The Bias in Our Hearts: Embracing a Radical Love of Neighbor
Editor’s note: As we continue to discuss the themes of change and renewal during the month of September, God invites us to examine our own hearts and hidden prejudices. Often the sin of racism is not widely discussed within the Catholic Church, but without reflection and introspection, we cannot begin this process of renewal.
Through this blog post, we hope to examine the role that identifying our own hidden prejudices plays in the process of transformation. “Bias in Our Hearts: Embracing a Radical Love of Neighbor” explores the deep rooted racism so many of us harbor without being aware of it, and invites us to consider how we are called to live and love one another through the eyes of faith. The goal of this post is not to detract from the experience of Black women, but to instead challenge each one of us to dig deeper and listen more deeply.
At the bottom of this post, you will find a few suggested resources on racism that have been created by Black writers and speakers. Join us as we search our hearts and commit to educating ourselves, advocating for our sisters and brothers, and changing the world through prayer and action.
Spending any time on social media these days means scrolling through an endless cycle of posts on COVID, racism, protests, the 2020 election and the myriad of ways these things intersect. It is incredibly overwhelming to process since each day brings new information and new opinions. It can be paralyzing to take it all in and not know what to do with it. As a consumer of social media, it can sometimes be hard to decide how to react. Do I post about the issues? Do I try to teach truth to people in the comments? What is a genuine response and what is just being performative? What can I actually do? I spend a lot of time reflecting on these questions particularly as they pertain to systemic racism and the call to uphold all human dignity and fight for social justice.
Like many people, my response has been to take a deep dive into these issues through reading. I love books and I love to learn. So, week after week, I go pick up my latest anti-racist read from my library. Already being somewhat aware of the issues related to racism in this country, I have gravitated toward learning specifics about the history, especially that of American Christianity’s relationship with racism. The learning led to my processing and reflecting on how this has all affected me and played out in my own life. What I have discovered is just how much certain American ideals have shaped the ways in which I perceive others and how those perceptions have kept me from truly listening to others’ experiences.
Years ago, my instinct was always to dismiss this kind of internal work because I thought I wasn’t part of the problem. What changed? Ironically, being a teacher has made me more willing to learn new things...from teenagers. The more that I teach the theology behind the image of God and human dignity, the more my students have taught me about what that looks like and what the real struggles are in respecting that dignity in each other. They make me examine what I preach and what I believe in regularly. They have made me much more reflective.
Photo by Mary Beth Keenan, @mbkeenan_captures.
The last few months have forced a pause in a lot of our lives and opened up space for wrestling with ourselves. The Holy Spirit has really pushed me to expand the boundaries of what I believe about human dignity in my own heart. I will not see as Christ does until I unlearn my biases - the ones that say that there is one standard of excellence, that all people have to do to be successful is work hard, that respectability looks one way.
Moving forward means bringing this new awareness to my daily interactions and to the decisions that I make. As Catholics, we’re called to a radical love of others and to working toward a common good by building Christ’s kingdom. To do this, we must get out of our own way. At this moment in time, that looks like examining our role in holding others back or in holding up the systemic racism in our country.
Becoming aware of my own issues has opened me up to better listening to and receiving others’ experiences. For example, I am becoming aware of things as seemingly small as the centrality of white saints hanging on my walls in my classroom to something as big as the forces working against some of my students to keep them from being as successful as they could be if they were met with equity.
Like St. Paul, we’re all called to remove the scales from our eyes so that we can work for the body of Christ rather than against it. If we were all to do this work at some level, it could hold transformative power. This movement is even more powerful when it is rooted in a love that sees Christ suffering in the other.
Resources for Learning More About Racism
As we seek to examine our own biases, the first step in renewal and transformation is listening to our sisters and brothers of color. While by no means an exhaustive list, here are just a few resources we’d like to suggest for further study and reflection.
Books
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, any of these books will be a great jumping off point. You can find them on Amazon, at your local library, or on your library’s e-book/audio-book apps like Libby or Overdrive.
So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
How to be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Podcasts
Find these podcast episodes by clicking on the links below or in your usual podcasting app.
From Ave Maria Press: Ave Explores: Ending Racism in America with Fr. Joshua Johnson and Sr. Josephine Garrett, C.S.F.N
From The Catholic Feminist: Building Bridges and Understanding Racism ft. Danielle Brown
Also from The Catholic Feminist: Race and the Catholic Church ft. Gloria Purvis
From Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt: Plaid Skirts & Basic Black
Finally, Alissa Molina just launched a brand new podcast called the “Universal Voices Podcast”. Alissa writes that this podcast aims to “increase our love and service of God and neighbor through sharing the distinct voices within our Church family.”
Catholic Women of Color to Follow on Instagram
These authentic and thoughtful women share their own experiences, as well as excellent resources for further learning, reflection and prayer. Give them a follow!
Karianna Frey (IG: @kariannafrey)
Chenele Shaw (IG @chenele_k)
Linda B (IG @camericanchick)
Gloria Purvis (IG: @iamgloriapurvis)
Marcia Lane-McGee (IG @stylishlycia)
Justina Kopp (IG @justinakopp)
Sister Desire (IG @sistah.d)
Alissa Molina (IG: @alissarmolina)
Leticia Ochoa Adams (IG @leticiaoadams)
Vanessa Goldberg (IG @vanessa_goldberg)
Chika Anyanwu (IG @chikasworld)
Additional Ideas
This past summer, during #KeepSharingtheMic, many women of color hosted Instagram takeovers. During these takeovers, they shared their experiences and stories regarding racism and specifically, racism within the church. Their firsthand stories were powerful and enlightening. Many of the #KeepSharingtheMic (Catholic Edition) takeovers were saved to IG highlights; we highly encourage you to go back and watch them! You can find more information here.
Danielle Coke (IG @ohhappydani) isn’t catholic to our knowledge, but she creates some excellent, informative graphics.
Patricia Taylor (IG @patricia_a_taylor) shares some wonderful content, too. Head over to her Instagram page!
Meet Victoria Mastrangelo
Victoria is a wife, mother of 3, and high school theology teacher in Houston, Tx. Her favorite saints are Edith Stein, John Paul II, Ignatius of Loyola and Dorothy Day who all continue to mentor and inspire her in her love for the feminine genius, Ignatian spirituality, the gospel of life and work for justice. She loves to read multiple books at a time, drink coffee, try new foods, play trivia and hang out at the zoo with her family. Connect with Victoria on Instagram @vimastrangelo.