Racial Justice Committee
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To build community around anti-racist beliefs and practices
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To learn about and reflect on racism in our lives and in our Church
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To pray and respond through the prism of our Catholic faith
The Racial Justice Committee meets on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 via Zoom. All are invited. Let us know you’re interested by filling in this form, and we will send you the Zoom information.
“Sharing has always been the way we build church relationships. Creating a soft space is a sacred act. Soft spaces make it easier to treat others as we want to be treated.”
–Liz Walker, No One Left Alone
Next Meeting: November 6
At this meeting, we will follow up our discussion of No One Left Alone by Liz Walker in September and the presentation in October by her colleague Colleen Sharka about the program Can We Talk that they co-founded.
Our focus in November will be on planning for the rest of the year and prayerfully focusing on our priorities at this difficult time in our society.
We welcome all voices in the parish to join us. If you are interested, please let us know by filling in this form.
We’ll send reminders, an agenda, and a Zoom link before the meeting. (If you already receive our emails, you do not need to respond again—unless you have further thoughts you'd like to
share.)
Our
Activities
We collaborate with the other Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation committees on events throughout the year, such as the Posadas in Advent and the bilingual Via Crucis/Stations of the Cross in Lent.
We hosted the film A Place at the Table about the Saintly Six, the first Black Americans on the road to sainthood, and we supported through our parish the postcard campaign of St. Katharine Drexel Parish for their canonization.
We sponsored antiracism programs (JustFaith and Breaking Open the Sin of Racism) that encouraged us to think deeply individually and in small groups about how racism affects our lives and our Church.
We sponsored, in conjunction with the Jesuit East Province, a presentation about the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Project of Georgetown University (see https://www.descendants.org/)
Several times a year, especially during Black Catholic History Month and Black History Month, we reflect in the bulletin on the Sunday readings and racial justice.
At our monthly meetings, we discuss a book, article, or video related to racial justice. In September, we discussed Liz Walker’s book No One Left Alone, about her efforts as pastor of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church to bring the community together. The result was a trauma healing program, "Can We Talk," that has since been replicated around the country.
In October, we hosted Colleen Sharka, who co-founded the Can We Talk program with Liz Walker.
Book & Articles about Racial Justice
Interactive StoryMap by Kelly L. Schmidt & Ayan Ali.
The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone
Cone explores the interconnectedness of the symbols of the cross in Christianity and the lynching tree.
An hour-long documentary that explores the complex issue of reparations in the United States.
Dr. Jeanine Hill Fletcher, Fordham University (sponsored by the Boisi Center at Boston College)
Discussion with Fr. Bryan Massingale and Robert P. Jones at the 2023 Ignatian Solidarity Teach-in For Justice (audio improves after 3-4 minutes).
Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood, by Michael Heinlein
Exploration of the lives of the six Black Catholics from the United States whose causes for canonization are under formal consideration.
No One Left Alone, by Liz Walker
This book, by former Boston news anchor and pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, chronicles Walker’s development, over several years, of the "Can We Talk" program as a response to traumatic events in Roxbury in the early 2010s.
Other Recommended Resources
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The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice: A Month of Meditations with Ignatius of Loyola by Patrick Saint-Jean, SJ
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A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege by Danial P. Horan
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In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections on Black History for Every Day of the Year by Daryl Grigsby
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Facing Race: The Gospel in an Ignatian Key by Roger Haight