To the Editor,

The St. Joe’s Campus Ministry staff is grateful for The Hawk Newspaper’s Dec. 4 editorial responding to religious bias. Campus Ministry desires to be an ally to students who face religious discrimination.

We want to support all students of diverse religious backgrounds and to promote interreligious dialogue. Indeed, the General Congregation (GC) 34 of the Society of Jesus describes the promotion of interreligious dialogue as a “special responsibility” and an “urgent task.” According to GC 34, this “culture of dialogue” should become “a distinctive characteristic of the Society.”

The Vatican II document “Nostra Aetate” encourages Christians and Muslims to “work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all…social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.”

In addition, we would like to echo the Faculty Senate’s Dec. 4 condemnation of all forms of racism and bigotry. In 2018, the U.S. Catholic Bishops published a pastoral letter “Open Wide Our Hearts: A Pastoral Letter Against Racism.” Our Jesuit, Catholic tradition calls us to work to eradicate racism, bias, intolerance and bigotry in all forms. We are called to create communities of authentic relationship, justice, peace, solidarity and radical hospitality. We welcome a continuation of the campus conversation about how to put these words into action.

−Campus Ministry