The Deacon's Bench
Last night, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson was in Ferguson, to lead a prayer service at St. Teresa of Calcutta parish and pray with the people as the grand jury decision was announced.
“I implore each of you: Choose peace!” said Archbishop Carlson, who prayed at the memorial site for Brown in the days after the shooting and led a Rosary on Nov. 5 in January-Wabash Park. “Reject any false and empty hope that violence will solve problems. Violence only creates more violence. Let’s work for a better, stronger, more holy community— one founded upon respect for each other, respect for life, and our shared responsibility for the common good.”
With the decision to not indict Wilson, some might be tempted to lash out with anger and violence similar to what occurred in August.
“I know that many feel hurt, betrayed, forgotten and powerless,” Archbishop Carlson said. “I know anger, disappointment, resentment and fear abound in our community at this moment, but we must accept this decision as the proper functioning of our justice system. … We all want justice, so we should respect the integrity of our system of justice as something that aims for the common good. This grand jury decision is not an excuse for more violence.
“Now is the time to channel emotions in a way that helps build up our community, to become more active in your church or religious community, to volunteer at a food pantry or community service organization, to take part in political activity, to mentor a young person.
“Whatever you do, do not lash out with violence at your brothers and sisters. Do not seek to destroy or divide. Instead, we must come together as a community through prayer, mutual understanding, and forgiveness if we are to obtain peace. Rather than fuel the fires of hatred and division, we should strive for peace in our own hearts and share it with those around us. Violence does not lead to peace; they are opposing forces and cannot co-exist.”
…”Pray unceasingly for peace,” he said. “Pray for our leaders and pray for your neighbors. If you feel called to act, do so only after prayer.”
He noted that Blessed Teresa spent an hour in prayer each day before her service to others. “So, too, must it be for us,” he said.
Archbishop Carlson also called on religious, political, social and law enforcement leaders “to combat the brokenness and division that confronts us. We must be leaders who help heal, not inflict hurt. We must be leaders who can come together to address issues like family breakdown, racial profiling, quality education, abuses of authority, lack of gainful employment, fear of one another, mistrust of authority and many other needs. We must ask the tough questions and find lasting solutions.”..
“Long-term solutions will ultimately come about when we are quick to apologize for our faults, and quick to forgive the faults of others,” said Archbishop Carlson, who urged continued prayers for Brown, his family and friends as well as for Wilson, his family and friends.
“Both families need prayers now more than ever,” he said. “With profound hope in the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the intercession of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, I ask all the faithful in the Archdiocese of St. Louis as well as all people of faith to join me in praying for peace and justice in our community.”
Watch a video of the archbishop’s remarks below.
Amid the tragedy of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King on Thursday, April 4th, 1968, an extraordinary moment in American political history occurred as Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, broke the news of King’s death to a large gathering of African Americans that evening in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert Kennedy in his bid to get the 1968 Democratic nomination for president. Just after he arrived by plane at Indianapolis, Kennedy was told of King’s death. He was advised by local police against making the campaign stop which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto. But Kennedy insisted on going.
He arrived to find the people in an upbeat mood, anticipating the excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the platform and inquired as to whether or not the crowd knew – and then, realizing they did not know, he spoke.
He concluded his remarks:
We have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
(Interrupted by applause)
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that’s true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love – a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
(Interrupted by applause)
Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)
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