle SM – Hollywood, Fla.)

I taught the first integrated high school class in Texas about 50 years ago. (Urban Naal SM – West Hills, Calif.)

Volunteer teacher of ESL to recent arrivals of any ethnic group; prepare multi-cultural liturgies; working for the human rights of Hispanic prisoners; help my community celebrate Hispanic holidays. (Frank Gomes SM – Makawao, Hawai’i)

My two closest friends at the moment are colleagues at work--one Latino, one Haitian. I hired both of them. We are a good witness to the unity of humankind in the Church. We enjoy each other immensely. At work as consultants we are aware of the hidden sin of racism and point it out at meetings. (Joe Lynch SM – Hewlett, N.Y.)

I see racism in my daily life all the time, but it's a more subtle, underground racism. I find it in conversations with people, in the ways people treat others in their day to day interactions, in the ways we make daily decisions. I see a lot of stereotyping and bias and what I would call "quiet racism." I try to offer a firm voice against these moments in my daily life when I encounter racism. I try to offer a different view or more complete picture of the situation or person. (Mark Delisi, Valencia, Calif.)