Media CenterCRS CEO & President: "George Floyd's blood cries out to God."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Kim Pozniak
Catholic Relief Services
[email protected]
(571) 263-1193
 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, June 3, 2020 – Sean Callahan, CEO and president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), issued the following statement in response to the killing of George Floyd and resulting protests across the country:

Then the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord then said: “What have you done! Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil.” – Genesis 4:9-10

George Floyd’s blood cries out to God. His tragic death lays bare centuries of oppression and racial injustice in the United States.

Catholic Relief Services fights poverty and injustice in 114 countries around the world. CRS is based in Baltimore, and we witness through our diverse staff and communities the blood of many of our African American sisters and brothers crying out to God. Many of us also benefit from white privilege and as an organization can do better to pro-actively combat systemic racism wherever we find it.

Our global staff stands in solidarity and prayer with the family of George Floyd, the victims of racist violence and those struggling for justice in the United States. We commit as an employer and organization of the Catholic Church in the United States to open ourselves to new solutions that contribute to the realization of a more just world. We will not shy away from our responsibility to be Our Brothers’ Keeper.

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Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For more information, visit www.crs.org or www.crsespanol.org and follow Catholic Relief Services on social media in English at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube; and in Spanish at: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.