Cardinal Wilton Gregory will be the keynote speaker at the Diocese of Arlington’s March 20 “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love” in-person and virtual conference on confronting the sin of racism through understanding, conversion and action. He will also be the celebrant and homilist for the conference’s Mass.
The event, sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington Peace and Justice Commission, begins at 5 p.m. with the opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal Gregory at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, Virginia. Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge will concelebrate the Mass.
In accordance with coronavirus safety precautions, limited registration for safe social distancing in-person attendance at the Mass and conference is already at capacity. The Mass, keynote and panel discussion will be livestreamed on the Diocese of Arlington’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/0s8tvSWkcu4. Registration is not needed for the livestream.
Cardinal Gregory will offer his keynote address at 7 p.m. The event's name, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love” is the title of the pastoral letter against racism issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2018.
After the keynote address, Bishop Burbidge and a panel of three diocesan parishioners will hold a panel discussion and question and answer session. The panelists are Emelda August, a parishioner at Holy Family Catholic Church in Dale City and works with her parish's Black History & Heritage Outreach Ministry; Alexandra Luevano, program director of Mother of Mercy free medical clinic at Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington; and Jose Aguto, associate director of the Catholic Climate Covenant has worked for the National Congress of American Indians and as a policy and development associate for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Presenters will look at racism in our communities and discuss how Catholics should respond.
“Sadly, more than 50 years after the civil rights movement began in this country, the evil of racism continues to exist in our nation,” said Bishop Burbidge. “While great progress has been made to ensure that the rights of individuals are protected and injustices exposed, the wounds of racism persist and cry out for healing, unity and peace. As followers of Christ, we are called to respond and to confront all forms of prejudice and bigotry. We have a sacred duty to do our part in replacing all forms of hatred with love, so that we can live in harmony as brothers and sisters united in Christ. I thank Cardinal Gregory for his ongoing leadership on this issue as we collaborate in addressing this evil.”
The conference was rescheduled from March 2020 due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and is part of an overall effort to address racism in the Archdiocese of Washington, the Diocese of Arlington, and beyond.
Last August, at a Mass marking the anniversary of the March on Washington, Cardinal Gregory announced the initiative “Made in God’s Image: Pray and Work to End the Sin of Racism (CCC 1935)” to fight racial injustice. The initiative includes a range of pastoral activities and outreach including prayer, listening sessions, faith formation opportunities and social justice work.
