by Christin Tomy
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July 8, 2016
"Why do we need the church? Why should we even look to the church to end racism when we can find other, better spaces to do that?"
The college student's question was directed to Fr. Bryan Massingale, a Milwaukee priest and prominent Catholic voice for racial justice, during a post-Ferguson lecture in St. Louis last year.
His response to the young woman? He was grateful for the question, he said, because it was both an indictment and a challenge. We as people of faith should be leading the charge of justice, but we are not. We are squandering the precious gift of faith that we should be passing on, and as a result many young people are finding the church irrelevant.
