WASHINGTON - The Franciscan Action Network called on all Americans, "especially ourselves and those who have benefited from white privilege," to look within themselves "and confront America's original sin -- the sin of racism."

Visiting Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change several years ago, I overheard a small black boy ask his mother: “Why were white people so bad to us?”

While Canada resettled more than 35,000 refugees from Syria over the last 12 months and brought refugee processing times down to eight months for privately sponsored refugees from Lebanon, refugees in Ethiopia languish more than six years in the system and Church groups are discouraged from sponsoring Africans.

The U.S. national election brought many issues that the Roman Catholic Church has to face. Below, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, the former chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Task Force to Promote Peace in Our Communities, addresses the racism that came to the forefront in this U.S. political cycle.

WASHINGTON – With the haunting lyrics of a song that refers to a lynching sung in the background, a group of African-American Catholics in Los Angeles gathered in mid-August to meditate on the fatal shootings of unarmed black men and boys, linking their suffering to the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus.

WASHINGTON – Around the United States, Catholic organizations, parishes, clergy and laity are taking action and bolstering efforts to build peace and battle racism, following a summer of violence.

OTTAWA – The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls needs to address underlying racism and colonialism, observers say.

WASHINGTON – Fr. Bryan Massingale, a priest of the Milwaukee archdiocese and well-known theologian, knows what it's like to be watched by police.

Earlier this month, we were driving to Minnesota to visit relatives on the night a black man was shot dead by police in a St. Paul suburb after being stopped for a broken tail light. That was a day after another black man was killed by police in Baton Rouge.

MANCHESTER, England – Catholic bishops condemned a sharp rise in xenophobic and racist attacks following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

PARIS – On a sunny spring morning, an 18-year-old college student wrapped a scarf around her head to feel what it would be like to wear a veil.

Much has been written about the impressive physical legacy the Pan Am Games has generated for Southern Ontario. More than $2 billion was spent on housing, transit and sport facilities that will benefit future generations long after the Pan Am flame is doused.

BALTIMORE - As the city cleaned up after a night of riots, looting and fires following the funeral of Freddie Gray, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said the Church's place is to pray, be a voice for peace and participate in a wider community dialogue to solve the systemic issues that led to the unrest.

BALTIMORE - For four hours April 27, Freddie Gray Jr. was patiently and prayerfully memorialized.

That peace, however, was extremely fragile.

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Christian religious leaders of various churches signed onto a Holy Week call to end the death penalty in the United States.