Title: 
Headings: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The document Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was approved by the full body of bishops as a formal statement of the same at its November 2018 General Meeting and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned.

Content: 3
See
 
Catechism
 
of
 
the
 
Catholic
 
Church,
 
no. 1869. 4
The
 
Pew
 
Research
 
Center
 
reports,
 
“The
 
racial
 
and
 
ethnic
 
makeup
 
of
 
U.S.
 
prisons
 
continues
 
to
 
look
 
substantially
 
different
 
from
 
the
 
demographics
 
of
 
the
 
country
 
as
 
a
 
whole. In
 
2016,
 
blacks
 
represented
 
12%
 
of
 
the
 
U.S.
 
adult
 
population
 
but
 
33%
 
of
 
the
 
sentenced
 
prison
 
population. Whites
 
accounted
 
for
 
64%
 
of
 
adults
 
but
 
30%
 
of
 
prisoners. And
 
while
 
Hispanics
 
represented
 
16%
 
of
 
the
 
adult
 
population,
 
they
 
accounted
 
for
 
23%
 
of
 
inmates.” See
 
John
 
Gramlich,
 
“The
 
gap
 
between
 
the
 
number
 
of
 
blacks
 
and
 
whites
 
in
 
prison
 
is
 
shrinking,”
 
January
 
12,
 
2018. www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2018/01/12/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/
 
(accessed
 
May
 
31,
 
2018). We
 
have
 
also
 
seen
 
years
 
of
 
systemic
 
racism
 
working
 
in
 
how
 
resources
 
are
 
allocated
 
to
 
communities
 
that
 
remain
 
de
 
facto
 
segregated. As
 
an
 
example,
 
the
 
water
 
crisis
 
in
 
Flint,
 
Michigan,
 
resulted
 
from
 
policy
 
decisions
 
that
 
negatively
 
affected
 
the
 
inhabitants,
 
the
 
majorit