A Sin That Cries Out to Heaven for Justice

USCCB Statements on Mr. George Floyd and Protests

• Statement of U.S. Bishop Chairmen in Wake of Death of George Floyd and National Protests

• Statement of U.S. Bishops’ President on George Floyd and the Protests in American Cities

A sin that cries out to heaven for justice

Today is the Memorial of St. Boniface (d. 754), bishop and martyr. In the Office of Readings, we read from one of his letters:

[T]he Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course. The ancient fathers . . . did by teaching and defending her, by their labors and sufferings, even to the shedding of blood. I am terrified when I think of all this. Fear and trembling came upon me and the darkness of my sins almost covered me. I would gladly give up the task of guiding the Church which I have accepted if I could find such an action warranted by the example of the fathers or by holy Scripture.

Perhaps we too are terrified, and would gladly avoid the task of doing the hard, painful work of justice—in our own hearts, in our private lives, in our communities, and in the world. Fear and selfishness tempt us to ask, like Cain after he murdered his brother: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. (Genesis 4:9–10)

Jesus shows us the way: we must defend our brothers and sisters of color, even with our lives.

Take up your cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)