Denver Catholic

3 DENVER CATHOLIC | AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 Vatican Notes Planning Your Will and Special Gifts Personally – Leave a legacy of what matters to you most. Financially – Wisely manage the assets that God has entrusted to you, in full compliance with the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Spiritually – Strengthen our parishes and our Catholic community through your charitable giving. The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado is here to help you plan your Will, including the opportunity for special gifts that you may not be able to create on your own. As Catholic faithful, we believe our earthly treasure is a gift from God, and we can give it a way to serve the greater good. Give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven. www.TheCatholicFoundation.com giving@thecatholicfoundation.com Jean Finegan | 303.867.0613 Deacon Steve Stemper | 303.468.9885 From here to eternity. BY CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY W ith deadly vio- lence follow- ing a rally of white supremacists this past weekend in Char- lottesville, Va., bishops throughout the nation denounced racism and racist ideologies. C a r d i n a l D a n i e l DiNardo of Galves- ton-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and domestic justice chairman Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Fla., issued a statement on Sunday condemning "the evil of racism, white supremacy and neo-nazism." They also prayed for peaceful counter-pro- testers, saying that "our prayer turns today, on the Lord's Day, to the people of Charlottesville who oœered a counter exam- ple to the hate marching in the streets." "Let us especially remember those who lost their lives. Let us join their witness and stand against every form of oppression," they said. This past weekend, a planned "Unite the Right" rally in Charlot- tesville, Va., to protest the city's removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee drew white supremacists including neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members. A count- er-protest, including a diverse coalition of religious leaders and members of the Antifa and Black Lives Matter movements, was formed. On Saturday, a man drove a car into the count- er-protest, injuring 19 and killing one, 32 year-old Heather Heyer of Charlot- tesville, the AP reported. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the incident "does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute," and prom- ised to "protect the right of people, like Heather Heyer, to protest against racism and bigotry." Two Virginia State troopers also lost their lives near Charlottesville as they responded to the situation there, when their helicopter crashed in Albemarle County. C a t h o l i c b i s h o p s denounced the violence but also explicitly con- demned the racist ideol- ogy amidst the "Unite the Right" gathering. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia stated on Sunday that "the wave of public anger about white nationalist events in Charlottesville this weekend is well warranted." "Racism is a poison of the soul. It's the ugly, original sin of our country, an illness that has never fully healed. Blending it with the Nazi salute, the relic of a regime that murdered millions, compounds the obscenity," he said. Bishop Martin Holley of Memphis called the racist rallies and the vio- lence "appalling." "May this shocking incident and display of evil ignite a commitment among all people to end the racism, violence, big- otry and hatred that we have seen too often in our nation and throughout the world," he said. Other bishops on Twitter explicitly con- demned racism over the weekend as well, in response to the unrest. "Racism is a grave sin rooted in pride, envy and hatred. It suœocates the soul by means of expel- ling from it the charity of Christ," Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas tweeted on Satur- day night. "Pray for an end to the evil of racism. And pray, especially today, for its victims. Pray for justice and mercy in our nation," Bishop James Conley of Lincoln tweeted on Sat- urday afternoon. However, Americans cannot only condemn racism in statements, but must also pray and work for a collective conver- sion of heart, Archbishop Chaput said. "If our anger today is just another mental virus displaced tomor- row by the next distrac- tion or outrage we find in the media, nothing will change," he said. "Charlottesville mat- ters. It's a snapshot of our public unraveling into real hatreds brutally expressed; a collapse of restraint and mutual respect now taking place across the country." Bishops across US condemn racism after Charlottesville Racism is a poison of the soul. It's the ugly, original sin of our country, an illness that has never fully healed." ARCHBISHOP CHARLES CHAPUT "

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