By CARDINAL JOHN J. O'CONNOR

Some 30 men and women there were and another five or six young men, high schoolers, together with their principal. All were black, save one Hispanic. All sat at our large conference table, with perhaps 15 priests, black and white, taking seats against the wall, silent, listening. It was one of the most moving meetings I have ever experienced.

I do not believe that the many mothers who were present are racists, or that they were fabricating stories about fearing for their sons when they leave their homes for school. The potential that their sons may have run-ins with police officers--both black and white police officers--and be humiliated or maltreated or harmed in some way is in their minds distressingly real. The belief on the part of the high school students present, respectful and well spoken, that they are singled out, asked for documentation, questioned harshly, while engaged in peaceful pursuits is very, very real.

Three police officers were among us in our meeting, black, self-possessed, experienced, objective. They gave no evidence of axes to grind. All three, one man, two women, are obviously proud of being police officers. They are keenly aware of the problems, offered sound advice, both to the young men and their parents.

Everyone present was educated, knowledgeable, dignified. They were reasonable people all, not radicals, not bomb-throwers. They have lived their lives as minorities. They are realists. But they want change. They want to help bring it about, calmly, constructively, at a steady pace, but not with endless delay. They are quite in agreement that the vast majority of police officers, black, Hispanic, white, are thoroughly decent people. They also know that police officers come from and reflect the attitudes of our entire society. They are quite aware that, while at the moment our attention is on police officers, because of the tragic killing of Mr. Amadou Diallo, the real problems are societal. They know that, as a result, as minorities in our society, they are required to bend over backward simply to be seen as standing up straight. And they want all that finally and definitively changed.

It was Brother Tyrone Davis, C.F.C., executive director, archdiocesan Office of Black Ministry, who brought the group together at my request. It is he who I have asked to bring an action group together from this same group, including priests and others. Their responsibility? To present me with concrete steps open to the Church, to help toward those structural changes in society that can eventually achieve peace with justice for all and true reconciliation.

Many others have come to see me since I issued an invitation to do so, after the death of Mr. Diallo. With each group, each individual, I have discussed my fundamental and passionate conviction: that constructive and lasting change will come in direct proportion to the recognition by each of the sacredness of every human person as made in the image of God. That sacredness transcends color, ethnicity, religion, sex, whatever. Any movement, any program, regardless of its objective, is ultimately useless if not rooted in that fundamental reality.

As I announced this past Sunday in St. Patrick's Cathedral, we will conduct in the cathedral on Tuesday, April 20, at 10 a.m. what I hope will be a packed-to-overflowing prayer service. I hope, as well, that representatives of every religious persuasion, every race and ethnic background and color will participate. Please God, the business community will participate and public officials and, yes, the New York City police and a host of others. There is a time for protest; there is a time for prayer. This will be a time for prayer, not for protest.

Between now and the prayer service (but after Easter), I will continue to meet with as many individuals and groups as may want to meet with me, in whatever time can be made available. Every meeting I have had thus far has been constructive. I believe that trend will continue.

From my perspective, the prayer service will be by no means an ending, but a beginning of efforts toward lasting reconciliation rooted in liberty and justice for all. For whatever time I have left as Archbishop of New York, these efforts will be a priority. I am absolutely certain our priests and religious will join in enthusiastically, and countless other individuals, as well. I have high hopes. We have a great city that can become even greater, and we are not going to give up on it.

A strange column for Holy Week and Easter? Only if we forget that Jesus died for every one of us and rose for every one of us because he loves every one of us. That's what this column is really all about.