Well, it's really a pleasure to be here with all of you, and thank you for coming.

Reflecting on this question, which I think is actually a very important question, in January,

we'll be celebrating Martin Luther King Day, of course, and Martin Luther King is rightly viewed

as a great hero of our modern American history.

I think we're right to be proud of the movement that he led

and of the accomplishments of the civil rights movement.

And it represents a kind of shining moment in recent American history for standing up for justice, and actually

the triumph of justice.

But what I'd like to do this evening is to examine in a way the principles that Dr. King

was building his case on.

And if we understand them in the way that he himself understood

the crusade for justice that he engaged in, and when we take them at face value, it's

rather surprising what you find.

And as I will be presenting it, actually,

there are deep Christian and even Catholic themes

that are present there.

And I would say they're not just side themes,

but the central principles on which he's building his case.

So there was a handout, I think most of you picked it up when you came in.

It's excerpts from Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham jail, which is what

I'd like to sort of walk through a little bit and talk about as we go

forward. And maybe a few little introductory points just to set in context the other remarks that I'm

...