Racial Healing in the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana

Since racism works against our Baptismal covenant, we are committed to promote racial reconciliation in our diocese. We seek God’s help to work in healing our woundedness and to forge a life together where unity overcomes estrangement, forgiveness heals guilt, and joy conquers despair. In our ongoing spiritual formation, we will use prayer, worship, advocacy, intentional action, and education to become the Beloved Community.

 

Dismantling Racism Training

The EDOLA Commission for Racial Healing invites you to a brave space of learning and growth in order to faithfully engage in the work of healing and wholeness to which God is calling us. Based on the Dismantling Racism training offered through the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, Georgia, this training will “seek to increase racial healing and reconciliation.” This training is for all members of the church and is especially appropriate for clergy, church staff, and ministry leaders.

Please note the following expectations before signing up for a training:

We are only accepting new participants at this time. If you have already attended a Dismantling Racism Training in the Diocese of Louisiana, please do not sign up. We will be offering additional trainings in the future for those who have already attended.

If you sign up, we ask that you commit to attending the full day. Arriving late or leaving early is not respectful of the other participants or the trainers. If you are unable to attend the full day, please sign up for a different training day.

For further information or questions, please contact the Rev. Liz Embler-Beazley at lembeaz@gracemem.org.

Registration is required. A minimum of 10 people are required for all training classes.

Upcoming Trainings

    Commission for Racial Healing

    • The Rev. Liz Embler-Beazley (Grace Memorial, Hammond), Chair
    • The Rev. David Casey (Church of the Annunciation, New Orleans, and Mount Olivet, New Orleans)
    • Patricia Corderman (Trinity Church, New Orleans)
    • Michelle Cox (Trinity Church, New Orleans)
    • The Rev. Stephen Crawford (St. Mary’s, Franklin)
    • The Rev. Dan Krutz (St. Patrick’s, Zachary)
    • Molly Phillips (Trinity Church, Baton Rouge)
    • Jey Rodgers (Trinity Church, New Orleans)
    • The Rev. Jane-Allison Wiggin (Historic St. Luke’s, New Orleans)

    Resources for Racial Healing

    Websites, Videos, Bibliographies, and Study Resources

    From The Episcopal Church Resources for Racial Reconciliation and Justice

    Formation and Training Organizations

    Book Recommendations

    • Becoming the Anti-racist Church: Journeying Toward Wholeness by Joseph Barndt (Mar 1, 2011)
    • Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace by Miroslav Volf (Jan 24, 2006)
    • Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History by Thomas Norman DeWolf
    • It’s the Little Things: The Everyday Interactions that Get under the Skin of Blacks and Whites by Lena Williams (January, 2002)
    • Lifting the White Veil: An Exploration of White American Culture in a Multiracial Context by Jeff Hitchcock, J. ( January , 2002)
    • No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (Oct 17, 2000)
    • Racial Sobriety: A Journey from Hurts to Healing  by Clarence Earl Williams  (August 28, 2002)
    • Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu by Michael Jesse Battle (July 1, 2009)
    • Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison (May 2004)
    • Seeing God in Each Other  by Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook (Editor) (March, 2006)
    • The Church Enslaved by Tony Campolo and Michael Battle (May, 2005)
    • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (Jan 5, 2010)
    • Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion by Yvette A. Flunder
    • White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise (September, 2011)
    • Yet With a Steady Beat: The African American Struggle for Recognition in the Episcopal Church by Harold T Lewis (January, 1996)