Fr. Josh answers questions on police reform, removing certain statues from our churches, and when Catholic speakers talk about difficult topics.
Snippet from the Show
“Connection is more important than perfection.”
Shownotes
“Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit.”
-Pope St. John Paul II
Shownotes
Glory Story (3:16)
Removing Statues (8:11)
Hey Fr. Josh,
Long-time listener here. Thank you for all you are doing for the Church, for both black and white communities. You are doing amazing work. I need you to help me understand something. By nature many of us have a tendency to go to the extreme when reacting to what is going on today, specifically the destruction of statues around our nation. In the past few years we have seen our country take down statues of historical figures, such as the founders of our country, past presidents, and other controversial figures. We are now seeing our neighbors “woke” with the idea that maybe, just maybe, Jesus and Mary weren’t European, American whites. I imagine most white people have never thought about this, many were probably never taught this.
Fr. Josh my question to you is, now that we better understand exactly where Jesus and his family came from, and that they were not European whites, is it okay to take down all the white looking statues that don’t accurately depict Jesus and Mary as Jews from Nazareth? Shouldn’t the statues we pray with look like the real historical Jesus and the real historical Mary?
Prayers for you and you work, thank you so much Fr. Josh.
– Penny
Catholic Public Figures (17:37)
Fr. Josh,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you are doing. You leave no stone unturned on your podcast and I admire you so much for that. I pray for you all the time Fr. Josh, keep up the good work.
Fr. Josh I’m struggling. We are told the news is fake. I cannot figure out who to listen to when I want to get the truth with regard to trying to learn more about racism and how I can be a better participant by hopefully building good relationships with people who are different than me. I listen to both black and white speakers, however, some of the people I listen to seem to do more damage than good with their youtube videos and podcasts. There seems to be a lot of bad information out there while at the same time, so many are speaking with such authority. How do we approach some of these Catholic leaders?
Peace to you.
– Sally
Police Reform (26:45)
Hello Fr. Josh,
We loved having you at Christ the King on the LSU campus in 2014/2015 shortly after you were ordained. We miss you brother.
Fr. Josh, I am worried we are missing a golden opportunity in our country to bring something that is unique to America and racism to the light. While white people are trying to figure things out, black people are dying. The black community is not doing okay. It seems as though there are many good men and women, including your own father, in our police forces, who are good people responding to calls in the black community exactly how they were trained. I believe that people of color cannot be fully dignified until our police forces take a hard look at their foundation, their inherent biases that have brought generations of prejudicial behavior, their current practices, policies, etc. Can you address this topic?
Thank you Fr. Josh, God Bless you, and go Tigers!
– Lee
Resources:
- Pocket Guide to Adoration by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Email your questions and feedback to Fr. Josh at askfrjosh@ascensionpress.com
- Text “askfrjosh” to 33-777 to subscribe to Fr. Josh’s shownotes
- Broken and Blessed by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Ascension is pleased that our Catholic Community is starting to come Together Again — at our parishes, with Jesus in the Eucharist, or in small group settings where you can share and live in Christ. We invite you to explore our many resources and programs to help us all come together again.
- “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life) of Pope St. John Paul II
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