4:00 – Kresta Comments: A Catholic White Man’s View of Our “National Discussion on Race” in America
4:40 – National NFP Awareness Week
“Pro-Woman, Pro-Man, Pro-Child, Natural Family Planning” is the theme of this year’s Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a national educational campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to celebrate God’s design for married love and the gift of life and to raise awareness of Natural Family Planning methods. “NFP,” as the U.S. bishops have written, is supportive of Catholic beliefs about married love because it “respects the God-given power to love a new human life into being.” We talk to Dr. Christopher Stroud, a Creighton Model NFP physician.
5:00 – Kresta Comments: A Catholic White Man’s View of Our “National Discussion on Race” in America
5:40 – Spiritual Disciplines segment in which we explore the practices that draw us closer to God: Avoiding False Teaching on Prayer
Many people enjoy reading more modern writers about prayer and the spiritual life but are often worried about false teachings that could lead one away from the heart of the Church. How can we know when an author is not orthodox or teaches something that could lead to deception instead of to God? Dan Burke is here to provide a summary of the most common problems with modern teachings on prayer so that you can effectively navigate past the empty teachings of the world and toward the truth of God.
Thank you for having a "National Discussion on Race" you are correct, and I do think, maybe the Catholic Church could have a place in fixing this.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of where you lived, your black stereotype routine is grossly insulting. Thousands of us are traditional cradle Catholics who come from highly refined, university-educated middle and upper class families. Top-tier schools are nothing new for us. We're products of high-end white prep schools and we wouldn't know a ghetto if one fell on us. What you talk about has never been part of
ReplyDeleteour existence. Don't judge us by the professional black underclass in Detroit, or anywhere else.
Dear Al,
ReplyDeleteI'm a long-time listener and supporter of your show. But I had to turn off your rant - there is no other word - on the topic of race in America. You were were so off base in so many areas, from the title of the show segment to your odd comments about finding Denzel Washington's casting in a Shakespeare film "distracting." If I had been an African-American listener, I would have wondered whether Catholic teaching entered into the discussion. I encourage you to listen to the postcast of Sheila Liaugminas' excellent interview on the topic of race with Dr. Anthony Bradley for how to approach this topic in the future.
Al, I would respectfully recommend that you read Leon Litwack's Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow. This is a serious study by a serious scholar and a moving tale as well. It changed my thinking and heart. God bless. I'm sure your heart is in the right place, but your thinking is faulty and unhistorical on this important issue.
ReplyDeleteAl,
ReplyDeleteI would like say that your show today was particularly powerful. Thanks for having the guts to speak truthfully. Too many people are too scared to talk about this issue with frankness. Anon @ 5:51 is a perfect example of the white guilt you were talking about. They forget the irish catholic ghettoes in the 19th century. I am a minority that grew up in in a very blue collar town so no silver spoon here. What I have achieved has been due to my parents sticking together, even though they fought liked cats and dogs but were faithful Catholics, and teaching me responsibility. If my parents were born and raised here with the weak kneed "Catholicism" taught here in the US, they would have split years ago and I doubt I would have had the same results.
Sometimes being charitable means meeting the issue head-on and not soft peddling. It does the people affected negatively a disservice.
It's true that many Catholics grew up on "the wrong side of the tracks," especially in the south, but that did not keep them from having segregationist views and from viewing blacks as "our Negroes" and doing everything possible to avoid integration. Poor Catholics, no less than other white Christians, were strong supporters in the south of legal segregation. It's not a record to be proud of and it must not be forgotten. Let's not forget that JFK, the nation's first Catholic president, was elected in 1960, Obama not until 2008.
ReplyDeleteThanks for listening and caring enough to post. It’s true that my remarks depart from my normal mode of conversation – that was deliberate. I did consider how black Christians would hear them and was pretty certain they would not care for them. That is part of the divide. I do think my comments help white people however, especially from the comments I have received. Most white people are afraid to talk about race because they don’t think very much about black people. Black people are most visible to them through media. That becomes the basis for much white discourse on race. That’s why the first half of my remarks embodied a series of stereotypes and superficial observations.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived and worked in a virtually all black environment for ten years, and continuing to follow urban problems through my son who works with black youth in Detroit as well as the ongoing conversation I am having with my godson, I felt less vulnerable than most white people to articulate what I believe is the most common white attitude. I’d rather have them talking honestly about their observations, superficial as they may be, rather than bowing to political correctness where there can be no honest conversation from any non-blacks. There will be no national conversation on race as long as white people shut up and endure. They outnumber blacks significantly and frankly don’t have to respond. But I think most people would like to respond, especially Christians. My greatest concern about my remarks is that they ignore the achievements of the black middle class and the obvious progress we have made on race and civil rights. Sharpton, however, continues to pose as though black youth are vulnerable because of white racism. This is ludicrous given the state of the black family, the bankruptcy of Detroit, the high number of incarcerations in American for white and black Americans.
I should also add that I don’t think Catholics are the answer to this problem. They were often chameleons and embodied the racial attitudes of their environment. The Church, on the other hand, the extension of Jesus’ teaching voice in this world, was ahead of its time. Listen to the teaching of the Church not the failures of its adherents including yours truly.
I prefer the criticism of faithful friends and listeners rather than their silence or mere tolerance. Thanks.
Al
I was very offended by many of the comments you made on this segment. I don't care if you were deliberate or not many of the things that you said not the least of which was the Denzel Washington comment were outright racist and abominable. I was very disappointed to hear such remarks coming not only from a valued brother in Christ, but one to whom many look for guidance in matters of the soul. You did not handle the topic with love or Christian charity, let alone with a holistic or fair viewpoint. I wonder why you were so willing to offend minority listeners for the sake of what? Reinforcing false negative racial stereotypes and divides? Shame on you sir. As an devoutly Catholic college girl who is discerning religious life and who is black I want you to know that your rant deeply hurt me. My father went to segregated elementary schools sixty years ago. He has experienced racial discrimination by Catholics and non Catholics alike. He was around during the march for civil rights and was in his twenties during Vatican ii. He, like many other people, blacks especially have personally been discriminated against within their lifetimes, and have been burned by the judicial system before. I would like to remind you that the civil rights leaders who you detest so much and claim to have been unsuccessful are people who fought for equal pay and rights for people of all colors. So excuse me if I think that it is justifiable that these people question the legitimacy of the verdict given the US' horrid track record. Also, as a Catholic American it came as a surprise to me that your go to position about the trail was to trust blindly the decision of the jury. I wonder if you trusted the courts in the case of roe v wade? or maybe Doma? How about in the case of abortionists who go to trail? But in the case where you have no vested interest the court must be right? I have prayed for you two days in a row in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I cannot continue to listen to your show, but I pray for God's blessings in your life.
ReplyDelete