Presiding bishop to help launch new Sacred Ground circles with online webinar

The next year of Sacred Ground, a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race that is grounded in faith, will begin with a Sept. 2 online webinar featuring Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe.

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will be the speaker at a special Sept. 2 online webinar to help mark the start of the next year of Sacred Ground, a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race that is grounded in faith.

People participate in Sacred Ground in local gatherings called circles, where they look at America’s history of race and racism while also bringing in their own experience. While many circles meet in person, some are designed for online participation.

The series has been part of The Episcopal Church’s work on racial reconciliation since it began in 2019.

During the 90-minute webinar, Rowe will explore the spiritual dimensions of Sacred Ground and why it continues to challenge people to work for racial healing, reconciliation and justice. Registration for the webinar, which will begin at 1 p.m. Eastern on Zoom, is available here.

Rowe told Episcopal News Service he was grateful to be part of this year’s Sacred Ground kickoff event, having learned more about it with an online group on bishops during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It really transformed my understanding of personal and institutional complicity in racism,” he said. “I have also witnessed how Sacred Ground helps dioceses, churches and other communities move toward tangible action and become equipped to have difficult, honest conversations about race as the living members of the Body of Christ.”

Sacred Ground is an 11-part 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. It is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation and justice in our personal lives, our ministries and our society.

Participants also examine examples of systemic racism in today’s America, such as mass incarceration and its disproportionate effect on people of color.

The curriculum was developed primarily for white Episcopalians to learn about the history of racism in the United States and the way racism continues to manifest itself today in American social interactions and institutions, including churches, even when the people involved are not themselves racist.

Most circles take place within Episcopal churches or dioceses, but some are ecumenical and include members of churches that are in full communion with The Episcopal Church.

Andrea Lauerman, part-time Sacred Ground program coordinator, told Episcopal News Service by email that in the past year more than 500 circles have registered with The Episcopal Church, and while the size of circles can vary, they tend to have 8-10 participants, she said. A map shows the circles that were registered during the 2024-2025 year.

She added that by design, the series is run at the local level with minimal centralized oversight. “It is the hope that folks will take it and run with it at the local level – adapting it as they see fit for their local context,” she said.

She and the Rev. Valeria Mayo, Sacred Ground strategic consultant, last year told ENS that the program saw an increase in participants in 2020 during a national reckoning with systemic racism that followed the killing that year of George Floyd and other Black Americans by white police officers and vigilantes.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.