On the two social justice issue I have been working on recently, keeping the basketball rims up at the neighboring park and getting a St. Vincent de Paul Thrift store in North Central Milwaukee where it is needed and not in the suburbs where it is not need, I have been asked by African Americans how come people, white people, do not understand these issues and the harm it does to African Americans, especially those most in need. I really do not know how to answer that type of question but am reminded of the frequent words of Jesus: “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” (Mark 8: 18)

Part of the answer I feel is the experiences of a person, their friends and family and sense of being a brother or sister to everyone. When I was studying in the seminary at St. Louis University in the 60′s yet living with some of the poorest people in the city. I remember going out to suburbs to see a movie with some white seminarians and some religious sisters. As I approached the theater I felt an overwhelming feeling of being out of place. The feeling has dwindled somewhat over the years as I attended many events with my own kind, middle class white persons, in the majority. However, last Sunday attending Mass at a Catholic Church in an all white suburbs some of the same feeling came back. This was especially true because an African priest was con-celebrating the Mass with the pastor. I found out later he was Kenyan and a member of a religious missionary order that attends the Archdiocese training for priesthood in exchange for serving in the Archdiocese for a number of years. Instead of assigning him to a parish in North Central Milwaukee he has been assigned to this large white parish. I thought that many of the white persons in attendance could probably trace their family history to living in North Central Milwaukee at one time. Whites fled as African Americans moved in, be they Catholic or not. The Catholic Church moved where its people (white people) moved, leaving Milwaukee the most racially segregated city in the USA.

I know of no way to give people eyes to see or ears to hear but now know that you seek the truth, speak truth to power and try to create a healthy environment for all you are doing the ‘right thing.’

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