In a world as divided as ours, there is much need for healing and reconciliation.
Last Thursday, March 23, dozens from around the archdiocese took up the holy mission of Christian unity at the second annual bilingual Mass of Healing and Reconciliation. Sponsored by the Archdiocesan Committee for Racial Equality and Justice (ACREJ) and hosted by St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Parish in Aurora, the Mass was celebrated with the intention of “the healing and reconciliation of all that divides us” at the forefront, “so that we may continue to strive toward unity and, in Christ, we may all truly be made one.”
“As a human family, we all know what it’s like to experience hurt and how essential the need for healing and reconciliation is,” said Laura Becerra, Pastoral Juvenil Specialist at the Archdiocese of Denver, who also serves on the ACREJ and worships at St. Michael the Archangel. Annually, she continued, “This Mass provides a great opportunity for unity, bringing us together to accompany each other in prayer for the healing and reconciliation of ourselves, our communities and our world which is desperately in need of it.”
The ACREJ was “honored to have Archbishop Aquila as the principal celebrant of the Mass,” said Kateri Joda Williams, Director of Black Catholic Ministry at the Archdiocese, member of the ACREJ, and parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel. Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese and a member of the ACREJ, concelebrated the Mass with priests from across the archdiocese.
“Racism has no place in the Gospel message or any civil society,” Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, Archbishop of Denver, said. “Figuring out how to love those who have suffered from racism requires knowing the historical experience of various groups and how they have been treated and their present-day struggles. It also requires examining our own hearts and actions.”
“We’re concerned about all the issues facing many communities,” Sister Marion Weinzapfel, CSJ, a member of the committee, told the Denver Catholic, speaking about the work of the ACREJ. In all their efforts, which includes a webinar presentation about racism as well as other talks and curriculum currently in development, the ACREJ is “just trying to stare down, if you will, this racism that creeps up that’s been in our communities for 400 years and that we’re trying to invite a different response. So the archbishop and bishop and the group that gathered in doing this Mass are giving it to God to help us where we call on trying to help each other.”
For more information on the work of the Archdiocesan Committee for Racial Equality and Justice, visit archden.org/racial-equality-and-justice.
Click here to watch “Acknowledging the Sin of Racism,” a webinar produced by the ACREJ.
