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email clients. */
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text-align: center;
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* {
-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
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div[style*="margin: 16px 0"] {
margin:0 !important;
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/* What it does: Stops Outlook from adding extra spacing to tables.
*/
table,
td {
mso-table-lspace: 0pt !important;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt !important;
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/* What it does: Fixes webkit padding issue. Fix for Yahoo mail table
alignment bug. Applies table-layout to the first 2 tables then removes
for anything nested deeper. */
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table-layout: fixed !important;
Margin: 0 auto !important;
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table table table {
table-layout: auto;
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/* What it does: Uses a better rendering method when resizing images
in IE. */
img {
-ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic;
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/* What it does: Overrides styles added when Yahoo's auto-senses a
link. */
.yshortcuts a {
border-bottom: none !important;
}
/* What it does: A work-around for iOS meddling in triggered links.
*/
.mobile-link footer a,
a[x-apple-data-detectors] {
color:inherit !important;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
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/* What it does: Hover styles for buttons */
.button-td,
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transition: all 100ms ease-in;
}
.button-td:hover,
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background: #555555 !important;
border-color: #555555 !important;
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/* Media Queries */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.email-container {
width: 100% !important;
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/* What it does: Forces elements to resize to the full width of their
container. Useful for resizing images beyond their max-width. */
.fluid,
.fluid-centered {
max-width: 100% !important;
height: auto !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}
/* And center justify these ones. */
.fluid-centered {
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}
/* What it does: Forces table cells into full-width rows. */
.stack-column,
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display: block !important;
width: 100% !important;
max-width: 100% !important;
direction: ltr !important;
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.stack-column-center {
text-align: center !important;
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/* What it does: Generic utility class for centering. Useful for
images, buttons, and nested tables. */
.center-on-narrow {
text-align: center !important;
display: block !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
float: none !important;
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display: inline-block !important;
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background-color: #fff;
width: 100%;
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line-height:20px;
}
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color:#7A9534;
}
.signup a {font-family: Roboto Condensed, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;
color: #4F4293; padding-bottom:0px; padding-top: 15px;
font-weight:600; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration: none}
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Catholic Charities USA
Ash Wednesday
Readings of the Day
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"For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me
always." - Psalm 51 (Responsorial Psalm)
In today's world, this statement is only partially true -
our sin is always before us, even when we don't acknowledge it.
That sin is racism.
When the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued yet another
statement on racism more than two years ago, they noted that
"racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no
place in the Christian heart."
Yet, there is a problem when we consider racism. Actually, there are
three problems, as Fr. Bryan Massingale, SJ notes in his powerful
book, "Racial Justice and the Catholic Church." First, we
don't know what we are talking about; second, we don't
know how to talk about it; and third, we really don't want to
talk about it.
He explains that we lack clarity and agreement on what
"racism" means; we don't know how to talk about it
productively in an interracial setting where we might not want to
appear ignorant or intolerant; and we don't want to talk about
how one racial group benefits from this racial hierarchy.
This is not political correctness, as some might argue. Rather, it is
the reality of life in America today. And Lent is a perfect time to
lament this sin and understand our connection to its continued
existence.
We can begin by educating ourselves. We can read the bishops'
pastoral letter, "Open Wide Our Hearts" and make use of
the many educational and parish resources available on the website of
the US Conference of Catholic
Bishops.
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We can read "Poverty and Racism" from Catholic Charities
USA, which notes that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
racial events of the past year, "these times offer us a unique
opportunity to enter into transformative kinship with our sisters and
brothers of differing ethnicities and backgrounds."
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In doing these things, we can learn not only about racism, but also
about white supremacy and systemic racism. We will appreciate why the
bishops wrote, "Racism can only end if we contend with the
policies and institutional barriers that perpetuate and preserve
inequality - economic and social - that we still see all
around us."
Only then can we meaningfully pray those other words of today's
responsorial psalm: "A clean heart create for me, O God, and a
steadfast spirit renew within me."
Deacon Walter C. Ayres is Director of Catholic Charities Commission on
Peace and Justice in the Diocese of Albany, New York.
Sign up to receive the Daily Lent Reflection emails and other CCUSA
messages here.
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