On Sept. 21, the Donald S. Nesti, CSSp Center for Faith and Culture will host “Open Wide Our Hearts: An Encounter of Grace and Race,” a symposium that seeks to break open the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral Letter Against Racism.

“We think this is a very important issue that is affecting our nation,” said Carlo Romero, associate director of pastoral and ecumenical initiatives. “There is a lot of division, a lot of hurt, a need for healing and in some cases it can be really frustrating for us to see it and not know what to do about it.”

The symposium is designed to encourage attendees to explore and discover how our different use of language, perspective, culture and concepts can be assets in creating a unity that is not uniformity, but still allows people to find common ground.

The symposium will feature a keynote address from Bishop Shelton J. Fabre and bring together preeminent speakers responding to the challenges of racism in daily life. 

“It takes work,” said Donal Nesti, CSSp, director emeritus. “It takes paying attention. It takes goodwill to look at all of the walls we have built up and find a way to let them dissolve before our eyes and become a more perfect union.”

--- Register Here

Registration is $10 for students and $20 for the public. Lunch will be provided to all attendees.