Taking a Stance Against Racism
March 01, 2024
This article appears in the February Issue of Reflections and Connections
Sisters of St. Agnes have been working to reduce the impacts of racism and bigotry in various ways for many years. As early as 1850, CSA Founder Father Rehrl opened schools to all children regardless of background or religion. In the 1960s, many sisters took part in fair housing marches in Chicago and Milwaukee. In 1983, CSA opened Unity House in inner-city Chicago as a haven for those seeking cross-cultural immersion through residential living. These are a few examples of activities that contributed to CSA receiving the MLK Spirit Award from Marian University in 2020. Today, CSA continues this long-standing culture of justice and call to action with their adoption of the CSA Corporate Stance on Anti-Racism.
During the last half of 2023, the sisters and associates spent time intentionally studying racism and how to be actively anti-racist on a day-to-day basis. Each month, sisters and associates spent time researching individually and in small groups focusing on topics of defining race and racism, how to be an anti-racist, recognizing personal bias and bias in media, racial inequities in housing, education, and criminal justice systems, exploring white privilege, white fragility, and public fear around critical race theory and white replacement theory, and finally delving into healing, repair, and justice. A small group also gathered for an intergenerational discussion with local high schoolers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.
In early February, the entire congregation voted to issue an official corporate stance on anti-racism. CSA has issued six corporate stances since 1987 with the following rationale:
“As CSA, our promise has, from the start, been to follow and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have done so through teaching, care of the sick, the aged, orphans, and wayfarers. As global realities have become increasingly apparent, so also has our awareness been heightened to issues regarding the dignity of persons, human rights, and justice; the need for structural change; efforts at ‘simplicity of life’ and a greater appreciation of the gifts of creation. The concerns that we pray about and the causes that we pray for have grown.
“That is not enough. We must use all the power we have, first in areas where we have direct impact, through the services we ourselves provide or through our sponsored ministries, then through wise use of our power as shareholders in significant corporations and membership in significant organizations with a social justice agenda. After appropriate study and discussion, we can make public statements of our convictions in areas of major or global importance and concern. These statements, our corporate stance, help create the positive pressure that can lead to a more just society.” - CSA Policy on Corporate Stances
CSA Corporate Stance on Anti-Racism
Reaffirming our commitment to those whose faith life or human dignity is threatened in any way, the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes (CSA) opposes racism in all forms, encourages education, and supports actions to eliminate racism, bringing understanding of our complicity, prejudice, bias, and privilege to the forefront.