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ST. LOUIS (ChurchMilitant.com) - Bishop Edward Braxton is asking Catholics to welcome the Black Lives Matter movement. The Archdiocese of St. Louis' African American Ministry invited the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, to speak on the topic Monday. At 7 p.m., addressing a crowd of 400 people, he discussed the importance of knowing what it means when someone says "Black lives matter."

He touched on several points that referenced a pastoral letter he wrote in February 2016, "The Catholic Church and the Black Lives Matter Movement: The Racial Divide in the United States Revisited."

In his talk on Monday, he said,

Sadly, I know many African-American Catholics who do not believe that their black lives matter in the Catholic Church as much as white lives matter. ... The Church is frequently not even welcoming enough to its own African-American members, of which there are few — and it's not surprising why there are few.

Bishop Braxton goes on, explaining his reasoning:

This lack of a history of dialogue underscores the difficulties that the Church faces today when it attempts to evangelize the African-American community. ... It has been late in the game to change that scenario. Nevertheless, we should not abandon our effort, and part of our effort should be to understand the Black Lives Matter movement.

He does not focus solely on the lack of dialogue that the Catholic Church has with African Americans. On July 26, he spoke of the importance of life in general, and how the Black Lives Matter movement must be active and aware of this.

"Black Lives Matter" should not be silent about the significant number of young African-American males who die at the hands of other African-Americans, or the alarmingly high number of abortions that bring abrupt ends to nascent Black lives that matter. There also must be a repudiation of any form of violence against White people, specifically, police officers. Ultimately, there must be at least a tacit recognition that there are other vulnerable, marginalized groups in the country whose lives also matter.

Bishop Braxton has a history of fighting for African American causes. For several years, he has spoken on this movement in speeches, interviews and pastoral letters. The talk he gave on Monday is one of many.

In one homily from early 2015, Bp. Braxton spoke about racial injustice, challenging the congregation to imagine a world where white people were the minority, and how they would feel if black officers were killing white men.

Bishop Braxton was appointed auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1995. Twenty years later, in 2005, he was appointed bishop of Belleville, Illinois, a post he currently occupies.

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