James Cone and recent Catholic Episcopal teaching on racism

The author analyses 21 published statements by U.S. Catholic bishops from 1900 to 2000 on different aspects of racism. He explores the texts' understanding of racism, and highlights the deficits in many of these statements. Apart from several documents of Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, the texts typically fail to stress social sinful structures. The author examines Cone's understanding of racism and White supremacy, as well as Cone's conviction that simple moral suasion is ineffective. The author concludes with an enumeration of six shifts needed in Catholic reflection on racism.