The Anti-Racism Commission's monthly newsletter goes out to all ARC supporters and training participants. Please forward it to others who might benefit from our resources and workshops. And check out our website for past articles, training information and ongoing resources. | | Photo: Members of Playback For Change perform at Embracing Diversity on Sep. 20, 2025 at Trinity, Swarthmore. | | Playback Theatre Workshop Series | | Telling Our Stories: Healing the Wounds of Racism, Becoming Beloved Community | | |
In 4 interactive sessions of theater and discussion, participants see themselves in one another’s stories of race and racism as they are brought to life on stage by members of Playback For Change, a multi-racial, improvisational theatre company based in Philadelphia dedicated to using Playback Theatre as a vehicle for social change.
Audience members’ real stories become the source material. The performance is spontaneous - it is theater created through a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone from the audience tells a story or moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles, then watches as their story is immediately recreated on “stage.” Learn more.
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Sat. Jan. 17, 2026 from 2 to 4:30 pm at St. Alban’s, Newtown Square
3625 Chapel Rd, Newtown Square, PA 19073
The fourth and final performance will be for everyone to share their stories and experiences of resisting and healing from racism. This performance would also focus on how we all work together, in solidarity, to dismantle systemic racism and White supremacy.
| | Download, print, and share this flyer with anyone you think would be interested in this Playback Theatre performance. | | Around the Diocese of Pennsylvania | | MLK Day of Action - Stop ICE Raids | | |
Mon. Jan. 19, 2026 at 11 am at Phila. Immigration Court
9th and Market Streets, Philadelphia
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A Philadelphia interfaith group led by State Senator Arthur Haywood, including St. George & St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG), and Just Nation, is organizing an immigrant justice protest march on Martin Luther King Day (Monday, January 19).
The march will start at 11:00 am at the corner of 9th and Market and march to the ICE office at 8th and Cherry, where an interfaith vigil will be held at noon.
If we have enough singers who would like sing Moira Smiley's "Refugee" as we did at the Norristown rally on September 14, we could do that during the vigil at the end of the march. Please contact Tom Lloyd at tlloyd@philadelphiacathedral.org if you would be interested in singing.
| | ARC Anti-Racism Trainings | | Introduction to Systemic Racism | | |
Sat. Jan. 24, 2026 from 9 am to 12 pm on Zoom
Fee: $20. Scholarships are available, especially for postulants and candidates for ordination. Email diopaarc@gmail.com.
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The Anti-Racism Commission's anti-racism training series is facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys, M.S., M.Ed. and designed to help participants understand the historic creation, preservation, and personal and institutional effects of a society built upon ideas of racial difference, which in turn support an unjust, racially based hierarchy.
Anti-racism trainings are mandatory for clergy and open to all. Completion of all 5 trainings over 2 years meets the initial clergy requirement for anti-racism education. For more information, questions or concerns, please email diopaarc@gmail.com.
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The Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is offering racial healing circles facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys, M.S., M.Ed.
Grounded in historical, cultural, sociological, and spiritual understanding, racial healing circles will provide a safe space for small groups of like-minded people to share their stories about the challenging realities of systemic racism. Learn more.
For questions about ARC's racial healing circles, or if you are interested in hosting a racial healing circle for people who identify as African American at your church, please email The Rev. Andrea Gardner (deaconandreagardner@gmail.com).
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| The Anti-Racism Commission was created by diocesan convention resolution in 2005 with the mandate “to affect the systemic and institutional transformation in the diocese away from the sin of racism and toward the fulfillment of the Gospel and the baptismal mandate to strive for justice and respect the dignity of all persons.” Consisting of 12 members, a mix of clergy and lay and persons of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, the commission aims to increase awareness of the history and legacy of racism in our country and to engage members of the diocese in dismantling its effects. To learn more about how ARC can help your parish engage in the work of racial justice and repair, email ARC co-chairs Ernie Dixon (marzelldixon@icloud.com) and The Rev. Ernie Galaz (frernie@christchurchmedia.org). |
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