May 29, 2020
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden are deeply appalled and profoundly saddened by the brazen display of deadly violence inflicted upon George Floyd as he begged for his breath with a knee forced upon his neck. During eight suffering minutes, Mr. Floyd’s human dignity and his sacred life were totally disregarded and abused.
Sadly, this gut-wrenching image of a person of color crying out for justice will be not be the last one that we witness. Mr. Floyd represents a long list of individuals, who simply because of the color of their skin, have been victimized or traumatized, often by those responsible for ensuring safety for all citizens and all communities. The outrageous actions against Mr. Floyd magnify the systemic racism that is insidious in our culture – whether blatant or subtle.
In our Congregation, we acknowledge that we, too, are complicit in the sin of racism and white privilege. We are consciously working to dismantle structures of privilege in ourselves, our Congregation, and the wider community. As women called to a life of profound union with God and with each other, we commit ourselves to live non-violently, to work to transform structures that promote violence and to affirm the dignity of persons.
We offer our deepest sympathy and prayers to the grieving family and friends of George Floyd and to all those bearing the pain of discrimination. For the good of our shared humanity, we all have much work to do to turn the overwhelming tide of racism, to address ways that we deny or demean human dignity. Let us turn to the God of mercy and peace to help us move forward with compassion, nonviolence, and respect for one another.
Sisters Join Peaceful Protest in Aliquippa
Sisters Janet Mock, Kari Pohl and Mary Pellegrino participated in a peaceful protest in Aliquippa on May 31 to stand in solidarity with our neighbors and speak out against racial injustice.
“I can wake up every day in this country unafraid,” said Sister Mary Pellegrino, who is white. “There are hundreds of thousands who can’t say the same thing. Simply because of the color of their skin, they can’t wake up unafraid.”