USCCB committee chairman reflects on reparations and racial justice
October 21, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Joseph Perry, chairman of the US bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, has published a reflection marking the upcoming first anniversary of Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis’s encyclical on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.
“Just as the Sacrament of Penance invites physical expressions of contrition—making the sign of the cross, performing a penance, offering restitution—so too do acts of reparation in communal life require gestures of sincerity, and concrete actions,” said the retired Chicago auxiliary bishop, who added:
Authentic reparation demands more than regret or distancing ourselves from past wrongs. It requires communal courage, sincere acknowledgment, and a willingness to ask forgiveness...The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
To confront racism, we must begin with reparation. We must name the sin, seek forgiveness, and commit to healing, and concrete actions to correct past wrongs and present-day inequities.
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Posted by: feedback -
Today 9:13 AM ET USA
I respect the Bishop but before any "reparations" we would have to begin with definitions and clarifications: What is racism? Is racism the same as slavery, and what is the relation between slavery and racism? Are the "reparations" to be granted for racism or for slavery, and how for many generations back? Was Africa the only source of slave labor? Who is to pay and ask for forgiveness, and who is to forgive? Would the new immigrants from Africa be required to contribute to the "reparations"?
