Washington D.C., Sep 9, 2020 / 16:54 pm
On the feast of St. Peter Claver, bishops in the U.S. preached on overcoming the sin of racism through God's grace.
On August 27, the chair of the U.S. bishops' anti-racism committee, Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, called for Catholics to observe either August 28 or September 9 as a day of prayer and fasting "in reparation for sins of racism to the Sacred Heart of Jesus."
August 28 marked the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at the civil rights March on Washington, while the feast of St. Peter Claver is observed on September 9.
The announcement followed a summer of anti-racism protests and riots in U.S. cities, after the killings of African-Americans including Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and George Floyd.