ERADICATION OF HATRED IN OUR NATION

I try to stay away from politics and very controversial topics in this Blog but there are certain things that infuriate me and one is the mess in our own country right now.  Things are so bad that even Europe is thinking of banning Americans from travel to their countries! And I can’t blame them.  To have a pandemic that has killed over  125,00  Americans  (490,000 world-wide) is one thing, but this relentless violence is another thing- against each other and against our history.  We are getting as bad as the Russians some years ago (and God knows how many other nations) which try to eradicate and hide their past.  No nation has been free from violence, corruption and terrible wrongs against their neighbors. It all started with Adam and Eve's sons!

 

Apocalypse- Viktor Vasnetsov Russian

To topple statues is trying to do away with our past.  Has it been perfect?  No.  I found out just 4 years ago that my ancestors, who were some of the founding families of Texas- and have monuments to themselves-  were slave owners, and fought on the “wrong” side of the civil war.  Does that make me a bad person here and now?  I can’t judge what happened 150 years ago, but I would hope I can learn from their past mistakes. 

My Scottish ancestors, which I can trace over 1000 years ago, were some ruthless characters- again can I judge and be guilty, when I do not know the circumstances?

Years ago when I lived in Germany, there was an exhibition of,  now St. Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, in the Cologne Carmel convent. I was of course shocked by the photos- very graphic- of the ovens at Auschwitz, of the people who survived, etc.  And I remember turning to another young German woman and saying, “how can you remember this” - it was 25 years after the war.  She replied, “the day we forget, is the day it starts again.”

Auschwitz Museum

As rioters across the United States target statues depicting historical figures, the Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin on Tuesday denounced that destruction, along with calls to destroy some depictions of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“Should certain statues be placed in museums or storage? Perhaps. Should we let a group of vandals make those decisions for us? No,” Bishop Donald Hying of Madison said.

“If we allow the commemorative and visual history of our nation to be destroyed by random groups in the current moment of anger, how will we ever learn from that history? Does toppling and vandalizing a statue of George Washington because he owned slaves, really serve our country and our collective memory?” 

Across the country, protesters have in recent days toppled statutes of Confederate leaders and figures associated with slavery, but have also, in some places, pulled down statues of Catholic saints, abolitionists, and other figures.

Some say that the Catholic Church is a church of White tradition, forgetting that, it, especially today, encourages the art of various nations. This Blog  loves to find art from other cultures and how artists can express their own idea of Christ and the saints. 

While at some points in the Church’s history, some have mistakenly equated “the fullness of Catholicism with European culture,” Catholics should instead strive for “unity in that which is essential, and diversity in those things which are not,” Bishop Hying said.

The Bishop Hying  mentioned, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as “mestiza,” or “mixed” race; African art depicts Jesus as black, and Mary in African cultural garb; and there are numerous Asian representations of Mary as well.  Depictions of  Christ and His Mother and our saints  are holy to Christians. They are physical manifestations of God’s love, and remind us of the “nearness of the divine.”

“The secular iconoclasm of the current moment will not bring reconciliation, peace, and healing. Such violence will only perpetuate the prejudice and hatred it ostensibly seeks to end...Only the love of Christ can heal a wounded heart, not a vandalized piece of metal,” the Bishop said.

 Protestors in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park tore down a statue of St. Junipero Serra on June 20, along with statues of Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant. In Los Angeles the same day, rioters pulled down a statue of St. Serra in the city’s downtown. While many activists today associate the saint with the abuses that the Native Americans suffered, biographies and historical records suggest that Serra actually advocated on behalf of the Natives against the Spanish military and against encroaching European settlement. Again it is ignorance and not really having an understanding of our history.

After the toppling of the saint’s statue in San Francisco, the city’s archbishop said Saturday that important protests over racial injustice have been “hijacked” by a mob bent on violence.

“What is happening to our society? A renewed national movement to heal memories and correct the injustices of racism and police brutality in our country has been hijacked by some into a movement of violence, looting and vandalism,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement June 20.

 Bishop Hying  has emphasized that many of the most successful protests of the Civil Rights era were predicated on Christian ideas of nonviolence, and a Scriptural understanding of the human person.

The principles of Catholic social teaching— the dignity of the human person; the value of solidarity, "we're all in this together;" a preferential option for the poor— need to be present in any Catholic's response to injustice, he said. 

"If it's not grounded in that, then it really ends up being about power— that I need to assert my power, in situations where I feel powerless," he explained.

"It becomes a struggle over power, rather than a transformational relationship into how God wants us to live as brothers and sisters."

The Bishop said it is clear to him that the violence and ill-treatment of Native Americans and the oppression of African Americans through slavery are two of the country’s greatest moral failings.

The situation requires, he wrote, better knowledge of history and respectful discussions about statues, buildings, and memorials.

“We must study and know this history in order to transcend it, to learn from it and to commit ourselves to justice, equality, and solidarity because of it.”

“At the same time, even the worst aspects of history should be remembered and kept before our eyes. Auschwitz remains open as both a memorial and a museum, so that humanity never forgets the horror of the Holocaust.”  Having visited it myself 20 years ago, I can testify that it is a life-changing experience- one you never forget.  And if all these neo- Natzis, white suprematists, etc. were to visit, they would change their attitude fast!

It is not enough that we have a dread virus to pray be eradicated fast, but now we add violence and hatred and down right ignorance to our petitions.  We all need to look into our own hearts for where we have failed, not judge others.   Lord have Mercy on us all!