IMAGE: CNS photo/Aaron P. Bernstein, Reuters
By
MILWAUKEE
(CNS) — Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee called the violence that
broke out in the city as part of protests over the fatal police shooting of an
African-American man “a self-inflicted wound.”
“Violence
is never tolerated. Protests are certainly the right of every American, but
violence such as looting, burning is never tolerated,” Archbishop Listecki told
the Catholic Herald in an Aug. 15 telephone interview. “It only creates a
self-inflicted wound on the community.”
Protesters
burned down six businesses in the city, including a gas station, and also
torched a police car late Aug. 13 in response to the police shooting of
Sylville K. Smith as he fled a traffic stop earlier that day.
Police
said Smith, 23, had a gun in his hand and had refused police orders to drop the
weapon.
Father
Timothy L. Kitzke, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s vicar general for urban
ministry, told the Catholic Herald Aug. 15 that what happened Aug. 13 could be
looked at one of two ways.
“One
the one hand it could be Armageddon; on the other hand, it could be seen as
mission territory. I see it as a latter,” he said. “Now, more than ever, it is
important that people from all of our parishes, including those in the suburbs,
must pull together. The problems of racial divisiveness and helplessness must
be addressed by everyone.”
Father
Kitzke, who also is pastor of a Milwaukee parish and administrator of two others,
said he has been in contact with the pastors of the four inner-city parishes
asking them to meet with him to continue to address the concerns of the
community.
“What
do we do with the anger?” the priest said. “We need to address the issues that
cause the anger and the hopelessness that lead to violence. And the church has
to be a part of that.”
An Aug.
14 statement from Religious Leaders for Racial Reconciliation in Milwaukee,
formed last year to address race issues in the city, said the city “was taken
to another level of violence where the devil is trying to lead us.”
The
group identified three issues that need to be address with the city’s
dispossessed: “We need to build relationships with them, look for the root
causes of what is going wrong in their lives, and then we need to empower them
to change!”
“Have
you ever lost your keys? Think about that feeling you had when you couldn’t
find them, looking all over, and retracing your steps backwards,” the statement
said. “That is how the lost are feeling, that pit in their stomach, and
emptiness in their heart, the yearning for something that they don’t yet even
know what it is. They are waiting for one of us to show them his love and lead
them to their Savior, Jesus!”
Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker Wisconsin’s put the National Guard on standby in case of a
repeat of the violence Aug. 14, but after-dark protests were peaceful.
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Contributing
to this story was Maryangela Layman Roman.
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