Over the course of my ministry, I have had the pleasure to marry and/or bless several interracial and intercultural couples. This evening I was invited to a post-wedding celebration and asked to bless the recent civil marriage of a young man from Argentina. Two things both struck and pleased me. First when he asked if I was a Catholic priest, I replied “yes, but not part of the Roman structure”. His reply was, “Oh good, that’s better!” The second pleasantry was that his young wife was Afro-American. I soon realized that there was another couple among the invited guests in the same circumstance, an Argentinean husband and an Afro-American wife.
I could not help but glow in the thought that wow, maybe there really are more people out there than I thought who see people as people and not as black, white or brown colored individuals; people, who drawn by love, can value diversity among our humanity. It was very timely too, because just yesterday in a conversation with my Peruvian son-in-law, he remarked about a program he had seen on the Discovery Channel that delved into the science and genetic origin of humans. My son-in-law looked at me and with a child-like smile of assurance said, “We really are all brothers and sisters!” It was an “Ah-Ha” moment for him after all the sermons and homilies that I have given on the subject of the brotherhood of humankind and Jesus’ message that we all are the children of God. I can’t express the satisfaction that I felt in my heart.
I know this all may sound quite trivial. But with all the negativity in the news and our collective personal experiences with politics, racism and the institutional religions trying to constantly separate, divide, reject, marginalize and dominate people, it was refreshing this evening to be with a group of young men and women who recognized the need for the divine in their lives and sought it out, in spite of and in direct opposition to pharisaical theater that religion and politics is in America today.
It is people like those whom I had the pleasure of meeting this evening that represent the new way to be catholic. May it please God to continue the movement of His Spirit so that soon, very soon,”Ut Omnes Unum Sint”.