Catholic Religion and Racism

Date 4-9-2012
Religion Dr. Mudd
Extra Credit Paper

“Cultural Racism and Catholic Ethical Reflection”

The Reverend Bryan Massingale came to Gonzaga University to do his lecture called “Cultural Racism and Catholic Ethical Reflection.” Reverend Bryan Massingale is a professor at Marquette University and is an author that has been published in many different academic articles. His lecture that he was making was from his newest book that he wrote called “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church. At the start of the lecture Rev. Bryan Massingale started off by telling three different stories that he noticed or have happen to him personally. The first story that he told was about a crime that he read about, when a group of white teen agers beat to death a black male, for no other reason other then the color of his skin. The next story that he told was when he was at a conference with other clergy and a nun came up to him and made racist comments. She said that he must have been taught by the white priests because the way he talks is so clear and he sounds so educated. Rev. Massingale then told her that she was saying offensive things and they did not talk the rest of the weekend. The last story that he told was when he was teaching and having a discussion on black athletes on the professional level. After class one of his students came up to him and the comment that they did not sound black that they were acting white because they sounded educated. After he told these stories he went on to say that the most important part of defining racism was that it was cultural. A culture is a group of people that makes a common set of values. Massingale was making the claim that racism grows from the common set of values people have. There can not be racism unless the whole group calls it to be okay. Since racism comes from our culture racism can be an unconscious decision that we can make. When racism comes from the culture you are living in then people believe to be a normal way of looking at things. Massingale told a story about one time when he was in an elevator and the person he was riding it with was backing away from him the whole time they were riding it. The person was probably not a racist Massingale said but he was inadvertently doing something that was racist. Then at the end of the lecture Massingale talked about the only way to try and get rid of racism. His thinking behind getting rid of racism is by having rational discourse. He said that the answer lies in transformative love where people have to look past skin color and other stereotypes that some with that. With rational discourse people can work out there misguided judging of people of other skin colors.