As our country reels over the killing of Minneapolis resident Renée Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, another video from the next day in Minnesota has begun circulating. In it, a Native American woman and her partner beg the police to come to their home and save them from ICE agents demanding entry to arrest the DoorDash delivery worker who had fled into the couple’s home.
Over more than 13 minutes, this terrified couple, who have an infant, move through fear, grief, shame and incandescent fury. Their journey captures so much of what it is to live in America today, and also perhaps what it means to be a Catholic living in the midst of it.
[Christ’s] ministry had been grounded in the belief that those whom the community rejected or ignored were actually the cornerstones of the kingdom of God. Time and again, those were the people he associated with and around him he forged community. And he was condemned precisely for that by some of the leaders in his community. The cross served to express the fullness of his conviction.
But here we are, faced with our own versions of the cross of Christ. Our place is with those on the margins. But that’s not to say we shouldn’t feel afraid or even unwilling. Christianity isn’t about perfection, it’s about conversion. When Jesus was deciding on leadership for the church, he chose two deeply imperfect men who had each first rejected the call of Christ — Peter and Paul. And when he himself faced the ultimate test, the first thing he did was to beg God that the bitter cup being offered might be taken away, just as this Minneapolis couple did.
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Jim McDermott is a screen and magazine writer in New York. He produces a weekly Substack about pop culture and spirituality called Pop Culture Spirit Wow.
With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Jim McDermott, where this article originally appeared.
