In an article titled “Pandemic Healing Must Find the Courage to Address Inequities,” published in the summer 2020 Health Progress journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory wrote that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, people's eyes should be opened to the “disproportionate consequential effect of those inequities upon people of color, the poor and the elderly.” 

“While I suppose that some people will continue to endeavor to explain away or refute the hard evidence, few can deny that the coronavirus has disproportionately sickened and killed more people in those three categories than among the general population, not only in our nation, but worldwide,” he wrote. 

In the article, Archbishop Gregory noted that the Catholic Church, throughout history, has responded to such events as global pandemics and that the present situation is no different. 

“We must continue to do the same, always aided by the medical and scientific knowledge that we now have available,” Archbishop Gregory wrote. “The Church's care for the sick has long been a legacy of great worth. Even in places where there were few Catholics, the healing ministry of the Church assured our neighbors that our mission was not simply to serve those of our own faith, but all those who needed the compassionate Christ to serve and heal them.”

In the article, Washington's archbishop wrote that in addition to providing healing in the wake of the pandemic, “we must follow the path to those who are suffering and to challenge the social realities that intensify the suffering of particular segments of the population.”

Read the entire article here.