Jesus Christ came to save all people and manifest God’s love to the world through His life, death, and resurrection. As Catholics, this is our foundation and reason for all that we do: because Jesus loved us first!

As the late Pope Benedict XVI taught in “Charity in Truth”: “The unity of the human race, a fraternal communion transcending every barrier, is called into being by the word of God-who-is-Love.”

The zoom-bombing incident directed to Dr. Shaun Carey, Enumclaw School District Superintendent, using racist words, which occurred at the school board meeting on Nov. 22, failed both in terms of the virtue of justice and of charity. Justice, from a Catholic/classical perspective, is about rendering to an other person what is due them based on their own dignity.

Each and every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and therefore is unique, unrepeatable, and worthy of life and justice. This includes in thought, word, and deed. Jesus tells us to bless our enemies: it is a way of asking God to bring all things into a proper ordering, also known as conversion of life. Let us pray for the conversion of hearts: especially for those who thought it was going to be “constructive” to racially slur other persons and that all persons in Enumclaw will come to peace of heart, mind, and soul.

Dr. Carey, I’m sorry you had to undergo this disappointing (to say the least!) behavior. Your job is hard enough as is. Know that I and Sacred Heart Catholic Parish and many congregations here in Enumclaw are praying for you and all elected leaders, as St. Paul directs Christians to do: “Such prayer is our duty; it is what God our Savior expects from us.” (1 Timothy 2:1-8).

Father Lou Cunningham

Sacred Heart