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 blog site for past articles, training information and ongoing resources.

Mission at the Intersections

By The Rev. Barbara Ballenger, ARC Co-chair

A few weeks ago, The Rev. Canon Toneh Smyth, the diocesan Canon for Mission, gathered members of the eight diocesan missions in a thank you luncheon at St. Peter’s in Glenside. The luncheon included members from the Anti-Racism Commission, the Anti-Gun Violence Commission, the Addiction and Recovery Network, the Anti-Sex Trafficking Commission, the Global Mission Commission, the Health Committee, the LGBTQIA+ Committee, and the Committee of People with Disabilities.

We don’t often get to meet together, and this gathering gave us a chance to explore the intersectionality of our work, especially at a time when each of these ministries is responding to the urgent call to protect vulnerable people. LGBTQIA+ Committee chair Kathryn Brossa led us in a process to see where our work overlapped and explore how we can work even more intentionally together.

The Anti-Racism Commission welcomes this chance to work together in new ways because it is clear that the people that our ministries are in solidarity with often stand at the intersection of so many painful realities. Our times right now are chaotic. Massive federal funding cuts and firings, punitive policies to dismantle diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and violation of legal rights can send us all to our separate corners to try to protect our own. But this gathering reminded us that we have strength in numbers and common cause from our shared ministry and identity as Episcopalians.

Our concerns are many and our priority areas overlapped. Just some of them included protecting women’s health, supporting immigrants facing deportation, resisting the political rise of racism, ensuring fair and equitable employment, making churches welcoming and safe places for people with disabilities, creating safe spaces for people who have escaped trafficking, supporting the church’s efforts globally, as well as locally, and eliminating violence, especially gun violence.

We would like to feature blog posts from our colleagues in ministry on the Anti-Racism Commission website to continue to explore our intersections by telling our stories and sharing ways that we can support one another in this time. Please reach out to ARC’s Communications Associate, Messapotamia Lefae, at messapotamia@gmail.com to submit an article.

We also invite you to pray and share the following prayer, A Prayer at the Intersections, which we also recorded in different voices during our gathering. The prayer is below, and we look forward to sharing the video with you when it is finished.

A Prayer at the Intersections

God of the intersections, Christ of the crossroads

You were waiting for us when we arrived

At the place where racism meets ableism

Where ableism meets bigotry,

Where bigotry meets inequity

Where inequity meets violence, 

Where violence meets displacement,

Where displacement meets nationalism,

Where nationalism meets oppression,

Where oppression meets racism.

You were waiting for us when we arrived.

And at the meeting of these painful ways

You meet us. 

You see us.

You know us.

You hear our prayer.

Hear our prayer for all who fear this day and the next

Because of their identities and diversities

Because of the color of their skin

Because of whom they love and how they love

And what they can and cannot do

And where they are from and what they believe

And where they work and whom they aid.

God of the intersections,

Christ of the crossroads

At the center of your cross

 bring your calm,

your healing touch, your saving way

That we may hold each other fast and give each other strength,

To cast your light on this uncertain day.

Amen.

(By Barbara Ballenger, 2025)

Introduction to Systemic Racism

Sat. Apr. 26, 2025 from 9 am to 12 pm on Zoom

Fee: $20. Scholarships are available, especially for postulants and candidates for ordination. Email arc@diopa.org.

This training explores the multi-layered manifestations of prejudice, privilege, race, and systemic racism. The next training is Racism and Institutions on Jun. 28.

The Anti-Racism Commission's anti-racism training series is facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys 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 arc@diopa.org.

Download, print, and share this flyer with anyone you think would be interested in anti-racism training.

KUSANYA: "The Gathering"

Sat. May 3, 2025 from 10 am to 1 pm at St. Augustine of Hippo

1208 Green St, Norristown, PA 19401

Free and open to anyone who self-identifies as African American

The Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is offering racial healing circles facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys.

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.

In our current cultural climate, with sweeping legislation that undermines centuries of Civil Rights policies and social justice practices, many people find themselves grasping for meaning. With the support of the circle facilitator, participants will be provided the tools to listen, reflect, and gain understanding.

This racial healing circle is for an African American affinity group (i.e., people who identify as African American). We will convene a multicultural healing circle in the future.

Questions you may be asked to consider are:

• What does it mean to be Black today?
• How do you navigate systemic racism in our current cultural climate?
• How does your faith support you in overcoming these challenges?

For questions about ARC's racial healing circles, please email ARC co-chair The Rev. Barbara Ballenger at barbballenger@gmail.com.

Raising Awareness about Racism in America's Institutions

• The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradaran
• Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood by P. E. Moskowitz
• Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by James H. Jones

Email arc@diopa.org and let us know what resources would help you in your anti-racism work. Visit our website for more anti-racism resources.

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, contact The Rev. Barbara Ballenger (barbballenger@gmail.com) or The Rev. Ernie Galaz (frernie@christchurchmedia.org), ARC co-chairs.