Anti-Racism Resources

Anti-Racism Resources

Prayer for an End to Racism Prayer Service Outline

US Conference of Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letters/ Documents

All of these documents and more resources are available on the web or at the USCCB website: www.usccb.org

  • Racism: Confronting the Poison in Our Common Home, USCCB: Dept. of Justice, Peace and Human Development, January, 2016
  • The Racial Divide in the United State: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015, A Pastoral Letter, Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D., Bishop of Belleville, IL, January 1, 2015
  • Statement of Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, of Louisville, KY, President of the USCCB to the Spring General Assembly, June 10,2015
  • 25th Anniversary: U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Racism, October, 2004
  • In God’s Image: Pastoral Letter on Racism, Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MN, September 12, 2003
  • Created in God’s Image: A Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion, Most Rev. Dale J. Melczek, Bishop of the Diocese of Gary, IN, Aug. 6, 2003
  • Dwell in My Love: A Pastoral Letter on Racism, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago,IL, April 4, 2001 (33rd Anniv. of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
  • On Racial Harmony, A Statement Approved by the Administrative Board, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Aug. 23, 1963
  • Brothers and Sisters to US, US Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on Racism, 1979
  • The Ghost of the Legacy of Racial Inequity Continues to Haunt Us, Bishop Michael Pfeifer, O.M.J.
  • Diversity and Racial Justice Resources, www.wearesaltandlight.org 
  • Resources on Racism for Youth Ministry Leaders, http://www.nfcym.org/racism.htm

Books

  • Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, Bryan Massingale, S.T.D. (a must read!)
  • America’s Original Sin, Jim Wallis
  • Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation, Jennifer Harvey
  • Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Justice: 15 Stories, Eddie Moore, Jr, Ali Michael, Marguerite W. Penick-Parks, Editors
  • Understanding & Dismantling Racism, Joseph Barndt
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
  • Between The World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Nobody, Marc Lamont Hill
  • Why Race Matters, Cornel West 
  • The Cross and The Lynching Tree, James H. Cone                                            
  • White Like Me, Tim Wise
  • Waking Up White, Debbie Irvin
  • Witnessing Whiteness, Shelly Tochluk
  • Race is a Nice Thing to Have, Janet Helms
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen
  • People’s History of the US, Howard Zinn
  • Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice, Paul Kivel

Movies

  • 13th XII (on Netflix)
  • Loving
  • 12 Years a Slave
  • The Help
  • Selma
  • Birth of a Nation
  • Hidden Figures
  • Just Mercy (free on streaming platforms for the month of June)
  • American Son (on Netflix)

Articles

  • Still Separate, Still Unequal: White Catholics and the Perduring Sin of Racism, America Magazine Aug. 29-Sept. 6, 2016
  • Breaking Silence on Racism, America Magazine Nov. 30, 2015
  • Editorial: New Dialogue on the Old Problem of Racism, National Catholic Reporter March 24, 2016
  • As Church Demographics Shift, Catholics Urged to Address the “Sin of Racism.” National Catholic Reporter Nov. 10, 2015
  • Blind Spots: Reckoning with Racism, Commonweal Magazine Oct. 5, 2016
  • Racism: Will We Ever Overcome?, U.S. Catholic Magazin, July 13, 2016
  • Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack  (A classic in literature about race,) Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D. nationalseedproject.org/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack
  • Race/Related: New York Times – weekly email newsletter, NYTimes.com/race-related
  • When Whites Just Don’t Get It: Parts 1 -7, Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Sunday Review, 8/30/14; 9/6.14; 10/11/14; 11/15/14; 11/29/14; 4/2/16; 10/1/16
  • Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?, Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Opinion Pages, Aug. 27, 2014
  • Why Talk About Whiteness: We Can’t talk About Racism Without It, Emily Chiariello
  • Teaching Tolerance: www.tolerance.org/whiteness, Summer 2016
  • Confronting White Privilege, Katy Walwell, Teaching Tolerance Fall 2012
  • Can We? A Brief History of American Racism, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Nation Sept. 1, 2009
  • Black as We Wanna Be, Matthew McKnight, The Nation Sept. 15, 2016
  • Embrace Race: Raising Kids in a World Where Race Matters, www.embracerace.org

Speeches

  • YouTube: What I Didn’t Tell My White Friends Jim Crow Explained – Keith Hughes
  • Ted Talks:  Talks to Help You Understand Racism in America (9 talks)
  • Ideas.Ted.Com: My Hopes, Dreams, Fears for My Future Son, Clint Smith May 1, 2015
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander speaking at Union Theological Seminary, www.utsnyc.edu
  • Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University, www.ferris.edu/jimcrow

Resources courtesy of Pax Christi USA.

Earth Day

As the 50th celebration of Earth Day is upon us Lyn Pajk shares some excerpts from Pope Francis’s letter to the world, Laudato Si: on care for our common home, and what they mean for us as disciples of Jesus.

Community-wide Easter Egg Hunt

Community-wide Easter Egg Hunt

Please share with your friends and neighbors– the more the merrier!!
The Coronavirus can’t stop us from celebrating Easter with the traditional Easter Egg Hunt! Blessed Sacrament is inviting Midland churches and the entire community to participate in this germ-free Easter Egg Hunt! Here’s how to participate:
  1.  Decorate or color paper Easter eggs at home with your family. Be creative! If you’d like one ready to color, click here or here.
  2.  Tape them on your front door or in your windows before you go to bed on Saturday, April 11! (You can do as many as you like!)
  3.  Walk or drive around Midland anytime from Easter Sunday to Sunday, April 19, and see how many Easter eggs you can spot!
  4.  Want to be eligible to win an Easter prize? Please post a picture on the Blessed Sacrament Facebook page of your family hunting for eggs and how many you found or submit them through the form below. Three families will be randomly drawn from all of the participants. We’ll contact winners by Monday, April 20.
Happy Hunting and Happy Easter! 

Easter-Card Project

Easter-Card Project

Wondering what you can do for others now that we’re all at home? The Blessed Sacrament community is coming together to reach out to those in our parish who may be most isolated at this time by making Easter cards for our parishioners who are 65 or over! There are a lot of them, but if every Faith Formation and School family committed to making 10 cards, we should be able to send a note to every single one of them!

Here’s how to participate:

  1.  Contact Lyn Pajk at lynp@blessed-midland.org and tell her how many cards your family wants to make. If you have a family of 5, maybe each of you could commit to making two cards!
  2. Lyn will send you the names and addresses of your family’s pen pals.
  3.  Make an Easter card or write a nice letter full of Easter joy to your pen pal. (Reminder: Wash your hands before writing your note or making your card! We don’t want to inadvertently spread germs through the mail!)
  4.  Address your envelope and send it off! We recommend sending your letter by Tuesday, April 7 to ensure delivery before or by Easter Sunday!
  5. Or, if you’d like to drop it at the Parish Center, one of the Faith Formation staff will be happy to mail them for you. Last day for drop-off is Tuesday, April 7. The drop-off bin is by the Parish Center doors of the big parking lot.

Outreach Team Easter Flower Sale

You can help support the high school outreach team! Team members will be taking orders for Easter flowers on March 7 & 8 and March 14 & 15 following all Masses.

Four types of flowers!

Lilies, Daffodils, Tulips, and Hyacinths

$15.00 each 6in pots

Orders are due by March 17th.

Download the order form.

Flowers will be available for pick-up on the weekend of April 4/5.

 

Children’s Liturgy of the Word Catechists Needed!

Our CLOW program is designed for all children 5th grade and below. To accommodate this diverse age range, we offer two CLOW sessions at the 11:00 Mass and one on Saturday. We need catechists to teach them! Please prayerfully consider being a CLOW catechist 3 times a year. Training and materials provided.

 

You can volunteer with:

  • seven-year-olds and under at 11:00 Mass on Sunday
  • eight to ten-year-olds at 11:00 Mass on Sunday
  • seven-year-olds and under at 5:00 Mass on Saturday

Contact Ansley Dauenhauer at ansleyd@blessed-midland.org for more information.

Afternoon Bible Break

Afternoon Bible Break

A bi-weekly bible study to refresh your spirit

 

Looking for something to brighten your winter days?  Have you considered scripture study?

Come join us after the holidays, as we study James: Put your Faith to Work, and learn how to apply Jesus’ teachings to our lives, giving us a roadmap for the Christian journey.

Wednesdays, 12:30-2pm Jan. 8, 22, Feb. 5,19, Mar. 4, 18 room 110, Parish Center.

Carmen Gray 832-4164 or carmen.t.gray@gmail.com, Kathy Doering 839-9273 or  kathy5809@aol.com

Stop by the Parish office to register and purchase a book. $9.00

Art Reflection

Art Reflections provides an opportunity to see and discuss the visual arts, to recognize the sacred in the secular. We begin with Visio Divina followed by some casual, some prepared discussions of Art in our lives. Meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 6:00-7:30pm in the Lounge.

The imagination works through suggestion, not description. Description is always direct and frequently closes off what it names. Suggestion respects the mystery and richness of a thing. All it offers are clues to its nature. Suggestion keeps the mystery open and extends us the courtesy of inviting us to see the thing for ourselves. It offers us the hospitality and freedom to trust the integrity of our own encounter with a thing. This is how a work of art can allow itself to be seen in so many different and often conflicting ways. It does not foreclose on the adventure of revelation. —John O’Donohue

Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler offers a wonderful invitation into visio divina (or sacred seeing). I invite you to try this image for a meditation experience, as a window into your own soul and the Divine.

COVID-19 Updates, Resources, and Information about Resuming Public Masses