The April 20 murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin rekindled sorrow over the loss of George Floyd’s life and, for many, satisfaction that justice was served.
In a special, extended version of a “Practicing Catholic” set to air at 9 p.m. April 30 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, Bishop Andrew Cozzens joined host Patrick Conley to share his thoughts on listening to one another at an emotional time and the importance of forgiveness on the path to healing.
Asked how to sit with people as reactions play out, Bishop Cozzens said it’s important to listen. “We’re trying to help people explore where the truth is in this great struggle that we have experienced,” he said, “especially a struggle over many years now for racial justice.”
To get to the truth — that all people are sons and daughters of God — people also need to allow emotions to flow, he said. It’s like healing a wound — first, the wound is lanced to drain the pus, and then healing can begin. “It’s the same thing with our emotional wounds,” he said.
As people sort through their emotions, it is important to distinguish between a thirst for justice, which is one of four cardinal virtues in the Church, and a desire for revenge, the bishop said.
“On a human level, it (justice) simply means giving people and things what they’re due,” he said. People are due respect, he said. People have a certain dignity and, per the U.S. Constitution, an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
People feel an injustice has been done when someone is not given their due, Bishop Cozzens said. “That is certainly what the jury decided in this case with George Floyd. They decided he wasn’t given what he was due. He didn’t deserve to die this way.”
Revenge or vengeance is born out of anger, unlike justice, which is born out of truth and goodness, Bishop Cozzens said. “We want to see in truth and goodness people get what they’re due, and they’re due respect and they’re due an opportunity in life.”
Anger is wanting someone else to feel the pain that I feel, the bishop said. That can feel like justice, but it’s not. It’s actually vengeance, he said. “Although we do certainly punish people, and that can be part of justice,” he said.
Chauvin will experience punishment because of what he did in the course of arresting Floyd on May 25, 2020. “And that can be part of justice,” Bishop Cozzens said. “But especially as Christians, we believe that vengeance belongs to the Lord and not to us.”
When people want an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth out of vengeance, what they actually do is make justice much harder, Bishop Cozzens said. “Justice only becomes possible when forgiveness is possible.”
Forgiveness is a tricky issue, the bishop said, because being wronged can be difficult to forgive. “When I’ve been wronged, I tend to hold on to the debt myself. And so, I’m going to treat this person differently. … I want them to feel what I have felt.”
To attain real healing, the bishop said, people need to understand what Jesus taught about forgiveness — whether or not they get it from Jesus — because it’s the only way to real healing.
Real healing comes when a person lets go of the debt and says: OK, I want you to receive justice, he said. “That is, I want you to come to understand the truth about your action, but not because it will make me in my wound feel better, but because it’s true and good.”
Evil is always evil, and Jesus acknowledges evil, the bishop said. But Jesus is willing to let go of the anger and hurt and evil that had been done to him. He chooses to forgive in order that true justice might come, Bishop Cozzens said.
Instead of turning to violence, Bishop Cozzens advised the way of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “He was such a great example of this. ‘I will stand in the truth. I will walk for the truth, but I will also walk in forgiveness and love of Christ as we work for the truth,’” the bishop said.
Bishop Cozzens referenced a recent interview by the Pillar news organization in which Archbishop Hebda said he feels strongly that the Holy Spirit is prompting the archdiocese to lead an effort to turn to the Lord as the one who unites everyone as sisters and brothers. Asked how to make that happen, Bishop Cozzens said people need the Holy Spirit. He also gave the example of restorative justice efforts in small groups, which seek ways to share, understand and bring healing to harms done from crime, abuse or other wrongs.
“There are many different perspectives on this,” the bishop said, “and we want to listen to them all so that we can understand the truth and be actual messengers of Christ’s healing.”
This episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show also airs at 1 p.m. May 1 and 2 p.m. May 2 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Father Evan Koop, who describes his Cuppa Joe presentation May 4 about St. Joseph as the young husband of Mary, and Liz Kelly, a columnist for The Catholic Spirit, who discusses her new book, “Love Like a Saint: Cultivating Virtue With Holy Women.”
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired:
soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic
Practicing Catholic on Spotify
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