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<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_olk_signature">My brothers and sisters in Christ,<o:p></o:p></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">It pains me not to be able to preach at a time like this. The Gospel says one thing, and everyone else is saying partial truths, at most. George Floyd was killed by a police officer, and shouldn’t
have been. He had not lived a virtuous life. He was convicted of several crimes, including armed robbery, which he seems to have committed to feed his drug habit. And he was high on drugs at the time of his arrest. But we do not kill such people. He committed
sins, but we root for sinners to change their lives and convert to the Gospel. Catholics want all life protected from conception until natural death. The police officer who knelt on his neck until he died acted wrongly. I do not know what he was thinking.
The charges filed against him allege dangerous negligence, but say nothing about his state of mind. He might have killed George Floyd intentionally, or not. He hasn’t told us. But he showed disregard for his life, and we cannot accept that in our law enforcement
officers. It is right that he has been arrested and will be prosecuted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">In the wake of George Floyd’s death, most people in the country have framed this as an act of racism. I don’t think we know that. Many people have claimed that racism is major problem in police
forces. I don’t think we know that. Police officers deal with dangerous and bad people all the time, and that often hardens them. They do this so that the rest of us can live in peace, but sometimes at a cost to their souls. Some of them certainly develop
attitudes towards the people they investigate and arrest that are unjust and sinful. We should pray that never happens, but we can see how it does. Many parts of our country have been experiencing a five-year crime wave, providing some context for why the
police are trained in aggressive tactics. In 2019, 150 police officers were killed in the line of duty by the violent men they were trying to arrest. That number should be zero, we can all agree. But that context does not justify being overly aggressive—their
public trust requires that they exercise great restraint. Criminals have human dignity, too. That’s why we Catholics are asked to work to abolish the death penalty in this country.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">Today tensions are high, with charges of racism flying over social media, and countercharges of agreeing with domestic terrorists flying back. People are unfriending and cancelling each other. I
hate this. Racism is a sin, as the Catechism says (#1937). So is rash judgment (#2478). Solidarity with our fellow human beings is “a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood… sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar
of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity.” (#1939). Our solidarity with one another is deeply frayed now. Everything we say (or don’t say) is treated with suspicion, rather than charity. I hate this too. I’ve talked to multiple people
in the Boston area who want the protests here to stop because they are afraid of more riots and looting. I’ve talked to others who want everyone to join the protests, but are uneasy about having police present. One group says that, of course racism is bad,
but the riots are really bad—18 people have been killed, including one police officer. Others say racism is what’s really bad—look at all the victims of police aggression—and to bring up the riots is to distract from the good the protests are trying to achieve.
Still others are upset that all this talk about racism has pushed violence against women, institutionalized sexism, and other types of injustice out of the national consciousness. Everyone’s mind is made up, everyone’s angry with each other—even though everyone
says they’re opposed to injustices and sins. In a different moment, people strongly opposed to public violence, racism, and sexism would admire each other, despite their different emphases.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">Cardinal Sean has released two statements,
</span><a href="https://www.bostoncatholic.org/news/may-30-2020-cardinal-sean-p-omalley-statement-killing-george-floyd"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">one a week ago</span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">
and </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/426365893"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">one on Friday</span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">. I wrote something that, were we able to celebrate
Mass together, might have been </span><a href="https://tcc.mit.edu/blog/fr-moloneys-reflections-trinity-sunday-mercy-time-national-anger"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">my homily for this week</span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">,
a week which saw the feast of the Ugandan martyrs bookended by the Solemnities of Pentecost and The Holy Trinity. Members of the TCC have decided to append the Chaplet of Divine Mercy to
</span><a href="https://tcc.mit.edu/news/weekly-virtual-rosaries"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">the weekly Zoom rosary</span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"> on Fridays, to pray for
God’s “mercy on us and on the whole world.” The problems we face are the result of sin, as I said above. And the only way to conquer sin is with prayer, grace, and holiness, by which the Holy Spirit brings us more deeply into Christ’s New Covenant with the
Father. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature">Blessed are the peacemakers, our Lord tells us. May we all be counted among them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">Fr. Daniel Patrick Moloney, Ph.D.</span></u></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">Catholic Chaplain, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">Author of the new book,
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Mercy-What-Every-Catholic-Should/dp/1950939146/"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><b><span style="color:blue">Mercy: What Every Catholic Should Know</span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">MIT Building W11-012<br>
40 Massachusetts Ave. <br>
Cambridge, MA 02139<br>
617-910-0463 (mobile and text)<br>
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><a href="mailto:dmoloney@mit.edu"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:blue">dmoloney@mit.edu</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black"><br>
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><a href="http://tcc.mit.edu/" target="_BLANK"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:blue">http://tcc.mit.edu</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">blog: spiritualdirections.tumblr.com</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">DONATE:
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><a href="http://tcc.mit.edu/donate"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:blue">http://tcc.mit.edu/donate</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><b><i><span style="color:black">Zoom personal office</span></i></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="color:black">:
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><a href="https://mit.zoom.us/j/8094145563" target="_BLANK"><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:blue;background:white">https://mit.zoom.us/j/8094145563</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_olk_signature"></span><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To make an appointment: <a href="https://calendly.com/fatherdanmoloney">
<span style="color:blue">https://calendly.com/fatherdanmoloney</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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