The Bishop Writes

(From the June 10, 1999 edition of the Inland Register)

Over the last couple of months, all of us have seen the unfolding tragedy in Kosovo. Ethnic cleansing, with the loss of tens of thousands of lives (or more); refugees in the hundreds of thousands who have fled their homes and have lost everything. These are some of the tragic consequences of decisions made by national leaders. In addition, the infrastructure of Yugoslavia is gradually being destroyed. It may well take decades to rebuild. People are suffering terribly, in many ways.

Kosovo is not the only area where ethnic cleansing has taken place. Rwanda was the scene a few years ago of a massacre of over 500,000. The hostility between the Hutus and Tutsis was of long-standing origin. In addition, Rwanda was over 50 percent Catholic.

The Second World War was accompanied by the extermination of some 6 millions Jews, a story we now know well as a great tragedy of our times.

At the turn of the century, almost 2 million Armenians were killed in a bitter confrontation. More recently, over 200,000 were killed in just a couple of decades.

Many of these were native peoples and the poor.

We have our own unpleasant history here in the United States. In the last century we experienced the brutal removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. Many of them were killed. The forced movement of the various Indians tribes to reservations could be described as ethnic cleansing.

Here in the Inland Northwest is located the headquarters of a movement whose ideology is ethnic purity, another spin on the concept of ethnic cleansing. It’s astounding and sad that this group operates under the guise of a Christian movement, yet is so contrary to the teaching of Jesus and his vision of the kingdom.

For all of us, the primary concern is not to ask what has gone wrong in other people’s hearts, but rather to examine our own. What kind of “ethnic cleansing” goes on inside of us which demonstrates a rejection of a class of people or persons from different ethnic or religious backgrounds? There are all sorts of categories: blacks, Native Americans, the poor, the rich, immigrants and migrants, the single mother, the elderly, youth, street people, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the differently-abled, to name a few.

Most importantly, we as Catholics must examine our hearts to see how personally we can do something about the attitudes of our hearts, attitudes which eventually manifest themselves in external behavior. The Catholic Church extends love for all people on behalf of the Lord, and we must live what Jesus calls us to be. Jesus’ words are clear. The teaching of the Church is unambiguous. We are a human family, and every person in this family deserves respect and honor. Every person is made in the image and likeness of God. Everyone reflects the presence of God in a unique way.

As we approach the end of this millennium and the year of Jubilee, the real cleansing should be those things which lie evil in our hearts. We must strive to eradicate from our hearts, parishes, communities, nation and our world any vestiges of rejection of people, and especially any attempt to eradicate them in whatever manner. The command of Jesus is to love neighbor. Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical The Gospel of Life (“Evangelium Vitae”), calls us enhance the culture of life and to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. Cain’s response to the questioning of God of what happened to his brother, Abel, was profoundly cynical at best: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

May this cynicism and arrogance cease as we enter a new millennium.

As Church, we have a great opportunity to make a difference in our world. Nothing — ideology, ethnic background, political differences, brokenness — should get in the way of being faithful to the Gospel and radically loving the whole world. We come back to Eucharist again and again to be nourished, healed, and affirmed in our resolve to be faithful to the presence of Jesus in this world and carry on his mission of proclaiming the Gospel. His prayer for unity amongst all peoples must never be forgotten. Our accountability as Church to preach justice and call the world community to peace and justice must be ongoing.

We bless ourselves with holy water and are sprinkled with it. We are reminded of the wonderful cleansing and new life this water has been for us in the Lord Jesus through our baptism. The saving presence of Jesus can and does continue to work through us as Church. May we especially be open to the Holy Spirit as we journey into the new millennium.

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