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.

Sat. Mar 9, 2024 from 9 am to 12 pm on Zoom

Free and open to lay and clergy who identify as African American.

Each racial healing circle is limited to 20 participants.

The Anti-Racism Commission is offering racial healing circles facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys intended to gather African Americans from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania community to discuss the ways in which systemic racism has affected American culture and has consequently impacted their lives. Racial healing circles provide a safe space for a small group of participants to speak about, listen to, and subsequently heal from stories about race and racism.

Register for more than 1 or all of the upcoming racial healing circles, scheduled for: Apr. 13, Sep. 14, and Oct. 12, 2024.

For any questions about ARC's racial healing circle series, please email The Rev. Barbara Ballenger (barbballenger@gmail.com), ARC co-chair.

Download, print, and share this flyer with anyone you think would be interested in participating in a racial healing circle.

Sat. Mar. 23, 2024 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 ways in which systemic racism was created over time through laws, policies and practices. We will consider selected laws, policies and practices, while examining the ways in which our society has been continuously shaped by them. The next training is Introduction to Systemic Racism on Apr. 27.

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. Email arc@diopa.org to obtain a certificate of completion. For more information, questions or concerns, or if you are interested in being a Zoom breakout room group facilitator, please email arc@diopa.org.

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

Tuesdays at 4 pm on Zoom

Free and open to all.

To join, email sperrone21@outlook.com.

The Anti-Racism Book Club at Church of the Holy Comforter in Drexel Hill, in the Delaware deanery, has been meeting on Zoom every Tuesday at 4 pm for more than 3 years. Through selected readings, experiences, and discussions, and with God’s help, book club members hope to come to terms with their own feelings of complicity and to find a responsible way to respond to what they have learned about the virulence of racism and the experience of other cultures in the United States. They recently read selections from:

• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
• Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debbie Irving
• The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America by Tyler Merritt
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-Year History of American Indians by Jake Page
• Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans by Ronald Takaki
• Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

The book club plans to read Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez next.

Last winter, the book club planned a field trip to Winterthur to see the first-ever exhibit of gowns and dresses by Ann Lowe, an African American fashion designer, who labored for the most part in anonymity because of her race. More recently, a teacher of Japanese heritage was invited to join the Zoom meeting to talk about her memories of the Japanese internment camps in the United States.

The Anti-Racism Book Club extends a warm welcome to readers outside of the Holy Comforter congregation who wish to learn and grow in community. All of the book club's current members are avid readers and at least 3 members are life-long educators. If you're looking for regular engagement in discussion, dialogue, in-person activities, and fellowship, and would like to join the Anti-Racism Book Club, contact its coordinator Stephen Perrone (sperrone21@outlook.com).

Sat. Apr. 20, 2024 from 1-4 pm at Media Borough Hall, Parlor Room

301 North Jackson Street, Media

Free and open to adults (18+). Space is limited to 30 guests.

The first annual community dialogue event Our Stories Connect will bring together Delaware County neighbors to courageously share their unique lived experiences related to a specific aspect of their identity through one-on-one conversations with attendees. Guests will request a conversation with a specific community member "storyteller" who have been chosen based on the titles they provide, reflecting their lived experiences, biases, stereotypes, or stigmas they’ve encountered. Introductions between guests and the community member "storytellers" are facilitated in the waiting area, then they move to another space within the facility to engage in authentic conversations. Once the conversation concludes, guests return to the waiting area and are encouraged to connect with other community member "storytellers" willing to share their stories. Throughout the 3-hour event, guests can expect to engage in four or five 30-minute one-on-one conversations.

Our Stories Connect believes in the power of open and honest conversations to cultivate understanding, empathy, and compassion within our community. Everyone has a story to share - it’s when we take the opportunity to listen that we can be transformed by what we hear and learn. Their events are designed to foster open and honest dialogue, creating a space where difficult questions are welcomed, and meaningful connections are forged - a platform where stories intertwine, perspectives converge, and understanding deepens. They invite you to be a part of an enriching experience, celebrate the richness of the community's narratives, and embrace the power of authentic human connection. Learn more about Our Stories Connect and its host Media Fellowship House.

If you're interested in sharing your story and being a community member "storyteller" at Our Stories Connect on Sat. Apr. 20 or on Sat. Nov. 9, contact Media Fellowship House's Executive Director Amy Komarnicki and Program and Outreach Manager Makeda Redmond using this online form.

Thu. Apr. 25, 2024 at 7:30 pm at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral

19 South 38th Street, Philadelphia

Tickets: $42

Featuring Philadelphia’s own sacred jazz vocalist/composer Ruth Naomi Floyd, Are We Yet Somehow Alive? pairs jazz, blues and gospel with fine art projections to share compelling first-person accounts from enslaved Africans in America. At the intersection of despair, endurance and resistance, these narratives explore what it means to be human amidst the struggle for liberation and dehumanization. Praised for her distinctive sound and progressive jazz ensembles, Floyd uses her soaring mezzo-soprano voice to shine light and find defiant joy in our experience.

On Sat. Feb. 17, 2024, the diocese gathered at Episcopal Academy Chapel in Newtown Square to celebrate the life and ministry of the Blessed Absalom Jones (Nov. 6, 1746 - Feb. 13, 1818), the first African American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1804. The program included musical performances, a Eucharistic service, and a luncheon.

• Watch a recording of the Blessed Absalom Jones Celebration 2024 on YouTube (3 hrs 35 mins)
• Service Leaflet

Monthly Gathering for Racial Justice Leaders

Wed. Mar. 6 at 3 pm EST on Zoom

Free and open to all racial justice leaders in the Episcopal Church.

On the first Wednesday of each month, racial justice leaders from from the national offices of the Episcopal Church and from Episcopal dioceses across the United States will gather on Zoom to discuss pressing issues, exchange best practices, and illuminate the diverse ministries making an impact across our Church. This platform is not just a meeting, but a sanctuary for ideas, strategies, and mutual support. Save the date for future meetings: Apr. 3, May 1, Jun. 5, Jul. 3, Aug. 7, Sep. 4, and Oct. 2.

This month’s national speaker is The Rev. Canon Carla Robinson, Canon for Multicultural Ministries and Community Transformation in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia in Western Washington.

Recommended by Sacred Ground

• Hallelujah, Anyhow!: A Memoir by Barbara C. Harris, Edited by Kelly Brown Douglas
• The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military by Rawn James Jr.
• A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
• The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again by Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett
• Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor Rios

Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity. The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, the national offices of Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. This series is open to all, and especially designed to help White people talk with other White people. (You do not have to be Episcopalian to participate in Sacred Ground.) Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day - all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love. Learn more about Sacred Ground.

Download, print, and share this flyer with anyone you think would be interested in ARC's virtual anti-racism training and racial healing circles, and in-person workshops like Singing the African American Spirituals with Integrity or ARC's playback theatre workshop series Telling Our Stories.

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.