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CREATED
in CHRIST
A Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism
SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
CREATED
in C HRIST
A Catholic Response
to the Sin of Racism
About Sophia Institute for Teachers
Sophia Institute for Teachers was launched in 2013 by Sophia Institute to renew and rebuild
Catholic culture through service to Catholic education. With the goal of nurturing the spiritual,
moral, and cultural life of souls, and an abiding respect for the role and work of teachers,
we strive to provide materials and programs that are at once enlightening to the mind and
ennobling to the heart; faithful and complete, as well as useful and practical. Sophia Institute is
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1983.
Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second
Edition, © 1994, 1997, 2000 by Libreria Editrice Vaticana–United States Catholic Conference,
Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010,
1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by
permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may
be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Unless otherwise noted, images in this book are in the public domain.
We thank all copyright holders for their permission to use their material in this publication.
Every attempt was made to secure permission to reprint any protected material used in
this publication. Any omissions or errors were unintentional, and we will make adjustments
immediately upon request.
© 2021 by Sophia Institute for Teachers
All rights reserved. Portions of this publication may be photocopied and/or reproduced
within the schools which purchased it for educational use only. Written permission must be
secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book outside the school which
purchased it in any medium.
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Perceptions Design Studio
Created in Christ: A Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism
ISBN: 978-1-64413-473-3
Contents
Acknowledgments .....................................................................ii
How to Use this Guide ................................................................ iii
Sacred Art and Catechesis ..............................................................iv
Introductory Essay: The Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism ............................v
What Is Critical Race Theory? ........................................................ xiii
10 Principles for an Educational Discussion on Racism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Catholic Educators on Responding to Racism ...........................................xvii
Unit 1: The Dignity of the Human Person
Lesson 1: Created in God’s Image (High School) .......................................... 1
Lesson 2: Created in God’s Image (Elementary and Middle School) .........................13
Lesson 3: Christianity and Identity (High School) ........................................23
Lesson 4: Brothers and Sisters in Christ (Elementary and Middle School) ...................37
Unit 2: Responding to the Sin of Racism
Lesson 5: Sin Is the Root of Racism (High School) ........................................47
Lesson 6: Sin Is the Root of Racism (Elementary and Middle School) .......................63
Lesson 7: Institutional Racism and Social Sin (Upper Middle and High School) ...............73
Lesson 8: Racism in U.S. History (Upper Middle and High School) ..........................93
Unit 3: Conversion in Christ
Lesson 9: Racism and Solidarity (High School) ...........................................115
Lesson 10: Racism and Subsidiarity (Upper Middle and High School) ......................125
Lesson 11: Personal Conversion and the Graces of the Holy Spirit
(Upper Middle and High School) ...................................................... 137
Lesson 12: Christ is the Victory (High School) ...........................................153
Lesson 13: Christ is the Victory (Elementary and Middle School) .........................165
Appendix A: Saint Cards ...............................................................177
Glossary ............................................................................211
CREATED IN CHRIST OVERVIEW
i
Acknowledgments
Authors
Evan Bradfield
Elyssa Bradfield
Veronica Burchard
Mike Gutzwiller
Jose Gonzalez
Arthur Hippler
Victoria Roth
Ethan O’Connor
Elienne Planchett
Nathaniel A. Sanders
Ingrid Waldstein
Contributors
Stephen Beale
Dcn. Harold Burke-Sivers
Anna Maria Dube
Editors
Veronica Burchard
Mike Gutzwiller
Ethan O’Connor
Academic Advisor
Michel Therrien, S.T.L., S.T.D.
Catechetical Consultant
Danielle Brown, Esq.
Associate Director, USCCB Ad Hoc Committee
Against Racism
Design
Perceptions Design Studio
Amherst, NH
Illustrator
Mary MacArthur
Special Thanks To Our Field-Testing Teachers
Fey Barles
St. Francis School
Wichita, KS
Judi Brennan
Christ the King Parish
Worcester, MA
Mary Finnegan
St. Isidore School
Quakertown, PA
Margaret Zeh Fulford
Scecina Memorial High
School
Indianapolis, IN
Michael Hardt
Sacred Heart Parish
Lebanon, NH
Sarah Hughes
St. Agnes School
Fort Wright, KY
Elizabeth Kassel
St. Joseph School
Petersburg, VA 23803
Yrina Keller
Immaculate Conception
School
Los Angeles, CA
Regina Molinelli
Archbishop Stepinac High
School
White Plains, NY
Kathy Walsh
St. Joseph Catholic School
St. Paul, MN
Amy Zakrajsek
St. Thomas the Apostle
School
Grand Rapids, MI
ii
© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
How to Use This Guide
Like all Sophia Institute for Teacher’s thematic guides, this resource is offered not as a
comprehensive curriculum but as a supplement to enhance and overlay the religion and
theology materials you are already using. It is aimed at spiritual and intellectual formation.
The lessons presented in these pages will help your students understand:
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The dignity of the human person created in the Image of God
The Scriptural and Traditional basis for Christian anthropology
What racism is
Why racism is a sin
Some ways racism has affected our lives in the United States
Some principles of Catholic teaching that inform our response to racism
The need for conversion and the graces of the Holy Spirit
Why Jesus Christ is the only way to peace and justice
Racism is a complex and deeply-rooted problem. This guide acknowledges and offers a
Catholic response to the sin of racism. Its lessons are designed to foster understanding as well
as examination of conscience, repentance, and conversion; it is not a guide aimed at raising
awareness of the existence of racism, nor is it a practical tooklit for advocacy or activism. A
resource is provided on page xiv that offers ten principles for framing lessons and class
discussions on racism.
Sophia’s Incarnational Approach
Just as nothing can replace a teacher’s witness to Christ in her own classroom, nothing can
replace your discernment as to the needs of your community. While we as members of the
Church have frequently failed to live out her teaching, the tensions and the failures will be
different in different communities. In some communities the manifestation of racism could be
prejudice, obtuseness, and offense, and in other communities the failures could be prejudice,
resentment, and envy. You will know best how to use these resources to educate your students
and alleviate the friction in your community.
We hope the lessons in this guide will give your students the foundation to properly understand
and implement any practical resources you may choose to provide in light of the Gospel, which
is the only way they will bear fruit.
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iii
Sacred Art and Catechesis
How to Use the Works of Art in This Guide
This Teacher’s Guide uses sacred art as a means of teaching
young people about the Catholic Faith. Beauty disposes us to
the Divine, and sacred art helps lead students to love what is
good, beautiful, and true. Art can be viewed and appreciated
by all students, no matter their grade, reading ability, personal
background, or level of sophistication. Feel free to use these
works of art with students of all grade levels. Add
your own questions if these are too hard. Say them
out loud if students cannot read the questions
themselves. Have older students compose their own
questions. Have fun.
The Baptism of the Eunuch
BY REmBRANDT (c.1626)
HANDOUT B
Our Lady of Loreto in the Refugee’s Cloak
BY mARGHERITA GALLUCCI (2020)
HANDOUT D
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Before presenting artwork, we recommend
you gather relevant Scripture passages and
sections of the Catechism to contextualize
discussion.
57
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We recommend projecting a full-screen
image of each work of art and/or handing
out color copies for each student or small
group of students.
6
Oil on panel, 40cm x 60cm, Florence, Italy.
www.margheritagallucci.com
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Allow students to view the art quietly for several minutes — or for as long as you can.
Encourage them to appreciate it for its own sake before beginning any analysis.
Begin your discussion by asking questions that are easy to answer. This may help “prime
the pump” for future discussion.
Be willing to share your own response to the painting. Allow your students to see
the painting move you. Sharing the feelings and ideas the artwork evokes in you may
encourage your students to be more willing to take risks in the ways they contribute to
the discussion.
Add your own favorite works of art. Don’t be limited to paintings. Think about using
sculpture, wood carvings, stained glass, and so forth. Your enthusiasm for works of art
will be contagious.
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© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
The Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism
Human society includes interdependence,
solidarity, and most of all an
acknowledgement that we are created in the
image of God and meant to reflect Trinitarian
Love. The sin of racism attacks all these
concepts. Our Faith teaches us that God
became man to save all sinners and that there
is a glorious story to be told in which all are
freed from sin and suffering, and brought into
one family.
Made for Communion
As creatures made in God’s image, God
made us to be in relationship with Him and
with each other. The Catechism tells us,
“Because of its common origin the human
race forms a unity, for ‘from one ancestor
[God] made all nations to inhabit the whole
earth’” (360). God looked at the first man,
Adam, and said “It is not good for the man to
be alone. I will make a helper suited to him”
(Genesis 2:18), and made the first woman,
Eve. Adam immediately recognized that she
was another like him, a person made in God’s
image and likeness with whom he could be in
communion. The Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church says, “Man, in fact, is
not a solitary being, but ‘a social being, and
unless he relates himself to others he can
neither live nor develop his potential’ … In
one’s neighbor, whether man or woman, there
is a reflection of God himself, the definitive
goal and fulfillment of every person” (110). The
unity in which God made us does not exclude,
however, “the rich variety of persons, cultures,
and peoples,” and “assures us that all men are
truly brethren” (CCC 361).
It is in the Church that we find our true unity as
members of His body. St. Paul wrote, “For as in
one body we have many parts, and all the parts
do not have the same function, so we, though
many, are one body in Christ and individually
parts of one another” (Romans 12:4–5). He also
wrote, still speaking of the members of the
Body of Christ, “If [one] part suffers, all the parts
suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the
parts share its joy” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Jesus Himself taught us to pray to the Father
as “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Of
this opening line of the Lord’s Prayer, the
Catechism tells us that the word “our” reflects
“an entirely new relationship with God” (2786).
The filial boldness of calling God “our Father:”
qualifies a reality common to more than
one person. There is only one God, and
he is recognized as Father by those who,
through faith in his only Son, are reborn of
him by water and the Spirit. The Church
is this new communion of God and men.
United with the only Son, who has become
“the firstborn among many brethren,” she
is in communion with one and the same
Father in one and the same Holy Spirit. In
praying “our” Father, each of the baptized
is praying in this communion: “The
company of those who believed were of
one heart and soul.” (CCC 2790)
The Catechism goes on to say about all
baptized Christians:
For this reason, in spite of the divisions
among Christians, this prayer to “our”
Father remains our common patrimony
and an urgent summons for all the
CREATED IN CHRIST OVERVIEW
v
aptized. In communion by faith in Christ
and by Baptism, they ought to join in Jesus'
prayer for the unity of his disciples.
Finally, if we pray the Our Father sincerely,
we leave individualism behind, because
the love that we receive frees us from it.
The “our” at the beginning of the Lord's
Prayer, like the “us” of the last four
petitions, excludes no one. If we are to say
it truthfully, our divisions and oppositions
have to be overcome. (2791–2792)
Christianity is not a private Faith, but a
communal Faith realized most fully in the
public worship of the Church, the liturgy—the
Eucharist—which is “the source and summit of
the Christian life” (CCC 1324). “The Eucharist is
the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that
communion in the divine life and that unity of
the People of God by which the Church is kept
in being” (CCC 1325). It is the Eucharist that
unites the faithful into the one Body of Christ
and sustains us in communion with God and
with one another in Christ.
The Consequences of Sin
From the very beginning, sin has disrupted
the communion for which God made us. Our
original parents, Adam and Eve, gave in to the
temptation of the Devil and committed the
first sin in the Garden of Eden, severing their
relationship with God and greatly damaging
their relationship with one another and
with all of creation. Their sin “affected the
human nature that they would then transmit
in a fallen state …a human nature deprived
of original holiness and justice” (CCC 404,
emphasis original). Each of us is tainted with
the stain of Original Sin, by which we are
born with a wounded human nature “subject
to ignorance, suffering, and the dominion of
death; and inclined to sin—and inclination to
evil that is called ‘concupiscence’” (CCC 405).
The Sacrament of Baptism makes us children
of God, members of Christ’s Body, erases
Original Sin, and gives us the grace of salvation
won by Christ on the Cross, making it possible
again for us to be in relationship with God. But
the consequences of Original Sin remain: a
Though often well-intended,
educational or political approaches
that fail to acknowledge our
wounded human nature and need
for God’s grace will inevitably fall
short or even make things worse.
The Expulsion of Adam and Eve
from Paradise, Benjamin West.
vi
© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
darkened intellect and weakened will inclined
to sin.
Original Sin and the personal sin of all
mankind have resulted in division and discord.
The Catechism explains:
By our first parents’ sin, the devil has
acquired a certain domination over man,
even though man remains free. Original
sin entails “captivity under the power
of him who thenceforth had the power
of death, that is, the devil.” Ignorance of
the fact that man has a wounded nature
inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors
in the areas of education, politics, social
action and morals (407).
Though often well-intended, educational or
political approaches that fail to acknowledge
our wounded human nature and need for
God’s grace will inevitably fall short or even
make things worse.
Personal and Social Sin
All sins are both personal and social - they
harm the sinner and they harm others. The
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the
Church explains:
Every sin is personal under a certain
aspect; under another, every sin is social
insofar as and because it also has social
consequences. In its true sense, sin is
always an act of the person, because it
is the free act of an individual person
and not properly speaking of a group or
community. The character of social sin can
unquestionably be ascribed to every sin,
taking into account the fact that “by virtue
of human solidarity which is as mysterious
and intangible as it is real and concrete,
each individual’s sin in some way affects
others” (117, emphasis original).
In other words, there is no such thing as a
sin that harms the sinner alone. For example,
abusing drugs may seem to only affect the
user, but it also harms family and friends, the
community, and so forth. Some sins directly
and intentionally harm others. These sins
are called social sins. The Compendium of the
Social Doctrine of the Church defines social
sin as “every sin committed against the justice
due in relations between individuals, between
the individual and the community, and also
between the community and the individual”
(118). It goes on to give examples:
Every sin against the rights of the human
person, starting with the right to life,
including that of life in the womb, and
every sin against the physical integrity
of the individual; every sin against the
freedom of others, especially against the
supreme freedom to believe in God and
worship him; and every sin against the
dignity and honor of one's neighbor. Every
sin against the common good and its
demands, in the whole broad area of rights
and duties of citizens, is also social sin. (118)
Each of these social sins deprives others of the
justice due to them as human beings made in
God’s image and members of the human family.
Structures of Sin
Sadly, sin very often encourages more
sin, leading in some cases to structures
of sin. “Sins give rise to social situations
and institutions that are contrary to the
divine goodness. ‘Structures of sin’ are the
expression and effect of personal sins. They
lead their victims to do evil in their turn
(CCC 1869).
While the Church has spoken about
structures of sin for centuries, she has only
used this specific term more recently. The
CREATED IN CHRIST OVERVIEW
vii
term originates within a discredited school
of theology called liberation theology, which
became popular in the middle of the 20th
century under the influence of Marxism.
Liberation theology teaches that oppression
is rooted in certain social structures that
must be radically changed — almost always
through revolution— in order to uproot the
power structures that liberation theorists
believe allow the rich to exploit the poor.
The Magisterium would step in in order
to clarify the true nature of social sin and
reconciliation. Before we turn to that
teaching, it is worthwhile to explore some
foundational errors of Marxism.
Marxists believe that the owners of capital,
along with the political structures that enable
the capitalist system, are always at fault. In the
context of liberation theology, they used the
term “structures of sin” to describe the social
structures that offend God and human dignity.
The use of the term can help us understand
some of the moral problems a society
perpetuates, and it reminds us of the biblical
mandate to protect the poor from destitution
and exploitation. But the downside of the term
is that it tends to depersonalize sin, as though
a vague entity like “society” or “the system”
could be at fault rather than individual people.
Consequently, liberation theology tends to
focus the Church on the political work of
opposing corrupt power structures and fails to
emphasize the primacy of Jesus Christ as our
Lord and savior. The result is that the Church
becomes indistinguishable from any other
non-governmental organization, focusing
only on political activism or advocating
for revolution. Liberation theorists were
right to recognize social sin and are correct
that Christians are called to help the poor.
But there were serious problems with the
means they chose to bring about change,
the implication that we should put our faith
in government rather than God, and the
temptation to try to bring about a utopia on
earth.
In order to bring clarity to a properly
Christian perspective, the Magisterium of
the Church intervened in order to help the
faithful understand the true nature of social
sin and reconciliation. Pope St. John Paul II
gave us the first comprehensive definition of
social sin and the structures of sin:
Sin, in the proper sense, is always a
personal act, since it is an act of freedom
on the part of an individual person and
not properly of a group or community.
This individual may be conditioned,
incited and influenced by numerous and
powerful external factors. He may also
be subjected to tendencies, defects and
habits linked with his personal condition.
In not a few cases such external and
internal factors may attenuate, to a
greater or lesser degree, the person’s
freedom and therefore his responsibility
and guilt. But it is a truth of faith, also
confirmed by our experience and reason,
that the human person is free. This truth
cannot be disregarded in order to place
the blame for individuals’ sins on external
factors such as structures, systems or
other people. Above all, this would be to
deny the person’s dignity and freedom,
which are manifested — even though in
a negative and disastrous way — also in
this responsibility for sin committed.
Hence there is nothing so personal and
untransferable in each individual as
merit for virtue or responsibility for sin
(Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 16).
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© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
Pope St. John Paul II gave
us the first comprehensive
definition of social sin and
the structures of sin.
Pope St. John Paul II.
This statement acknowledges that many
sinful structures are difficult to avoid. For
example, it may be hard to find affordable
products that are not made by people who
are laboring in poor conditions for unjust
wages. We may not be able to avoid paying
taxes that support unjust wars or fund
abortion providers. This reality reduces our
personal culpability, but we are nevertheless
morally obligated to do what we can to repent
of our own contributions to social sin and
work for the transformation of society in
whatever ways we are able.
Another example of a structure of sin relates
to the problem of violence in our culture.
We are quite concerned about a rise in mass
shootings. Violence in a society tends to be
cultivated in multiple ways: the militarization
of police, overexposure to violent media,
acceptance of domestic violence, and
promotion of practices that take innocent
human life, such as abortion and euthanasia.
When social attitudes change within a
population, we begin to see moral behaviors
change. With mass shootings, people
will often blame the availability of guns.
While gun restrictions may be part of the
solution, the problem of mass shootings is
symptomatic of a deeper structural sin in
our society related to our attitudes toward
the sanctity of human life.
Pope St. John Paul II called this atmosphere of
violence a Culture of Death. For the structural
sin of violence to go away, individual attitudes
have to change about the sanctity of human
life and the social responsibility every person
has for building a Culture of Life.
The Catholic Response to
Structures of Sin
Regardless of the example, the primary
solution to the challenge of all social sin,
including racism, is obvious but not so
easy — conversion. It is necessary, then, to
appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities
of the human person and to the permanent
need for their inner conversion, so as to
obtain social changes for the better. The
priority of the conversion of heart in no
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ix
way eliminates but on the contrary imposes
the obligation of bringing the appropriate
remedies to institutions and living conditions
when they are an inducement to sin, so that
they advance the good rather than hinder
it (CCC 1888). Without a transformation of
human hearts, we will not see an enduring
good, with respect to racism or any other
sin.. Even if just laws are enacted, they
will not last without conversion of hearts,
because the people will lack the will to face
inevitable challenges. U.S. history testifies
to the hardness of our hearts: laws against
slavery and segregation did not end racism,
laws restricting gun ownership did not end
murder, outlawing abortion did not end
abortion.
Solidarity and Subsidiarity
But we must not despair. Christian virtue,
the courage to stand up for what is good
and holy, and our social commitment to
the Gospel can and will change the world.
Christians should cooperate with others to
oppose social sins in order to eradicate the
problem of socially sinful structures, and so
we must seek widespread collaboration on a
local and international level between political,
religious, and business leaders. The practice
of solidarity is therefore extremely important
for addressing structures of sin. solidarity
“is a firm and persevering determination
to commit oneself to the common good;
that is to say to the good of all and of
each individual, because we are all really
responsible for all” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 38).
Solidarity depends, however, upon another
important social practice: the principle of
subsidiarity. Pope Pius XI first introduced
this principle of social relations in his letter
Quadragesimo Anno: “Just as it is gravely
wrong to take from individuals what they
can accomplish by their own initiative and
industry and give it to the community, so
It is necessary to appeal
to the spiritual and moral
capacities of the human
person and to the permanent
need for their inner
conversion, so as to obtain
social changes for the better.
Our Lady of Deliverance in
Peking, John Lu Hung Nien.
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© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
also it is an injustice and at the same time a
grave evil and disturbance of right order to
assign to a greater and higher association
what lesser and subordinate organizations
can do.” (79). The principle of subsidiarity
simply means that people ought to handle
problems at the lowest possible level of social
relationships. Solidarity and subsidiarity must
be practiced together.
The Virtue of Hope
A final strategy for eliminating social sin,
including racism, is to avoid two temptations,
both of which make the social structures
of sin worse. The first is a utopianism that
mistakenly believes that human effort and
planning can eliminate the problem of sin,
even Original Sin. Certainly, we cooperate in
the work of ongoing social transformation,
but we must rely upon the grace of God to
help us. We also must work with a mature
realism and recognize that God will not
eliminate the problem of evil until the Second
Coming of Christ. Nevertheless, God calls
us to be faithful in social life to the mission
of salvation in Jesus Christ. The pride of
believing that some person of influence, set
of ideals, elected official, or political party is
going to save humanity is very dangerous.
Some of the greatest atrocities of human
history have been the result of this sin of
blind pride. In the last century, for example,
millions were killed under the leadership of
people like Vladimir Lenin, who led the 1917
Communist Revolution in Russia, and Mao
Zedong, whose “Great Leap Forward” founded
the communist People’s Republic of China.
The second temptation we must avoid
is giving into defeat and hopelessness.
Christians have a social responsibility to the
communities in which we live. God calls us
to go out and make disciples of all nations by
living the Gospel in the context of our social
lives. We all should follow this command to
the extent we are able, bearing in mind our
place in life, our special gifts and talents, and
the reality that all of us have limited time,
energy, and other resources.
The answer to both utopianism and defeatism
is the Christian virtue of hope. In hope, we
believe in Jesus’ promise, toward which we
strive for a better world, but we also live with
a certain patience to suffer the imperfections
of our world as we await the consummation
of God’s Kingdom. Pope Benedict XVI spoke
powerfully about the dangers of ideological
fanaticism and the proper Christian
perspective in which to face the structures
of sin in our world. His words provide a good
way to close out this introduction:
Anyone who promises the better world
that is guaranteed to last forever is
making a false promise; he is overlooking
human freedom. Freedom must
constantly be won over for the cause of
good. Free assent to the good never exists
simply by itself. If there were structures
which could irrevocably guarantee a
determined — good — state of the world,
man’s freedom would be denied, and
hence they would not be good structures
at all ... . Man can never be redeemed
simply from outside … It is not science
that redeems man: man is redeemed by
love. … Man’s great, true hope which holds
firm in spite of all disappointments can
only be God — God who has loved us and
who continues to love us “to the end,”
until all “is accomplished” [cf. Jn 13:1 and
19:30]. (Spe Salvi 24–27)
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What Is Critical Race Theory?
Racism is absolutely contrary to the Gospel
message, and all Catholic educators
of goodwill are seeking out lessons and
approaches to help our society rid itself of
this sin. This resource is intended to help
answer this need.
Critical Race Theory’s Approach
Recent best-selling books and movements in
higher education have brought an approach
called Critical Race Theory (CRT) to the
forefront. CRT presents itself as an answer
to the deeply-rooted and complex problem
of racism. It claims to provide a fairly simple
solution; a claim which can be very attractive
to the human mind which is always seeking to
understand and categorize. The result of CRT,
however, is a simplification that robs people
of their God-given identities as sons and
daughters in Christ.
Of course, when looking back on history
and when examining our own society, it is
right and just to ask if, how, and why unjust
practices and power dynamics may have
contributed to societal inequalities, especially
ones that are race-based. Critical Race
Theory (CRT), on the other hand, does not ask
if, how, or why racial injustice occurred but
instead begins with the assumption that it has,
and constructs a narrative to support that
conclusion.
According to CRT, the primary drivers
of problems in the West today are white
supremacy, slavery, and colonialism; Many
who ascribe to the teaching believe that
the U.S. is an inherently racist country; the
way the narrative has evolved today, the
oppressors are white (European) people,
largely men, and people of African ancecstry
and other underrepresented groups are
their victims. In the 2018 best-seller White
Fragility, author Robin DiAngelo writes:
“White people raised in Western society
are conditioned into a white supremacist
worldview because it is the bedrock of
our society and its institutions….White
identity is inherently racist; white people
do not exist outside the system of white
supremacy.”
Further, CRT asserts that any disparities
along racial lines are themselves evidence of
what CRT calls systemic racism. According
to CRT, all white people unjustly benefit from
inherently and irredeemably racist structures,
and whites must therefore be disadvantaged
to bring about racial equity — equal outcomes
across racial groups in all aspects of life.
Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the
Boston University Center for Antiracist
Research and author of How to Be an
Antiracist, explains this way of thinking:
The defining question is whether
the discrimination is creating equity
or inequity. If discrimination is
creating equity, then it is antiracist. If
discrimination is creating inequity, then
it is racist...the only remedy to racist
discrimination is antiracist discrimination.
The only remedy to past discrimination is
present discrimination. The only remedy
for present discrimination is future
discrimination.
In other words, CRT asserts that the ends
justify the means.
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The Errors of Critical Race Theory
CRT is often described as a new approach but
it is not new. CRT is the merely most recent
expression of a historical political philosophy
that portrays all history as the story of
the class struggle, ie. of a dominant group
oppressing another. This philosophy can be
first traced to Karl Marx, and was picked
up by Frederich Nietzche and others. This
approach, while it has been taken up by many
well-intended people who sincerely want to
end injustice, is wrong for many reasons:
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CRT’s solution is that two wrongs make a
right.
It views people not as nuanced individuals
with unique histories, but exclusively as
members of homogenous groups.
CRT makes use of stereotypes and shames
people based on their race/ethnicity.
It assigns blame or victimhood to people
based on their race/ethnicity.
It divides the human family rather than
unites it.
It sows envy and offense and not charity
and reconciliation.
Holding that disagreement with CRT is
evidence of deeply-held racism or white
supremacy, it prevents open dialogue.
It largely denies that racism can be
overcome with the help of God’s grace.
CRT assumes all human relationships, and
by extension, institutions, can be reduced
to dominant/subordinate, while the truth
is that, while our own efforts have often
fallen short, God can bless even our broken
relationships and institutions to help us
achieve a common good through repentance,
reconciliation, and ordered, harmonious
community. CRT is incompatible not only
with Christian understanding that every
human person is a unique and unrepeatable
individual, but also with principles of morality
and justice, which demand we regard each
person as a free and responsible individual
with a duty to God and neighbor (CCC 1745,
1759-61, 1836).
Before closing out this short primer on
CRT, it is also important to remember how
much influence we have as educators over
the hearts of the children in our care. The
Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies
surveyed parents of children taught with
CRT-based materials in 2021 and learned
that to tell students we judge to be white
or European American that they are guilty
of racism whether they know it or not,
and tell minority students they are victims
whether they know it or not, is not only
false, but can be damaging emotionally and
mentally. A 2021 Manhattan Institute study
demonstrated that “reading a passage from
Critical Race Theory author Ta-Nehisi Coates
results in a significant 15-point drop in black
respondents’ belief that they have control
over their lives.” The effects of these repeated
messages on all students could range from
confusion to hopelessness, and will ultimately
work against any progress towards healing
and reconciliation. As Christians we know
we need never lose hope, and our consistent
message to our students is that no sin is
beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of
Jesus Christ, and we can do all things in Him.
“This is how all will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
—JOHN 13:35
CREATED IN CHRIST OVERVIEW
xiii
10 Principles for an Educational
Discussion on Racism
1 Pray to the Holy Spirit and invoke His
power. Ask Him to guide your
conversations and to open the hearts and
minds of your students to bring about true
conversion and fruitful discussion.
2 The goal is a discussion rooted in reason,
but the topic is one that evokes a
3
wide spectrum of emotion. Listen
intently and openly to your students’
experiences and feelings surrounding the
issue of racism and acknowledge that
they are real (ideally, and if you feel
comfortable, invite students to simply
give those emotions to God in the form of
a guided meditation). Give students an
opportunity to voice discomfort or
displeasure with the topic; be mindful of
students who do not sense the impact of
racism in their lives but for whom the
topic may be deeply uncomfortable. Only
then can a discussion rooted in reason
rather than emotion occur in class.
Acknowledge that racism is a real problem
that has existed throughout the world and
continues to exist today. Reflect on the
fact that, though it exists throughout the
world, racism exposes special hypocrisy
in the U.S. because our nation was
founded on the principle that “all men are
created equal.” At the same time, the
nation did not recognize the dignity of
every person by allowing slavery,
segregation, and codified discrimination.
Even though these are no longer laws of
the land, we can feel their effects.
4
5
6
7
8
Acknowledge that members of the
Church have frequently failed to live up
to her teaching and committed the sin
of racism. Recognize that the tensions
and the failures will be different in
different communities.
Emphasize the inherent dignity of every
human being. Each person is an
unrepeatable individual who should be
acknowledged as a person with gifts and
talents from God, rather than viewed
primarily as a member of a group.
When discussing racism in society and
structures of sin, encourage discussion
based on data. Avoid generalization or
vague statements; beware of the
common cognitive bias of seeking single
causes for complex issues.
Establish that personal conversion is
necessary to overcome racism. Since
society is made of individuals, the only
way to achieve lasting societal
conversion is by changing individual
hearts.
Righteous indignation is good and helps
us seek justice, but unless we are given
reason to believe otherwise, we must try
to assume best intentions in others.
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9
Avoid shame-based approaches to
addressing the issue of racism. These
11
1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is
patient. Be patient with those who
approaches often block conversion
have experienced racism as forgiveness
and healing. The way we discuss the
can be a lifelong process and the
sin of racism and respond to it must be
wounds of racism can take a long time
rooted in the Gospel message and
to heal. Offer them mercy and grace.
reflect Christian virtue, which is often
Be patient with those who have fallen
contrary to the current fads of
short and been racist. Help call them to
mainstream culture and popular social
repentance and conversion and remind
theories.
them that God desires to forgive them.
10
Anger as an initial reaction to racism is
normal, and it can be tempting to dwell
on that emotion. The road to mercy
and forgiveness can seem difficult or
even impossible but the Lord desires
healing for all of us. If we want to seek
justice and minister to others we must
do so from a place of wholeness and
not woundedness.
12 This issue is not “too big” for Jesus. In
fact, He is the only answer to this
problem. He offers us the graces we
need to overcome sin.
CREATED IN CHRIST OVERVIEW
xv
Catholic Educators
on Responding to Racism
We asked K-12 Catholic teachers and catechists,
“What is the most important thing for students to learn about racism?”
“People aren’t good or bad based on
race or anything else: their actions are
good or bad, and we all do both.”
“All are created in God’s image and likeness
and have dignity. It does not matter what
ethnicity or skin color you are and it
doesn’t define who you are as a person.”
“[Racism comes from] a failure
to understand those things that
make us the same as well as those
things that make us different.”
“We are all created in the image of God
and we all play an important role in the
success or failure of the community.”
“Racism is an offense to the 5th
Commandment, an affront to the
dignity of the human person.”
“God made everyone in his image and we
do not judge others based on skin color.”
“Hatred and racism destroys the
identity of all the individuals, from
the perpetrators to their victims.”
“Racism is both a personal and communal
problem/sin that starts with the
individual. It harms everyone, both
those who are victims and offenders.”
“Satan tries to destroy us by causing
division. One way to create division is to
keep putting people in categories. When
we stop talking about different races
and truly embrace that God created us
equally — humans with dignity, beauty and
variety — then perhaps we can stop racism.”
“Every human is created in the
imagine and likeness of God.”
“When we fully understand that we are all
created to love one another, no matter our
differences, there is no room for racism.”
“Jesus did not look at a person’s
age, sex, social status, or place of
origin. He treated each person with
love, compassion, and grace.”
“Jesus calls us by name, Satan calls
us by our sin. Racism does not
define America anymore than any
of our sins define us as a person.”
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Created in God’s Image
LESSON 1
Suggested age level: Ages 12 and up
Learning Goals
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Human beings are made in God’s image and likeness
which gives us a unique dignity as persons.
Being made in God’s image and likeness means that
all persons possess an intellect and free will.
The particular gifts of each person and society are
meant to enrich the common good of humanity.
The ultimate perfection of each person is union
with God, made possible by His grace.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 282
ӹ CCC 284
ӹ CCC 356-7
ӹ CCC 1731
Key Questions
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How are human beings different from the other
animals?
What gives all human beings an equal dignity?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
from GENESIS 1:27
So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the
wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he
brought them to the man to see what he would call
them; whatever the man called each living creature
was then its name.
from GENESIS 2:19
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background Essay–
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Handout C: Genesis 1 and
Created in God’s Image
2 on the Human Person
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Handout B: Our Lady of Loreto
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Handout D: The Person and Society
in the Refugee’s Cloak
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Handout E: Journal
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay–Created in God’s Image and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Mary, look upon on our classroom so that it will be fertile ground for the Church.
Pray that Jesus, who died and has risen, is reborn in us, and transform us in a school full of light,
full of Him.
Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, Heaven’s Gate, help us raise our eyes.
We want to see Jesus; talk to Him; proclaim His love to everyone.
–Adapted from the Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI in the Holy House of Loreto
Warm-Up
A. Display the image on Handout B: Our Lady of Loreto in the Refugee’s Cloak by Margherita
Gallucci. Give students as much time as possible to view the painting in silence.
B. Explain that the original Our Lady of Loreto is a 14th century wood statue often called a “Black
Madonna,” having turned black over the years because of the incense in the church. The image
shown here is a new artist’s rendering of Our Lady of Loreto.
C. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
D. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
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LESSON PLAN
Activity
A. Read aloud Genesis 1 and 2, and then arrange your students into pairs or trios. Distribute to
each group Handout C: Genesis 1 and 2 on the Human Person.
B. After students have completed the worksheet, review the answers to Handout C as a class.
C. Distribute Handout D: The Person and Society, and have students begin work on it, finishing it
for homework and discussing the questions with their parents as instructed.
Wrap Up
Ask students to reflect on the paragraph from Gaudium et Spes on Handout E: Journal, and write a
short paragraph in response.
Created in God’s Image
3
HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Made in God’s Image
The Church points the world back to the
teaching at the very beginning of the Bible.
Any consideration of human dignity naturally
begins with the Book of Genesis.
The Creation Account
It is important to recall the Church’s direction
for reading the Creation account. Living in a
culture that privileges empirical evidence and
scientific accounts, some regard the Genesis
story as not only figurative, but even mythical or
legendary. The reality is that Genesis answers
different questions than those raised by science,
but is no less true. Genesis does not address
the “age and dimensions of the cosmos, the
development of life-forms and the appearance
of human beings” but rather “the basic question
that men of all times have asked themselves:
‘Where do we come from?’ ‘Where are we going?’
‘What is our origin?’ ‘What is our end?’” (CCC
284, 282) The scientific method can attempt to
answer the when and how of human origins, but
Genesis answers questions about who we are,
and why we were made.
Genesis helps us see that human beings are
essentially different from other animals. “God
created mankind in his image; in the image
of God he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) What
do we have that the other animals do not? As
St. Augustine teaches in Literal Commentary
on Genesis, “Man’s excellence consists in the
fact that God made him to His Own image by
giving him an intellectual soul, which raises him
above the beasts of the field.” This rational soul
gives men and women a mind that allows us to
understand and reason, and a will that allows
us to desire and choose. Some animals, such as
dogs, can learn from experience and training,
The Naming of the Animals by Adam, Etching
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ut they cannot seek to understand what things
are and why they are that way. Animals have
desires that flow from their senses and instincts,
but they cannot choose against their own
natures. They cannot sin. Humans on the other
hand have the power of free will. Freedom is the
power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not
to act, and so to perform deliberate actions of
one’s own. (CCC 1731). Because of our freedom
to choose our own actions, human beings can
choose to do good, or choose to do evil and sin
against God. And also because of our free will,
we are responsible for our freely-chosen actions.
Created with a Rational Soul
Our intellectual powers were evident from the
very beginning when God brought the animals to
Adam to name. The higher animals can associate
things with symbols—this can be seen in animals
that can be trained. But human language does
not just associate certain things or actions with
certain sounds, but actually names and develops
ideas. And because we understand the world
around us, we are able to make choices. An
animal desires food only when it is hungry. But
we can choose when we eat, and whether to
eat something based on how tasty it is versus
how nutritious it is, or even how beautiful it is.
(Animals do not lavishly decorate cakes or carve
fruits into interesting shapes to delight one
another.)
In the same way, we can make decisions that
have a moral quality, such as choosing to tell
the truth or to lie. Only human beings have a
conscience by which we can judge our actions as
good or evil; just or unjust.
These powers are therefore not just different in
degree from those of the other animals—merely
higher forms of sensation and desire—but
different in kind. There is an unbridgeable gap
between the rational/human soul and the animal
soul. This explains why Genesis relates our being
made in the image of God to our “dominion” over
the other animals. (Genesis 1:26) This dominion
is not an unlimited mastery over the animals, but
rather a power that allows us to act upon animals
in a way that they cannot act upon us. As the
rational soul commands the irrational body, so
also it naturally commands the irrational animals.
Being endowed with rational souls, men and
women are persons. As the Catechism teaches,
“Being in the image of God the human individual
possesses the dignity of a person, who is not
just something, but someone. He is capable of
self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely
giving himself and entering into communion
with other persons.” (357) The word person
implies dignity—that is, an individual with special
worth. Every human person possesses this
dignity equally simply by having been created in
God’s image and likeness. And that dignity can
never be diminished or removed.
Even though our individual abilities—physical,
intellectual, moral—may differ greatly, the soul
God gives each man and woman remains the
inalienable basis of their worth. No one is more
or less a person.
Reflection Questions
1. Why can’t animals sin? How is all sin a choice against our own nature?
2. What is the relationship between our being made in God’s image and likeness and the dominion
over creation given to us?
3. What is the difference between being someone and something?
4. Why can it never be truly said that certain people are more valuable than others?
Created in God’s Image 5
HANDOUT B
Our Lady of Loreto in the Refugee’s Cloak
BY MARGHERITA GALLUCCI (2020)
Oil on panel, 40cm x 60cm, Florence, Italy.
www.margheritagallucci.com
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: Our Lady of Loreto
in the Refugee’s Cloak
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below, and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. What stands out to you about this painting?
2. Who are the figures in the painting? What makes you think so?
3. The original Madonna of Loreto, seen here to the right, is a wood
sculpture of Mary and Jesus wrapped in a golden cloth mantle, with
various silver jewels. What might be the symbolism of the golden
mantle in this painting?
4. Artist Margherita Gallucci described the inspiration for Our Lady of
Loreto in the Refugees Cloak painting as follows: “One day I was shocked
to see images of children, women and men who had lost their lives at sea while trying to reach
the Italian coast, were fleeing the war, the misery, and the violence of other people who took
advantage of their weakness. Men and women covered themselves with the emergency blankets
given to them by the rescuers, and in seeing those women who tried to protect themselves
and their children, I thought of ...I thought about how easy it can be to see God and Mary in a
statue, and how paradoxically it is more difficult to see God in our brothers and sisters.” What
has been your experience, if any, with refugees fleeing war and oppressive governments? Why
do you think images of suffering refugees shock the conscience?
5. To what extent do you agree with Gallucci’s idea that it can be easier to see Jesus in a statue
than in another person? Explain.
6. Gallucci continued: “Perhaps, if each of us was covered by a golden mantle, we would be able
to recognize at first sight the preciousness of each person.” What can you do on a daily basis to
recall the sacredness of each human person, independent of their culture and background?
Created in God’s Image 7
HANDOUT C
Genesis 1 and 2 on the Human Person
Directions:
After reading Genesis 1 and 2, answer the following questions.
1. What are some of the various ways in which Genesis 1–2 describes
human beings, especially in contrast to the animals?
____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does the distinction of being made in the image and likeness of God fit with the other
points that Genesis makes about human beings?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does the text in Genesis make a distinction between people and animals? Is the difference
between them just one of degree? Why or why not?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Why is it fitting that God created us last? If we are most important, why are we last?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Why is it not good for us to be alone?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, in contrast to a scientific account, Genesis is
not explaining “when and how the universe arose physically, or when we appeared,” but rather
“the meaning of such an origin.” (282, 284) How would you put this in your own words? What
do you think this way of thinking about Genesis 1 and 2 means about how we should read and
understand the text?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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HANDOUT D
The Person and Society
From the beginning, it was not good for
man to be alone. We need other people; we
need to live in society. A society is “a group of
persons bound together by a principle of unity
that goes beyond each one of them...It is in
society that human beings develop their fullest
potential and respond to their vocation.”(CCC
1880). The first society is the family. To be who
God created us to be, we each need our family,
as well as friends, and fellow laborers for the
common good. (CCC 1914).
As we contribute to the common good within
our own societies, so different cultures and
nations contribute to the universal human
good. The Catechism describes the universal
human good, as the “mutual enrichment of
cultures” (1937). Each society may have its
own advantages over another, but no society
has exclusive possession of all the gifts God
has given the human race. Pope Pius XII
declared “the nations, despite a difference
of development due to diverse conditions of
life and of culture, are not destined to break
the unity of the human race, but rather to
enrich and embellish it by the sharing of their
own peculiar gifts and by that reciprocal
interchange of goods.” (Summi Pontificatus 43;
CCC 360–361) Differences in nations encourage
mutual benefit and efficient use of the earth’s
resources.
In His providence, God has created a world in
which we can all serve mankind through our
special gifts and talents, and we all mutually
depend on one another.. But ultimately, human
societies cannot, even together, provide for
our complete perfection. We were created for
beatitude, that is, the supreme happiness and
blessedness of eternal life. (CCC 1720–1721) The
Church prepares us for this end, making us part
of one mystical body through Baptism. “The
Church founded by the Redeemer is one, the
same for all races and all nations. Beneath her
dome, as beneath the vault of Heaven, there is
but one country for all nations and tongues.”
(Mit Brennender Sorge 18)
Discussion Questions
1. We can assist each other, especially those most in need, if we share our great diversity of gifts
and talents. What are some ways your parents and siblings do this within your family?
2. What are some special talents in your extended family? Now think about your community. What
are things (goods or services) that are done especially well there? Your state? Your nation? Why
does cooperation among societies make good sense, both economically and spiritually?
3. Why can no human society ever completely fulfill us?
Created in God’s Image 9
HANDOUT E
Journal
Directions:
Read the quote from Gaudium et Spes, and then respond to the prompt.
All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God’s image;
they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they
enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality
between all men and it must be given ever greater recognition.
Undoubtedly not all men are alike as regards physical capacity and intellectual
and moral powers. But forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal
rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion,
must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.
— Gaudium et Spes 23
How must knowing each human being is made in the image and likeness of God affect the way we
view ourselves and others?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — Created in God’s Image
1. To sin, one must know an action is wrong and still freely choose it. Animals do not have free
will, therefore they cannot sin. Human beings can choose freely, and can sin. All sin goes against
our nature because part of something’s nature is the purpose for which it was created; God
created us to love and to be saints, so all sin goes against our eternal end, which is to love and
to live forever with God in Heaven.
2. Because we are made by God with a rational soul and thus possess intellect and free will,
powers of a soul not possessed by animals, we have the ability to act upon animals—and all of
creation—in a way they cannot act upon us.
3. A person is someone rather than something, possesses dignity as a person, and is capable of
self-knowledge, of self-possession, and of freely giving himself and entering into communion
with other persons, whereas a thing is a mere object which can be used.
4. Because all people are made in the image and likeness of God.
Handout B: Our Lady of Loreto in a Refugee’s Cloak
1. Accept all answers. To prompt discussion you might ask the class what they think of the
brightness of the gold cloak, the expression in Our Lady’s eyes, the crown of twelve stars
around her head, the shyness of Baby Jesus, or the fact that Mary isn’t wearing shoes.
2. Mary and the infant Jesus.
3. This painting is echoing the original statue. Gold is the color of royalty and of riches. In this
instance gold also evokes the color of emergency blankets given by medical personnel to treat
persons who are injured or in shock.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
5. Students may suggest: statues are representations we may have grown accustomed to as
representations of the divine, whereas we don’t think of people that way (even though,
ironically, we are truly reflections of God, made in His image!) Statues do not make demands on
us, disturb us, or annoy us, or cause trouble in other ways as our fellow human beings can do.
Also, if we have a particular image or statue in mind, it might be difficult to see someone that
looks different from the idea we have of God as being made in the image and likeness of God.
6. Accept reasoned answers related to remembering that each person has infinite worth because
he or she is created in God’s image. We can always find the best in each person that we
encounter. We can talk to people who have different backgrounds and cultures and tell them
about our background and culture. Help students understand that the beauty of the Church is
that it is not restricted to one particular culture or place. The expressions of Catholicism vary
around the world and are beautiful examples of the universality of the Church: we all believe in
the same Trinitarian God, who is love.
Created in God’s Image 11
Handout C: Genesis 1 and 2 on the Human Person
1. We are made in the image and likeness of God, male and female. (Gen 1:26–27) We are given
dominion over the animals. (Gen. 1:26) We are blessed and told to “be fertile and multiply, fill
the earth and subdue it.” (Gen 1:28) We are made from the dust of the earth; God breathes into
Adam and makes him a living soul. (Gen 2:7) Man was given the task of tending the garden. (Gen
2:15) The man and the woman are united in marriage (Gen 2:22–24).
2. We are made in the image and likeness of God in that we have reason and free will. (CCC 356)
Reason allows us to have dominion over the animals, just as we should have mastery over our
own desires (CCC 377).
3. Adam can give the animals names. These are not personal names, like naming a pet, but
abstract names, e.g. “dog,” “cat.” Animals can only make sounds that convey their natural needs
and desires, e.g. food, mates, or danger. Even animals that can imitate human speech, such as
parrots, are not intentionally conveying an original, meaningful idea, but are merely imitating
the sound they have heard. Though we can allow ourselves to be led by instinct and desire
(often to our detriment), we have the power of free choice. This means that we are the master
of our own actions—to act, or not act as we choose (CCC 1730).
4. According to the wisdom of God’s Providence, the perfect does not always come before the
imperfect. God leads up to more perfect (rational) from the less perfect (non-rational). We
are the crowning work of earthly creation. We do not arise by chance, but according to a plan
(CCC 284).
5. Men and women were made for each other. It is not that God left them half-made and
incomplete, but He created them to be a communion of persons, for they are equal as persons
(“This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”) and complementary as masculine
and feminine (CCC 372). The human person needs to live in society, beginning with the family.
We need other people. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with
each other, we develop our potential; we thus respond to our vocation (CCC 1879).
6. Accept reasoned answers that express the idea that Genesis isn’t meant to teach us what
happened literally or scientifically, but to teach us about the why of our existence.
Handout D: The Person and Society
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Cooperation allows us to mutually benefit and enrich each other through the sharing of
their own peculiar gifts and by that reciprocal interchange of goods” (Summi Pontificatus 43).
Allowing individuals and cultures to do what they do best encourages people to develop their
potential, and results in less waste of the earth’s resources.
3. Because we have immortal souls and were made for more than this world — we were made for
Heaven.
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Created in God’s Image
LESSON 2
Suggested age level: Ages 6–12
Learning Goals
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Human beings are made in God’s image and likeness.
Being made in God’s image and likeness gives human
beings a unique dignity as persons.
All people are equal in dignity, though they have
different talents and abilities.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 355–384
Key Questions
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How are human beings different from the other
animals?
Why do all human beings have equal dignity?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONE
God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
from GENESIS 1:27
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background
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Handout C: Different Talents,
Essay — Created in God’s Image
Equal Dignity
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Handout B: Creation of Adam by
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Handout D: Image of God
Michelangelo
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay — Created in God’s Image and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Lord, help us to see your face in every person we meet. Amen.
Warm-Up
A. Display the first image on Handout B: Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. It is quite blurry! Ask
your students if they can tell what the painting depicts. They may be able to identify colors and
shapes. Note: If not using a computer, you may print out the image and use wax or parchment
paper over the image to make it less clear.
B. Then show Version 2 of the painting, which is slightly clearer (or remove a piece of parchment).
Ask the students if they can see any other details in the painting. Finally, show Version 3 of the
painting, which is the actual image. Ask the students what they see now.
C. Explain that each person is created in the Image and Likeness of God. When we follow God’s
will and do good things, we come closer to being the person God created us to be. When we do
bad or sinful things things, we become like the blurry images we saw. We are still made in the
image and likeness of God, that never changes, but it is harder for people to see the image.
D. Distribute a laminated copy of Handout B and have students discuss the conversation questions
in pairs or trios. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go
in unexpected directions.
Activity
A. Distribute to each student Handout C: Differences Talents, Equal Dignity. Review the
directions with your students and give them a few minutes to complete the activity.
B. Ask for volunteers to share some of the characteristics they used to describe themselves,
keeping a list on the board.
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LESSON PLAN
C. Point out how we all have different interests and talents. For example, that means some of
us are naturally reserved, while some make friends easily. Some skills come easier to certain
people, while others have to work much harder. Some of us might get straight As easily, while
others struggle to get Cs. Some are athletic and graceful, others find it hard to catch a ball.
Some can fix cars, or build things with their hands, while others feel like they are all thumbs.
D. Then ask: Do these differences mean we are unequal? No.
E. Once you have finished, point out that while not everyone has the same characteristics, all
human beings share a common trait that makes them human and this cannot change.
F. Ask your students if they can think of what every human person has in common. Accept
reasoned answers, but do not give away the correct answer yet, which is human dignity.
G. Write the words dignity of the human person on the board. Define dignity as the common thing
about humans that makes us worthy of honor and respect. Explain that our dignity as human
beings can never be diminished, lost, or taken from us because it is rooted in the truth that we
are made the image and likeness of God.
H. Reinforce the point by asking the class to raise their hands if they think any of the following
things mean someone else has more dignity than others.
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If my family has a big house and fancy cars? (No)
If I always get good grades? (No)
If I am a king or queen? (No)
If I am healthy and strong? (No)
If I am better at sports than other people? (No)
I. Now ask the class to raise their hands if they think any of the following things can take away
someone’s dignity.
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If I fall down and people laugh at me? (No)
If my clothes are torn, or dirty? (No)
If I do not speak English, or if I speak with an accent? (No)
If I am not as healthy as other people? (No)
If I am much smaller than other people? (No)
If I have a different skin color or physical features that look different from other people? (No)
J. Finally, project Genesis Genesis 1:27–31 on the board. Explain that this describes the sixth day of
creation, and read it aloud:
“God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female
he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the
living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant
Created in God’s Image
15
LESSON PLAN
on all the earth and every tree that has seedbearing fruit on it to be your food; and to
all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the
earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened. God looked at everything
he had made and found it very good.”
K. Ask your students what stood out to them from the reading and why.
L. Then explain the following: The sixth day of creation is significant because it illustrates
to us why God made us in His Own likeness and image. Earlier, when we discussed the
many characteristics that describe us, we realized that there are many things that make
us different. However, what makes us the same cannot be changed. We have dignity that
cannot be taken away no matter what we do, or what happens to us in this life. Each person
is truly a reflection of who God is, a window through which we can, in a way, see God.
Wrap Up
A. Wrap up by explaining that God created each person with a body and a soul. We cannot see
our souls, but they are what allows us to live forever with God in Heaven. We each have a
mind that allows us to think and learn and a will that allows us to make choices. Each of us
has unique gifts to offer to our families, our friends, and communities.
B. Re-read aloud Genesis 1:26–31. Then, ask them the following questions:
ӹ
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When God created the world, He said that every created thing and creature was “good.”
When God created human beings, He said that they were “very good.” Why do you think
He added the word “very” when describing human beings? Human beings are the most
important part of creation. We have immortal souls and a reason and a will. By saying
human beings are “very” good, God is showing where we stand in relation to the rest of
creation.
What does the word dignity mean? Dignity means being worthy of honor and respect. We
have dignity because we are created in God’s Image and Likeness.
C. Distribute Handout D: Image of God. Have your students write a letter that responds to the
prompt. When they have finished, have students turn to a neighbor and take turns sharing
their letters. Then, call on a few students to read their letters aloud to the class.
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HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Made in God’s Image
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
Through history and even today, some
people think that some people are better or
worse than others because of their race. This
false idea comes from a misunderstanding of
who we are as human beings.
The Book of Genesis
Human beings are animals, but we are very
different from other animals. The Bible is one of
the ways we know this. Only human beings are
created in the image of God. An image is like a
reflection. We are created in God’s image, which
means we are made like God. “God created
mankind in his image; in the image of God he
created them.” (Genesis 1:27) We reflect God’s
goodness and love.
What do we have that the other animals do not?
We have a rational soul. This rational soul gives
us a mind so we can understand and reason, and
a will that allows us to choose. Some animals, like
dogs, can learn from training. But animals do not
understand what things are, and why they are
that way. Animals have instincts. But they cannot
choose to do things that go against their instincts.
Only humans have free will. We can choose to
act or not to act. We can make moral decisions,
such as choosing to tell the truth or to lie. Only
human beings have a conscience. We use our
consciences to judge our actions as good or evil.
Our Dignity as Persons
Our rational souls mean men and women are
persons. To be a person means we have dignity—
that is, an individual with special worth. Our
interests or abilities may be very different. Some
people are smarter, some people are faster
runners. Some people are stronger, some people
are funnier. Though there are many different
kinds of people, no one is more or less a person
because of their differences. The soul God gives
each of us is what gives us our dignity.
Reflection Questions
1. How are people different from animals?
2. What is a conscience?
3. How do we know all people are equal in dignity?
Created in God’s Image 17
HANDOUT B
Creation of Adam
BY MICHELANGELO (C. 1508–1512)
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: Creation of Adam by Michelangelo
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. What stands out to you about this painting?
2. Who are the figures in the painting? How do you know?
3. Which of the animals are created in God’s image, and what does that mean?
4. How does knowing you are created in the image of God change the way you view yourself and
others? If you know someone is created in God’s image, how must you treat him or her?
5. Does treating someone with dignity mean you have to agree with everything they say? Why or
why not?
Created in God’s Image 19
HANDOUT C
Different Talents, Equal Dignity
Directions:
List in each oval characteristics that describe you. Consider your personality traits,
favorite activities, and God-given talents.
Personality Traits Favorite Activities Talents
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HANDOUT D
Image of God
Directions:
Imagine that one of your friends has written the following letter to you. Write a
letter back to your friend to answer their question.
Dear (Your Name),
Yesterday I was hanging out with my cousins and one of them said something mean to me because I
couldn’t run very fast or kick the soccer ball very well. My aunt told him to apologize because that was
no way to treat someone made in the image of God. I didn’t really know what she meant. Can you help
me?
Sincerely,
Your Friend
Dear Friend,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Created in God’s Image 21
Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — Created in God’s Image
1. Humans have a rational soul; we have free will.
2. The faculty that enables us to judge actions as good or evil.
3. Because our dignity comes from the soul God gives each one of us.
Handout B: Creation of Adam by Michelangelo
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. God and Adam (with other figures, including perhaps Eve, in the background).
3. Only human beings. It means we have intellect (or reason), free will, and a capacity to love.
4. Accept reasoned answers. It means all human beings deserve honor and respect.
5. It does not. Treating our fellow human beings with honor and respect can in fact often mean
we are compelled to disagree with them–for example, when they are saying or doing something
sinful, we should speak the truth in charity.
Handout C: Different Talents, Equal Dignity
Accept all answers.
Handout D: Image of God
Letters should reference the fact that all people deserve respect because we are all made in God’s
image.
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Christianity and Identity
LESSON 3
Suggested age level: 14 and up
Learning Goals
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The Ancients saw themselves primarily as members of
tribes, cities, or nations. Christianity introduced a radical
innovation — a religion that transcended all of these.
The Gospel was essential to recognizing man’s
common brotherhood through the grace of Baptism.
The Gospel gave humanity a vision beyond their own
earthly city that encourages Christian to make race
and culture second to their citizenship in Christ.
In the Papal Bull Sublimus Dei, Pope Paul III attributed
to Satan the idea that the indigenous people of the
Americas were less than human, and forbade their
enslavement; the Spanish conquistadors and colonists
frequently ignored this decree.
The gradual abolition of slavery is one of the most
important fruits of Christian teaching.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 355–361
ӹ CCC 1929–1939
Key Questions
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How did Christianity affect the idea of identity in the
ancient world?
Why were Christian societies the only ones where
slavery was graudally abolished?
In what ways is Christianity truly universal?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONE
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there
is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
from GALATIANS 3:27–28
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background
Essay — Christianity and Identity
Handout B: The Tower of
Babel and Pentecost
Handout C: Sublimus Dei
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay — Christianity and Identity and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Veni Sancte Spiritus! — Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the
fire of your love! Amen.
Warm-Up
A. Display the images on Handout B: The Tower of Babel and Pentecost. Give students as much
time as possible to view the pair of paintings in silence.
B. If your students are unfamiliar with the two scriptural events these paintings represent, provide
a brief background. You may also wish to read aloud Genesis 11:1-9 and Act 2:1-13.
C. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
D. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
Activity
Have students work independently or in pairs to complete the activity on Handout C: Sublimus Dei.
When students have finished, review the answers as a class.
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LESSON PLAN
Wrap Up
Have students journal for a few minutes in response to the following prompt.
It is easy (and common) to judge the people of the past for failing to live up to Christian moral
standards. It requires humility to see that we ourselves repeatedly fail to live up to these standards!
The Ancients thought of slavery as a natural thing, or a fact of life. What are some unjust practices
you may be tempted to take as facts of life? For example: legal abortion, euthanasia, forced labor,
etc. To what extent should people in the future condemn you for your failure to eradicate these
evils? Explain.
Questions to prompt thinking:
A. How do you actively defend:
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The unborn?
Victims of state-imposed forced labor?
People working in sweatshops?
Victims of human trafficking?
The sick, frail, and other victims of euthanasia?
Poor, suffering refugees seeking help?
B. In what ways does our culture promote the false idea that some people are less than human?
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that unborn babies are not human?
that the sick and frail are less than human?
that people from other countries, especially those who are poor, uneducated, or with
customs that seem strange to us, are less than human?
that it would be better for a child to be aborted than to be born into a life of poverty?
Christianity and Identity
25
HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Christianity and Identity
The world into which Christ was born was
different from our time in many ways.
When learning about the past, it is important
to practice what is called “historical thinking.”
Historical thinking means we try to understand
the past in context, rather than imposing our
own assumptions or way of thinking.
Personal Identity in the Ancient World
Unjust discrimination based on race and
ethnicity was a feature of the ancient world,
and yet people of the time did not think of
race as central to identity the way some
people tend to do today. Citizenship was most
central to identity in ancient times — one was
a “Roman” or an “Athenian,” for example. Also,
for most societies, religion and ethnicity were
interchangeable. To be Roman or a Persian
meant not only having a language and culture,
but also specific forms of prayer and worship.
Another way the ancient world was different
from ours has to do with slavery. The ancient
world assumed that slavery was a natural thing.
The cultures of the Americas, Asia, Africa, and
Europe all had forms of enforced servitude.
Slaves were seen as necessary for social life,
doing all the burdensome labor. Slavery had
nothing to do with race but was usually the
result of conquest.
The Radical Innovation of Christianity
Christianity introduced a radical innovation — a
religion that transcended class and nations.
The Epistle to Diognetus, a 2nd or 3rd century
defense of Christianity, describes the faithful
A Roman senator and his slaves.
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as, “inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian
cities….and following the customs of the natives
in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of
their ordinary conduct, they display to us their
wonderful and confessedly striking method
of life. They dwell in their own countries, but
simply as sojourners. ...They pass their days
on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. (Phil.
3:20).
With the preaching of the Gospel came a
change, although it began in small ways that
developed slowly.
Christianity also recognized that all people
shared an equal dignity as creatures made in
the image of God. The early Christians might
have owned slaves or been enslaved, but the
Church did not discriminate based on social
condition. Slaves could marry, be ordained, and
be buried in the same cemetery as free people.
In its sacramental life, the Church planted a
seed by simply ignoring wordly distinctions
between slaves and slave owners.
The Church Fathers on Slavery
Christian philosophers directly confronted
slavery in their writings.
Church Father Lactantius explained in Divine
Institutes (c. A.D. 303) that there were no
natural slaves or slave owners in Christ: “God,
who produces and gives breath to men, willed
that all should be equal … He has promised
immortality to all; no one is cut off from His
heavenly benefits. … In His sight no one is a
slave, no one a master; for if all have the same
Father, by an equal right we are all children.”
St. Basil declared in On the Holy Spirit (c. A.D.
364) that slavery was unnatural: “Among men
no one is a slave by nature. For men are either
brought under a yoke of slavery by conquest,
as when prisoners are taken in war; or they
Madonna and Child fresco in a 14th century
Ethiopian monastery..
are enslaved on account of poverty, as the
Egyptians were oppressed by Pharaoh.”
St. Augustine saw slavery as part of our fallen
condition. He wrote in City of God (A.D. 426):
“we do not find the word ‘slave’ in any part of
Scripture until righteous Noah branded the
sin of his son with this name. It is a name,
therefore, introduced by sin and not by nature.”
The Brotherhood of the Baptized
Most important of all, through their Baptisms,
Christians became a new creation. St. Paul writes,
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
free person, there is not male and female; for you
are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).
Christians learned from Christ a new order — the
order of grace — which renewed men in the image
Christianity and Identity 27
of their Creator. In Baptism, we become the
adopted children of the Father, which makes all
the baptized into brothers and sisters.
In short, Christianity introduced the idea that
we should not regard each other only through
the lens of ethnicity, tribal membership, social
class, or participation in human institutions.
Our citizenship in Christ is above all.
The Miracle of Pentecost
Pentecost, when thousands were baptized on a
single day, is the great sign of this supernatural
reality. By allowing the divine mysteries to be
expressed in every tongue, God made Himself
known to every culture in its own way of
understanding. St. Gregory of Nazianzen taught
that the Holy Spirit at Pentecost overcame
the confusion of Babel: “One Spirit upon
many men...brings them again into harmony.”
(Oration 41, n.16). Pope Benedict XVI said in a
2012 homily, “Pentecost is the feast of union,
comprehension and human communion.”
It makes sense, then, that only in Christian
societies would slavery began to be modified
and eventually abolished. Pope Pius XI
observed that the early Church “potently
contributed to the abolition of slavery. Not
bloody revolution, but the inner force of her
teaching made the proud Roman matron
see in her slave a sister in Christ” (Divini
Redemptoris 36).
Vaux Passional, artist unknown (ca. 1503–04).
Despite the failures of individual Christians
throughout history and today, the Gospel
message that man has a unique dignity not
based on his social condition or nation has
been preserved through the centuries. Indeed,
the belief that all people are equal in dignity–an
idea many in the West take for granted today–
was not believed until the Gospel was preached,
and even today is not necessarily accepted
by non-Judeo-Christian cultures. Without
the loving Fatherhood of God, there is no real
brotherhood of man.
Reflection Questions
1. How did the early Christians respond to slavery?
2. Which is your favorite of the given quotes from the Church Fathers? Why?
3. In what ways did Christianity change previous conceptions of personal identity and citizenship?
4. To what extent can a focus on racial identity promote the common good? To what extent can it
harm the common good?
5. St. Gregory spoke of how, at Pentecost, the human race was once again brought into harmony.
Why do you think he spoke of harmony and not uniformity or sameness?
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HANDOUT B
The Tower of Babel
BY PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER (1563)
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HANDOUT B
Pentecost
BY DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA (1308)
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: The Tower of Babel and Pentecost
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below, and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. Read Genesis 11:1-9. What happened at the Tower of Babel? What sin was at the root of this
event? How did God respond, and what was the effect on the human race?
2. Read Acts 2:1-13. What special graces did Mary and the Apostles receive at Pentecost? What did
they do in response to this gift?
3. How did the Holy Spirit overcome the confusion resulting from the curse of the Tower of Babel?
What was the effect on the human race?
4. What did Peter say to the crowds? How does the Gospel message help us understand the
common brotherhood of man?
5. Pope Benedict XVI reflected on Pentecost in 2012: “Wherever people want to set themselves
up as God they cannot but set themselves against each other. Instead, wherever they place
themselves in the Lord’s truth they are open to the action of his Spirit who sustains and unites
them.” How does this idea apply to race and racism?
Christianity and Identity 31
HANDOUT C
Sublimus Dei
Directions:
Read Sublimus Dei, a papal bull issued by Pope Paul III in 1537. Note that in this
document the term “Indians” refers to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It
was not intended as a term of disrespect.
THE SUBLIME GOD so loved the human
race that He created man in such wise
that he might participate, not only in the good
that other creatures enjoy, but endowed him
with capacity to attain to the inaccessible
and invisible Supreme Good and behold it
face to face; and since man, according to the
testimony of the sacred scriptures, has been
created to enjoy eternal life and happiness,
which none may obtain save through faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary that
he should possess the nature and faculties
enabling him to receive that faith; and that
whoever is thus endowed should be capable of
receiving that same faith. Nor is it credible that
any one should possess so little understanding
as to desire the faith and yet be destitute of
the most necessary faculty to enable him to
receive it. Hence Christ, who is the Truth itself,
that has never failed and can never fail, said to
the preachers of the faith whom He chose for
that office ‘Go ye and teach all nations.’ He said
all, without exception, for all are capable of
receiving the doctrines of the faith.
The enemy of the human race, who opposes
all good deeds in order to bring men to
destruction, beholding and envying this,
invented a means never before heard of, by
which he might hinder the preaching of God’s
word of Salvation to the people: he inspired
his satellites who, to please him, have not
hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of
the West and the South, and other people of
Pope Paul III, by Titian (1545).
whom We have recent knowledge should be
treated as dumb brutes created for our service,
pretending that they are incapable of receiving
the Catholic Faith.
We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth
the power of our Lord and seek with all our
might to bring those sheep of His flock who
are outside into the fold committed to our
charge, consider, however, that the Indians
are truly men and that they are not only
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capable of understanding the Catholic Faith
but, according to our information, they desire
exceedingly to receive it. Desiring to provide
ample remedy for these evils, We define and
declare ... that, notwithstanding whatever may
have been or may be said to the contrary, the
said Indians and all other people who may later
be discovered by Christians, are by no means
to be deprived of their liberty or the possession
of their property, even though they be outside
the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may
and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their
liberty and the possession of their property;
nor should they be in any way enslaved; should
the contrary happen, it shall be null and have
no effect.
By virtue of Our apostolic authority We define
and declare by these present letters, or by any
translation thereof signed by any notary public
and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical
dignitary, which shall thus command the same
obedience as the originals, that the said Indians
and other peoples should be converted to the
faith of Jesus Christ by preaching the word of
God and by the example of good and holy living.
Discussion Questions
1. Who wrote this document? When was this document written? Who is the audience?
2. Why does Pope Paul III reference the Great Commission given by Christ to the Apostles at the
Ascension?
3. What has God given to all men that allows them to receive supernatural happiness?
4. To whom does he attribute the idea that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are incapable
of receiving the Gospel, or that they were created to serve Europeans?
5. On what basis does he argue that “the Indians are truly men”?
6. What actions does he forbid the colonizing powers from taking?
7. Spain adopted this papal bull as its official policy, yet the Spanish conquistadors and colonists
often ignored it. What should we make of that?
Christianity and Identity 33
Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — Christianity and Identity
1. They believed that all men were brothers, called to divine life in God through Baptism. The
Church did not discriminate between slave and free in sacramental life. Christian philosophers
argued against the idea that slavery was natural.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. Christianity introduced a radical innovation – a religion that transcended nations. It also
introduced the idea that all people had equal dignity as creatures made in the image of God.
The Gospel was essential to recognizing man’s common brotherhood, through the grace of
Baptism.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
5. Because individual Christians do not lose their identity in Christ; on the contrary they are freer
to become who God created them to be! Part of the beauty of the universal Church is unity
of our beliefs even amid the diversity of expressions of faith. Because Christianity transcends
nations and cultures, Christians are free to accept all true, good, and beautiful customs and
cultural practices.
Handout B: The Tower of Babel and Pentecost
1. The people, who at the time were all of one language, attempted to make a name for themselves
by building a tower to the sky. Pride was at the root. God confused their language and scattered
them all over the Earth.
2. They received the ability to speak in tongues. They were able to preach the Gospel to all people
in their own language.
3. The Apostles were able to share the Gospel message in ways that could be understood by all.
Thousands were baptized on Pentecost, and so made new creations and members of Christ.
4. To repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit we are all made
one brotherhood.
5. Accept reasoned answers. Guide students to the conclusion that we must be open to the Holy
Spirit who unites us in a brotherhood that transcends our earthly loyalties.
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Handout C: Sublimus Dei
1. Pope Paul III; 1537; the colonizing powers of Europe.
2. Christ commanded the Apostles to baptize and teach all nations. In other words, all people need
and are capable of receiving the Gospel message.
3. God endowed man with “the nature and faculties enabling him to receive that faith,” or capacity
to attain to the inaccessible and invisible Supreme Good and behold it face to face through
understanding (intellect) and desire (will). All people have mind and will. They may struggle with
ignorance in the mind, and bad habits in the will, but they are still human even so.
4. He attributes the idea that the Indians are incapable of receiving the Gospel and that they were
created to serve Europeans to the enemy of the human race, i.e. Satan.
5. The indigenous peoples are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith and desire
exceedingly to receive it. Being created in the image of God means having intellect and free will.
The Indians have these faculties of the soul–understanding (intellect) and desire (will).
6. The indigenous peoples are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of
their property. They may not be enslaved.
7. Accept reasoned answers, encouraging students to see that when people fail to follow the
Church’s teachings, it does not make the teaching itself less true. It shows that the demands of
Christian discipleship are challenging and we often fall short. We need to cooperate with God’s
grace to truly live as the Lord wants us to live, and we need his forgiveness when we fail.
Christianity and Identity 35
Notes
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Brothers and Sisters in Christ
LESSON 4
Suggested age level: Ages 10 and up
Learning Goals
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
People of the ancient world saw themselves first as
members of cities or nations. Christianity gave people a
religion that transcended such geographical identity.
The Gospel is essential to the recognition of humanity’s
common brotherhood through the grace of Baptism.
Before His Ascension, Jesus commanded the Apostles to
baptize and teach all nations.
Pentecost is a feast of union, comprehension, and
human communion
The gradual abolition of slavery is one of the most
important fruits of Christian teaching.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 355–361
ӹ CCC 1929–1939
Key Questions
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
How did Christianity affect the idea of identity in the
ancient world?
In what ways is Christianity truly universal?
Why are racism and Christianity incompatible?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONE
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there
is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
from GALATIANS 3:27–28
37
Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ
Handout A: Background
ӹ
Handout C: Pope Benedict’s
Essay — Christianity and Identity
Homily on Pentecost (omit for
ӹ
Handout B: The Ascension and
Pentecost
younger learners)
Bibles, blank paper, colored
pencils
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay — Christianity and Identity and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Veni Sancte Spiritus! — Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the
fire of your love! Amen.
Warm-Up
A. Display the first image on Handout B: The Ascension and Pentecost. Give students as much time
as possible to view the pair of paintings in silence.
B. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
C. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
Activity
A. Explain that the lessons from Pentecost help us respond to the sin of racism. We must be open
to the Holy Spirit who unites us in a brotherhood that transcends our earthly loyalties.
B. Distribute Handout C: Pope Benedict’s Homily on Pentecost to older students (omit for younger
learners) and read it aloud together. Invite students to make connections between the homily
and the class discussion from the Warm Up
C. Give students a piece of blank paper and colored pencils. Have them use their Bibles, Handouts
A-C, and all they have learned about Christianity to create a tri-fold pamphlet on why
Christianity is incompatible with racism. (They may do this independently or with a partner.)
Pamphlets should include:
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LESSON PLAN
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
At least one panel on Christian teaching on how man is made in the image of God
At least one panel on Baptism
At least one panel on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost
ӹ At least one panel using quotes or information from Handout C.
ӹ
At least one quote from Scripture
Wrap Up
Have students share their pamphlets with each other. Encourage them to tell each other one thing
they found excellent about each pamphlet, and one thing they might be able to improve.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ
39
HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Christianity and Identity
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
The world into which Christ was born was
different from our time in many ways.
Ancient people did not have the same concept
of what we today call “race.” People mostly
thought of themselves as citizens of their
city. For example, one was a “Roman” or an
“Athenian.”
Also, one’s ethnicity and religion were often
one in the same. Being Persian, for example,
meant having a language, a culture, and specific
forms of prayer and worship.
Another way the ancient world was different
from ours was the way it viewed slavery. The
ancient world thought of slavery as natural.
The cultures of the Americas, Asia, Africa, and
Europe all practiced it.
A Religion for All Nations
Christianity introduced the world to a brand
new idea – a religion for all nations. A Roman
could be a Christian. So could an Egyptian, or
an Ethiopian. Christianity was also for all social
classes. Enslaved people could receive the
Sacraments alongside free people.
This is because through Baptism, Christians
become one family. We become adopted
children of the Father, and the Church is our
mother. Since we have the same adoptive
Father, the baptized are brothers and sisters. St.
Paul wrote: “For all of you who were baptized
into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free person, there is not male and
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”
(Galatians 3:27-28).
A Roman senator and his slaves
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The Miracle of Pentecost
Before He ascended into Heaven, Chist told
the Apostles to baptize and teach all nations.
Ten days later at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit
descended upon them. The Holy Spirit gave
Apostles the ability to speak in different
languages and preach the Good News. All the
people gathered in Jerusalem could understand,
no matter where they were from or what
language they spoke. Thousands were baptized
and became brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, you can see why a Christian cannot treat
people differently based on race, or where they
are from. The Church has taught for 2000 years
that all people are made in God’s image. We
all have equal dignity. But without the loving
Fatherhood of God, fully revealed to us by Jesus
Christ, there is no real brotherhood of man.
Vaux Passional, artist unknown (ca. 1503–04).
Reflection Questions
1. How was Christianity a new kind of religion?
2. How do Christians become one family? (Hint: how do we become children of God?)
3. At Pentecost, why do you think God gave the Apostles the ability to speak in different
languages, rather than causing everyone to speak the same language?
4. Why would it be wrong to think that someone who is not baptized deserves less respect or
dignity?
Brothers and Sisters in Christ 41
HANDOUT B
The Ascension of Jesus Christ
Gold mosaic from Neamt Monastery, Romania
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HANDOUT B
Pentecost
BY DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA (1308)
© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 43
HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: The Ascension and Pentecost
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. Read Matthew 28:16-20. What did Jesus tell the Apostles to do? Did Jesus say that any groups of
people should not hear the Gospel message? Is anyone excluded from God’s saving love?
2. The Ascension icon has a clear top half and bottom half. How are they different? What do you
think each part might represent?
3. Read Acts 2:1-13. What special graces did Mary and the Apostles receive at Pentecost? What did
they do in response to this gift?
4. What did Peter say to the crowds? How does the Gospel message help us understand the
common brotherhood of man?
5. In the Pentecost icon, Mary sits at the center of the Apostles. Why do you think the artist chose
to place her there? What about the icon stands out to you? Why?
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HANDOUT C
Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily
on Pentecost, 2012
Directions:
Read Pope Benedict XVI’s homily. Use information or quotations from it on your trifold
pamphlet on why Christianity and racism are incompatible.
“I would like to reflect on an essential aspect of
the Mystery of Pentecost which has preserved
its full importance in our time. Pentecost is
the feast of union, comprehension and human
communion. ...
Can unity and harmony really exist?
How?
We find the answer in Sacred Scripture: unity
can only exist as a gift of God’s Spirit who will
give us a new heart and a new language, a
new ability to communicate. And this is what
happened at Pentecost. On that morning, 50
days after Easter, a mighty wind blew through
Jerusalem and the flame of the Holy Spirit came
down upon the disciples gathered together. It
settled on each one of them and kindled within
them the divine fire, a fire of love capable of
transforming them. Their fear evaporated,
they felt their hearts filled with new strength,
their tongues were loosened and they began
to speak freely in such a way that everyone
could understand the announcement that Jesus
Christ had died and was risen. At Pentecost,
where there had been division and alienation,
unity and understanding were born….
Behaving as Christians means no longer being
shut into our own ‘I’ but rather being open to
all things: it means inwardly welcoming the
whole Church within ourselves or, even better,
inwardly letting her receive us. ... thus the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of unity and of truth, may
Pope Benedict XVI, photo by Peter Nguyen. Image
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
continue to resonate in our human hearts and
minds and spur people to meet and to welcome
each other.
Precisely because the Spirit acts in this way, he
ushers us into the whole truth, which is Jesus,
and guides us to look at it more deeply and to
understand it. We do not grow in knowledge
by locking ourselves into own ego but only in
an attitude of profound inner humility do we
become capable of listening and sharing in the
‘we’ of the Church …. Wherever people place
themselves in the Lord’s truth they are open to
the action of his Spirit who sustains and unites
them.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ 45
Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — Christianity and Identity
1. Christianity was for all nations. People of all social classes were treated equally in the eyes of
the Church.
2. God the Father adopts us in Baptism; we become children of God, and brothers and sisters in
Christ.
3. Because neither individual Christians nor cultures lose their identity in Christ; on the contrary
they are freer to become who God created them to be! The role of the Church, which was born
at Pentecost, is to communicate the Good News to all peoples everywhere.
4. Because all people have equal dignity–all people are created in the image of God. Jesus told the
Apostles to make disciples of all nations, to baptize and teach all people. This is because God
loves all people and wants everyone to go to Heaven.
Handout B: The Ascension and Pentecost
1. To make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all that He had
commanded. No nation or people is excluded; all must be given the Gospel message.
2. The top shows us Heaven, and the bottom part shows us the Church on earth. The top half is
gold, showing Jesus with two angels, signifying the heavenly realm. On the bottom we see the
disciples of Christ, i.e. the Church.
3. The Apostles were able to share the Gospel message in ways that could be understood by all.
Thousands were baptized on Pentecost, and so made new creations and members of Christ.
4. To repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit we are all made
one brotherhood.
5. Accept reasoned answers. Students may say that Mary is the mother of all Christians, and so
her placement at the center of this event is fitting.
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Sin Is the Root of Racism
LESSON 5
Suggested age level: Ages 14 and up
Learning Goals
ӹ
Racism arises when a person holds that his or her
own race or ethnicity is superior, and therefore judges
persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior. When
this attitude leads people to exclude, ridicule, mistreat,
or unjustly discriminate against persons on the basis of
their race or ethnicity, it is sinful.
ӹ A racist outlook can lead one to dislike persons of other
races, to treat them unjustly, or even to believe that they
are less than human.
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1878
ӹ CCC 1934–5
ӹ CCC 2262
God gives each person unique gifts and talents, but all human beings have equal dignity,
because all are made in God’s image and likeness.
God’s plan includes all people; all of humanity is destined to come together as one before God
in Heaven.
Most often, racism arises from prejudiced feelings or ideas. It is important to examine and
confront these irrational feelings so as to identify and, with the help of God’s grace, overcome.
God calls on us to show everyone heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,
patience, and forgiveness.
Key Questions
ӹ
ӹ
What is racism?
Why is racism incompatible with the Gospel message?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
These also are Words of the Wise: To show
partiality in judgment is not good.
from PROVERBS 24:23
Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates
his brother, is still in the darkness.
from 1 JOHN 2:9
47
Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ
Handout A: A Human Family
ӹ
Handout D: The Baptism of the
ӹ
Handout B: The Golden Mean
Eunuch
ӹ
Handout C: Background
ӹ
Handout E: Words of Wisdom
Essay — What Is Racism?
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Lord, we ask you to open our hearts and fill it with the light of your love. Shine a light on any
prejudiced feelings, especially any we are hanging onto deliberately, and cleanse them from our
hearts. Help us overcome the hurts we have felt, and fill our hearts with your merciful love to
help us forgive as you do.
Warm-Up
A. Begin by putting students in pairs and having each discuss one or all of the questions on Handout
A: A Human Family.
B. After a few moments, have a large group discussion using the Answer Key as a guide.
C. Continue to explain that everything that God creates is good. Therefore all sin has the mis-use
or disordering of something good at its root. For example, food is good: it nourishes our bodies,
tastes pleasing, etc., while gluttony is the sin of excessive indulgence/preoccupation with food.
What other example of this principle can you think of with other sins? Allow reasoned discussion
D. If it has not come up already, transition to the sin of racism. It is not possible to know
everyone’s hearts, of course, but racism can arise for a number of reasons. Often, racism grows
out of a disordered or excessive affection for one’s own people. It turns into a prideful and even
wrathful attitude towards those we perceive as not like us. Racism can also come from fear or
a feeling of being threatened by another group. For example, historically Romanians distrusted
Hungarians because the latter frequently threatened the former. Racism can also arise
because we simply prefer what is familiar and common to our own experience. Sometimes, we
generalize to a group the bad actions of a few. This attitude dehumanizes other persons and, in
extremes, can lead to oppression on a wide scale and even genocide.
E. Distribute Handout B: The Golden Mean. Go over how Aristotle thought of virtue as a middle
ground “golden mean” between two extremes. One extreme represents excess, and the other
represents deficiency. For example, the virtue of courage is the mean between cowardice and
recklessness. An excess of courage is recklessness; a deficiency of courage is cowardice.
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LESSON PLAN
F. Have students share their responses, and then conclude that we can often understand sins of
racism as excesses or deficiencies of several virtues, including charity and justice. These virtues
give us a road map for addressing our sins and seeking forgiveness and healing.
Activity
A. Have students read Handout C: Background Essay — What Is Racism? independently, and read
over the discussion questions in Part I.
B. Then have them choose a partner and share their responses.
C. Finally, have pairs work on Part II of the worksheet which asks them to define in their own
words the following terms. When finished, call on groups to share their definitions. Ultimately,
direct students to an understanding which reflects the glossary definitions of each term.
D. Distribute Handout D: The Baptism of the Eunuch and have students discuss the conversation
questions in groups of four.
E. Guide students to the conclusion that Jesus’ Church is for all people; in Christ there is no
division, even though we have unique backgrounds and cultures. Indeed, the book of Revelation
describes a great multitude in Heaven, “from all tribes and peoples and languages,” standing
before the throne of God and praising Him (7:9-10). The Gospel message–which is what Phillip
proclaimed to the Ethiopian–is incompatible with racism because we are all equal in dignity,
and we are all created to live forever with God in Heaven.
Wrap Up
Have students read and reflect on Handout E: Words of Wisdom and finish it for homework.
Sin Is the Root of Racism
49
HANDOUT A
A Human Family
Directions:
Discuss the following questions with a partner.
1. Recently, many schools have made an
effort to include a greater diversity
of authors and stories for students to
read, with special efforts to choose
readings that reflect the students in
that school. For example, a school with
a large Vietnamese population may
take steps to ensure students read
books by Vietnamese authors and about
Vietnamese characters. Why do you
think they may do this?
2. Have you ever felt like you can make fun
of your kid brother, but if someone else
does, you feel the need to stick up for
him? Why do you think that is?
3. Have you ever visited a family who
seemed so close to each other that no
matter how much they welcomed you
and treated you like part of the group,
you still felt like an outsider? What was
so special about their relationship that
they couldn't share it with you?
4. When a family immigrates to the United
States, they bring cultural practices
from their old country: everything from
their foods and music to the way the
children and parents talk to each other.
Is it right for them to prefer their old
country's culture and try to maintain it
within their home? Why or why not?
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HANDOUT B
The Golden Mean
Directions:
Read the information and then complete the activities.
Aristotle thought of virtue as a middle ground or “golden mean” between two
extremes. One extreme represents excess, and the other represents deficiency. For example,
courage is the mean between cowardice and recklessness. (A deficiency of courage is cowardice;
an excess of courage is recklessness.)
Too little courage
Cowardice
Virtuous
Courage
Too much courage
Recklessness
Virtue Imbalance: Defiency and Excess
Numbers 1-4 below describe sinful beliefs and practices. For each one, fill in the blanks using the
answer bank, and describe how the vice is either a deficiency (not enough of something) or excess
(too much of something)
Answer Bank
ӹ Justice
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Charity towards all
Legitimate love for
one’s culture and
desire to preserve it
Special affection for
one’s own people
1. Objecting to the presence of people with different cultural
practices.
This example is an excess of _________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Explain how this is sinful: ____________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2. A belief that one’s own people are superior to others.
This example is an excess of _________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Explain how this is sinful: ____________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Sin Is the Root of Racism 51
3. Hatred of those of other races.
This example is a deficiency of _________________________________________________________________
Explain how this is sinful: _______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Refusing to work with or listen to someone because of their race.
This example is a deficiency of _________________________________________________________________
Explain how this is sinful: _______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reflection Question
How can understanding sin as an excess or deficiency of something good help you
counteract it in your life? In addition to charity and justice, what virtues can you ask God to
help you cultivate in order to properly respond to racism?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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HANDOUT C
Background Essay — What Is Racism?
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
Depending on your life experiences, you may
be acutely aware of your race, or you might
not even be sure what the term race means.
What is race?
What we call “race” today refers to the
classification of human beings with similar
observable physical traits such as skin color,
hair texture, facial features, eye shape, and
others. (The word race does not mean the same
thing as ethnicity. Ethnicity refers to a person’s
membership in a national tradition or group with
distinctive cultural and/or religious practices.)
What Is Racism?
Racism, in turn, is a belief that one’s own race
or ethnicity is superior. When this attitude
leads people to exclude, ridicule, mistreat, or
unjustly discriminate against persons on the
basis of their race or ethnicity, it is sinful. A
racist outlook can lead one to dislike persons of
other races, to treat them unjustly, or even to
believe that they are less than human.
Sadly, animosity towards those whom we
perceive as different from ourselves is about as
old as sin itself. From the earliest days of human
history we have been divided, losing sight of
the truth that we are all one human family.
Cultures and nations have conquered others
from time immemorial: Peoples as varied as the
Persians, Macedonians, Romans, and Vikings, to
the British, Russians, Ottomans, Mongols, and
Dutch, to name just a very few, have conquered
and colonized lands and deemed themselves
superior to the peoples they encountered.
Like all sin, racism has the mis-use or
disordering of something good at its root. God
created us to have a special love for our own
people. (Recall how Our Lady appeared to St.
Juan Diego as an indigenous woman, and the
people saw her as one of their own.) Racism
can be understood as a grave disordering of
this special love, to the point one considers
their own race superior. It turns into a prideful
and even wrathful attitude towards those we
perceive as not like us. Racism can also come
from fear or a feeling of being threatened by
another group. Sometimes, we generalize to a
group the bad actions of a few. Racism can also
arise because we simply prefer what is familiar
and common to our own experience.
Racism is a sin against the Fifth Commandment:
“In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls
the commandment, “You shall not kill,” and
adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred,
and vengeance. Going further, Christ asks his
disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their
enemies (2262). Racism dehumanizes other
persons and, in extreme situations, can lead to
oppression on a wide scale and even genocide.
The Equality of All Persons
All human beings have particular gifts and
talents. In this sense, some people could be
said to be superior piano players, superior
athletes, or“superior artists. But no talent can
make someone superior to any other person.
All human beings have equal dignity, because all
are made in God’s image and likeness. That is
where our dignity comes from–not our talents,
Sin Is the Root of Racism 53
our appearance, our ethnicity, or anything else.
God’s plan includes all people; all of humanity is
made for Heaven, and all are destined to come
together as one family before God in Heaven
(CCC 1878). The Book of Revelation describes a
great multitude in Heaven, “from all tribes and
peoples and languages,” standing before the
throne of God and praising Him. (7:9-10)
The Catholic Church teaches clearly, “every
form of social or cultural discrimination in
fundamental personal rights on the grounds
of sex, race, color, social conditions, language,
or religion must be curbed and eradicated as
incompatible with God’s design” (CCC 1935).
The United States Council of Catholic Bishops
explains that racism “rejects what God has done
by refusing to acknowledge the image of God
in the other” (Responding to the Sin of Racism).
Racism is a refusal to acknowledge the dignity
of another person; it is an attack on the very
dignity of God’s creation. In the pastoral letter,
Brothers and Sisters to Us, the USCCB explains,
“Racism is not merely one sin among many; it is
a radical evil that divides the human family.” It
is division such as this that the devil has sought
to sow in the human family from the very
beginning, to obscure and assault the image of
God in each one of us in any way he can.
Discrimination, Prejudice, and
Racism
It is important to distinguish between what is
and is not sinful. Discrimination itself is not
sinful — in fact, it is necessary and good when
done justly. To discriminate simply means to
choose from among various options: we choose
between healthy and unhealthy foods, between
good movies and bad movies, between virtuous
acts and bad acts, etc. We must choose wisely
our friends, a potential spouse, a potential
religious community, and so forth. We do and
should make judgments about actions — what
The Baptism of Queen Candace’s Eunuch
attributed to Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel
people do — but we must never pass judgment
about something a person cannot change
about himself — what a person is. So we should
never pass judgment against a person on the
basis of their race — something they cannot
change — but we can make a judgment about
what actions a person chooses.
But that said, discrimination can be unjust.
Unjust discrimination happens when we
choose on the basis of something unrelated
to the rightful basis for judging, especially
when we choose against someone on the
basis of something they cannot change, such
as their race (e.g. turning down a highlyqualified
job candidate just because she is
Asian, for example, or refusing to rent a house
to a responsible tenant because he is African
American, would both be examples of unjust
discrimination).
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The word prejudice is related to racism. It
comes from the Latin judicare, meaning “to
judge,” with the prefix pre- meaning “before.”
To be prejudiced is to prejudge someone or
something without reason. Pre-judging is
not necessarily a sin. For example, someone
who had tried French food a few times and
did not like it may turn down a new French
dish, deciding they wouldn’t like it without
even trying it. A child who burned her mouth
on pizza may refuse the offer of a slice later,
because she’s sure it will burn her. Both
of these prejudgments would be mistakes,
though not sinful ones. But when we prejudge
our fellow human beings based on their race
or ethnicity, we commit a grave sin. We act
unjustly towards them, failing to give them
the respect they are due as fellow persons
made in God’s image. We also should avoid
prejudice that occurs when we reduce a
person to their bad actions. We should guard
against forming biases against individuals for
their bad decisions. We are to reject sin but
love the sinner.
A Rightly-Ordered Soul
When we assume characteristics of others
based on their membership in a group, we are
participating in racial prejudice. In this way we
see how racism is a form of collectivism, because
it views people as members of groups instead
of as individuals. Prejudice is, by definition,
unreasonable, since it is based on judging
without reason. Most often, racism arises from
prejudiced feelings or ideas. It is important to
examine these feelings so as to identify and,
with the help of God’s grace, overcome them,
rather than letting them have power over us.
Remember that in a rightly-ordered soul, our
intellect directs our choices, not our feelings.
Our feelings are morally neutral; they are
neither good nor bad. We sin when we dwell
on irrational, prejudiced feelings, or allow them
to direct our wills — that is, to influence our
freely-chosen thoughts and actions. We can ask
the Holy Spirit to shine a light on any prejudice
in our hearts, and help us avoid falling into the
sin of racism. If we have been hurt by racism we
can ask the Holy Spirit to help us forgive.
Part I: Discussion Questions
1. The Book of Revelation describes a great multitude in Heaven, “from all tribes and peoples
and languages,” standing before the throne of God and praising Him. (7:9-10). How does this
Scripture show us that Christians are united even amid our ethnicities, languages, cultures, etc?
2. Discrimination is the act of choosing from among options. It can be just or unjust. An example
of just discrimination would be a sports team holding try-outs to find the most highly-skilled
players, or a state issuing driver’s licenses only to people who pass a road test. Give another
example of discrimination that is just.
3. Unjust discrimination occurs when we choose on the basis of something other than the rightful
basis for that choice. For example, an employer refuses to hire a qualified applicant with
excellent references because of her race. Give another example of discrimination that is unjust.
4. Why is prejudice unreasonable?
5. “[E]ach one of us is called to be an artisan of peace by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing
hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths of dialogue.” — Fratelli Tutti.
What four things does Pope Francis call on each of us to do in this quote? How can you put this
call into practice in your own life?
Sin Is the Root of Racism 55
Part II: Discussion
Define each term with your partner
1. Race
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Ethnicity
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Discrimination
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Unjust discrimination
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Prejudice
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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HANDOUT D
The Baptism of the Eunuch
BY REMBRANDT (c.1626)
© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 57
HANDOUT D
Sacred Art: The Baptism of the Eunuch
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. What is the first thing you notice about this painting?
2. What is your favorite part?
3. Read Acts 8:26-40. How does this painting help you understand the Scripture?
4. We read that Phillip proclaimed Jesus to the Ethopian. What do you think he said?
5. Why is racism completely incompatible with the Gospel message?
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HANDOUT E
Words of Wisdom
Directions:
Read the following Scripture quotes and put then in your own words. Then reflect on
them in prayer. What chances do you have each day to judge justly? What chances
do you have to forgive? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. After some time in prayer,
write a brief reflection.
Leviticus 19:15
You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor
deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Proverbs 24:23
These also are Words of the Wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
John 7:24
Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Colossians 3:12-13
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a
grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 John 2:9
Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sin Is the Root of Racism 59
Answer Key
Handout A: A Human Family
Accept reasoned answers for all. Guide students to the conclusion that it is good and part of God’s
design that we have a special bond with our own families, and a special fondness for our own
cultural traditions.
Handout B: The Golden Mean
Note that answers may vary; the below are suggested responses.
1. An excess of legitimate love for one’s culture and a desire to preserve it. It is good to hold a
special place in our hearts for our culture and want to see it continue, but this love becomes
excessive if it moves us to object to the mere presence of other people who have different
cultural practices.
2. An excess of special affection towards one’s own people. Our fidelity to our own kin becomes
excessive if we start believing ourselves superior to others, as all people have equal dignity as
persons made in the image of God.
3. A deficiency of charity towards all. We lack charity in our hearts if we hate people of other races.
4. A deficiency of justice. We owe respect to everyone we encounter. Refusing to work with or
listen to someone because of their race is an injustice.
Reflection Question: This understanding reminds us that everything God creates is good, and
that we should despise sin but never the sinner. Racism can manifest itself in different ways, and
different virtues can help our response to it. We can ask God to help us cultivate temperance, to
help moderate our response; generosity, to help us overcome any feelings of selfishness or greed,
humility to help us counteract pride, and so forth.
Handout C: Background Essay — What Is Racism?
Part I
1. We read in the Bible how all people come together as one, without division, to worship God,
even as our own cultures and languages are preserves. He created us all as one human family
and these differences need not divide us today.
2. Suggested responses include choosing a potential spouse on the basis of shared values; an
employer choosing an employee on the basis of their experience; choosing a teammate based
on their skill in the sport; accept additional reasoned answers.
3. Suggested responses include a friend group at school refusing to talk to a new student because of
her ethnicity; a student refusing to obey a teacher because of her race; a landlord refusing to rent
to a tenant with excellent references because of their race; accept additional reasoned answers.
4. Prejudice is unreasonable because it is a judgment based on assumptions and not on anything
that arises from a reasoned conclusion; it is literally irrational.
5. He calls us to be an artisan of peace, to unite and not divide, extinguish hatred rather than
persisting in it, and to talk freely with those with whom we might experience a conflict. Accept
reasoned answers.
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Part II
1. Race: the classification of human beings with similar observable physical traits such as skin
color, hair texture, facial features, eye shape, and others.
2. Ethnicity: a person’s membership in a national tradition or group with distinctive cultural and/
or religious practices.
3. Discrimination: Choosing from among various options.
4. Unjust discrimination: Choosing on the basis of something unrelated to the rightful basis for
judging, especially when we choose against someone on the basis of something they cannot
change, such as their race.
5. Prejudice: Prejudging someone without reason.
Handout D: The Baptism of the Eunuch
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. This painting depicts the moment of the Baptism of the Eunuch.
4. Responses should include the reality that God loved humanity so much that he gave His Son,
Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us; he rose from the dead and offers eternal life to those who
believe in Him and follow Him.
5. The Church is for all people. We are all equal in dignity, and we are all created to live forever
with God in Heaven. Jesus suffered and died for all humanity. Hatred of others divides God’s
family, who desires all to find salvation in Christ.
Handout E: Words of Wisdom
Leviticus 19:15—be honest when you judge, do not give preference to someone because they are
weak, or because they are strong. Judge with justice.
Proverbs 14:23—it is wrong to show favoritism or bias when judging.
John 7:24—it is unjust to judge based on how things or people look
Colossians 3:12-13—Christians should practice the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and patience, being patient with each other’s failings and shortcomings, forgiving each
other as God has forgiven us.
1 John 2:9—anyone who claims to be a Christian but who hates another person is not truly a
Christian.
Reflection: Accept reasoned answers.
Sin Is the Root of Racism 61
Notes
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Sin Is the Root of Racism
LESSON 6
Suggested age level: Ages 10 and up
Learning Goals
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Racism is a belief that our own race or ethnicity
makes us better than others.
A racist outlook can lead us to dislike persons
of other races, to treat them unjustly, or even to
believe that they are less than human.
God gives each person unique gifts and talents, but
all human beings have equal dignity, because all are
made in God’s image and likeness.
Racism most often arises from prejudiced feelings
or ideas.
God calls on us to show heartfelt compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and
forgiveness to everyone.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1935
ӹ CCC 2262
Key Questions
ӹ
ӹ
What is racism?
Why is racism incompatible with the Gospel
message?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
These also are Words of the Wise: To show
partiality in judgment is not good.
from PROVERBS 24:23
Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates
his brother, is still in the darkness.
from 1 JOHN 2:9
63
Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ
Handout A: Background
ӹ
Handout B: The Baptism of the
Essay — What Is Racism?
Eunuch
ӹ
Handout C: Words of Wisdom
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay — What Is Racism? and answer the Part I
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Lord, You made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth.
Open our hearts and fill them with the light of your love, help us to love our neighbors from
every nation.
Warm-Up
A. Display the image on Handout B: The Baptism of the Eunuch by Rembrandt. Give students as
much time as possible to view the painting in silence.
B. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have each group discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
C. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
D. After a few moments, guide students to the conclusion that Jesus’ Church is meant for all
people. Explain that in Christ there is no division, even though we as members of His Church
have unique backgrounds and cultures. Indeed, the book of Revelation describes a great
multitude in Heaven, “from all tribes and peoples and languages,” standing before the throne
of God and praising Him. (7:9-10) The Gospel message — which is what Phillip proclaimed to
the Ethiopian — is incompatible with racism because we are all equal in dignity, and we are all
created to live forever with God in Heaven.
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LESSON PLAN
Activity
A. Have students skim over their homework reading, Handout A: Background Essay — What Is
Racism?
B. Then have them choose a partner and share their responses that they wrote for homework.
C. Finally, have student pairs work on Part II of the worksheet which asks them to define in their
own words the following terms. You may also give them access to the glossary to aid them in
this part of the assignment.
a. Race
b. Ethnicity
c. Racism
d. Human Dignity
D. Call on groups to share their definitions. Ultimately, direct students to an understanding which
reflects the glossary definitions of each term.
Wrap Up
A. Distribute Handout C: Words of Wisdom and read aloud the Scripture verses one at a time.
Spend some time in silence, having students meditate on each verse.
B. Have students read and reflect on Handout C and finish it for homework.
Sin Is the Root of Racism
65
HANDOUT A
Background Essay — What Is Racism?
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
You may be very aware of “race,” or you
might be unsure what the term means.
What is race?
What we call “race” refers to putting human
beings in categories based on similar physical
traits we can see (such as skin color, hair
texture, and others). The word race is similar
to but not exactly the same thing as ethnicity.
Your ethnicity is your national, cultural, or
religious background.
What Is Racism?
Racism, in turn, is a belief that our own race
or ethnicity makes us better than others. A
racist outlook can lead one to dislike persons
of other races, to treat them unjustly, or even
to believe that they are less than human. This
sinful attitude can lead to sinful acts. Racism,
a form of hatred, is a sin against the Fifth
Commandment (2262).
The Baptism of Queen Candace’s Eunuch
attributed to Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel
The Equality of All Persons
God gives every person special gifts and talents.
In this sense, some people could be said to be
“superior piano players,” “superior athletes,” or
“superior artists.” But this does not make them
unequal in the sight of God. All human beings
have equal dignity, because all are made in God’s
image and likeness. That is where our human
dignity comes from, and not from our talents,
our appearance, our ethnicity, or anything
else. God created all people to share eternal
life with Him in Heaven. The book of Revelation
describes a great multitude in Heaven, “from
all tribes and peoples and languages,” standing
before the throne of God and praising Him.
(7:9-10) God’s plan includes all people; all of
humanity is called to come together as one
before God in Heaven (CCC 1878).
The Catechism states very clearly that “every
form of social or cultural discrimination in
fundamental personal rights on the grounds of
sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or
religion” must end, because it is against God’s
design (1935). The United States Council of
Catholic Bishops echoes this teaching, saying
that racism “rejects what God has done by
refusing to acknowledge the image of God in
the other” (Responding to the Sin of Racism).
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Part I: Discussion Questions
1. The book of Revelation describes a great multitude in Heaven, “from all tribes and peoples
and languages,” standing before the throne of God and praising Him. (7:9-10). How does this
Scripture show us that Christians are united even though we have different ethnicities,
languages, cultures, etc?
2. What does the Catholic Church teach about racism?
3. “[E]ach one of us is called to be an artisan of peace by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing
hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths of dialogue.” — Fratelli Tutti.
What four things does Pope Francis call on each of us to do in this quote? How can you answer
this call in your own life?
Part II: Discussion
Define each term with your partner
1. Race
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Ethnicity
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Racism
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Human Dignity
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sin Is the Root of Racism 67
HANDOUT B
The Baptism of the Eunuch
BY REMBRANDT (c.1626)
68
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: The Baptism of the Eunuch
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. What is the first thing you notice about this painting?
2. What is your favorite part?
3. Read Acts 8:26-40. How does this painting help you understand the Scripture?
4. We read that Phillip proclaimed Jesus to the Ethopian. What do you think he said?
5. God made each of us in His own special way. It is good that there are differences between us.
Why is racism completely incompatible with the Gospel message?
Sin Is the Root of Racism 69
HANDOUT C
Words of Wisdom
Directions:
Read the following Scripture quotes and put them in your own words. Then reflect
on them in prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. After some time in prayer, write
a brief reflection.
Proverbs 24:23
These also are Words of the Wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Acts 17:26a
He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 John 2:9
Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reflection Questions
Which verse stood out to you most? How can you apply it to your own life? After some time
in prayer, write a brief reflection:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — What Is Racism?
Part I
1. We read in the Bible how all people come together as one, without division, to worship God,
even as our own cultures and languages are preserves. He created us all as one human family
and these differences need not divide us today.
2. The Church teaches that racism is a sin. The Catechism states that “every form of social or
cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social
conditions, language, or religion” must end, because it is against God’s design (1935).
3. He calls us to be an artisan of peace, to unite and not divide, extinguish hatred rather than
persisting in it, and to talk freely with those with whom we might experience a conflict. Accept
reasoned answers.
Part II
Race: putting human beings in categories based on similar physical traits we can see (such as skin
color, hair texture, and others).
Ethnicity: one’s national, cultural, or religious background.
Racism: A belief that our own race or ethnicity makes us better than others.
Human dignity: (Note that students will need to infer the definition from the essay if they do not
have access to the glossary.) Responses should recognize that our dignity is the quality of being
worthy of honor and respect because we are persons made in the image of God.
Handout B: The Baptism of the Eunuch
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. This painting depicts the moment of the Baptism of the Eunuch.
4. Responses should include the reality that God loved humanity so much that he gave His Son,
Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us; he rose from the dead and offers eternal life to those who
believe in Him and follow Him.
5. Because Jesus suffered and died for all humanity. Hatred of others divides God’s family, who
desires all to find salvation in Christ.
Handout C: Words of Wisdom
Proverbs 14:23—it is wrong to show favoritism or bias when judging.
Acts 17:26a—we are all one human race, or one human family made by God to live together on the earth.
1 John 2:9—anyone who claims to be a Christian but who hates another person is not truly a Christian.
Reflection: Accept reasoned answers.
Sin Is the Root of Racism 71
Notes
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Institutional Racism and Social Sin
LESSON 7
Suggested age level: Ages 14 and up
Learning Goals
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
U.S. history bears the scars of institionalized chattel
slavery and “separate but equal” accomodations
(which were in no way equal) for blacks and for
whites.
What the Church calls “structures of sin” are always
rooted in personal sins.
Laws and court rulings can never change individuals’
hearts.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1869
Key Questions
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
What are some ways that racism has affected the
course of U.S. history?
Why is it important to avoid thinking of sin only as
collective or systemic?
What is the difference between equality and equity?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your
eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the
splinter from your brother’s eye.
from MATTHEW 7:5
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which
no one could count, from every nation, race,
people, and tongue.
from REVELATION 7:9
73
Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ
Introductory Essay: A
ӹ
Handout C: Background
Catholic Response to the
Essay–Institutional Racism and
Sin of Racism (optional)
Social Sin in U.S. History
ӹ
Handout A: Reflection Activity
ӹ
Handout D: A Structure
on Social Sin (optional)
of Sin in the U.S.
ӹ
Handout B: Moses, after
ӹ
Handout E: Equality and Equity
Michelangelo, by Mary
Edmonia Lewis
Note: This lesson offers materials for three 50-minute class periods.
Note: This lesson assumes students already have an understanding of what the Church calls
“structures of sin.” If students need additional background information on this topic, we suggest
sharing with them the Introductory Essay, The Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism on page v, and
especially the sections on structures of sin. An optional Day I activity is provided in this lesson for this
reading.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Out of the depths I call to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my cry!
May your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, keep account of sins,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness
and so you are revered.
—PSALMS 130:1-4
DAY ONE (OPTIONAL)
Activity
A. As noted above, this lesson assumes students already have an understanding of what the
Church calls “structures of sin.” If students need additional background information on this
topic, we suggest sharing with them the Introductory Essay, A Catholic Response to the Sin of
Racism on page v, and especially the sections on structures of sin.
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LESSON PLAN
B. After students have read the essay, go over the following points:
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
The term “social sin” does not mean that a society is a morally responsible being. Sin
is always a personal act. However, we are responsible for the sins of others when we
cooperate with them. If enough people collude to commit the same sin, that sin — and its
effects on society — becomes more difficult to eradicate. Personal sin, therefore, can assume
a corporate reality when people collectively commit themselves to destructive patterns of
moral behavior.
While social sin may reduce personal moral culpability, one always has an obligation to
embrace continued personal conversion and work to remedy that which is causing social sin.
The problem of evil will always exist on this earth. Utopianism and defeatism are two false
ideologies that can actually make the structure of sin worse.
The virtue of hope allows us to unite our sufferings to those of Christ as we wait for His
Second Coming.
C. Have students answer the questions on Handout A: Reflection Activity on Social Sin.
DAY TWO
Warm-up
A. Display the image on Handout B: Moses, after Michelangelo, by Mary Edmonia Lewis. Give
students as much time as possible to view the image of the sculpture in silence.
B. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
C. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
Activity
A. Put students into groups and have each group focus on one section of the Handout C:
Background Essay — Institutional Racism and Social Sin in U.S. History. Have them create an
outline of their section and compose a summary statement for it. Subdivide groups if needed,
but be sure the following sections are covered:
1. U.S. History through the Civil War
2. Reconstruction
3. The Ku Klux Klan
4. The Civil Rights Movement
5. Current Challenges
6. Conversion to Christ
Institutional Racism and Social Sin
75
LESSON PLAN
B. Call on groups to share their summary statements and outlines. As you debrief, invite
students to share their responses to the reflection questions.
Note: Emphasize that this essay is a brief summary and does not, of course, contain an
exhaustive treatment of its subject.
C. Encourage students to brainstorm people or events not mentioned in the essay who have
contributed to the U.S.’ journey to live up to its ideals. For example: Benjamin Franklin, the
Grimke Sisters, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. DuBois, Rosa
Parks, and countless others. (Some of these individuals’ contributions will be explored in the
next lesson.)
Wrap-Up
A. Close with with a brief Lectio Divina from Revelation 7:9-12:
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation,
race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white
robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God,
and exclaimed:
“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
B. Give your students a moment to reflect on a word or sentence that stood out to them from
the Scripture reading. Encourage them to respond to God in prayer.
DAY THREE
Note: This lesson discusses the current legal hurdles to property ownership experienced by Native
American people living on reservations. Please preview the materials and take care to present
them sensitively, especially if you have students in class of Native American descent. Encourage
students who wish to do so to write letters to their federal representatives and/or take other
appropriate action to work for the greater protection of the rights of those living on reservations.
A. Ask your students to take out a sheet of paper and a pencil, and let them know they will
all be doing a drawing with you instructing them on what to draw. But then announce that
some members of the class must keep their eyes closed and the others can leave their eyes
open. Choose the students to have their eyes closed based on some arbitrary, and ideally
unchangeable quality, e.g. anyone born before June 1, anyone with more than 1 sibling, etc.
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LESSON PLAN
B. Tell them all to draw an image, going step by step, e.g.
1. Draw a basic house.
2. Add a roof.
3. Now add a door in the middle.
4. Add a window on the right.
5. Draw a tree to the left of the house, and the sun about six inches above the house, etc.
C. Tell the students to open their eyes and see their work. If this drawing were a graded
assignment, would it be fair? Why not?
D. Debrief on what just happened by pointing out:
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Half the class was prevented from using their God-given faculties to succeed.
If you looked only at the results, what would you conclude about the half of the class
that was forced to have their eyes closed? Would you judge them as less skilled?
What if the quality of drawings was what was used to choose between candidates for
college admissions, jobs, loans, etc.?
E. Ask the class if they know which ethnic group in the U.S. experiences the highest level of
poverty, along with the highest rates of drug abuse, alcohol-related deaths, infant mortality,
and child abuse, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. department of justice?
Native Americans.
F. Explain that complex issues almost never have a single cause, but that one reason for
this disparity is due to what may be a structure of sin in the U.S. involving the legal rights
afforded to Native Americans who are living on reservations.
1. The Church teaches that Seventh Commandment calls us to respect the rights to private
property and to economic initiative (CCC 2403, 2429). But the Federal Government holds
Indian reservation lands “in trust”.
2. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1831 decision in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) that
Indian tribes were “domestic dependent nations” and that they were effectively in
need of protection by the U.S. -- their relationship to the U.S. was “that of a ward to his
guardian.”
3. Currently, three quarters of the over 50 million acres of land under the jurisdiction of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs is in tribal trust, 20 percent in individual trust, and only 5
percent is privately owned.
G. Here, pause for a moment and invite students to think about all the other abilities that come
with land ownership. How does inability to own land handicap a citizen? How might this be
an example of a structure of the sin of racism? We all have a duty to uphold the common good
through the fulfillment of our personal responsibilities (CCC 1914), Native Americans living
on reservations are facing legal hurdles to be able to take responsibility for their own lives
Institutional Racism and Social Sin
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LESSON PLAN
and their families to the degree all other Americans can because they cannot use their land as
collateral for business loans, and are thereby handicapped at entrepreneurial efforts. Under
current law, they are unable to develop their lands (which, you may wish to point out, contain
billions of dollars worth of coal, uranium, oil, and gas reserves!)
H. Explain that while ethnic hatred has pervaded world history, the particular type which we
experience today is thought to be the outgrowth of colonization and the slave trade; when
Europeans encountered people whose societies were less developed, they asserted that this
made them inferior or less than human. The U.S.’s treatment of Native Americans includes
a great many shameful periods; we see very unequal treatment of Native Americans and
Americans of other races–how is this similar to the drawing activity we did? Have students
respond to this question on Handout D: A Structures of Sin in the U.S.
I. Conclude by explaining that it is an injustice anytime individuals are prevented from
exercising their natural rights to fulfill their moral responsibilities. When this happens
systematically, the injustice is multiplied.
Wrap-Up
A. Transition to a discussion of how there is a popular movement today to shift from seeking
equality to seeking “equity.” Bishop Robert Barron described in 2021 what he termed “wokeism,”
whose adherents “push toward equity of outcome throughout the society, rather than
equality of opportunity.” Whereas civil rights movements in the U.S. historically emphasized
the need for equality under the law and equal opportunity, some popular dialogue has been
trending towards seeking equal outcomes (or “equity”). This is a significant difference that
should be examined. Bishop Barron continued: “I fear that a lot of Catholics, legitimately
concerned about societal injustice and eager to do something about it, will turn, not to our
biblically based and deeply wise social teaching tradition, but rather to the philosophy that’s
currently in the air.”
B. Have the class complete Handout E: Equality and Equity. Students will conclude that they
are unique individuals; even though they have the same genetics and environment, they
are not exactly the same as their siblings: they have different interests, differing levels of
success at different things, and so forth. Then discuss the following questions.
1. If we can’t expect equal outcomes, or “equity” among people of the same “nature” and
“nurture,” how reasonable is it to expect these things to be equal across all of society?
2. When we observe disparities today in rates of educational attainment, employment,
home ownership and other measures of worldly success along racial lines, it is a
genuine cause of concern. Should we always assume that racism is the sole cause of the
disparity?
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LESSON PLAN
3. Is the idea that varying outcomes across racial groups may be the result of factors other
than racism the same as saying racism doesn’t exist? Explain.
4. Does the reality that we are all unique individuals with different interests, talents,
challenges, and struggles mean that it is ever okay to discriminate against anyone on the
basis of race?
5. We live in a society with economic mobility, that is, a society where one’s own efforts
and decision-making can result in gaining or losing wealth. Why will any such society
necessarily result in unequal outcomes?
6. There is a movement today to stop talking about equality and instead about equity–
towards seeking equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity. What must be
suppressed in order to achieve equity? Is this a trade-off we should make?
7. What are some possible explanations for the statistics about Nigerian immigrants?
Enrichment Options
A. Have students research the roots in the U.S. of gun control, Planned Parenthood, college
admissions, and/or the call for a minimum wage. Why and how were these first established?
To what extent were they rooted in the social sin of racism? To what extent, if any, might
they remain so?
Institutional Racism and Social Sin
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HANDOUT A
Reflection Activity on Social Sin
Directions:
Read the excerpt from Pope St. John Paul II’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Reconciliatio et Paenitentia and answer the questions.
There can be no union among people without
an internal change in each individual.
Personal conversion is the necessary path to
harmony between individuals. When the church
proclaims the good news of reconciliation or
proposes achieving it through the sacraments,
she is exercising a truly prophetic role,
condemning the evils of man in their infected
source, showing the root of divisions and
bringing hope in the possibility of overcoming
tensions and conflict and reaching brotherhood,
concord and peace at all levels and in all
sections of human society. She is changing a
historical condition of hatred and violence into
a civilization of love. She is offering to everyone
the evangelical and sacramental principle of that
reconciliation at the source, from which comes
every other gesture or act of reconciliation, also
at the social level….
At the heart of every situation of sin are always
to be found sinful people. So true is this that
even when such a situation can be changed in
its structural and institutional aspects by the
force of law or-as unfortunately more often
happens by the law of force, the change in fact
proves to be incomplete, of short duration
and ultimately vain and ineffective-not to say
counterproductive if the people directly or
indirectly responsible for that situation are not
converted.
Christ Healing the Blind, El Greco.
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Reflection Questions
1. On what does Pope St. John Paul II say that harmony among people depends?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does the Church offer the world in the struggle to overcome conflict?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is at the heart of every structure of sin?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What does the pope observe about changes achieved by force (either of law or other means)?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Reflect on American society today. How often do we think the key to addressing issues is
through legislation? Some want to fix the problem of violence by advocating for gun control
laws instead of exploring the structures of our society that perpetuate brokenness, aggression
and disregard for human life. Some want to solve immigration by having either closed or
open borders, without addressing the exploitation of the human person within and without
our borders. But the truth is that laws and regulations are not enough to solve long-standing
cultural problems. Laws will not change hearts. What other examples of this truth can you give?
What more is needed?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 81
HANDOUT B
Moses, after Michelangelo
BY MARY EDMONIA LEWIS (1875)
Marble, 68.0 x 29.2 x 34.6 cm., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: Moses, after Michelangelo
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below, and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. Look at the image of the sculpture. What words come to mind when you look at it? What
questions does it raise in your mind?
2. The figure is Moses. What are some clues as to his identity?
3. Moses is holding the two tablets of the law in his left hand. What does his attitude seem to be
towards the tablets?
4. What are some events or themes from salvation history that you associate with Moses?
5. In Exodus 20:2, we read how God spoke: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” What is the literal meaning of these words in the
context of the Exodus? How does Jesus Christ complete and perfect this deliverance?
6. The artist who created this piece is Mary Edmonia Lewis,
an American sculptor whose father was African American
and mother was Chippewa Indian. The Smithsonian
Art Museum describes Lewis’s Moses sculpture: “Lewis
copied Moses after a sculpture Michelangelo completed
around 1515 for the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter’s
Basilica. The subject of Moses, who led the Israelites out
of oppression, may have especially appealed to Lewis as
a powerful reference to the universal pursuit of freedom,
a theme she depicted in several sculptures.” Why might
the story of Moses have appealed to an African American
in the 19th century? Should we assume that artwork
created by an African American artist will always contain
African American themes? Explain your reasoning.
7. The Michelangelo sculpture Lewis based her sculpture
on is in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. How would you
compare and contrast the two sculptures?
Moses by Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Tomb (1505-1545) for Pope Julius II
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 83
HANDOUT C
Background Essay — Institutional Racism
and Social Sin in U.S. History
Directions:
Directions.
Our sins never affect only ourselves. Pope
St. John Paul II wrote in Reconciliatio et
Paenitentia, “There is no sin, not even the
most intimate and secret one, the most strictly
individual one, that exclusively concerns the
person committing it. With greater or lesser
violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin
has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body
and the whole human family.”
Repeated sinful behaviors by many establish a
pattern within our communities. Over time this
pattern begins to affect the way we think and
behave as a society. The Church refers to this
phenomenon as social sin.
U.S. History through the Civil War
Racism is one sin which established a pattern
in the U.S., which for many generations helped
shape the culture throughout the country.
Our history bears the scars of chattel slavery,
Indian Removal, and “separate but equal”
accomodations (which were in no way equal in
most instances) for blacks and for whites. This
essay cannot provide a full history on slavery
in the U.S. but some basic facts will help our
understanding.
Slavery was legal in England and therefore
in the 13 colonies. By 1804 slavery had been
abolished in all Northern states, though
enslaved children would remain indentured for
decades in some states.
It remained legal in the South and became a
wedge issue as a Constitution was written and
ratified, and as new states entered the Union.
The 3/5th compromise in the Constitution
allowed slave states to count 3/5ths of their
enslaved populations towards representation in
Congress. While a grievous compromise to be
sure, it denied the full power that slave states
were initially demanding in Congress.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the
Indian Removal Act, which forced the relocation
of Southern American Indian tribes from their
ancestral lands to west of the Mississippi.
Thousands died on what became known as the
Trail of Tears.
One of the most notorious cases in U.S. history
is Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857). In this case
the Supreme Court ruled that an enslaved
person did not become free upon entering a
free state, because people whose ancestors
were “of the African race” were not considered
citizens at the time the Constitution was
ratified. (As a matter of fact, the Court was
wrong–free blacks had lived in the U.S. since
its earliest days.)
Attitudes towards slavery in the U.S. were
complex, as evident in a series of compromises
in Congress leading up to the Civil War. The
Southern and Northern economies alike — and
arguably the global economy — depended on
slave labor. But in the South partcularly, social
structures were built around slavery.
The Southern states, fearing Abraham Lincoln
would abolish slavery, began seceding upon
his election in 1860, and soon the Civil War
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egan. And yet Lincoln’s stated goal was not
to end slavery, as he wrote in his Letter to
Horace Greely, but to save the Union. The
Emancipation Proclamation (1863), widely
misunderstood as having ended slavery, in
fact declared slaves free only in the rebelling
territories (where Lincoln had no power), while
leaving it untouched in the slave states that
had remained in the Union (as well as in those
formerly-Confederate regions that had since
come under Union control); ultimately over
360,000 Union soldiers died in the Civil War.
The Reconstruction Amendments banned
slavery (13th Amendment, 1865); granted
citizenship to former slaves and prohibited
states from denying equal protection of the law
(14th Amendent, 1868); and secured the right
of black men to vote (15th Amendent, 1870.)
The former Confederate states were forced to
ratify these Amendments as a condition of reentering
the Union.
Reconstruction
Yet neither legal nor social equality were
achieved. Blacks’ right to vote came under
attack with literacy tests and poll taxes in many
Southern states. Jim Crow laws mandated
segregation in public life. A generation later
the Supreme Court upheld these so-called
“separate but equal” accommodations in Plessy
v. Ferguson (1896).
State governments failed to protect blacks from
the systematic terror of lynching during this
time. Between 1882-1968, 4,743 people were
lynched, 3,446 of them black. (This number
is artificially low as most lynchings were
not recorded.) The right of jury nullification
(which is used correctly when citizens refuse
to convict on the basis of an unjust law) was
shamefully abused when all-white juries
refused to convict white defendants on trial for
murder.
African American artist Mary
Edmonia Lewis sculpted “Forever
Free” in 1867 to commemorate the
Emancipation Proclamation. Courtesy
Howard University Art Gallery.
The Ku Klux Klan
Behind many of these lynchings and other terror
attacks was the Ku Klux Klan, which, according
to the Washington Post, by 1930 counted 11
governors, 16 senators and 75 congressmen
among its members. Even into the mid-20th
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 85
century, the Klan had many prominent officials
in government, including U.S. Senator Robert
Byrd and Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.
Further setbacks to legal equality had come
under President Woodrow Wilson who, while
not a member of the Ku Klux Klan, described
it admiringly: “the white men of the South
were aroused by the mere instinct of selfpreservation
to rid themselves, by fair means or
foul, of the intolerable burden of governments
sustained by the votes of ignorant negroes…”
Wilson resegregated the armed forces (which
had been integrated during Reconstruction)
and presided over segregation of the U.S.
Treasury and the U.S. Post Office, along with
mass firings/demotions of black employees at
the IRS and other Executive Branch offices. He
also instituted a new photo requirement for
all government applications, enabling racial
discrimination.
The Civil Rights Movement
By the 1940s, Thurgood Marshall and the
NAACP were waging a litigation campaign
aimed at overturning Plessy v. Ferguson, and
their efforts bore fruit. President Truman
desegregated the U.S. armed forces in 1948. In
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Brown
II, the Court held that segregation in public
schools violated the 14th Amendment and
ordered states to end it “with all deliberate
speed.” When met with resistance, such as in
1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, President Dwight
D. Eisenhower deployed the National Guard to
enforce integration.
In the 1963 March on Washington galvanized
the nation when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave
his famous I Have A Dream speech, in which
he declared, “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.”
1963 March on Washington. A view of over
200,000 marchers along the Capitol mall.
Aug. 28, 1963. Courtesy Shutterstock.
In 1964 the 24th Amendment prevented states
from denying the vote based on failure to pay a
poll tax. Landmark federal legislation banning
racial discrimination in public accomodations
(restaurants, hotels, and other privatelyowned
places that serve the public) was passed
with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (after a 60-
day filibuster led in part by Sen. Byrd) and
the Voting Rights act in 1965. The practice
of redlining (where banks drew lines around
minority neighborhoods considered high-risk,
and refused to back loans for homes within the
lines) was banned in 1968.
Current Challenges
Many still suffer from this legacy of inequality
under law, as well as from unintended
consequences of various measures. From
its inception the abortion industry has
targeted ads and placed clinics in minority
neighborhoods; more than one out of every
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three babies killed in abortion are black, though
blacks make up less than 15% of the population.
In the wake of the Sexual Revolution,
abortion as well as out-of-wedlock birth rates
accelerated and black families in particular
began to suffer: in 1965, more than 75% of black
children grew up with both parents; today
that figure is around only 30%. Despite the
tireless, selfless effort of most single mothers,
their children are statistically more likely to
live in poverty, drop out of school, experience
mental illness, abuse drugs, and commit acts
of violence. Black families headed by a married
couple, on the other hand, have a poverty rate
lower than that of whites.
Fatherlessness is exacerbated by racial
disparities in our justice system: To give just
a few examples, “War on Drugs” policies set
harsher penalties for crack (often abused by
poor minorities) than cocaine (often abused
by more affluent whites). This along with
“three strikes” legislation, has resulted in mass
incarceration disparately affecting black men;
one out of every three black men can expect to
be in prison at one point in their life, compared
to 1 in 17 white men. Wrongful incarceration
disproportionately affects blacks: of the
hundreds of prisoners exonerated in the U.S.
through DNA-based proof, 60% of them have
been black.
Disparities in outcomes are not necessarily
caused by racism, but it is important to
carefully examine situations where disparate
outcomes occur on racial lines. For example,
Native Americans living on reservations are
legally prevented from owning or developing
95% percent of their lands, which resulted in
widespread poverty and other social problems.
Many students in low-quality public schools
are ethnic minorities, yet school assignment
is tied to zip code in many places, denying
minority parents (who support charter schools
and voucher programs at the same levels as
white parents) a choice of schools for their
children, and removing incentives for public
schools to improve. We permit violence to rage
in urban areas, enable drug abuse, protect bad
police officers, erect burdensome occupational
licensing laws which disparately affect
minorities, and so on.
Conversion to Christ
Such immense structures of sin can contribute
to feelings of helplessness or despair. Here it is
important to remember that institutions and
societies are made up of individual persons.
What the Church calls “structures of sin” are
always rooted in personal sins.
Pope St. John Paul II stated in Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis, structures of sin are “always linked to
the concrete acts of individuals who introduce
Pope St. John Paul II.
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 87
these structures, consolidate them and make
them difficult to remove...and thus they grow
stronger, spread, and become the source of
other sins, and so influence people’s behavior.”
This is one reason it is critical to avoid thinking
of sin only as collective or systemic, as though
it could exist apart from the choices of
individuals. It cannot.
We must first work on our own conversion
and growth in holiness, and then we can
encourage our friends and neighbors. We can
share the Gospel truth of the inherent value
of all men and women, and the promise of
salvation in Christ. Working for the conversion
of each individual heart to Christ, starting with
ourselves, is the only way structures of sin can
be removed gradually from a culture.
Reflection Questions
1. For each institution below, list one example of a policy or action that contributed or contributes
in some way to racism as a structure of sin.
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
The U.S. Supreme Court
The national Executive Branch
State governments
2. Why is it important to avoid thinking of sin only as collective or systemic?
3. Later in life, Senator Robert Byrd expressed regret for his involvement in the Ku Klux Klan,
calling it the biggest mistake of his life. He said in 2006, “I know now I was wrong. Intolerance
had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times … and I don’t mind apologizing over and
over again. I can’t erase what happened.” Does Jesus require us to confess the same sins over
and over again? Why or why not? What does the answer to this question teach about how we
are called to forgive?
4. This essay is a brief summary and does not, of course, contain a complete history of its subject.
What other people or events have contributed to the American journey to live up to its ideals?
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HANDOUT D
A Structure of Sin in the U.S.
1. What does it mean for someone’s assets to
be held “in trust”? Who typically has their
property held in trust?
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
2. How did the Supreme Court describe the
relationship of the Indian Tribes to the
Federal Government in Cherokee Nation v.
Georgia (1831)?
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
This mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe is
displayed at historic San Xavier Del Bac Mission
on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation near
Tucson, Arizona. Courtesy Shutterstock.
3. Recall what we learned about the rights of Native Americans on reservations to their own lands.
How is this situation similar to the drawing activity we did?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 89
HANDOUT E
Equality and Equity
Directions:
Answer the following questions.
1. In the space below, brainstorm the similarities and differences between you and your sibling(s).
(If you are an only child, think of your parent and their sibling(s), i.e. your aunts/uncle.)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. You may have heard of the “nature versus nurture” debate, which asks whether human beings
are mostly shaped by genetics or by environment. Put this debate in your own words.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Most likely you and your siblings come from the same genetic background, and were raised
in the same environment. Are you exactly alike? Will you follow the same pursuits after
graduation? Why do you think that is?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Think now about your talents in school, sports, music, or any other pursuits. Are you “equal” to
yourself on any given day, or do you have especially good days, as well as some bad ones?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reflection
Nigerian immigrants are the most successful ethnic group in the U.S. For example, according to
MigrationPolicy.org, on average Nigerian Americans:
ӹ
ӹ
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ӹ
Are substantially more likely than the general U.S. population to be employed and to hold
progressional or managerial positions.
Have a higher annual income than that of the average American.
Have earned more post-graduate degrees than any other ethnic group.
Comprise one of every four black students at Harvard Business School, though they make up
only 1 percent of the U.S. black population.
Recall that complex issues almost never have a single cause. What are some possible explanations
for these statistics?
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Answer Key
Handout A: Reflection Activity on Social Sin (optional)
1. There can be no union among people without an internal change in each individual. Personal
conversion is the necessary path to harmony between individuals.
2. Reconciliation and the Sacraments, from their source, which is Christ.
3. Sinful people, i.e. the choices of individual persons.
4. Those changes are inevitably incomplete, of short duration, even counterproductive and
ultimately vain and ineffective. Without conversion to Christ they will not last.
5. For example, overturning Roe v. Wade would not suddenly end the need for a pro-life
movement, and having more gun control laws would not suddenly end gun-related violence.
The key to addressing many of these deep-seated issues begins with a personal response from
us. We have to acknowledge and repent of our own personal sins and turn to Christ. Until we
experience conversion — not just as individuals, but as a culture — we will not get to the root
cause of our societal issues.
6. List one example of a policy or action that contributed or contributes in some way to racism as
a structure of sin.
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
The U.S. Supreme Court
The national Executive Branch
State governments
Handout B: Moses, after Michelagenlo, 1875, by Mary Edmonia Lewis
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. His is depicted with horns (based on the translation from the Vulgate which describes Moses
a “cornuta” for “horned” which also has the connotation of “emitting rays” or “shining.”). He is
holding the tablets of the law in his left hand.
3. Accept reasoned answers. He may appear to be protecting them, and he appears to have a
look of intensity or even anger on this face, perhaps directed at the people who had begun
worshipping the golden calf.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
5. The literal meaning is that, through Moses, God led the Israelities out of Egypt, freeing the
people from slavery. God freed His Chosen People from slavery through Moses and established
them as a nation and then, under David, as a kingdom. God fully revealed Himself in Jesus Christ
and saved His people from sin and death.
6. Students may suggest the theme would have appealed to Lewis because in her time African
Americans were freed from slavery throughout the Southern U.S. It is a complex endeavor to
discover an artist’s intentions; we ought not assume all art created by an artist reflects themes
related to their race or ethnicity.
7. Accept reasoned answers.
Institutional Racism and Social Sin 91
Handout C: Background Essay—Institutional Racism and Social Sin in U.S.
History
1. Accepted examples given in the Background Essay and/or others from U.S. history.
2. Because sin is always a personal act.
3. When we truly forgive someone, we do not keep bringing up what the person did to us. To
forgive means to stop holding that fault against them and move forward in reconciliation and
love.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
Handout D: A Structure of Sin in the U.S.
Note that suggested responses are taken from the mini-lecture notes in the lesson plan.
1. It means the person is not in control of their own assets, but rather that control is given to a
“trustee” who will make decisions on behalf of the person. Children typically will have property
held in trust until they reach a certain age.
2. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1831 decision in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) that Indian
tribes were “domestic dependent nations” and that they were effectively in need of protection
by the U.S. — their relationship to the U.S. was “that of a ward to his guardian.”
3. Accept reasoned answers, leading students to the conclusion that Native Amreicans are being
denied the ability to use their God-given faculties to fulfill their moral responsibilities. We all
have a duty to upload the common good through the fulfillment of our personal responsibilities
(CCC 1914), Native Americans on reservations are unable to take responsibility for their own
lives and their families to the degree all other Americans can because they cannot own their
own property, or use their land as collateral for business loans, and are thereby handicapped at
entrepreneurial efforts. They have no right to develop their lands which contain vast amounts
of natural resources. It seems hard to deny that disproportionately high levels of poverty,
alcoholism, and social problems are rooted in their unequal treatment under the law.
Handout E: Equality and Equity
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Are we the way we are because of our genes, or because of how we were raised and the
conditions we grew up in?
3. Accept reasoned answers.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
Reflection
Accept reasoned answers.
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Racism in U.S. History
LESSON 8
Suggested age level: 14 and up
Learning Goals
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ӹ
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The U.S. is unlike any other nation in the world in
that it is founded on the principle that all have equal
God-given rights and dignity. This was a radical idea
in 1776, and one that the nation did not live up to at
that time.
The U.S. has taken important and lasting steps
towards the principle of equality.
Americans from various walks of life have
contributed to efforts to end racial injustice.
Reasonable people can disagree on the extent to
which the U.S. has lived up to her founding principle
of equality.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1934–1935
ӹ CCC 2262
Key Questions
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
What are some ways racism has affected the course of
American history?
Why is racism contrary to Catholic teaching and U.S.
founding principles?
Are U.S. founding principles fundamentally flawed, or
are they good despite our frequent failure to live up to
them?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
What has been is what will be, and what has been
done is what will be done; and there is nothing new
under the sun.
from ECCLESIASTES 1:9 (RSV)
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life
remaining in him.
from 1 JOHN 3:15
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Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ Teacher Resource/Handout A:
ӹ
Handout D: Racism in
Homework Research Strips
the U.S. Mini-DBQ
ӹ
Handout B: Golden Rule
ӹ
Teacher Resource: Founding
by Norman Rockwell
Documents Timeline
ӹ
Handout C: Research Charts
What Is a DBQ?
This lesson contains a document-based question, which asks students to examine and analyze
texts including writings, political cartoons, photographs, and others, and synthesize what
they learn in order to craft a response to a key, overarching question. DBQs can be a great
way to teach not only content, but important critical thinking skills as well.
Background/Homework
A. In advance of the lesson, photocopy and cut out the strips from Teacher Resource: Homework
Research Strips.
B. Give each student one strip from Teacher Resource: Homework Research Strips. For homework
they should research the individual or event on the strip and write a one-sentence summary of
how the person/event relates to racial injustice in the U.S. and/or the effort to end it.
Variation: Rather than making this a homework assignment, you could cut out the completed
strips from the Answer Key and hand one to each student at the beginning of class.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Lord, You alone are the Center in which I find rest. Give me Your arm to support me, Your
shoulders to carry me, Your breast to lean upon, Your Cross to uphold me, Your Body to nourish
me. In You, Lord, I sleep and rest in peace.— St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
Warm-Up
A. Display the image on Handout A: Golden Rule by Norman Rockwell. Give students as much time
as possible to view the painting in silence. If you are close enough to New York, consider an inperson
visit to see the mosaic of this work at the United Nations Headquarters.
B. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
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LESSON PLAN
C. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
D. Write the pair of Scripture quotes from the Biblical Touchstones on the board and spend a few
moments in silence meditating on them.
Activity
A. Proceeding in chronological order of the strips from Teacher Resource: Homework Research
Strips, call on students to share the information they learned from their homework.
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
As an enrichment option, you might ask students to introduce themselves as the person and
explain who they are. If they have a historical event or document, they could report on it as
though they are a journalist reporting on it, e.g “It’s 1868 and the 14th Amendment has been
ratified, granting citizenship to former slaves…” and so forth.
Use the Answer Key to fill in important information students may have missed in their
research.
Distribute B: Research Chart and have the class fill it in as their classmates report on the
items listed.
Wrap-Up
A. Have students begin working on Handout C: Racism in the U.S. Mini-DBQ and finish it for
homework. Call attention to the fact that there is not a single correct answer to the key
question; reasonable people can disagree on the extent to which the U.S. has lived up to her
founding principle of equality.
B. Students can use Handout B to make notes and plan their essays. You may also provide
students with Teacher Resource: Founding Documents Timeline as a support in writing their
essays.
Racism in U.S. History
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HANDOUT A
Golden Rule
BY NORMAN ROCKWELL (1961)
Printed by permission of the Norman Rockwell Family Agency. Copyright ©1961
the Norman Rockwell Family Entities. Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Golden
Rule, 1961. Oil on canvas, 44 1/2” x 39 1/2”. Story illustration for The Saturday
Evening Post, April 1, 1961. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.
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HANDOUT A
Golden Rule by Norman Rockwell
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. How would you describe this painting? Where is your eye drawn? What at is your favorite part?
2. Have you heard of Norman Rockwell? Who is he? What do you associate with him as an artist?
3. The U.S. is unlike any other nation in the world in that it is founded on the principle of equality
for all. This was a radical idea in 1776, and one that the nation did not live up to at that time.
Why do you think the idea of equality for all does not sound so radical to us today?
4. The name of this painting is “Golden Rule.” What is the Golden Rule?
5. What references can you find in this painting to Christ’s teaching of the Corporal and Spiritual
Works of Mercy?
6. How does the Golden Rule apply to the sin of racism? How did Jesus respond to those who
hated Him? Did He only forgive those people who asked for forgiveness? What can we learn
from this fact?
7. The Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace writes, “A change of heart cannot occur
without strengthening spiritual convictions regarding respect for other races and ethnic
groups…. We particularly ask pastors, preachers, teachers and catechists to explain the true
teaching of Scripture and Tradition about the origin of all people in God, their final common
destiny in the Kingdom of God, the value of the precept of fraternal love, and the total
incompatibility between racist exclusivism and the universal calling of all to the same salvation
in Jesus Christ.” (Quoted in the USCCB’s Open Wide Our Hearts). Why is the Gospel message of
salvation in Jesus Christ completely incompatible with racism?
Racism in U.S. History 97
HANDOUT B
Research Charts
Directions:
Fill in the first two columns on the chart below as your classmates report on their
research. You will use the right-hand column for another activity.
Selection of Church Documents
Document Date and Main Idea Key Question Notes
Dum Diversas
Sicut Dudum
Sublimis Deus
Catholicae Ecclesiae
Pacem in Terris
Selection of U.S. Supreme Court Cases
Document Date and Ruling Key Question Notes
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Dred Scott v. Sanford
United States v. Cruikshank
Yick Wo v. Hopkins
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Document Date and Ruling Key Question Notes
Plessy v. Feurgeson
Korematsu v. U.S.
Brown v. Topeka Board of
Education
Loving v. Virginia
Regents of the University of
California v. Bakke
Notes on Historical Figures
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Racism in U.S. History 99
HANDOUT C
Racism in the U.S. Mini-DBQ
Directions:
First, skim over each document and answer the question(s) that goes with it. Then
use at least 5 documents, along with your own knowledge of Church and U.S. history
to answer the Key Question.
Key Question
To what extent do U.S. founding principles align with Catholic teaching, and how has the
U.S. lived up to those principes?
Documents
ӹ 1 John 3:15
ӹ Catechism of the Catholic Church 1934-5, 2262
ӹ Declaration of Independence, 1776
ӹ
Appeal to the Christian Women of
the South, Angelina Grimke, 1836
ӹ Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
ӹ 13th Amendment, 1865
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Harper’s Weekly Cartoon by Thomas
Nast, “Mr. G. O’Rilla & Usual Irish
Way of Doing Things,” 1871
ӹ Ida B. Wells, quotation, c. 1894
ӹ The Thankful Poor, 1894,
Henry Ossawa Tanner
ӹ
“I Have a Dream” Address, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
ӹ
Frederick Douglass, Civil Rights
Case Address, 1883
ӹ
USCCB Executive Committee statement
in support of the establishment of a new
Ad Hoc Committee on Racism, 2017
1 John 3:15
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
remaining in him.
ӹ
How does this Scripture verse help you understand the Fifth Commandment: “thou shalt not kill”?
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Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos 1934-5, 2262
Created in the image of the one God and
equally endowed with rational souls, all
men have the same nature and the same
origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ,
all are called to participate in the same
divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal
dignity.
The equality of men rests essentially on their
dignity as persons and the rights that flow
from it:
Every form of social or cultural discrimination
in fundamental personal rights on the grounds
of sex, race, color, social conditions, language,
or religion must be curbed and eradicated as
incompatible with God’s design….
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the
commandment, “You shall not kill,” and adds to it
the proscription of anger, hatred, and vengeance.
Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the
other cheek, to love their enemies…
ӹ
How do we know that all people have equal dignity?
Declaration of Independence (excerpt), 1776
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed…
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The Declaration asserted all people are created equal and have equal God-given rights. How
does this statement compare to Catholic teaching?
From what form of government were the colonies separating? Why would this statement be
especially controversial when it was made?
Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (excerpt), Angelina Grimke, 1836
I know you do not make the laws, but I also
know that you are the wives and mothers, the
sisters and daughters of those who do; and if you
really suppose you can do nothing to overthrow
slavery, you are greatly mistaken. You can do
much in every way: four things I will name. 1st.
You can read on this subject. 2d. You can pray
over this subject. 3d. You can speak on this
subject. 4th. You can act on this subject….
But you will perhaps say, such a course of
conduct would inevitably expose us to great
suffering. Yes! my christian friends, I believe
it would, but this will not excuse you or any
one else for the neglect of duty. If Prophets
and Apostles, Martyrs, and Reformers had
not been willing to suffer for the truth’s sake,
where would the world have been now? If
they had said, we cannot speak the truth, we
cannot do what we believe is right, because
the laws of our country or public opinion are
against us, where would our holy religion
have been now? …
Racism in U.S. History 101
It is manifest to every reflecting mind, that
slavery must be abolished; the era in which
we live, and the light which is overspreading
the whole world on this subject, clearly show
that the time cannot be distant when it will be
done. Now there are only two ways in which
it can be effected, by moral power or physical
force, and it is for you to choose which of these
you prefer. Slavery always has, and always
will produce insurrections wherever it exists,
because it is a violation of the natural order of
things, and no human power can much longer
perpetuate it.
ӹ
Why does Grimke claim that slavery will always produce insurrections?
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
Nevertheless, the Court wrote: “The question
before us is, whether the class of persons
described [enslaved people] compose a
portion of this people, and are constituent
members of this sovereignty? We think they
are not, and that they are not included, and
were not intended to be included, under the
word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution...On the
contrary, they were at that time considered as
a subordinate and inferior class of beings, who
had been subjugated by the dominant race,
and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained
subject to their authority, and had no rights
or privileges but such as those who held the
power and the Government might choose to
grant them…
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Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857 is one of the most infamous and universally condemned Supreme
Court cases in U.S. history. The Court held that enslaved Africans could never be citizens of the
U.S. How did the Court attempt to justify this decision?
What is the role of the Supreme Court? Why do you think the original intent of the founding
fathers was for it to have no legislative or enforcement powers?
13th Amendment, 1865
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
ӹ
In plain language, what did the 13th Amendment accomplish? How does this amendment’s
purpose align with Catholic teaching?
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14th Amendment, Section 1, 1868
All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside. No state shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
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What did this Amendment accomplish?
How did this Amendment affect the Dred Scott decision?
Frederick Douglass, Civil Rights Case Address, 1883
Note: in this address Douglass was responding
to the criticism that a law intended to secure
equality under the law for black Americans was
an effort to legislate social equality.
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his
fellow man, without at last finding the other
end of it fastened about his own neck….
If [a Civil Rights Bill] is a Bill for social equality,
so is the Declaration of Independence, which
declares that all men have equal rights; so is the
Sermon on the Mount, so is the Golden Rule,
that commands us to do to others as we would
that others should do to us; so is the Apostolic
teaching, that of one blood God has made all
nations to dwell on all the face of the earth; so
is the Constitution of the United States, and
so are the laws and customs of every civilized
country in the world.
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The director of the film The Ten Commandments, famously said “We cannot break the law,
we only break ourselves against the law.” How does this idea apply to Douglass’s statement?
Angelina Grimke’s?
Does Douglass seem to think U.S. founding principles are Christian?
What would you judge to be the main difference between a “civilized country” and one that is
uncivilized?
Racism in U.S. History 103
Harper’s Weekly Cartoon by Thomas Nast, Mr. G. O’Rilla
& Usual Irish Way of Doing Things, 1871
ӹ
ӹ
What is the title of this
cartoon?
How does this cartoon
evidence the way disliked
groups of people can be
dehumanized?
Ida B. Wells quotation (c. 1894)
The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press.
Quoted in Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Oxford University Press, 1991
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How would you put Wells’s statement into your own words?
How did the founding principles of free speech and press enable Wells in her efforts to end
injustice?
What might have gone differently if her publication had been censored as “disinformation” by
those in power who opposed her?
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The Thankful Poor, 1894, Henry Ossawa Tanner
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Henry Ossawa
Tanner is considered
the first African
American artist to
earn international
acclaim. How
would you describe
the scene in this
painting? What
virtues might the
artist be trying to
convey?
“I Have a Dream” Address (excerpt), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
When the architects of our republic wrote the
magnificent words of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, they were signing
a promissory note to which every American was
to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men
would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted
on this promissory note insofar as her citizens
of color are concerned. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation, America has given the
Negro people a bad check which has come back
marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
ӹ
Does King seem to believe the Founding Documents of the U.S. are fundamentally good, or that
they are fatally flawed? Explain.
Racism in U.S. History 105
USCCB Executive Committee statement in support of the establishment of a
new Ad Hoc Committee on Racism, 2017
Racism has rightly been called America’s original sin. It remains a blot on our national life and
continues to cause acts and attitudes of hatred….”
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What is Original Sin? What was the just punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin?
Why is Original Sin not the end of the story for humanity? What did God offer humanity after
the first sin of Adam and Eve was committed? What remains behind even after the stain of
Original Sin has been removed?
Why do you think the bishops would describe racism as America’s original sin? Do you agree
with this assessment? Why or why not?
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Homework Research Strips
TEACHER RESOURCE
Teacher Note:
Some blank strips are included so you may add additional individuals/events
of your choice. You may wish to use the Background Essay from Lesson 7 for
additional ideas.
Samuel Sewall
writes “The
Selling of Joseph”
______________
year
Commonwealth
of Massachusetts
v. Nathaniel
______________
year
Jennison
The Three-Fifths
Compromise
______________
year
The Declaration
of Independence
______________
year
Pennsylvania
Abolition Society
______________
year
The Northwest
Ordinance
______________
year
James Edward
Oglethorpe
St. Rose Philippine
Duchesne
Benjamin Franklin
___________ – ___________
year year
___________ – ___________
year year
___________ – ___________
year year
Thomas Paine
writes “African
Slavery in
America”
John Quincy
Adams & the
Amistad Defense
______________
year
______________
year
Dred Scott v.
Sanford
______________
year
Cherokee Nation
v. Georgia
______________
year
Angelina Grimke
___________ – ___________
year year
Frederick
Douglass
___________ – ___________
year year
Harriet Tubman
___________ – ___________
year year
Ida B. Wells
___________ – ___________
year year
Brown v. Board
of Education
______________
year
Plessy v. Ferguson
______________
year
Racism in U.S. History 107
W.E.B. DuBois
___________ – ___________
year year
Yick Wo v.
Hopkins
______________
year
Rosa Parks
___________ – ___________
year year
Thurgood
Marshall
___________ – ___________
year year
United States
v. Cruikshank
______________
year
Korematsu v. U.S.
______________
year
Harriet Beecher
Stowe
___________ – ___________
year year
William Lloyd
Garrison
___________ – ___________
year year
Pope Gregory
XVI’s In Supremo
Apostolatus
______________
year
Booker T.
Washington
___________ – ___________
year year
Pope Paul III’s
Sublimis Deus
______________
year
Pope Leo XIII’s
Catholicae
Ecclesiae
______________
year
Servant of God
Augustus Tolton
Pope Nicholas V’s
Dum Diversas
___________ – ___________
year year
______________
year
Pope Eugene IV’s
Sicut Dudum,
“Against the
Enslaving of Black
Natives from the
Canary Islands”
______________
year
Loving v. Virginia
______________
year
St. Katharine
Drexel
___________ – ___________
year year
Brothers and
Sisters to Us
______________
year
Regents of the
University of
California v. Bakke
______________
year
Pope John XXIII’s
Pacem in Terris
______________
year
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Founding Documents Timeline
TEACHER RESOURCE
Document/Year Date and Explanation Key Question Notes
The Declaration of
Independence
The Continental Congress asserted
that all men are created equal, and
have inalienable rights. Therefore,
no one is born with the right to rule
over others.
The U.S.
Constitution (1789)
The Constitution acknowledged the
enslaved as “persons.”
Congress could not outlaw the
international slave trade until 1808
(which it did).
The Constitution allowed slave states
to count 3/5ths of their enslaved
populations towards representation
in Congress.
The 13th
Amendment (1865)
Banned slavery in the U.S.
The 14th
Amendment (1868)
Granted citizenship to former slaves,
banned states from denying due
process or equal protection under
the law.
The 15th
Amendment (1870)
Protected the right of black men to
vote.
The 24th
Amendment (1964)
Banned states from denying the vote
to people who failed to pay a poll tax.
Racism in U.S. History 109
Answer Key
Handout A: Golden Rule
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers. Rockwell is typically associated with classic, wholesome imagery
depicting everyday life of Americans.
3. Because the idea of equality of all persons spread to many places across the globe in large part
due to America’s example. The U.S.’s experience of racism is not new.
4. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 7:12. The Golden Rule, put simply, is to treat others as you wish to be treated.
5. We can see direct references to feeding the hungry (figures holding bowls), praying for the
living and the dead (several people are shown praying, including some with rosary beads), and
instructing the ignorant (school children with books). Students may see echoes of clothing the
naked, comforting the afflicted, or counseling the doubtful among others. As the audience we
might feel comforted by this image which shows us the brotherhood of mankind.
6. We would not want to be treated harshly or excluded because of our ethnicity or race, and we
should not subject others to this kind of treatment. Jesus loved and prayed for those who hated
Him, and forgave those who crucified Him, telling the Father that they knew not what they did.
In other words, He forgave us while we were still enemies.
7. Because all people have equal dignity, and a common destiny — we are all called to salvation in
Christ.
Handout B: Research Charts
Please use the key from Teacher Resource: Homework Research Strips for this worksheet.
Handout C: Racism in the U.S. Mini-DBQ
1 John 3:15
ӹ
Hate is akin to murder; hatred breaks the Fifth Commandment.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos 1934-5, 2262
ӹ
Because we are all created in the image of God; we have the same nature, origin, and destiny.
Declaration of Independence (excerpt), 1776
ӹ
ӹ
The Declaration’s statement aligns with Catholic teaching.
A monarchy. Monarchy rests on the idea that some people are born with the natural power to rule
over others.
Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (excerpt), Angelina Grimke, 1836
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Because it is unnatural and a violation of God’s law.
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Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
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By saying they were not considered to be citizens at the time the Constitution was ratified, and by
stating that they were an inferior class of beings.
To interpret laws in light of the Constitution. Accept reasoned answers.
13th Amendment, 1865
ӹ
It banned slavery in the U.S. This aligns with Catholic teaching on the equal dignity of all persons
and the encyclicals and Papal Bulls issued on slavery in the New World (from the warm-up).
14th Amendment, Section 1, 1868
ӹ
Granted citizenship to former slaves, banned states from depriving persons of due process or
equal protection. It overruled the Dred Scott decision since the Supreme Court must follow the
Constitution.
Frederick Douglass, Civil Rights Case Address, 1883
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Accept reasoned answers, but all three agree that sin hurts the person who commits the sin as well
as the persons he harms through his sin.
He does seem to think so.
Encourage students to focus on how civilized societies are marked by respect for the rights and
dignity of all persons, and respect for the rule of law.
Harper’s Weekly Cartoon by Thomas Nast, “Mr. G. O’Rilla & Usual Irish Way of Doing Things,” 1871
ӹ
ӹ
Mr. G. O’Rilla & Usual Irish Way of Doing Things
The Irishman is depicted as a monkey. The title of this cartoon likens the Irish to gorillas. When we
dehumanize persons, it becomes easier in our minds to hurt them.
Ida B. Wells quotation (c. 1894)
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
You have to know about an injustice before you can act to correct it, and the press is the best way
to inform and educate people.
Wells exercised her right to freedom of speech and press in order to open people’s eyes to the terror
of lyching.
If an outside authority is able to determine what is “misinformation,” they can easily abuse that
power. Many would have have never even known about lynching.
The Thankful Poor, 1894, Henry Ossawa Tanner
ӹ
The painting shows a peaceful moment of prayer before meals being shared by a father or
grandfather and child. You may wish to point out the intimacy and simplicity of the scene, the love
of family, the humble meal about to be shared, and/or the moment of prayer. The painting (and its
title) communicate virtues of faith, gratitude, humility, and love.
“I Have a Dream” Address (excerpt), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
ӹ
He believes they are good, but that the U.S. has failed to live up to them.
Racism in U.S. History 111
USCCB Executive Committee statement in support of the establishment of a new Ad Hoc
Committee on Racism, 2017
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
The state of human nature deprived of God’s grace, after the sin of Adam and Eve. It’s just
punishment is eternal separation from God.
Because God promised humanity a Savior–Jesus Christ. Jesus gave Himself for our sins and has
opened Heaven to us.
Accept reasoned answers.
Teacher Resource: Homework Research Strips
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ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Samuel Sewall writes “The Selling of Joseph,” 1700, First anti-slavery tract in the colonies
Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Nathaniel Jennison, 1783, Massachsuetts court decision
which outlawed slavery in Massachusetts
The Three-Fifths Compromise, 1787, As a result of a compromise at the Constitutional
Convention, the Constitution allowed allowed Southern states to count 3/5ths of their slaves
populations towards federal representation, thereby granting slave states less power in Congress
than they were demanding.
The Declaration of Independence, 1776, Declaration issued by the Continental Congress
separating the British colonies from England, and expressing the then-radical idea that all people
are created equal.
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, 1775, First anti-slavery society in the 13 colonies
The Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Law passed by the Confederation Congress for governance of the
Northwest Territories. It banned slavery therein and called for the “utmost good faith” in relations
with Native Americans.
James Edward Oglethorpe, 1696-1785, Founder of the colony of Georgia; he refused to allow
slavery there.
Thomas Paine writes “African Slavery in America”, 1775, Early anti-slavery tract by a prominent
founding father
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852), Religious sister who served the Native peoples of the
American Midwest.
John Quincy Adams & the Amistad Defense, 1841, Adams (after his term as the sixth president of
the U.S. had ended) argued that captured men aboard the slave ship Amistad were free.
Benjamin Franklin ( 1706-1790), First President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the first
anti-slavery society in the 13 colonies
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831, The Supreme Court let stand Georgia laws that stripped the
Cherokee of their rights and property
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people could never be
citizens.
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), Great author and orator who helped open peoples’ eyes to the
horrors of slavery
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Angelina Grimké (1805-1879), South Carolina abolitionist writer and speaker, among the first
women to speak in public against slavery.
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), Influential journalist who brought national attention to the crime of
lynching.
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913), Leading abolitionist and former slave who helps hundreds escape to
freedom via the Underground Railroad.
Plessy v. Feurgeson, 1896, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal public
accommodations for blacks and whites were constitutional.
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 and Brown II, 1955, The U.S. Supreme Court Court ruled that
segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and
schools had to integrate with all deliberate speed.
Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 1886, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unequal enforcement of general laws
violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963), American author, the first black person to earn a PhD from Harvard;
one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), Chief counsel of the NAACP who argued Brown before the U.S.
Supreme Court, and first black Justice of the United States.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005), Activist best known for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott–she
refused to give up her seat to a white man.
Korematsu v. U.S., 1944, The U.S. Supreme Court held that forced internment of Japanese
Americans during WWII was constitutional.
United States v. Cruikshank, 1876, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment did not
prohibit states from disarming black citizens.
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), Influential abolitionist, publisher of The Liberator
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), Connecticut author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a best-selling novel
which brought the horrors of slavery to a nationwide audience.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), Author of Up From Slavery, leading civil rights activist,
author, and orator.
Pope Gregory XVI’s In Supremo Apostolatus, 1839, Papal Bull that condemned slavery and all the
unjust practices associated with it.
Pope Leo XIII’s Catholicae Ecclesiae, 1890, Encyclcial that condemned slavery and affirmed that
the love of the Church embraces all people.
Pope Paul III’s Sublimis Deus, 1537, Papal Bull that asserted that slavery was of the devil;
indigenous people of the Americas were not to be deprived of their liberty or property
Pope Eugene IV’s Sicut Dudum, 1435 “Against the Enslaving of Black Natives from the Canary
Islands,” Papal Bull that rebuked slaveholders and set a penalty of excommunication for those who
did not free their slaves.
Racism in U.S. History 113
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Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), Born into slavery, the first black man to be ordained a
priest in the U.S.
St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), Religious sister who stablished 63 schools and 50 missions for
Native Americans and 50 schools for African Americans, including the first Catholic university in
the U.S. for African Americans.
Nicholas V’s Dum Diversas (1452), Papal Bull that granted apostolic permission for the kings
of Spain and Portugal to conquer Saracens (Muslims) and pagans in African lands and impose
“perpetual servitude,” thereby legitimizing slavery.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public
universities could consider race in admissions but quotas were unconstitutional
Loving v. Virginia (1967), The Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violated the
Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Pope John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris (1963), Encyclical that affirmed Catholic teaching that all men
are equal in natural dignity.
Brothers and Sisters to Us (1979), Pastoral Letter of the USCCB on Racism on the need to address
racism and its connection to economic injustice.
Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love (2018), Pastoral Letter of the USCCB on Racism
and the enduring call to love.
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Racism and Solidarity
LESSON 9
Suggested age level: Ages 14 and up
Learning Goals
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Solidarity is a uniting principle in society by which
people bear each other’s sufferings together, make
sure that material things such as food, clothing,
and other resources are distributed justly, and
most importantly, share spiritual goods such as
prayer and penance.
When the time came to end segregation in Little
Rock, AR, the Central High School community did
not respond in solidarity with the Little Rock Nine.
The students known as the Little Rock Nine
displayed great courage in their decision to attend
Central High School.
Charity is the greatest social commandment.
We can find true peace only in Christ.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1423
ӹ CCC 1939–1941
Key Questions
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What is solidarity?
When we have hurt God, ourselves, and others through
sin, what does He want for us?
How can practicing solidarity promote justice in society?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
Do not be conquered by evil but
conquer evil with good.
from ROMANS 12:21
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous,
[love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not
rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not
quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices
with the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
from 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background
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Handout C: A Spiritual Reflection
Essay — Racism and Solidarity
on Solidarity
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Handout B: The Heroism of the
Little Rock Nine
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay — Racism and Solidarity and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Lord, we ask you to open our hearts and fill them with the light of your love. Shine a light on
any prejudiced feelings, especially any we are hanging onto deliberately, and cleanse them from
our hearts. Help us overcome the hurts we have felt, and fill our hearts with your merciful love
to help us forgive as you do.
Warm-Up
A. Write on the board the following quotation:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages
the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are
endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become
irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or
political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”
— Ellie Weisel
B. Ask the class if they have heard this idea before, and to put it in their own words.
C. Then share the definition of solidarity: (n.): A uniting principle in society by which people bear
each other’s sufferings together, make sure that material things such as food, clothing, and
other resources are distributed justly, and most importantly, share spiritual goods such as
prayer and penance. Solidarity is a direct demand of Christian brotherhood.
D. Explain that failing to speak up when human life and dignity are in jeopardy allows those who
are committing the oppression to continue unhindered. We should speak out when we see
injustice, or we are, in a very real sense, failing to do the bare minimum to stop it. Yet speech
is not enough. We have a Christian duty not just to say words, but to take concrete action that
must inevitably put our own safety at risk. As Christians, Jesus calls us not to “speak out,” but to
lay down our very lives for our friends.
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Activity
A. Before showing students, preview the 16-minute video “The Little Rock Nine Come Face-To-
Face With Their Tormentors.” Note that the N-word is spoken (in a quote, at approx 4:30-4:36) in
this video. The video focuses on an attempt to bring forgiveness and healing. If you do not wish to
present this video please skip to Step B.
SophiaOnline.org/LittleRock9
Discuss the following questions:
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One of the Central High students says, “I knew it was wrong, I was only 15 but I knew at the
time what I was doing was wrong”. How does this example show the importance of listening
to our consciences when making decisions? Our consciences, if properly formed, can help us
avoid sin if we listen to its promptings. It is God’s voice in our heart.
Do you think the apologies offered in this segment were satisfactory to the Little Rock
Nine? Accept reasoned answers.
One of the Little Rock Nine mentions to Oprah that the bulk of students at Central
High School “did nothing.” How does this relate to the Weisel quote? To world history?
Throughout history, the vast majority of people do not risk their own safety in order to stand
against injustice. If more people had been willing to stand up to those who were treating them
badly, the mistreatment may have stopped.
In what ways would the experience of the Little Rock Nine have been different if the
students and faculty had practiced solidarity with them? We cannot know for sure, but at
the very least they would not have felt so alone, they would have felt loved instead of shunned.
Even more, with national attention focused on Little Rock, the course of history may have been
changed.
B. And/or preview and then show the 5-minute video “Book Trailer: Elizabeth and Hazel: Two
Women of Little Rock, by David Margolick”:
SophiaOnline.org/ElizabethandHazel
Discuss the following questions:
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What do you think was going through Elizabeth’s mind on her way to school? How do you
think she was feeling? Do you think you could have shown such tremendous courage in
the face of such obstacles? She was certainly feeling alone, afraid, threatened, and so forth.
Accept reasoned answers.
Why do you think the picture of Hazel, her face twisted in anger, was so significant? What
effect did it have? It was a sign to the world of the ugliness of hatred. It presented a picture of
racism that was impossible to deny, a sign that could not be ignored.
Were you surprised to hear that Hazel would lie awake at night, thinking about Elizabeth?
Why is it not surprising at all? Her conscience was causing her to feel guilt for behaving in
Racism and Solidarity
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LESSON PLAN
such a sinful manner that caused another human being so much hurt. God’s law is written
on our hearts, we cannot harm others without harming ourselves.
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How would our own moral lives be different if we were captured on film at our worst
moments? Accept reasoned answers.
In what ways would the experience of the Little Rock Nine have been different if the
students and faculty had practiced solidarity with them? We cannot know for sure, but
at the very least they would not have felt so alone, they would have felt loved instead of
shunned. Even more, with national attention focused on Little Rock, the course of history
may have been changed.
C. Finally, preview and then show the 9-minute video “Little Rock Nine Member Looks Back At
Integrating White High School In 1957 | Megyn Kelly TODAY”:
SophiaOnline.org/Beals
ӹ The Little Rock Nine were 9 black students compared to how many white students? 1800
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What differences does Melba Petillo Beals describe between her school and Central
High School? She describes the immense structure of Central High School compared to her
small school with broken furniture and few resources.
What happened to the Little Rock Nine that Beals did not expect? What did she find
hardest to deal with? She explains that she expected to be disliked a first as an outsider
but did not expect the incredible hostility they faced. She explains she could deal with the
name calling and mean comments but the hitting/physical assaults were intolerable.
How does Beals seem to have responded spiritually to what happened to her? She seems
to be at peace with what happened. We cannot know her heart, but she seems to have
forgiven her tormentors.
In what ways would the experience of the Little Rock Nine have been different if the
students and faculty had practiced solidarity with them? We cannot know for sure, but
at the very least they would not have felt so alone, they would have felt loved instead of
shunned. Even more, with national attention focused on Little Rock, the course of history
may have been changed.
D. Give students time to answer the questions on Handout C: The Heroism of the Little Rock
Nine individually.
E. Close by recalling how Little Rock Nine member Melba Beals described praying the Lord’s
Prayer as she walked up the stairs of her school building to escape torment. To end this part
of the lesson, say together as a class the Lord’s Prayer.
Wrap-Up
Have students journal a response on Handout D: A Spiritual Reflection on Solidarity.
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HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Racism and Solidarity
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for
saying that injustice anywhere is a threat
to justice everywhere. Less than a century
earlier, Frederick Douglass had noted that it is
impossible to place a chain around our fellow
man without finding that chain around our own
neck.
Both of these Christian men were expressing
the idea of solidarity. Solidarity is a strong
unity of will and recognition of human dignity
between the members of a community; it is
one of the key principles of Catholic Social
Teaching. It means that though we are all
individuals; we are all members of one body.
What happens to one affects all — when one
part suffers, we all suffer; we are called to share
material goods and, especially, spiritual goods.
The principle of solidarity is another word for
friendship or charity, in the traditional sense of
these words (CCC 1939). In the ancient world,
Aristotle spoke of the importance of political
friendship. This concept asserts that citizens
should be joined by a common love and will for
the good of the community. When a community
experiences this unity of will, it is strong and
resilient. Solidarity is the Christian perfection
of this concept, and it stresses the importance
of valuing every member of global society as
equal in dignity and worthy of our love.
Note that solidarity involves our will — choosing
to act — and is not just a feeling. Pope St. John
Paul II explained: “[Solidarity] is not a feeling
of vague compassion or shallow distress at the
misfortunes of so many people, both near and
far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering
determination to commit oneself to the
common good; that is to say to the good of all
and of each individual, because we are all really
responsible for all. This determination is based
on the solid conviction that what is hindering
full development is that desire for profit and that
thirst for power” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 38).
Solidarity is a key principle for a Catholic
response to racism because, when it is
practiced, we see others as another self. Jesus
taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and
to love one another as He has loved us; With
this teaching He was perfecting the Golden
Rule, and He showed us what it looks like when
we love our neighbor as God loves us.
When we do not practice solidarity, we forget
that we are all one human family. In 1939,
Pope Pius XII wrote in Summi Pontificatus,
of the error of “forgetfulness of that law of
human solidarity and charity which is dictated
and imposed by our common origin and by
the equality of rational nature in all men,
to whatever people they belong, and by the
redeeming Sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on
the Altar of the Cross to His Heavenly Father
on behalf of sinful mankind….The Apostle of the
Gentiles later on makes himself the herald of
this truth which associates men as brothers in
one great family…” (35-37).
Solidarity means we cannot treat certain
individuals or groups as superior. The
cultivation of solidarity has many dimensions
to it in addition to race and ethnicity, for
example: “solidarity of the poor among
themselves, between rich and poor, of workers
Racism and Solidarity 119
among themselves, between employers and
employees in a business, solidarity among
nations and peoples. International solidarity is
a requirement of the moral order; world peace
depends in part upon this” (CCC 1941). In other
words, everyone is responsible for overcoming
whatever prejudices, social barriers, and
fears alienate people from full participation
in the social order. Solidarity is a personal
commitment that each person must make to
build up the bonds of unity and love in social
relations. Love is to will the good of another,
and solidarity represents this commitment to
love our neighbor not merely in affection and
sentiment but also by actions that lead to the
good of all, especially the most vulnerable.
Solidarity does not mean we lose our
unique identities or that we do not have a
responsibility to care in a special way for
our own families and communities. Loving
our country, ethnicity, or local community is
important, and we should take responsibility
for our own, but the call to solidarity requires
us to strive for friendship with all. “Solidarity
helps us to see the ‘other’— whether a person,
people or nation — not just as some kind of
instrument, with a work capacity and physical
strength to be exploited at low cost and then
discarded when no longer useful, but as our
‘neighbor,’ a ‘helper’ (cf. Gen. 2:18–20), to be
made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the
banquet of life to which all are equally invited
by God” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 39).
Frederick Douglass wrote and spoke extensively
about the principle of solidarity.
The USCCB writes on the principle of solidarity
in Open Wide Our Hearts: “Once “we have come
to the conviction that one died for all” — and
not just for ourselves — then “the love of Christ
impels us” to see others as our brothers and
sisters (2 Cor 5:14). For, “if [one] part suffers, all
the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored,
all the parts share its joy” (1 Cor 12:26). It is the
love of Christ that binds together the Church,
and this love reaches out beyond the Church to
all peoples.”
Reflection Questions
1. How would you put the definition of solidarity in your own words?
2. Why is it important that solidarity is not merely “vague compassion or shallow distress”?
3. Why do we have a special obligation to help the most vulnerable in our society?
4. In Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict writes, “The development of peoples depends, above all, on
a recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not
simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side” (53). To what extent do you live this
teaching out? What can you do to internalize it more strongly?
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HANDOUT B
The Heroism of the Little Rock Nine
Directions:
Respond to the questions after watching the video(s).
Questions
1. What stood out to you the most in the video(s) you watched about the experience of the Little
Rock Nine?
2. Why do you think more people did not interpose themselves between the Little Rock Nine and
their tormentors?
3. In what ways would the experience of the Little Rock Nine have been different if the students
and faculty had practiced solidarity with them?
4. When we have hurt God, ourselves, and others through sin, what does He want for us?
5. Have you ever received an apology on behalf of someone else? (E.g. a friend tells you that
another friend is sorry for something.) Why is that less than satisfying?
6. As Catholics, we are called to offer penance for sinners -- in other words, in reparation for
sins we did not personally commit. If this is so, then why can’t you go to confession, confess
someone else’s sin, and receive forgiveness for that person?
7. What is the only way we may find peace after a deep hurt? What if the person who hurt us is
never sorry? What if they apologize but still make excuses? Finally, even if they are genuinely
sorry, is hearing their apology always enough to find peace? What else is needed?
8. What special challenges do you think come with years of deep hurts from numerous, often
anonymous people? Or with family hurts committed and experienced by people no longer
living? How is reconciliation possible?
Racism and Solidarity 121
HANDOUT C
A Spiritual Reflection on Solidarity
Directions:
Read over the selections below in light of solidarity. Which stands out to you most at
this point in your life, and why? What do you think God wants you to learn from this
passage?
St. Maximos the Confessor
He who busies himself with the sins of others or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even
begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins.
St. Francis of Paola
Pardon one another so that later on you will not remember the injury. The recollection of an injury
is itself wrong. It adds to our anger, nurtures our sin, and hates what is good. It is a rusty arrow and
poison for the soul. It puts all virtue to flight.
CCC 1889
Without the help of grace, men would not know how “to discern the often narrow path between
the cowardice which gives in to evil, and the violence which under the illusion of fighting evil only
makes it worse.”13 This is the path of charity, that is, of the love of God and of neighbor. Charity is
the greatest social commandment. It respects others and their rights. It requires the practice of
justice, and it alone makes us capable of it. Charity inspires a life of self-giving: “Whoever seeks to
gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it
does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not
rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.
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Romans 12:9-21
Let love be sincere; hate what is
evil, hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent
in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy
ones, exercise hospitality.
Bless those who persecute [you],
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Have the same regard for one another; do
not be haughty but associate with the lowly;
do not be wise in your own estimation.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned
for what is noble in the sight of all.
If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.
Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room
for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed
him; if he is thirsty, give him something
to drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals upon his head.”
Do not be conquered by evil but
conquer evil with good.
Colossians 3:5-17
Put to death, then, the parts of you that
are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.
Because of these the wrath of God is
coming [upon the disobedient].
By these you too once conducted
yourselves, when you lived in that way.
But now you must put them all away:
anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene
language out of your mouths.
Stop lying to one another, since you have taken
off the old self with its practices and have
put on the new self, which is being renewed,
for knowledge, in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision
and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing
with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another; as the
Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love, that
is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your
hearts, the peace into which you were also
called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as
in all wisdom you teach and admonish one
another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Racism and Solidarity 123
Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay — Racism and Solidarity
1. Answers should reflect an understanding that we are all one in Christ. All members of the Body
of Christ are to bear each others’ burdens and share material as well as spiritual goods. When
one member suffers, we all suffer.
2. Because we are called to live out solidarity in concrete actions. To love is to will the good of
another, and solidarity represents this commitment to love our neighbor not merely in affection
and sentiment but also by actions that lead to the good of all, especially the most vulnerable.
3. Because it is the vulnerable who need our help most, who need others to stand up for them and
protect them. Those who are able to help have a grave duty to do so.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
Handout B: The Heroism of the Little Rock Nine
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. Their suffering would not have been as great, or as long, or may not have happened at all.
4. When we sin, Jesus wants us to repent and seek forgiveness, and be reconciled to Him and the
Church.
5. Accept reasoned answers.
6. Answers should reflect an understanding that repentance and conversion are intimately
personal acts.
7. Accept reasoned answers, encouraging students to understand the importance of forgiveness
for our own peace of mind and healing. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
8. Accept reasoned answers, encouraging students to understand that the only way to lasting
peace in this life is Jesus Christ.
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Racism and Subsidiarity
LESSON 10
Suggested age level: 12 and up
Learning Goals
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The health of any state is dependent on the health of
its smaller communities.
Subsidiarity is the organizing principle that matters
are best handled by the smallest, lowest, or least
centralized authority.
Social evils stem from individual sins and can only be
meaningfully addressed or healed on the personal,
local, or community level.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1883
ӹ CCC 1885
ӹ CCC 1894
No state or larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of
individuals.
The preservation of the common good is dependent upon individuals taking personal
responsibility in their communities, loving their neighbors in imitation of Christ.
Key Questions
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What is the principle of subsidiarity? Why is it supported by the Church?
Why can it be dangerous to surrender our personal and social responsibilities to
governing bodies or to the state?
How does subsidiarity support to the common good, including on a global scale?
How can an understanding of subsidiarity guide our Catholic response to social injustice
or sin?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
Each one must examine his own work, and then
he will have reason to boast with regard to himself
alone, and not with regard to someone else; for
each will bear his own load.
from GALATIANS 6:4–5
He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart, with all your being, with all your
strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor
as yourself.”
from LUKE 10:27
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background
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Handout C: Lectio Divina:
Essay—Subsidiarity and
The Good Samaritan and
the Common Good
Personal Responsibility
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Handout B: Loving Locally
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay—Personal Responsibility and the Common
Good and answer the reflection questions.
Warm-Up
A. Draw on the board a globe and around it, write the once-popular slogan “Think Globally Act
Locally.” Ask your students if anyone is familiar with this idea, and/or modern variations that
focus on buying locally made goods, shopping at farmer’s markets or dining at farm-to-table
restaurants, etc. Have them share examples and write applicable responses on the board (you
may choose to contribute your own examples).
B. Ask the class for the reasoning behind this idea. If we want to take an action that will help the
whole world, why not act globally? Why act locally? Allow reasoned discussion, guiding students
to the conclusion that our efforts are best spent locally because those closest to us are those we
have the strongest ability to help and to influence.
C. Next, share the following definition of subsidiarity: (n.): The organizing principle that matters
are best handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized authority. You may also wish to
show the 2.5-minute video at SophiaOnline.org/Subsidiarity.
D. Explain to your students that this principle of subsidiarity serves the common good of society.
The Catechism teaches that “Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom
and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according
to which ‘a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community
of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of
need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with
a view to the common good’” (1883). Regardless of its size, a society can only thrive when its
individual members within local communities take personal responsibility for themselves and
their neighbors.
E. Continue to explain that subsidiarity means that a local issue should not be addressed by
a large, complex, remote organization when it can be addressed by a small, simple, local
organization that is authentically invested in the common good of the community. This is not
simply an abstract, ideological principle; following it is more likely to actually bring about a
better result.
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LESSON PLAN
F. Provide a practical example by asking the class to imagine a committee in Washington, DC
making decisions about housing for poor people in their town. Ask questions such as:
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Who is more likely to have better knowledge of the needs of the people in your town? Those
who live here.
What happens if committee members in Washington DC make bad decisions and housing
does not become available? None of the committee members personally suffers.
Now imagine a person who lives in this town buys houses to fix up and rent out. Why would
he likely feel more motivated to help? He is more likely to feel a human, intimate connection
to those he knows than would be committee members in Washington DC who know no one
there.
What happens if he makes bad choices? He personally loses money, he is personally invested
in this case literally and figuratively!
Wrap up this thought experiment by asking: Who do you think will work harder and smarter
to make sure a home in their town is available for people to buy? Committee members in
Washington, DC, or the builder in the very same town? The builder in town.
G. Break the class into small groups. Have each group turn to Handout B: Loving Locally and
complete the activity. When they have finished their business flyers, have each group present,
or pitch, their local business to the class.
Activity
A. Create a quiet, prayerful atmosphere and have students turn to Handout C: Lectio Divina: The
Good Samaritan and Personal Responsibility. Inform your students that they will be listening
to Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan.
B. Explain to your students that in the time of Jesus’ ministry there was intense animosity
between the Jews, who worshipped God in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans who
had absorbed various idols from other religions and worshipped outside of Jerusalem. This
difference led to hatred and division between the two groups.
C. Next, lead the class in the prayer of St. John Chrysostom on the handout.
D. Then, slowly and prayerfully read aloud the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25–37
(or have a student volunteer read it aloud to the class). After the Gospel has been read, have
your students answer the reflection questions. When they are done, have students share
their answers as part of a class discussion on what the parable teaches us about personal
responsibility of loving our neighbor and what this looks like in a local community.
Racism and Subsidiarity
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HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Subsidiarity
and the Common Good
The Church teaches us that every human
community, however large or small, should
strive for a common good, which is defined as
“the sum total of social conditions which allow
people, either as groups or as individuals, to
reach their fulfillment more fully and more
easily” (CCC 1906). This common good is meant
to be pursued by individuals, communities,
businesses, and authorities alike in order to
cultivate a society in which every member can
truly flourish.
What Is Subsidiarity?
One of the key social principles that the Church
proposes in order to secure the common good
is known as subsidiarity. Subsidiarity principle
that matters are best handled by the smallest,
lowest, or least-centralized authority. In other
words, subsidiarity means that a local issue
should not be addressed by a large, complex,
remote organization when it can be addressed
by a small, simple, local organization that is
authentically invested in the common good of
the community. This does not imply that higher
authorities should be completely excluded
from cooperating in local affairs, or from
providing support in cases of emergency, it
rather prioritizes authority according to nature,
place, and reason. For example, according to
the principle of subsidiarity, the decision to put
up a traffic light at a dangerous intersection
in a small town in Colorado would be made
by the town authorities, not by authorities in
Washington D.C.
The Good Samaritan by David Teniers the younger.
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By highlighting the vital role of every individual
in society, subsidiarity promotes social
responsibility and a sense of stewardship in
the pursuit of the common good, rather than
mere reliance on the State. The Catechism
teaches that “In accordance with the principle
of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any
larger society should substitute itself for the
initiative and responsibility of individuals and
intermediary bodies” (1894). This limit set on
state intervention highlights an important
spiritual truth in the principle of subsidiarity:
charity and the works of mercy cannot be
“outsourced.” We cannot rely on higher
authorities to make a change for the better in
our community if we are not willing first to take
on the responsibility of working to make the
change ourselves.
The reality of social evils, such as racism, can at
times be overwhelming for us and may tempt
us to lose hope that peace can reign in our
society. Yet the principle of subsidiarity sheds
light on how we can respond when faced with
the terrible consequences of social sin. We are
personally called to pick up our crosses and
follow Christ, reflecting His divine light into
our community according to our God-given
abilities and talents. We can begin by nurturing
the love of Christ in the one place we do have
control—our own heart—and then work to
share that profound love that we have encountered
in Him with those around us. Regardless
of their race, creed, or condition, we are called
to see the beloved face of Christ in everyone
we meet and let that prompt our speech,
actions, and disposition toward them. Then, by
cooperating with God’s grace, we may become
an image of Christ Himself in the world, and He
may say to us in the end “whatever you did for
one of these least brothers of mine, you did for
me” (Matthew 25:40).
We are called to see the beloved face
of Christ in everyone we meet.
Reflection Questions
1. What is the common good? Why do you think it worth striving for?
2. How would you explain the principle of subsidiarity to someone using your own words?
3. What are the dangers of centralized authority? How does the principle of subsidiarity protect
society from excessive centralized authority?
4. What do you think Christ’s words from the Gospel of Matthew require of us? Why?
5. Keeping in mind the principle of subsidiarity, how can you, as an individual, reflect the love of
Christ in your family? In your community?
Racism and Subsidiarity 129
HANDOUT B
Loving Locally
Directions:
Imagine that your group is going to open a local store or business together. When
your group has agreed on an idea, collaborate to create a large flyer that advertises
your business, using the principle of subsidiarity as a guide. How will the business
serve the customer? What are the benefits of patronizing your local business over
a large chain or online option, etc.? What can you provide that larger businesses
cannot? Be prepared to pitch your business to the class!
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HANDOUT C
Lectio Divina: The Good Samaritan and
Personal Responsibility
Directions:
Pray the following prayer together as a class in preparation for hearing the Gospel.
Then, slowly and prayerfully follow along as the parable of the Good Samaritan from
Luke 10:25–37 is read aloud. Finally, answer the reflection questions that follow.
Prayer of St. John Chrysostom before reading Scripture
O Lord Jesus Christ, open the eyes of my heart that I may hear your word,
and understand and do your will, for I am a sojourner upon the Earth.
Hide not your commandments from me, but open my eyes, that I may perceive the
wonders of your Law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of your wisdom.
On you do I set my hope, O my God, that you shall enlighten my mind and
understanding with the light of your knowledge; not only to cherish those things
which are written, but to do them; That in reading the lives and sayings of the
Saints I may not sin, but that such may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and
sanctification, for the salvation of my soul, and the inheritance of life everlasting.
For you are the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness,
and from you comes every good deed and every gift.
AMEN
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
There was a scholar of the law who stood up
to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I
do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him,
“What is written in the law? How do you read
it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord,
your God, with all your heart, with all your
being, with all your strength, and with all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He
replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.” But because he
wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A
man fell victim to robbers as he went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and
beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that
road, but when he saw him, he passed by on
the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to
the place, and when he saw him, he passed
by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan
traveler who came upon him was moved with
compassion at the sight. He approached the
Racism and Subsidiarity 131
victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds
and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on
his own animal, took him to an inn and cared
for him. The next day he took out two silver
coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the
instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend
more than what I have given you, I shall repay
you on my way back.’ Which of these three,
in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’
victim?” He answered, “The one who treated
him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do
likewise.”
Reflection Questions
1. Why does the scholar really ask Jesus “who is my neighbor?” Explain. Have you ever thought
you knew the whole answer to something, and then realized there was more to it? When?
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2. The Priest and Levite both see the suffering man, but they both “pass by on the opposite side.”
Why do you think they removed themselves far away from the man instead of just walking
directly by him? Considering the role of your conscience, what is the difference between
keeping your distance from human suffering and coming into direct contact with it?
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3. The Samaritan man was “moved with compassion” at the sight of the suffering man. What does
this mean, in your own words? When have you been moved with compassion in your own life?
What was the reason?
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4. What three things did the Samaritan do for the suffering man? What particularly struck you
about the Samaritan’s actions? Why?
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5. Do you think human suffering needs to be directly and personally encountered where it exists
in order for healing to happen? Explain.
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6. In the time of Jesus’ ministry there was bitter animosity between Samaritans and Jews, and He
knew this when He told the parable. What deeper meaning might this fact give to the Parable of
the Good Samaritan? How does the message of Jesus’ teaching show us how to respond to the
sin of racism in our time?
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7. In your own words, and in light of Jesus’ parable, who is your neighbor?
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8. Jesus issues a command at the end of this Gospel: “Go and do likewise.” This command gives
us a personal responsibility to love our neighbor in imitation of the Good Samaritan. How can
we do this in our local communities? Based on what you have read so far, how is this command
related to the principle of subsidiarity?
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Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay—Subsidiarity and the Common Good
1. The common good is “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups
or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (CCC 1906). Accept
reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. The dangers of centralized authority are excessive intervention and the loss of personal or local
freedoms. The Catechism states “Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal
freedom and initiative… ‘a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal
life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should
support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of
society, always with a view to the common good’” (CCC 1883). Subsidiarity protects society
from the potential overreach of centralized and remote authoritarianism by insulating smaller
communities with their own local governing bodies. In the United Sates, the Constitution
outlines a system of checks and balances to prevent centralized authority, as well as
establishing local and regional governing bodies, elected by the people and answerable to them,
that are necessarily invested in the communities they govern. The goal of subsidiarity is not to
replace higher authorities, but to promote cooperation and restrict unnecessary intervention.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
5. Accept reasoned answers.
Handout C: Lectio Divina: The Good Samaritan and Personal Responsibility
1. He asked not because he earnestly wanted to know the answer, but because he thought he
knew the already knew the answer and sought to justify himself before others. He felt that he
was a righteous man according to the letter of the law, and wanted Jesus to acknowledge this.
Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers. If we “look the other way” or keep our distance from people who
are suffering, we are not required to act in the moment or confront the fact that someone is
in need and we are able to help. We can avoid the problem if we keep our distance and tell
ourselves that someone else is better equipped to help. But when we come into direct contact
with real suffering, we cannot avoid the issue, even though we might become uncomfortable
and not know what to do or say. The voice of our conscience speaks louder the closer we are to
human suffering, calling us, if we listen to it, to show mercy like the Good Samaritan.
3. Accept reasoned answers.
4. He poured oil and wine over the man’s wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on
his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. Finally, he paid an innkeeper to care for
the man, promising to pay more if needed on his return journey. Accept reasoned answers.
5. Accept reasoned answers.
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6. Jesus used an existing tension in society in order to highlight how the charity we are called to
show our neighbor, by God’s will and design, must transcend rivalries, hatred, creed, religion,
or race. The fact that it was a Samaritan, a person hated by the Jews, who came to the aid of the
wounded man in the parable reveals the deeper, divine meaning of Jesus’ message: “You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love
your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly
Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just
and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the
tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do
not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew
5:43–48).
7. Accept reasoned answers. All men and women; every person we encounter in our lives.
8. Accept reasoned answers.
Racism and Subsidiarity 135
Notes
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Personal Conversion and
Graces of the Holy Spirit
LESSON 11
Suggested age level: Ages 14 and up
Learning Goals
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We are inclined to sin and need the elevating power
of God’s grace in order to help us know and love as
we ought.
The Holy Spirit offers us the grace to overcome
racism in our hearts.
By charity, we love our fellow brothers and sisters
as made in the image of God and called to share in
eternal happiness with him. Any hatred or dismissal
of someone based upon their race or culture is
utterly against this virtue.
We are also made capable of loving more perfectly through the gifts and
fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Bartolomé de Las Casas, a former slave-holder who became slavery’s most
outspoken critic in the New World, gives us an example of the radical
change that conversion brings.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 1822
ӹ CCC 1825
ӹ CCC 1831-32
ӹ CCC 1840-45
Key Questions
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How can racism be overcome in our own hearts?
Why is any consideration of perfecting human society outside of a
consideration of the healing power of grace doomed to fail?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the
greatest of these is love.
from 1 CORINTHIANS 13:13
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol
from GALATIANS 5:22B-23A
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background Essay–
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Handout C: Biography of
Personal Conversion and the
Bartolomé de las Casas
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
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Handout D: Reflection and Action
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Handout B: The Conversion of
Saint Paul by Luca Giordano
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Direct, we beseech you, O Lord, our actions by your holy inspirations,
and carry them on by your gracious assistance,
that every prayer and work of ours may begin always with you,
and through you come to completion.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Background/Homework
Have students read Handout A: Background Essay—Personal Conversion and the Fruits of the
Holy Spirit and answer the reflection questions.
Warm-Up
A. Display the image on Handout B: The Conversion of Saint Paul by Luca Giordano. Give students
as much time as possible to view the painting in silence.
B. Arrange students into pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout B.
Have your students discuss the artwork together in groups using the conversation questions on
the back of the handout.
C. Call on groups to share about their discussions, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected
directions.
Activity I
A. Open up a discussion about what sort of things are impossible through our own efforts alone,
but that we can do with God’s help. In fact, the answer is everything!
1. For example, on the natural level, we can work to get better at academics, sports, games,
family life, etc.
2. On the supernatural level, we practice our religion, receive the Sacraments, etc.
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LESSON PLAN
B. Specifically call attention to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: We can participate in a higher form
of action through these gifts; we act with the Holy Spirit in performing charitable works.
C. Then explain that while standing up for what is right may be difficult and counter-cultural,
it is possible with God’s help of grace.
D. Continue to explain in a mini-lecture:
The example of Bartolomé de las Casas shows us that conversion from the sin of racism
and slavery is possible. In fact, it is those who have experienced conversion who are
often the most eloquent witnesses of the evils and dangers of their former way of life.
Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. By coming to know and love God more, we will
be turned to know the truth that he wishes to share with us. While knowing and loving
God does not make our lives suddenly easier, it does show us the truth and value of
creation. By this, we can come to see the need to love every human as being lovingly
created by God.
Bartolomé was a Spanish settler in the New World. There, he owned slaves and
participated in the exploitation of the natives for personal gain. However, by the grace
of God, Bartolomé converted from this evil. Upon reading Sacred Scripture (from the
Book of Ecclesiasticus, or Sirach) he came to recognize the horrors of slavery and
his need to combat it. He returned to Spain to recruit men to preach against slavery
and exploitation. Bartolomé later became a Dominican friar. As a priest (and later as a
bishop), he preached throughout the Spanish colonies on the rights and dignities of the
natives. This former slave owner spent nearly 50 years fighting against slavery and for
the ethical treatment of all people.
E. Have students read the information on Handout C: Biography of Bartolomé de las Casas
and, together with a partner, have them complete Part I by writing three (or more!)
connections they can make between the life of las Casas and the background essay on
Handout A.
F. Invite students to share their responses to Part II. Emphasize that morality (understanding
and doing the right thing) is not a matter of public opinion. Through the Gospel and God’s
grace, we can know with certainty what the truth is and how we should act.
Activity II and Wrap-up
A. Have students spend a few quiet moments reflecting on the prompts on Handout D:
Reflection and Action.
B. Put students into pairs and assign each pair one of the virtues on the handout. After pairs
have shared responses with the class, students should compose their prayers individually.
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit
139
HANDOUT A
Background Essay — Personal Conversion
and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit
If one were to pick out the least likely man
in Palestine to become a Christian, Saul of
Tarsus would have been hard to beat. And yet,
it happened. Saul went from approving the
murder of an innocent Christian, St. Stephen,
to eventually giving his own life for the same
Gospel that St. Stephen died for. Saul, who
after his conversion changed his name to Paul
(meaning “small”), shows us both the possibility
of conversion and the effects that conversion
brings about in the soul.
Along the road to Damascus, Saul met Christ
and his heart was converted. Christ spoke to
Saul personally, telling Saul how his persecution
of others was also a persecution of Christ
himself. Through this encounter, Saul began to
both understand and act for the conversion of
others. The hatred that had consumed his soul
was transformed into charity (or divine love) for
his neighbor.
Fundamentally, conversion is the gift of the
theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
Described by St. Paul himself in 1 Corinthians
13:13, the theological virtues unite the soul to
God by a mode higher than we ourselves are
naturally capable.
Each of the theological virtues perfects the soul
in a particular way:
ӹ By faith, the intellect is perfected to know
that God exists and that his revelation is
true.
ӹ By hope, one desires what God has
promised to each of us personally, namely
communion with him in Heaven.
The Conversion of Saint Paul by Caravaggio.
ӹ By charity, one comes to love God as a
friend and highest good.
ӹ By these gifts, we are more conformed to
Christ and made co-heirs to his promise
and sons and daughters of God.
The theological virtues given in conversion are
necessary because we are fallen creatures: our
intellect and wills have been damaged. However,
in common discussions on racial hatred, there
can be a tendency to treat such evils as solely
a problem of the intellect or knowledge. Even
our term of “ignorance” (literally “not-knowing”)
reveals this belief. Efforts by many to raise
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awareness of racial injustices are not enough;
we must also share the reality of conversion.
Evil is not solely a product of ignorance in the
intellect, but of weakness in the will as well.
One can see many well-intentioned efforts to
reduce racism through education (such as adcampaigns
or public demonstrations) that have
not really touched hearts. It is not just the mind,
but the heart as well that must be converted to
the good. As St. Paul says in Romans, “For I do
not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not
want.” (7:19) In order to overcome racism, there
must be a greater conversion than just in the
intellect.
The good news is that such a conversion is
possible. Our wills and intellects may not be
perfect now, but they can be elevated and
perfected through the gift of God’s grace. Any
consideration of perfecting human society
outside of a consideration of the healing power
of grace is bound to be incomplete.
There have been numerous examples
throughout history of attempts at forming
utopias without God. All have ended in
catastrophe. In the 20th century alone,
both fascist and communist revolutions that
denied God and tried to form a more perfect
society based on reason alone brought about
the deaths of tens of millions. Without God,
humanity’s attempts at forming a more perfect
world are doomed to fail. But, through the
theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity,
both the intellect and the will are brought into
conformity with God. As the Catechism of the
Catholic Church quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa,
“The goal of a virtuous life is to become like
God” (1803). God, who himself is love, shares
himself with us in a particular way through the
theological virtues given in conversion. In each
and every conversion to God, the beginnings
of such a virtuous and God-like life is planted
within us.
This is not to say that after a conversion, we are
free from any inclination to hatred and sin. Far
from it. For most of us, our conversion (or the
beginning of the theological virtues) occurred
at our Baptism as infants. However, Baptism
does not protect us from all future sins. St. Paul
speaks of still having “thorn in the flesh”, or an
attachment to sin, even after his conversion.
Nevertheless, the possibility of turning back to
the Lord is always there. Principally, this is done
through the Sacrament of Confession. While we
ourselves, both collectively and individually, fail
to love God and our brothers and sisters as we
ought, reconversion is always possible.
Conversion is possible and good because
God has promised it and there are countless
examples throughout history. Beyond St. Paul,
the history of the Church is filled with great
conversion stories. For example, Bartolomé de
las Casas was an early Spanish settler and slaveowner
in the New World. One day he heard a
el Apóstol de los Gentiles, by El Greco
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 141
homily by a priest that harshly criticized the
evil actions of the colonists. Moved, de las
Casas turned to Christ. Eventually, he became
a priest and an advocate for the indigenous
people and the enslaved throughout the New
World. Christ touched his heart to repent and
turned him into a powerful witness of the
message of the Gospel.
Let us look at how charity (or love) affects the
soul, the corresponding fruits and gifts of the
Holy Spirit, and how such a reality can give us
hope when dealing with the scourge of racism
within our society. By charity, we come to
know and love our neighbor as ourselves. When
someone becomes another self, there can be
no possibility of racial prejudice or hatred. In
charity, a shared humanity is understood and
loved as another creature made in the image
and likeness of God. Charity involves willing
the authentic good of another, meaning their
salvation.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s
discussion on charity, it turns to St. Paul.
(wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude,
knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord) were
originally described by the prophet Isaiah, and
St. Paul follows in this tradition by describing
those who are led by the Spirit as “If children,
then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ” (Romans 8:17). If we are called
to be fellow heirs with Christ, then we must
recognize our shared dignity with all mankind.
Finally, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are also
given to us by God as first fruits of eternal
glory. Once again, they are described by St.
Paul: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control, and chastity (CCC 1832).
With the fruits, we understand more of what
God is calling each of us to. We are not meant
for mediocrity or a lukewarm attitude towards
others. Rather, we are called to perfect love for
our neighbor. There is no possibility of racial
hatred that can accompany true Christian
charity. As the First Letter of St. John states, “If
anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother,
The Apostle Paul has given an incomparable
depiction of charity: “charity is patient and
kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it
is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but
rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things.”
Accompanying the theological virtue are the
gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The gifts
make one able to respond to the promptings
of the Holy Spirit for growth in holiness. Even
after conversion, God is continually at work
in us to grow closer to him. By a continued
conversion, through the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, we are made more capable of loving
our neighbor more perfectly. The seven gifts
Pope Benedict XVI, photo by Peter Nguyen.Image
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
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he is a liar” (4:20). This extends to those we may
not know well, or even to those we may not
naturally like. As Pope Benedict wrote in the
encyclical Deus Caritas Est “Love of neighbor
is thus shown to be possible in the way
proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in
the very fact that, in God and with God, I love
even the person whom I do not like or even
know. This can only take place on the basis of
an intimate encounter with God, an encounter
which has become a communion of will, even
affecting my feelings” (18).
Despite his past actions, God called St. Paul to
share in his own life and preach the Gospel. It is
remarkable that someone who had participated
in Christian persecutions became one of the
greatest writers on the meaning of Divine
love. Much of what the Church teaches today
on conversion and the duty to love all men
comes from St. Paul. While we may think today
that overcoming great evils, such as racial
injustice, seems impossible, St. Paul gives us a
counter-example. The theological virtues make
perfection possible. We may be fallen creatures
who are weak and sinful, but God invites us to
Through the gift of fortitude, the Holy Spirit
helps martyrs such as St. Charles Lwanga
persevere in Christ even to death. Saint
Charles Lwanga courtesy Phillip K.
share in something much greater that we could
have ever hoped for. Through charity, we share
in God’s own love. Through it, we can come
to recognize and value each person and each
culture in light of Divine love.
Reflection Questions
1. What are the theological virtues? What does each do?
2. Why are the theological virtues necessary?
3. Why is racial prejudice incompatible with Christian charity?
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 143
HANDOUT B
The Conversion of Saint Paul
BY LUCA GIORDANO (C. 1690)
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HANDOUT B
Sacred Art: The Conversion of Saint Paul
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Then think about the
questions below and discuss them with your classmates.
Conversation Questions
1. What do you first notice about this painting?
2. How would you describe the action in the scene?
3. What is the source of light in the painting? What do you think this signifies?
4. How does this painting convey the reality of conversion?
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 145
HANDOUT B
Biography of Bartolomé de las Casas
by ALICE KNIGHT, 1917
Bartolomé de las Casas was the only priest
on the island of Cuba, and at Pentecost he
arranged to go and preach and say mass in the
new town of Sancti Spiritus. In looking for a
text, he came across some verses in the book of
Ecclesiasticus, which made him stop and think
whether after all he was right in making the
Indians work for him as slaves. As de las Casas
read these verses he seemed to hear the voice
of God speaking to his heart. At last his eyes
were opened, and he saw plainly that it was
neither right to take the lands and the property
of the natives nor to hold them as slaves.
For Bartolomé de Las Casas to see the right was
always to do it. He resolved at once to give up
his own Indians and to preach against enslaving
them. He knew very well that if he did this they
might, and probably would, fall into the hands
of those who would not treat them so kindly,
but he realized that he could not preach to
others against slavery while he continued to
possess slaves himself. Therefore, he went at
once to the governor and told him what he had
resolved to do. The governor was very much
astonished, and begged him to consider well
what he was doing and at least to take fifteen
days to think it over. But de las Casas refused
to take even one day, saying that his mind was
made up.
Bartolomé de las Casas preached constantly
and earnestly on the sin of holding the natives
in slavery; but although the Spaniards were
frightened, they were not turned from their evil
Portrait of Bartolomé de Las Casas (c. 1484–1566).
ways, and de las Casas resolved to go to Spain
and see if he could not so present the matter
to the King that the whole system of dividing
up the Indians and their lands among the white
men, to be their property, might be done away
with.
In spite of all obstacles, however, new laws
were finally passed for the Indies. By these laws
the Spaniards were forbidden to divide the
Indians among themselves and force them to
work without reward.
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Reflection Questions
1. Who wrote this document and when did she write it?
2. Write down three connections you can make between this episode in the life of las Casas and
the content of the Background Essay.
3. Discuss with your partner:
4. What prompted Bartolomé de las Casas’ conversion on slavery? What does that teach us about
conversion?
5. Why is it easier to agree with common opinion than to stand up for what is right? What does
the example of Bartolomé de las Casas teach us about the power of God’s grace?
6. How can we work towards ending all forms of injustice?
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 147
HANDOUT D
Reflection and Action
I. Reflection
Directions:
Reflect on the following questions quietly.
1. When was the first time you recall noticing that someone had a different skin color than you?
2. What are your first memories of being around someone who was really different than you?
3. Are there any people in your close circles who have different racial or ethnic backgrounds?
Have you ever talked to them about it?
4. When was the first time you heard a racial slur?
5. Is there someone whose comments or opinions influence your thoughts about race?
6. When was the first time you heard a racist joke? Did you laugh at it?
7. Have you ever seen someone get treated differently because of their race? How did you react?
8. Has a racial slur ever been directed at you? How did it make you feel?
9. Have you ever assumed or made a rash judgment about a person because of the way they look?
Have you ever grouped someone in with others of their racial group, and made assumptions
about them based on that?
10. Has there been a time when you felt embarrassed or upset because you were told you behaved
in a prejudiced or racist way? What led to that happening?
11. What are your thoughts on race and racism now? Do you believe it is a problem in people’s
hearts? Do you think the world has institutions that perpetuate racism?
Based upon your reflection questions, assess yourself. Do you participate in any way in the
perpetuation of prejudice in the world? Have you let it happen around you, even if you don’t
do it yourself? Are you affected by the existence of racism and prejudice in our world? Do
you want hatred and prejudice to end? What can be done?
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II. Developing a Course of Action
Directions:
With a group, focus on your assigned item(s) and determine how that grace could
help people strive to eliminate racism. Be prepared to explain your ideas to the class.
Graces of the Holy Spirit
Faith
Aligning our intellect with God’s Truth
Love
To will the good of the other
Hope
Aligning our will with a desire for Heaven and Divine union
Wisdom
Prudence
Seeing the world in light of the highest end of man; the desire to
contemplate God
Right judgement in action
Justice
Perfects our will, and enables us to give to each their due.
Fortitude
Helps us overcome fear and maintain our will in the face of obstacles
Counsel
Knowledge
Piety
A perfected and supernatural version of prudence, involving sanctifying
grace
A perfected and supernatural version of Faith, allowing us to see life the
way God sees it
Desire born out of love to worship God and serve Him
Understanding
Helps us grasp the essence of the truths of our faith
Reconciliation
Confirmation
Eucharist
Heals damage done by sin and restores our relationship with God;
increases sanctifying grace
Completes the initiation begun in Baptism by imparting the gifts of the
Holy Spirit; prepares a soul to serve the Church’s mission
The source and summit of the Christian life; true communion with the
Person of Jesus Christ himself
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 149
III. Write a Prayer to Make the Action Concrete
Directions:
For this portion of the lesson, work individually. Open your heart to the healing
presence of the Holy Spirit, and write a prayer you can use to invite the Spirit into
your life. Include specific requests for graces of the Spirit.
(For example: Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom as I encounter people I am unfamiliar
with, and let me always have the courage to run to Reconciliation after I’ve thought or
said something that hurts someone’s dignity.)
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
It is the Eucharist that unites the faithful into the one Body of Christ and sustains us in
communion with God and with one another in Christ.
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Answer Key
Handout A: Background Essay—Personal Conversion
and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit
1. Faith perfects our knowledge, by which we know that God exists and that the Christian
revelation is true; Hope perfects our wills, causing us to desire union with God in Heaven;
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our
neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
2. The theological virtues are necessary because we are fallen creatures, with damaged intellects
and wills. As St. Paul says, we often do that which we do not wish to do. We are inclined to sin
and need the elevating power of God’s grace in order to help us know as we ought and to love
our brothers and sisters as we ought.
3. By charity, we love our fellow brothers and sisters as made in the image of God and called to
share in eternal happiness with him. They become “another self” that we are called to love
as God loves. Any hatred or dismissal of someone based upon their race or culture is utterly
against this virtue. We are also made capable of loving more perfectly through the gifts and
fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Handout B: The Conversion of St. Paul
1. Accept reasoned answers. Encourage students to notice details.
2. Accept reasoned answers, for example the scene appears dramatic, active, dynamic, potent,
energetic, powerful, full of motion, and so forth.
3. The source of light is coming from the Sky; student may say the light signifies the Holy Spirit, or
Jesus Christ, or that Paul has just had an encounter with the Living God.
4. The painting conveys the reality that true conversion is a life-changing event, no one in this
painting will ever be the same.
Handout C: Biography of Bartolomé de las Casas
Part I
This history was written by Alice Knight, 1917
Possible answers may include:
1. Both St. Paul and de la Cases experienced conversion through an encounter with Christ.
2. Despite being a slaveholder (even though he was a priest), Bartolomé de las Casas was turned
from his sin by God.
3. Conversion is possible. Even though sin exists, God is able to change hearts.
4. We rely on God in order to achieve such acts of conversion. They are not simply a matter of our
own choices.
5. God works through us to accomplish something greater.
6. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit show how God is continually at work. After his conversion to oppose
slavery, Bartolomé de las Casas continued to be led by God to bravely preach against slavery.
Personal Conversion and Graces of the Holy Spirit 151
Part II
Possible answers may include:
1. It was through reading the Bible that Bartolomé de las Casas came to understand the evil of
slavery. It is God who wants us to turn from sin. By staying close to God, including reading the
Bible, we can be led to understand better how we are to love God and one another.
2. We can be naturally afraid of standing out. It is quite difficult to oppose a crowd. We can be
afraid of what it will cost us. Bartolomé de las Casas shows us that with God’s help, we can
always stand up for what is right.
3. Through the Gospel and the grace of God, we can share with the world the truth about the
goodness of each person, their dignity, and our responsibilities.
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Christ Is the Victory
LESSON 12
Suggested age level: 12 and up
Learning Goals
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“Even though Christ’s victory over sin and death is
complete, we still live in a world affected by them.”
(Open Wide Our Hearts)
Ultimately, sin can only be overcome through Christ’s
grace which effects change in hearts.
Because Christ reveals to us what it is to be human,
Christians have a special responsibility to uphold the
dignity of all human beings and to preach about the
evils of racism.
Because God’s grace works at a personal level, the
conversion and transformation of entire cultures is
entirely possible.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 355–361
ӹ CCC 1929–1939
Key Questions
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Why will education never be enough to eradicate sin,
including the sin of racism?
What are some ways we know the Christian message
is universal?
How did Our Lady evangelize a continent?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
there whom he loved, he said to his mother,
“Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the
disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that
hour the disciple took her into his home.
Now those who had been scattered
went about preaching the word.
from ACTS 8:4
from JOHN 19:26-27
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Lesson Plan
Materials
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Handout A: Background
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Handout B: Transforming
Essay — Christ Is the Victory
Cultures — Our Lady of Guadalupe
Background/Homework
Have older students read Handout A: Background Essay — Christ is the Victory and answer the
reflection questions.
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you. We beg you to grant us a great
love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.
Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, obtain for us that our hearts may
be free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come
to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives
and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
—Adapted from the Prayer of Pope St. John Paul II, Mexico, January 1979.
Warm-Up
A. Project the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Handout B: Transforming Cultures — Our Lady
of Guadalupe.
B. Discuss and reflect on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a class:
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If you have seen this image before, what do you know about it?
What is the first thing you notice about the image?
Can anyone guess how old it is?
What is your favorite thing about it?
C. Present the following information to the class in a mini-lecture, and then discuss the questions
that follow as a large group.
God works to convert hearts and minds through cultural encounters. In 1531, the Catholic Faith
had made few converts in Mexico. Hernan Cortes had landed in Mexico in 1519 and conquered
the Aztecs by 1521. The Aztec religion was a particularly brutal one, with tens of thousands of
people tortured and sacrificed offered each year to appease their fearsome gods. Missionaries
from Spain had attempted to evangelize the indigenous peoples with little success. No amount
of evangelizing and catechizing the native people could make them see that Catholicism was a
religion of a loving God that was open to everyone. However, in 1541, a contemporary historian
reported that around 9 million indigenous people had converted. What had changed in ten
years? A mysterious Lady had appeared to a poor peasant named Juan Diego.
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LESSON PLAN
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Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego and spoke with him as an indigenous woman. Why do you
think she did so? Accept reasoned answers. Some may say she may have done so because Mary
is everyone’s mother, and mothers look and talk like their children.
What significance does that have?
• Accept reasoned answers, being sure to discuss at least two important points:
• First, Our Lady of Guadalupe showed the indigenous people that the Gospel message was
not limited to one race or culture, but was meant for all nations. She appeared to them
as they were, demonstrating their share in the salvific work of her son, Jesus Christ. The
Incarnation had great relevance for them.
• Second, like all sins, racism is a perversion of something good that God has created. When
the indigenous people learned she had appeared as one of them, do you think they thought
in the abstract about the universality of her message? Or is it more likely they simply saw
her as one of their own? We cannot know for certain what they thought, of course, but
it is good and natural to have a special love for one’s own people. When this special love
becomes disordered, leading us to believe in our own peoples’ superiority over others, we
begin to commit the sin, rooted in pride, of prejudice or racism.
Note: Some students may not realize at first that it is good to have a special care for one’s
own people. If you anticipate students challenging this point, we recommend presenting
Handout A: A Human Family from Lesson 5, Sin is the Root of Racism before Handout B.
This exercise takes a Socratic approach, helping students discover why it is true.
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What cultural change came about as a result of this encounter?
Explain that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice on a wide-scale, while the Spanish
themselves had committed atrocities. Nevertheless, the hearts of millions were changed
through real conversion. In 1895, the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe was approved
by Pope Leo XIII. 50 years later, in 1946, just after the end of the Second World War, Pope
Pius XII named her “Patroness of the Americas.”
Activity
Distribute Handout B and have students read it silently or read it aloud as a class. Then have
students reflect on the questions in pairs.
Wrap Up
Invite pairs to share their responses,and then connect the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe to what
you read on Handout A. Our Lady of Guadalupe shows us that more than just education is necessary,
hearts must be changed. The Spanish alone were not able to convert the indigenous people. Rather, it
is the grace of God that accomplishes societal change, and a more just and perfect society.
Christ Is the Victory
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HANDOUT A
Background Essay: Christ Is the Victory
Directions:
Read the essay and answer the reflection questions.
Education alone will never be enough to
eradicate racism. This is partly because
racial hatred, like any sin, is a failure not only
of reason, but of the will. We must address
both of these sources of personal sin — our
darkened intellect and weakened will — through
authentically Catholic education, teaching the
truth of the human person, the significance of
culture, and the Christian call to perfection.
And yet those efforts too will fall short.
Ultimately, sin can only be overcome through
Christ’s grace which effects change in hearts.
The Incarnation
Racial prejudice is possible to overcome
because of the revealed truth of the human
person, and the reality of conversion. The God
who assumed a human nature in order to save
us continues to change hearts and minds. As
the Second Vatican Council taught, “by the
revelation of the mystery of the Father and His
love, Christ fully reveals man to man himself
and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium
et Spes 22). That calling to love is, of course,
incompatible with and indeed antithetical to
racism.
The Incarnation teaches us the dignity and
value of every human person, and also the
gravity of sin. In order to free us from sin and
death, Christ endured the fullness of human
suffering. The Cross instructs us that our sin
has real consequences, but that God Himself
will go to the furthest limits of love in order to
cleanse us of our sins.
Cristo Negro (Black Christ), Iglesia de San Felipel,
Panama. Image courtesy Adam Jones.
Conversion to Christ
While we must continue to educate ourselves
and others of the realities of racism and other
injustices, we must even more allow our hearts
and minds to be transformed by Christ, who
conquered sin and death. We know from
Christian history that such conversion is always
possible.
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From the earliest days of the Church, the call
to evangelize has resulted in the meeting and
union of cultures from all over the world. At
Pentecost, people from all over the world heard
the Apostles preaching the Gospel in their own
native language. Later, during his travels, St.
Philip the Deacon baptized an Ethiopian eunuch.
Likewise St. Paul, who had once persecuted the
Church, encountered the Risen Christ and spent
the rest of his life travelling throughout the
Roman Empire to share the Gospel.
The Universal Church
Because God’s grace works at a personal level,
the conversion and transformation of entire
cultures is entirely possible. We do not erase
cultural differences in working to end racism,
but transform cultures, including our own,
towards the common good in an understanding
of our shared human dignity. The Church
realizes this multiplicity and diversity of
cultures gathered together throughout the
world (CCC 814).
Who would have predicted that the preaching
of the Twelve Apostles, poor men from a
troubled province of the Roman Empire, would
cause a cultural revolution? Early Christians
encountered resistance and persecution. Yet,
within several generations Christianity had
radically changed the Roman Empire. The
Church was instrumental in building hospitals
and caring for the poor. Pope St. Gregory the
Great, a former Roman politician, organized the
almsgiving of the Church. Rome at the time was
This sculpture, marking the site of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
shows the people of Mexico bringing gifts to Our Lady
Christ Is the Victory 157
Stained glass window depicting Christ the King with the regalia of a Byzantine emperor (January 2009).
Photo by John Stephen Dwyer. Image license: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
flooded with refugees from Lombard invasions,
and Gregory ensured that anyone who needed
assistance would receive it regardless of
religion or ethnicity.
Through their reception of the Gospel, the
morals of the people of the Roman Empire
changed. The Church’s teaching on the dignity
of the human person brought to light the evil of
such practices as slavery and human sacrifice.
Human sacrifice was also a practice of the
Aztec empire, which points us to another
prominent example of cultural change: Our
Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance to Juan Diego,
the first indigenous saint from the Americas.
Our Lady appeared as a Mestiza woman in
native dress, and the people embraced her as
they saw her as one of their own.
Because Christ reveals to us what it is to be
human, Christians have a special responsibility
to uphold the dignity of all human beings
and to preach about the evils of racism.
Furthermore, because we know personally the
power of grace, we can also share with the
world the truth that sin can be overcome. Our
ultimate goal of Heaven does not diminish our
responsibilities on earth. As the Catechism of
the Catholic Church states, “Man’s vocation
to eternal life does not suppress, but actually
reinforces, his duty to put into action in this
world the energies and means received from
the Creator to serve justice and peace” (CCC
2820). As all sin wounds communion and human
solidarity, so all graced action builds up the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Perfection in Christ
A more just earthly society is possible, and
we can aim for it in confidence that it can be
accomplished by the grace of God. We are not
called to mediocrity, but to perfection. Such
Christian perfection demands the end of racial
prejudice and a goal of proper justice for all
people. Justice “consists in the constant and
firm will to give their due to God and neighbor”
(CCC 1807). We cannot consider ourselves to
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e a just society if people are excluded from
the means necessary to fulfill their vocation
and reach their final end in God. Society must
provide the conditions that allow people to
obtain what they are due according to their
nature and vocation.
Jesus, who overcame sin and death through
the Cross, can help us overcome our personal
failings and dismantle societal structures of sin.
God desires our hearts and minds to be made
perfect. Such perfection is only possible by His
love and grace.
Reflection Questions
1. Why will education never be enough to eradicate any sin, including racism? What is the danger
involved in thinking that sin is simply the result of ignorance, or in an attitude that uneducated
people sinful and educated people are virtuous?
2. Why is the transformation of entire cultures to Christ possible?
3. Like all sins, racism perverts something magnificent that God has created. It is natural and good
to feel a special love for one’s own people. How does Our Lady’s appearance to St. Juan Diego
show us this truth?
4. Why do Christians have a special responsibility to fight against the injustice of racism?
God choose a specific place and time to be born into a
certain ethnicity. This truth does not diminish the beauty of
artwork for personal devotion which pictures Jesus Christ
differently. The Incarnation teaches us the dignity and value
of every human person, and also the gravity of sin.
Christ Is the Victory 159
HANDOUT B
Transforming Cultures –
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Directions:
The following account of the apparition of Our Lady was written by Don Antonio
Valeriano, a Native American author of the 16th century. Read the account, and then
discuss the questions that follow in small groups.
At daybreak one Saturday morning in
1531, on the very first day of the month
of December, an Indian named Juan Diego
was going from the village where he lived
to Tlatelolco in order to take part in divine
worship and listen to God’s commandments.
When he came near the hill called Tepeyac,
dawn had already come, and Juan Diego heard
someone calling him from the very top of the
hill: “Juanito, Juan Dieguito.”
He went up the hill and caught sight of a lady
of unearthly grandeur whose clothing was as
radiant as the sun. She said to him in words
both gentle and courteous: “Juanito, the
humblest of my children, know and understand
that I am the ever virgin Mary, Mother of the
true God through whom all things live. It is my
ardent desire that a church be erected here
so that in it I can show and bestow my love,
compassion, help, and protection to all who
inhabit this land and to those others who love
me, that they might call upon and confide in
me. Go to the Bishop of Mexico to make known
to him what I greatly desire. Go and put all your
efforts into this.”
When Juan Diego arrived in the presence of the
Bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan,
the latter did not seem to believe Juan Diego
and answered: “Come another time, and I will
listen at leisure.”
The Virgin of Guadalupe.
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Juan Diego returned to the hilltop where the
Heavenly Lady was waiting, and he said to
her: “My Lady, my maiden, I presented your
message to the Bishop, but it seemed that he
did not think it was the truth. For this reason I
beg you to entrust your message to someone
more illustrious who might convey it in order
that they may believe it, for I am only an
insignificant man.”
She answered him: “Humblest of my sons, I ask
that tomorrow you again go to see the Bishop and
tell him that I, the ever virgin holy Mary, Mother
of God, am the one who personally sent you.”
But on the following day, Sunday, the Bishop again
did not believe Juan Diego and told him that some
sign was necessary so that he could believe that it
was the Heavenly Lady herself who sent him. And
then he dismissed Juan Diego.
On Monday Juan Diego did not return. His
uncle, Juan Bernardino, became very ill, and at
night asked Juan to go to Tlatelolco at daybreak
to call a priest to hear his confession. Juan
Diego set out on Tuesday, but he went around
the hill and passed on the other side, toward
the east, so as to arrive quickly in Mexico City
and to avoid being detained by the Heavenly
Lady. But she came out to meet him on that
side of the hill and said to him: “Listen and
understand, my humblest son. There is nothing
to frighten and distress you. Do not let your
heart be troubled, and let nothing upset you. Is
it not I, your Mother, who is here? Are you not
under my protection? Are you not, fortunately,
in my care? Do not let your uncle’s illness
distress you. It is certain that he has already
been cured. Go up to the hilltop, my son, where
you will find flowers of various kinds. Cut them,
and bring them into my presence.”
When Juan Diego reached the peak, he was
astonished that so many Castilian roses had burst
forth at a time when the frost was severe. He
carried the roses in the folds of his tilma (mantle)
to the Heavenly Lady. She said to him: “My son,
this is the proof and the sign which you will bring
to the Bishop so that he will see my will in it. You
are my ambassador, very worthy of trust.”
Juan Diego set out on his way, now content and
sure of succeeding. On arriving in the Bishop’s
presence, he told him: “My lord, I did what
you asked. The Heavenly Lady complied with
your request and fulfilled it. She sent me to the
hilltop to cut some Castilian roses and told me
to bring them to you in person. And this I am
doing, so that you can see in them the sign you
seek in order to carry out her will. Here they
are; receive them.”
A prayer mural dedicated to Our Lady of
Guadalupe in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
He immediately opened up his white mantle,
and as all the different Castilian roses scattered
to the ground, there was drawn on the cloak
and suddenly appeared the precious image of
Christ Is the Victory 161
the ever virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the
same manner as it is today and is kept in her
shrine of Tepeyac. The whole city was stirred
and came to see and admire her venerable
image and to offer prayers to her; and following
the command which the same Heavenly Lady
gave to Juan Bernardino when she restored him
to health, they called her by the name that she
herself had used: “the ever-virgin holy Mary of
Guadalupe.”
Discussion Questions
1. What did Our Lady first call Juan Diego? What is the meaning of the -ito or -ita ending in
Spanish names? What does this reveal about Our Lady and how she regarded Juan Diego?
2. Our Lady spoke to Juan Diego in his own language. In various apparitions, Our Lady spoke to
people in Portugal, France, Rwanda, Italy and other places in their native tongues. What does
this show us about the Gospel message? About the meaning of Pentecost?
3. Our Lady appeared as an indigenous woman in native dress and spoke their language, and the
people embraced her as they saw her as one of their own. Why do you think that Our Lady of
Guadalupe chose to appear as an indigenous woman?
4. You may have seen art depicting Jesus and Mary with features of Europeans, Asians, Africans,
Middle Easterners, etc. Why do you think many artists represent the Holy Family with features
like their own?
5. What does the example of Our Lady of Guadalupe teach us about societal conversion and the
possibility for cultures to change?
6. In what ways does our present society need conversion?
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Answer Key
Handout A: Christ is the Victory
1. Because sin is not just a failure of the intellect, but of the will. Even more, without Christ’s
grace, we can do nothing. Education does not necessarily lead to virtue, and education without
virtue is hazardous.
2. Because Christ’s grace works on individual hearts. Even more, grace works universally and so
can transform all the members of any group: whether it’s a culture or a country or an institution
or a family.
3. No one is closer to Jesus than Mary, who was conceived without sin. If Mary does something,
we can know it is good! Mary is really our mother, and mothers look like their children! Mary
knows we feel a good and natural affection towards our own people, and made use of this part
of our nature in delivering a message so we might be more receptive to it.
4. Because Christ has shown us what it means to be human. And since we know personally the
power of grace, we can also share with the world the truth that sin can be overcome.
Handout B: Transforming Cultures–Our Lady of Guadalupe
1. Juanito which literally means “little Juan.” It shows a certain tenderness, such as that of a
mother towards a child.
2. Our lady embraces all languages to show the universality of the Gospel.
3. Students may say Our Lady was showing the people that she was truly their mother and that
the Incarnation had relevance for them. Our Lady chose to appear to the people as they were in
order to show them their great dignity, which comes from being made in the image of God.
4. All races are called to share in the same goal of salvation. It is not sinful to want to see the Holy
Family depicted as people of our own race. It makes sense to depict the Holy Family in ways
that connect to all different physical features and ethnicities, because Chritianity transcends
nationality, ethnicity, race, etc. All Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. Artistic
representations of the Holy Family should not be viewed as though they were photographs.
Rather, they are the artistic expression of a human being.
5. Change on a societal scale is possible! Within a short period of time, the entirety of a formerlybrutally
violent culture was converted to the Gospel.
6. Accept reasoned answers. Our society needs to recognize each person as a child of God, and to
respect and protect life from conception to natural death. Encourage discussion on racism.
Christ Is the Victory 163
Notes
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Christ Is the Victory
LESSON 13
Suggested age level: 10 and up
Learning Goals
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Christ has overcome all sin. He also heals our
wounds and wants us to forgive as He forgives.
Sts. Mary Magdalene and Katharine Drexel both had
an encounter with the Risen Lord, which moved
them to act.
A true encounter with Christ changes us and helps
us accomplish things we never thought possible.
St. Katharine Drexel is an example of how one
person can make a tremendous difference in
changing a culture for the better.
Connection to the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
ӹ CCC 355–361
ӹ CCC 1929–1939
Key Questions
ӹ
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Is there any sin Jesus cannot help us overcome?
How can one person make a difference in changing
a culture?
BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES
When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had driven seven demons.
She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
from MARK 16:9-11
165
Lesson Plan
Materials
ӹ
Handout A: The Morning of
ӹ
Handout B: Miracles of Jesus
the Resurrection PowerPoint
presentation, “The Miracles
of Christ” available at:
SophiaInstituteforTeachers.org/
CreatedinChristResources
ӹ
ӹ
Handout C: Christ the King
(optional for younger students)
St. Katharine Drexel Saint Card
Handout D: The Difference
One Person Can Make
Opening Prayer
Begin class with the following prayer.
Ever loving God, You called St. Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to
bring the life of the Eucharist to the African and Native American peoples. By her prayers and
example, enable us to work for justice for all. Draw us all into the Eucharistic community of
your Church, that we may be one in you.
Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Warm-Up
A. Display the image on Handout A: The Morning of the Resurrection by Edward Burne-Jones. Give
students as much time as possible to view the painting in silence.
B. Read Mark Chapter 16:1-11, and explain the tradition of the Myrrh Bearers: In the Eastern
Tradition of the Church, the Myrrhbearers were the individuals who went to the tomb after
Jesus died to anoint his body. In the Jewish tradition this would be done for three days after
someone had died. In the Gospel of Mark, three women are listed, but in some traditions there
are as many as seven. St. Mary Magdalene, who is shown in our image, is always listed as one of
the Myrrh Bearers.
C. Arrange students in pairs or trios and give each group a laminated color copy of Handout A.
Have students discuss the conversation questions in group, and then share responses as a large
group, allowing the conversation to go in unexpected directions.
Activity I
A. Write the following phrase on the board: “A victor is someone who conquers.” Then ask the
following questions:
ӹ
What does it mean to conquer? Expect answers like: to win, to overcome, to beat, to
overpower.
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LESSON PLAN
ӹ
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If someone is a victor what does that mean? Someone who is victorious, someone who has
won a contest or a struggle, someone who has defeated an enemy or rival.
How do we know that Christ is the victor over sin and death? Because He rose from the dead.
Sin and death had no power over Him.
B. Explain that Our Lord’s miracles reveal His power over sin and death, and reveal His divinity,
and His victory over sin and death was achieved by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We
know this because of the preaching of the Apostles, and all has been passed on in the deposit of
faith. By His Death and Resurrection, Christ has set us free and given us new life—a new identity
in Him. His miracles all point to this in some way. And because of His victory, people of every
nation and tribe can now be called brothers in Christ.
Distribute Handout B: Miracles of Jesus to your students.
C. Download and go over the PowerPoint presentation, “The Miracles of Christ” from:
SophiaInstituteforTeachers.org/CreatedinChristResources.
D. As you proceed through the PowerPoint, read aloud the Gospel verses indicated on the notes of
each slide, or re-tell the story in your own words:
1. Mark 2: 1-12
2. John 11: 1-4
3. John 2: 1-11
4. Matthew 28 1-8
5. Mark 6: 45-52
6. Mark 3: 1-6
7. Mark 8 1-10
8. Mark 2:1-12
Have students fill out the first column on the chart on Handout B as you proceed.
E. Then go through the images in the slide show a second time and allow your students to answer
the second column.
F. As a follow up ask the students the following questions:
ӹ
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ӹ
Is there anything Jesus cannot do? No! This would be a good opportunity for you as a
teacher to witness to your Faith and share with your students a time you forgave someone a
transgression and Jesus helped you to do so.
How can he conquer the sin and suffering caused by racism? Explain that racism is a belief
in the superiority of one’s own race or ethnic group with respect to others. In other words, the
sin of racism is believing that you are better than other people because of your skin color or
your ethnicity.
Can the sin of racism be fixed, and can the wounds be healed? Allow reasoned discussion,
gently leading students to the conclusion that Christ has overcome all sin, and also heals our
wounds and wants us to forgive as He forgives.
Christ Is the Victory
167
LESSON PLAN
ӹ
ӹ
ӹ
Jesus calls us to be not afraid, and to have courage. What are we to do if we feel
discouraged about sin in the world? Remember that Our Lord suffered and died for us
because His love for us is so great. He is always waiting for us to approach Him in prayer
and through the Sacraments.
What can help build our courage and faith in Christ the victor? Remember that He can
bring people back to life, and calm the sea, and turn water in wine. He can heal souls and
hearts.
How can Christ help us overcome racism? Possible answers include: Open our eyes to
people in need; give us the ability to forgive and be forgiven; free us from anger toward
family members, neighbors, and strangers; make our hearts and souls stronger through the
sacraments; heal the Church from racism here on earth. Affirm students’ responses and how
we can all learn from each others’ experiences.
Optional Activity for Younger Students
A. Print, on magnetic paper if possible, enough copies of Handout C: Christ the King for
students to assemble the puzzle individually or in groups.
B. While the children are putting their puzzles together, read Mark 6:30-44, which illustrates
the power of Jesus Christ.
C. After reading the passage, emphasize the following points:
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Jesus shows compassion on his disciples and tells them to rest.
He sees the crowds and has pity on them and begins to teach.
It’s dinner time so the disciples suggest sending the people away.
Jesus, however, performs a miracle by feeding thousands with only five loaves and two fish.
Jesus can overcome anything! Jesus cares for their souls and their bodies by teaching
them and giving them food.
Activity II
A. Explain in a mini lecture: We look to the shining example of the saints as we seek to imitate
the love of Christ in our own lives. They show us what it means to truly follow Christ. We
in the U.S. have the example of a woman who devoted her life to upholding the dignity of
Black and Native American people, St. Katharine Drexel. She is known for having said, “Have
a cordial respect for others in heart and mind; if there is any prejudice in the mind we must
uproot it, or it will pull us down.” These words guided her throughout her long life.
B. Distribute the St. Katharine Drexel saint card from Appendix A and read it as a class.
C. Share the following with your students: St. Katharine Drexel founded 145 missions, 12 schools
for Native American children, and 50 schools for African American children.
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LESSON PLAN
D. Distribute Handout D: The Difference One Person Can Make. Have the students identify
the location of the eight schools on the map of the United States. See if they can identify
which school is closest to you. If possible, visit the schools’ websites and show your
students pictures of students attending those schools today.
1. St. Francis de Sales School for Girls, Powhatan, Virginia
2. St. Mark the Evangelist, Harlem, NYC, New York
3. St. Peter Claver Catholic School, Macon, Georgia
4. Xavier University, New Orleans, Louisiana
5. St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory, New Orleans, Louisiana
6. St. Catherine’s Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico
7. Immaculate Mother Academy, Nashville, Tennessee
8. St. Michael Indian School, St. Michael’s, Arizona
E. Explain that this list is just a fraction of the many schools and missions she founded. One
person responding to God’s call can have a major impact.
Wrap Up
A. Guide your students to reflect on the following:
Both Mary Magdalene and Katharine Drexel had an encounter with the Risen Lord. This
encounter moved them to act. A true encounter with Christ changes you and helps you
accomplish things you never thought possible. Mary Magdalene had the courage to tell
the Apostles that Christ was Risen. Katharine Drexel had the courage to embark on a
mission to help those wrongly deemed by society to have less dignity.
B. Have students journal or sketch for 5-10 minutes in response to this question.When we
encounter Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and in our lives, how are we called to action in our
communities?
Christ Is the Victory
169
HANDOUT A
The Morning of the Resurrection
BY EDWARD BURNE JONES (1886)
Oil on wood, 848mm x 1511mm, Tate Britain London, England
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HANDOUT A
Sacred Art: The Morning of the Resurrection
Directions:
Take some time to quietly view and reflect on the art. Read the story of the
Myrrh Bearers. Then think about the questions below and discuss them with your
classmates.
The Story of the Myrrh Bearers
In the Eastern Tradition of the Church, the Myrrhbearers
were the individuals who went to the tomb after Jesus died
to anoint his body. In the Jewish tradition this would be done
for three days after someone had died. In the Gospel of Mark,
three women are listed, but in some traditions there are as
many as seven. St. Mary Magdalene is always listed as one of
the Myrrh Bearers.
Conversation Questions
1. What stands out to you about this painting?
2. Who are the figures in the painting?
3. What event has just taken place? Who went to the tomb the day after the Sabbath and why
were they going there?
4. How would you describe the expression St. Mary Magdalene has on her face?
5. What lessons can be learned from St. Mary Magdalene and the other Myrrh Bearers?
Christ Is the Victory 171
HANDOUT B
Miracles of Jesus
Directions:
For each painting, fill in the chart below based on the class discussion.
What miracle is Jesus
performing?
How is He conquering sin, suffering,
and death?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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HANDOUT C
Christ the King (optional for younger students)
Christ Is the Victory 173
HANDOUT D
The Difference One Person Can Make
Directions:
Find the schools on the list below and plot them on the map below. You may need to
use a more detailed map to find some of the locations.
1. St. Michael Indian School
St. Michael’s, Arizona
2. St. Mark the Evangelist, Harlem
New York, New York
3. St. Peter Claver Catholic School
Macon, Georgia
4. Xavier University
New Orleans, Louisiana
5. St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory
New Orleans, Louisiana
6. St. Catherine’s Indian School
Santa Fe, New Mexico
7. Immaculate Mother Academy
Nashville, Tennessee
8. St. Francis de Sales School for Girls
Powhatan, Virginia
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Answer Key
Handout A: The Morning of the Resurrection
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Mary Magdalene, two angels, and Jesus
3. They are outside of Jesus’ tomb.
4. Accept reasoned answers.
5. Accept reasoned answers. Answers may include courage in the face of fear and love for Jesus
that helped them overcome their fears.
Handout B: Miracles of Jesus
What miracle is Jesus performing?
How is He conquering sin, suffering, and death?
1 Healing the Man Born Blind Conquering suffering, and the effects of the Fall
2 Raising Lazarus from the Dead
Conquering death, showing He can bring people
back to life.
3
Turning water into wine at the
Wedding at Cana
Conquering want (lack of things we need), saving
the couple from the suffering of embarrassment.
Jesus provides for all our needs!
4 Rising from the Dead Conquering death, and sin.
5 Walking on Water
Showing that He has power over nature, and can
conquer death
6 Healing the Withered Hand Conquering suffering and effects of sin
7
Feeding the multitude through
Multiplication of the Loaves and
Fishes
Conquering want (lack of things we need). Jesus
provides for all our needs!
8 Healing of the Paralytic Conquering sin, and suffering
Christ Is the Victory 175
Handout D: The Difference One Person Can Make
2
1
8
6
7
3
4/5
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APPENDIX A
Saint Cards
The Saints provide us wonderful models of holiness, help us
on our way to Heaven, and help us see the true universality
of Christ’s saving mission. As a resource to help your
students learn about the Catholic response to the sin of
racism, we have compiled short stories of saints from
varying ethnic backgrounds who served Christ and their
neighbor in ways that testify to the equal dignity of all
human beings made in the image of God.
Note: Many of the lives of the saints are filled with deep
suffering and violence. Please be sure to preview the
stories in order to determine if they would be appropriate
for your students.
St. Benedict the African
Benedict was the son of slaves in Italy, though he had been born free.
One day, a low and ignorant man yelled hateful words to Benedict,
insulting the color of his dark skin. Those cruel words hurt Benedict.
But then he remembered how cruel soldiers and the ignorant crowd
had hurled insults at Jesus on the Cross. Jesus had not gotten angry,
nor did he use His divine power to punish those who had insulted him.
Instead, He not only forgave His enemies, He died for them.
And so Benedict decided to follow Jesus’s example. He restrained
his anger, even though he was hurt, and the low, ignorant man went
Image Courtesy
away. A Franciscan hermit had witnessed Benedict’s patience and
A. Currell
forgiveness. He saw that Benedict had a holy soul. The hermit asked
him if he, too, wanted to become a Franciscan and dedicate his life
1526–1589
to the love and service of God. Benedict’s heart filled with joy as he
Sicily
realized that God the Father was rewarding him by calling him to
follow Jesus in a special way.
Feast Day:
Benedict became a Franciscan friar and started off as the friary’s
April 3
cook. He loved the tastes and smells of the kitchen and serving food
to his fellow friars, and cooking became a great joy for him. He did not
stay a cook long, however, and soon became the master of the novices,
which means that he looked after all young men that were new to
the Franciscan community. Even though Benedict never learned
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions
how to read, he became known for his wise understanding and deep
spirituality — so much so that he eventually became the superior of his
religious community.
A group of priests called the White Fathers traveled to Uganda in
All throughout his advancements, Benedict’s love for cooking
Africa, and King Muteesa, the Ugandan king, received them with
remained. In his later years, he would return to the kitchen to cook for
friendliness and kindness. Charles Lwanga, a 25-year-old page in the
his fellow friars. In this, he followed Jesus’s example; even though Jesus
king’s court, listened to the White Fathers’ message and became a
is the Son of God and God Himself, He served others when He was
catechumen (someone who is preparing to be baptized).
here on earth, even washing His Apostles’ feet during the Last Supper.
King Muteesa died, and his son, King Mwanga, took the throne.
So Benedict served his fellow friars although he was their leader,
The new king was a cruel and sinful ruler who persecuted Christians.
performing the loving task of cooking their meals. At the age of sixtythree,
Benedict passed away in a holy death. He was so beloved by his
The head of the king’s pages was a Catholic, and he begged the king
to stop his persecutions and to give up his sinful life. Furious, the king
Saint Charles
community that the king of Spain ordered a magnificent tomb to be
had him beheaded. The courageous Charles Lwanga took his place as
Lwanga, courtesy
built for the humble friar who had followed Jesus’s example all of his
Phillip K. the head of the king’s pages. He knew that all the Christians at court
life. St. Benedict the African, help me to follow Jesus as closely as I can!
were in danger. Even so, that very night, he sneaked out of the palace
and went to the White Fathers to be baptized. Then he watched over
d. 1886
the secret instruction in the Catholic Faith of the young pages at
Uganda
court.
One day, the king discovered one of the boys studying his
Feast Day: catechism. Immediately, he ordered all of the pages in the court to
June 3
gather before APPENDIX him. Then, A: SAINT in an ominous CARDS voice, he ordered all the
185
Christians to reveal themselves. Fifteen boys—including Charles
Lwanga—stepped forward. The youngest of the boys, Kizito, was only
13 years old.
King Mwanga asked the boys if they planned to remain Christians.
“To death!” all 15 cried.
The king’s eyes flashed. “So be it!” he cried. And he ordered their
execution. Soldiers marched Charles Lwanga and his companions 37
miles to their place of execution. Charles Lwanga held his head high,
and little Kizito joked and laughed. They were not afraid to die for
Jesus.
When they arrived at their place of execution, the prisoners built
their own funeral pyre. A soldier wrapped Charles Lwanga in a mat
of sticks and set his feet on fire. His last groan was a prayer to God.
The rest of the boys were martyred for refusing to give up their Faith.
They all became glorious martyrs in Heaven. St. Charles Lwanga and
Companions, help me to be brave for Jesus!
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 193
St. Josephine Bakhita ................................................................179
Sts. Mark Chong Lu-Bai and Alexius U Se-Yong ........................................180
St. Benedict the African (or the Moor) .................................................181
St. Peter Claver .....................................................................182
St. Damien of Molokai ...............................................................183
St. Juan Diego ......................................................................184
St. Katharine Drexel .................................................................185
St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne .........................................................186
St. Elesbaan of Ethiopia ..............................................................187
St. Paulus Liu Hanzuo ...............................................................188
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions ..................................................189
St. Paul Miki ........................................................................190
St. Turibius Alfonso de Mogrovejo ....................................................191
St. Martin de Porres .................................................................192
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 177
Bl. Miguel Agustin Pro ...............................................................193
St. Junípero Serra ...................................................................194
St. Teresa of the Andes ...............................................................195
St. Kateri Tekakwitha ................................................................196
Venerable Augustus Tolton ..........................................................197
Venerable Pierre Toussaint ..........................................................198
Additional Resources
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5 Hispanic American Saints Perhaps You Didn’t Know:
SophiaOnline.org/HispanicAmericanSaints
The Holy Perseverance of Six Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood:
SophiaOnline.org/HolyPerseverance
Black Catholic Saints and Martyrs: SophiaOnline.org/SaintsandMartyrs
120 Saints and Martyrs of China: SophiaOnlineorg/SaintsofChina
Asia Icons (Catholicism’s role in Asian culture through the centuries):
SophiaOnline.org/AsiaIcons
The stories and coloring pages in this guide are from the
Day by Day
Coloring Book
of Saints
SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Find a saint story and coloring
page for every day!
SophiaOnline.org/DayByDay
178
© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
St. Josephine Bakhita
A nine-year-old girl was walking with a friend in the fields of the
Sudan in Africa. Two strange men appeared and ordered the girl to
go pick fruit in the forest for them. Her friend they sent away. In the
forest, the men seized the little girl, brought her to their town, and
made her a slave. She was so frightened that she forgot her name.
Because she could not remember her name, the slave raiders called
her Bakhita, which means “fortunate one.”
c. 1869–1947
Sudan
Feast Day:
February 8
But Bakhita did not feel fortunate. In all, she was sold to five
different masters. One of her masters was especially cruel and would
beat the young Bakhita terribly. Her fifth master was an Italian man
named Calixto Leganini, who served as an Italian consul in the Sudan.
For the first time, Bakhita felt she might be fortunate because Leganini
did not beat her or whip her. When Leganini returned to Italy, he
brought Bakhita with him. At the Italian harbor, the wife of one of
Leganini’s friends, Mrs. Michieli, begged him for one of his slaves.
Leganini gave Bakhita to Mrs. Michieli.
Mrs. Michieli took Bakhita home to watch over her daughter.
When she and her husband left to manage a hotel in the Sudan,
they left Bakhita and their daughter in Italy under the care of the
Canossa Sisters of Venice. At the convent, Bakhita’s soul was set free.
The sisters taught Bakhita about God and His love for her. Bakhita
realized that she had been longing for God all of her life, but only now
understood that longing. She was baptized into the Catholic Faith and
took the name Josephine.
Soon Mrs. Michieli returned to Italy. She wanted to take Josephine
Bakhita and her daughter back to Africa. All of her life, Josephine
Bakhita had done what her masters commanded out of fear. But now
she knew that she should serve no one but God. She refused to leave
the convent, and Mrs. Michieli was angry. But the sisters stood by
Josephine Bakhita. They declared that since slavery was illegal in Italy,
Josephine Bakhita was free to stay if she wished.
Josephine Bakhita stayed at the convent and became a nun. Now
she felt truly fortunate because all of her suffering had brought her to
God. For the next 50 years of her life, she performed her duties at the
convent and served God’s poor with quiet humility and love. She even
forgave her captors. On her deathbed, her last words were “Madonna,”
a final prayer to Mary. St. Josephine Bakhita, show me how serving
God sets me free!
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 179
Sts. Mark Chong Lu-Bai and Alexius U Se-Yong
1795–1866
and
1845–1866
Korea
The Korean
Martyrs
Feast Day:
March 11
During the 1800s, Catholicism was outlawed in Korea. Catholic
missionary priests and Korean converts were hunted down and put to
death. Among these brave Korean martyrs were Sts. Mark Chong Lu-
Bai and Alexius U Se-Yong. Mark Chong Lu-Bai was a teacher in Korea.
One day, he saw two priests put to death for teaching the Catholic
Faith to the Koreans. The calm and peaceful way they approached
their death inspired Mark Chong Lu-Bai. He wanted to learn more
about this Jesus for whom they so willingly died. There were no books
written in Korean about Jesus, so he found some books about Him
written in Chinese. The more he read, the more his heart sang within
him. This Jesus had suffered and died for the whole world. This meant
that Jesus had died for him, too, and for the people in Korea.
Even though it was dangerous, Mark Chong Lu-Bai was baptized
into the Catholic Faith. He became a catechist and taught the Faith to
other Koreans. One of the converts he taught was the young Alexius
U Se-Yong. Alexius U Se- Yong was a wealthy nobleman. His family
was opposed to his conversion, but his heart was so on fire for Jesus
that he left his rich family to work with the Catholic missionaries. To
help the missionaries, he translated a catechism into Korean so that
the people could read about the Faith.
But then a terrible persecution broke out, and Mark Chong Lu-
Bai and Alexius U Se-Yong behaved in two very different ways. Mark
Chong Lu-Bai was offered the chance to escape, but he did not take
it. He knew that God wanted him to serve the persecuted Koreans
who were unable to leave. He was caught by his neighbors and family,
who beat him terribly before they sent him to prison. Through it all,
Mark Chong Lu-Bai remained strong in his Faith. Alexius U Se-Yong,
however, did not have Mark Chong Lu-Bai’s strength. His fear was
stronger than the fire of love in his heart. When the persecutors
arrived, he gave up his Faith and denied Jesus. Afterward, Alexius U Se-
Yong was sorry. His fear had made him do a terrible thing. He rushed
to his bishop, confessed his sin, and received forgiveness. Then he was
arrested and imprisoned with Mark Chong Lu-Bai. Together they were
tortured and executed along with other Korean Catholics and became
glorious martyrs for the Faith. Sts. Mark Chong Lu-Bai and Alexius U
Se-Yong, please help my heart be full of love for Jesus!
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St. Benedict the African
Benedict was the son of slaves in Italy, though he had been born free.
One day, a low and ignorant man yelled hateful words to Benedict,
insulting the color of his dark skin. Those cruel words hurt Benedict.
But then he remembered how cruel soldiers and the ignorant crowd
had hurled insults at Jesus on the Cross. Jesus had not gotten angry,
nor did He use His divine power to punish those who had insulted him.
Instead, He not only forgave His enemies, He died for them.
Image Courtesy
A. Currell
1526–1589
Sicily
Feast Day:
April 3
And so Benedict decided to follow Jesus’s example. He restrained
his anger, even though he was hurt, and the low, ignorant man went
away. A Franciscan hermit had witnessed Benedict’s patience and
forgiveness. He saw that Benedict had a holy soul. The hermit asked
him if he, too, wanted to become a Franciscan and dedicate his life
to the love and service of God. Benedict’s heart filled with joy as he
realized that God the Father was rewarding him by calling him to
follow Jesus in a special way.
Benedict became a Franciscan friar and started off as the friary’s
cook. He loved the tastes and smells of the kitchen and serving food
to his fellow friars, and cooking became a great joy for him. He did not
stay a cook long, however, and soon became the master of the novices,
which means that he looked after all young men that were new to
the Franciscan community. Even though Benedict never learned
how to read, he became known for his wise understanding and deep
spirituality — so much so that he eventually became the superior of his
religious community.
All throughout his advancements, Benedict’s love for cooking
remained. In his later years, he would return to the kitchen to cook for
his fellow friars. In this, he followed Jesus’s example; even though Jesus
is the Son of God and God Himself, He served others when He was
here on earth, even washing His Apostles’ feet during the Last Supper.
So Benedict served his fellow friars although he was their leader,
performing the loving task of cooking their meals. At the age of sixtythree,
Benedict passed away in a holy death. He was so beloved by his
community that the king of Spain ordered a magnificent tomb to be
built for the humble friar who had followed Jesus’s example all of his
life. St. Benedict the African, help me to follow Jesus as closely as I can!
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 181
St. Peter Claver
Peter Claver bravely entered the hold of the ship, carrying medicine,
food, and wash towels. His heart wept at what he saw there. Enslaved
people, chained and fettered, were so packed together they could
barely move. The hull was dark and the air heavy with sweat and
disease. He knelt among the slaves, washing and applying medicine
to their wounds. His touch was gentle. His words in the Kongo
language were kind. His lips formed a silent prayer.
1581–1654
Spain
Feast Day:
September 9
Peter was a priest. He had left Spain to become a missionary in
Cartagena, the great harbor city of Colombia. Ten thousand African
slaves arrived at the port each year, where they were bought and
sold. Fr. Peter did not know how men could treat other men so.
Slavery was evil. The way his Spanish brethren treated the Africans
was a terrible sin. He would do everything he could to care for the
slaves and bring them to Jesus. He called himself the “slave of slaves.”
When the slaves left the ship, Fr. Peter Claver would wrap the sick
and injured in his cloak and carry them to the hospital. Sometimes,
his very touch healed the sick.
To the healthy, Fr. Peter spoke about Jesus and how Jesus had
died for them. He told them that they were children of God who had
great worth and dignity, no matter what others told them or how
they were treated. Peter baptized three hundred thousand African
slaves. He invited people of all backgrounds to his church, ignoring
anyone who complained about the African slaves.
Fr. Peter’s face was always sad. He knew that when people
rejected the enslaved people, they rejected God. He cared for, taught,
and baptized slaves until he turned 70 and caught the plague. He did
not die immediately, but he had to stay in bed for the last four years
of his life. He offered all of his suffering to God before he died a holy
death.
St. Peter Claver, help me to treat everyone like a child of God!
182
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St. Damien of Molokai
More than anything, young Damien wanted to be a missionary. His
older brother had joined the order of the Congregation of the Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and Damien followed in his brother’s
footsteps and also joined the order. He continued to pray hard to be
a missionary, but it was his older brother who was selected to go on
a mission to Hawaii. It seemed as if Br. Damien’s prayer would not be
answered.
1840–1889
Belgium
Feast Day:
May 10
Then, right before he left, Br. Damien’s older brother fell sick, and
Br. Damien asked to go in his place. Permission was granted, and Br.
Damien set sail for Hawaii. Soon after Br. Damien landed in Honolulu,
he was ordained a priest. There was an outbreak of leprosy in the
kingdom of Hawaii. At that time, leprosy was an incurable disease that
damaged the skin and the nerves. The Hawaiians were so afraid of
leprosy that they quarantined the worst cases in a colony on the island
of Molokai. Not even doctors and nurses went to Molokai because
they were afraid of catching leprosy, too. Fr. Damien saw that that the
lepers of Molokai needed a priest to share the love of Jesus with them
and give them hope. And so he volunteered to go to Molokai.
Fr. Damien was tough, brave, and determined. He took care
of the lepers’ bodies as well as their souls. He dressed their sores;
constructed coffins and dug graves; and built them a school, a
church, and many homes. Fr. Damien said Mass for the lepers and
heard their confessions. He told them that their lives were precious
in the eyes of God. He spent many years comforting them and
teaching them the Faith.
One evening, Fr. Damien was preparing his bath, and the water
was so hot that it was scalding. He accidentally stepped into the hot
water—but his foot felt nothing. Fr. Damien knew that he had caught
leprosy. The nerves in his foot were so damaged by the illness that
he felt no pain from the burning water. But leprosy did not stop Fr.
Damien. His illness only made him work harder because now he
knew he had less time to take care of his beloved lepers. He dragged
his bandaged foot behind him as he traveled from sick bed to sick
bed. Eventually, a nun traveled to Molokai to take care of him as he
lay dying. The nun’s name was Sister Marianne Cope. She, too, was a
missionary and would also become a saint. She promised to carry on
Fr. Damien’s work and watched over him until he died a holy death. St.
Damien of Molokai, help me never to be afraid to take care of others!
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 183
St. Juan Diego
In Mexico, an Aztec boy was born named Cuauhtlatoatzin, which
means “the Eagle-who-Speaks.” Raised by his uncle, he married a young
Aztec woman and lived humbly as a farmer. Like all Aztecs, the couple
worshiped many gods. But the false Aztec gods were very different from
the one, true God. They were violent and demanded human sacrifice.
Image Courtesy
Fr. Lawrence
Lew, O.P.
1474–1548
Mexico
Feast Day:
December 9
Then, the Spaniard Hernán Cortés came and, along with him, the
Franciscan friars. The friars spoke of Jesus, who loved us so much that
He died for us. The love of Jesus spoke to Cuauhtlatoatzin’s heart, and
he and his wife became some of the first Aztecs to be baptized. They
took the names Juan Diego and Maria Luisa. When Maria Luisa died,
Juan Diego went to live with his uncle. He lived a simple life of prayer,
and early every Saturday morning, he made the hour-long walk to
the Franciscan church near Mexico City to hear Mass in honor of Our
Lady. One Saturday morning, as he passed by Tepeyac Hill, he heard
a gentle voice calling his name. Quickly, he climbed the hill, where
he found the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her mestizo
complexion was radiant. The woman told him that she was Mary, the
Mother of God, and that she wished him to go to the bishop and ask
him to build a church in her honor.
Juan Diego did as Our Lady asked. But he was just a humble man,
so the bishop did not believe him and asked for a sign. On his return,
Our Lady promised Juan Diego she would give him a sign the next
day. The next morning, however, Juan Diego’s uncle fell terribly ill, and
Juan Diego stayed home. Finally, he went to fetch a priest to give his
uncle last rites.
Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego on the road and promised that
his uncle would be all right. Then, she pointed to the top of Tepeyac
Hill and told him to gather the roses he would find there. These he
gathered and showed to the bishop. But when he opened his tilma (a
cloak), the roses tumbled to the ground, and imprinted on his tilma was
a miraculous image of Our Lady. The bishop fell on his knees and gave
thanks to Our Lady for her sign. Juan Diego returned home and found
his uncle cured, just as Our Lady had promised.
The bishop built Mary’s church on Tepeyac Hill, which housed
Mary’s miraculous image. Beside the church was a little hermitage for
Juan Diego, who spent the rest of his life welcoming pilgrims to the
church. Many miraculous healings occurred to those who prayed before
Mary’s image, and millions of Mexican Indians converted to the Catholic
Faith. St. Juan Diego, help me humbly serve Jesus and Mary!
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St. Katharine Drexel
Would you give up a life of wealth and comfort to serve those
whom society viewed as having less dignity because of their race?
St. Katharine Drexel spent her life in the service of the poor and
oppressed.
1858-1955
United States
of America
Feast Day:
March 3
Young Katharine was the daughter of a wealthy banker in
Philadelphia. Raised as a young heiress, she received her education
from private tutors, toured Europe, and entered into high society.
But after the experience of nursing her stepmother for three years
through terminal cancer, she realized that money could not protect
her from pain and suffering. She grew close to Jesus in the Eucharist
and through this devotion she was able to see Jesus in the poor and
oppressed.
Katharine’s father took her on trips through the western states,
and she saw the suffering and poverty of the Native Americans.
She went to visit Pope Leo XIII in Rome and asked that he send
missionaries to help the Native Americans. She was surprised when the
pope told her that she should become a missionary herself! Katharine
listened and joined the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia society was shocked! The newspapers ran the
headline, “Miss Drexel Enters a Catholic Convent—Gives Up Seven
Million.” People couldn’t believe that Sr. Katharine would give up
her wealth to serve the poor. Sr. Katharine paid for the printing of a
catechism in the Navajo language. She founded the Blessed Sacrament
Sisters and used her fortune to fund its work. The nuns opened
schools for Native American and African American children. She
opened more than 60 schools to educate African American and Native
American children, including Xavier University (still the only Catholic
historically Black college), dedicating her life and fortune of 20 million
dollars to helping others.
Sr. Katharine’s efforts to help African Americans were constantly
opposed, first with empty legal threats, and eventually with threats
of violence, including bomb threats. Through it all, Sr. Katharine kept
her focus on Jesus in the Eucharist and encouraged her sisters to do
the same so they could continue to serve with true joy. Later in life, Sr.
Katharine suffered a heart attack, so she had to give up the leadership
of her order. For her last eighteen years she could barely move because
of a serious illness. She spent the rest of her life in deep prayer in front
of the Blessed Sacrament and died a holy death in 1955. St. Katharine
Drexel, help me to serve the poor and oppressed!
APPENDIX A: SAINT CARDS 185
St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne
Image Courtesy
Fr. Lawrence
Lew, O.P.
1769–1852
France
Feast Day:
November 18
Young Philippine Duchesne’s eyes grew wide as the priest told
stories of his adventures in the New World, where he had brought
the Gospel from France to the Native Americans, who had never
heard of Jesus. As she left the church, she dreamed of someday
becoming a missionary in America to share Jesus’ love with others.
Many years would go by and she would suffer many trials before
this dream came to pass. Philippine studied with Visitation nuns at
their convent on a mountainside. Through her time with the kind,
prayerful nuns, Philippine discovered that God, too, was calling her
to join the order. Her family was large and wealthy, and her father
did not want her to become a nun. He pulled her from the convent
school, and she spent the last years of her education studying at
home. But that did not keep her from listening to God’s call, and she
entered the Visitation order when she turned 19.
But Sr. Philippine was not a nun for long before the terrors of
the French Revolution struck and the revolutionaries closed all the
convents. Sr. Philippine and the other sisters had to flee. For 10 years,
Sr. Philippine cared for the poor and the sick, living her life as a nun
out in the world. When the revolution was over, she joined the sisters
of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
Now the dream God had placed in Sr. Philippine’s heart since
she was a child was about to come true. Sr. Philippine’s mother
superior sent her and four other sisters to Louisiana in America to be
missionaries. The journey was long, and Sr. Philippine fell so sick she
almost died! When the sisters finally landed, they discovered that the
bishop had not prepared a place for them. So they traveled to Saint
Charles, Missouri, where they built a log cabin and opened a school.
For many years, Sr. Philippine Duchesne shared the Gospel
of Jesus in the harsh, pioneering conditions of the Midwest. She
founded six other houses, along with schools and orphanages,
and worked to serve the Native American communities. When she
turned 71, Sr. Philippine was asked to join a mission evangelizing
the Potawatomi tribe in Kansas. Because she could not learn the
language, she spent her time there in prayer, and her holiness was