At my church today we were encouraged to attend an MLK service/mass as well as to take part in Stations of the Cross “overcoming racism”.

No other sin gets the focus of racism at my church. Which contradicts all of the confessional advice I receive about not beating myself up over such and such sin but to always “begin again”. I’ve been warned against scrupulosity with every other sin but the way racism is presented (to the parish) it’s apparently the one form of sin that you can never be too vigilant about. Scrupulousness seems to be actively encouraged. The one form of a sin that if you think it’s not one of your weak points it’s actually, quite possibly, your weakest point.

It’s confusing to see my church fumble over herself on this topic.

Kind of the way I honestly cannot understand how (insert other sin) is so difficult for some people to overcome. That one is not even tempting at all to me.

At the same time, I offer reparations for sins committed by other people - sins that I have not committed myself - and find making these reparations to be a spiritual good. Do the same thing with racism, even when your conscience says you have never acted or thought committed this sin, offer reparations for those who have committed it.

First step, IMHO, is to not attend that mass.

The incoherence in contemporary woke politics is overwhelming. Implicit bias is inbred in hateful whites, meaning we're born that way and must be condemned...but homosexuals are born that way and hence must be celebrated. It's almost like they don't even try to make sense. It's almost like it's all about power and not at all about rationality, let alone about Justice. Hang in there, brother.

If you were to say, without context, merely that your parish offered prayers about 'overcoming racism' or whatever, on Martin Luther King day I would think nothing of it. That doesn't seem like an inappropriate prayer intention for that day. But if that is the only sin your parish ever talks about on the other 364 days a year, I would find myself a new parish.

Agreed - consider a different parish. Also... THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SYSTEMIC OR SYSTEMATIC RACISM IN THE US. DON"T EVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU THERE IS.

The accusation of 'systemic racism' is an implicit admission that no actual racism, it is 'systemic' because it is invisible, secret, unseen. The argument is essentially 'the lack of racism is extremely racist'

Wow.

Just off the top of my head:

Anti-miscegenation laws were on the books in the US in my lifetime.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints did not allow black members into Temple ordinances in my lifetime (70's ish?)

Augusta National Country Club allowed only white members until 1990.

I'm willing to talk about my responsibility for slavery and racism when Massachusetts admits it's responsibility for the ethnic cleansing and expulsion of the Acadians in 1755.

That is ACTUAL racism, systemic racism is, in the words of Monty Python, something completely different. Systemic is racism is an idea that is intended to try to explain how every problem everywhere is somehow the result of racism even though there is less actual racism than at any time in the last 500+ years

Oh, I was not using my Sean Hannity decoder ring.