A special event at Xavier University’s Cintas Center Feb. 28 will focus on embracing intercultural and racial diversity in our institutions.

Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will be the keynote speaker and will give the homily at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr. The two archbishops will also participate in a panel discussion at a private dinner that evening.

The Catholic Church has a “tremendous responsibility to bring people together in prayer and dialogue, to begin anew the vital work of fostering healing and lasting peace,” said a USCCB task force report released Jan. 5 in the wake of last year’s incidents of violence and racial tensions.

The work to “root out racism and create healthy dynamics in our neighborhoods” is a long-term project, but its scope should not cause fear or intimidation, wrote Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the Task Force to Promote Peace in Our Communities, in the report’s introduction.

The Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. at XU’s Bellarmine Chapel. Archbishop Kurtz will speak at 7 p.m. at XU’s Schiff Conference Center. His topic is, “Carrying Out our Prophetic Ministry in Times of Racism and Violence.”

The topic at the dinner panel discussion will be “Embracing Intercultural and Racial Diversity in Our Institutions.” University leaders will also participate. The dinner is by invitation only, but Mass and the talk are open to the public.

The event is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Xavier University Institute for Spirituality and Social Justice, Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio, and Bellarmine Chapel.