Taking a Knee: Part 3 of the Speaker Series for Black Catholics of Detroit

The controversy over “taking a knee” has divided many in America. Much of this division falls along racial lines, even among members of the Catholic Church. Many Catholics in the white community view taking a knee as ‘a group of adolescent millionaire athletes disrespecting America and the military that protects that America—the country that made them millionaires in the first place.’ Many Catholics in the black community view it as a constitutionally protected ‘form of protest against the discrimination by the police and others aimed disproportionately at blacks, especially black men.’ Thus, for many in the black community, kneeling during the national anthem is used as a means to raise America’s consciousness about such discrimination. 

Applying a “sociology of the sacred” perspective can illuminate why both communities have legitimate—even righteous—points of view. A fuller Catholic incarnational perspective, however, would have us go even further and tells us that we are all one in Christ and all belong to Christ, as St. Paul tells us. Therefore, those on either side of the issue need to gather eye to eye, face to face, side by side, in order to better understand all perspectives, regardless if total agreement can be reached. For we are all ONE BODY in the Lord.