Episcopal Diocese of Rochester
Joy in Christ, a way of life

Racial Reconciliation, Healing and Justice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[video:https://vimeo.com/112306713]

 

When: New dates coming soon!

Where: Zoom.  

Who: All clergy and lay leaders (wardens, vestry, ministry heads);
anyone who wants to engage the work of racial justice and healing

Why: The Racial Reconciliation, Healing, and Justice task force developed this educational program to equip lay and clergy leaders to engage the work of racial justice and healing. Grounded in our baptismal covenant to resist evil and strive for justice and peace, together we will deepen our awareness and understanding of the evils of racism and systemic injustice and develop skills to address them.

We will schedule additional sessions through the year.

For questions or to register, please contact the Rev. Paul Frolick at pfrolick@gmail.com
 


 

 

Seeing the Face of God in Each Other

 

Racial Reconciliation, Healing and Justice

When you hear this phrase, you may automatically think, “I am not a racist, so why would I need it?” But the evidence of stories and studies in our society is clear: The toxic, heartbreaking effects of not only overt historic and systemic racial oppression, but also the subtle, unconscious habituated kind, are still powerfully alive in our culture.

The Church cannot be idle in the effort to combat these forces, any more than we can overlook our complicity in them. One of the most pernicious aspects of racial oppression is the way it will grow, rather than go away if not addressed. So, like our training programs on spotting and preventing sexual abuse, Racial Reconciliation, Healing and Justice is designed to bring each of us back into the fight against the injustice, marginalization and simple ignorance that perpetuate the problem.  

Training is required, by Diocesan resolution, for elected lay leadersdelegates to Diocesan Convention, and clergy.

 

Resources 

A Service of Lament

Movies

13th on Netflix Trailer: Explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. The 13th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution abolished slavery. But it also included a provision many people don't know about and that is what this documentary brings to view. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist." That exception justifies the use of forced labor as long as the laborer is a convict. This documentary makes the case that inclusion of this loophole is only one of the justifications for continuing domination of people of color.

12 Years a Slave Trailer: In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever.

Books

Unsettling Truths

Just Mercy

Race in a Post Obama Era

Readings

Racism, Our Church and Our Region 2018

Why, as Christians We Must Oppose Racism

The Sin of Racism 2006

The Sin of Racism 1994

Resolution A125

Diocesan Resolution C - 2008