Written by NBCW Racial Justice Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven
Creator of all the races in your world
Hallowed be thy name
Praised and beloved by all your people of whatever colour and race.
Thy kingdom come
Where racial justice prevails and all are welcome without favour or discrimination.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Where we will strive to live as sisters and brothers bound together as your children.
Give us this day
A day of enlightenment when we recognise all peoples as equal in your sight,
Our daily bread
To share with our neighbours of whatever colour, race or creed.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
Forgive the wrongs of the colonial past, the oppression of slavery, the assumption of white privilege and the ongoing racism hidden in ourselves and our communities.
Lead us not into temptation
Of pride and the denial of truth
But deliver us from the evil
Of racism which divides communities and destroys lives.
As Catholic women we pledge our active commitment to seek racial justice and equity for everyone both individually and institutionally,
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory
which will transform us all
for ever and ever.
Amen.
(Adapted from Barbara D’Arcy in the Trampled Vineyard p 94 and A Pledge for Racial Justice of the Church of St. Francis Xavier, NY.)