ROCKFORD—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked that a Day of Prayer for Peace in Our Communities be celebrated on the feast of St. Peter Claver, Sept. 9, and to serve as a focal point for the work of a new task force formed this summer after recent national incidents of violence and racial tension.
Due to the death and funeral of Bishop Emeritus Thomas G. Doran on that day, Catholics in the Rockford Diocese will be asked to join in this effort the weekend of Sept. 16-18. The special prayer issued by the USCCB will be made available in parishes and Bishop David Malloy encourages diocesan Catholics to add this to their daily prayers during that weekend.
PRAYER FOR PEACE IN OUR COMMUNITIES
Let us pray . . . Copyright © 2016, Therese Wilson-Favors. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Scripture quote taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition, copyright © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. |
President of the USCCB, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, KY invited all dioceses across the country to unite in a Day of Prayer for Peace in Our Communities and appointed a special task force to support bishops in marking that Day of Prayer, and more broadly, in promoting peace and healing during this time of great strain on civil society.
“I have stressed the need to look toward additional ways of nurturing an open, honest and civil dialogue on issues of race relations, restorative justice, mental health, economic opportunity, and addressing the question of pervasive gun violence,” Archbishop Kurtz said. “The Day of Prayer and special Task Force will help us advance in that direction. By stepping forward to embrace the suffering, through unified, concrete action animated by the love of Christ, we hope to nurture peace and build bridges of communication and mutual aid in our own communities.”
The purpose of the Task Force is to help bishops engage the challenging problems directly, by various means: gathering and disseminating supportive resources and “best practices”; actively listening to the concerns of members in troubled communities and law enforcement; and building strong relationships to help prevent and resolve conflicts. The Task Force will conclude its work with a report on its activities and recommendations for future work to the November General Assembly.
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, former USCCB president, will chair the task force.
“I am honored to lead this Task Force which will assist my brother bishops, individually and as a group, to accompany suffering communities on the path toward peace and reconciliation,” said Archbishop Gregory. “We are one body in Christ, so we must walk with our brothers and sisters and renew our commitment to promote healing. The suffering is not somewhere else, or someone else’s; it is our own, in our very dioceses.”
Other members are: Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Social Development; Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee for African American Affairs; Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, Bishop Emeritus of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, former chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, member of the USCCB Subcommittee for African American Affairs, and member of the board of the National Black Catholic Congress; and Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.