Presiding Bishop Michael Curry spoke to more than 1,000 people gathered on Zoom Sept. 24, 2024, during a fall online launch event for Sacred Ground, a year-round, 11-part film-based antiracism curriculum for small-group discussions. Photo: Screenshot
[Episcopal News Service] “Sacred Ground is about freedom. It’s about the joyful liberty of the children of God,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry told more than 1,000 people gathered on Zoom Sept. 24 during a fall online launch event for Sacred Ground.
“God’s dream … gets translated into practical ways of living that go forth from Sacred Ground groups, and go forth into the world as instruments and agents of the freedom … intended for all of God’s children from the very beginning of creation,” Curry said.
Sacred Ground is a year-round, 11-part film-based antiracism curriculum for small-group discussions that initially was developed as a resource to learn about the history of racism in the United States and how that racism continues to manifest itself today in American social interactions and institutions, including church. It contains documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander histories as they intersect with European American histories. Participants also examine examples of systemic racism in today’s America, such as mass incarceration and its disproportionate effect on people of color.
“It’s not just about the content; it’s not just about the learning. It’s the fact that it’s happening in community,” Andrea Lauerman, a part-time Sacred Ground program coordinator and a lay leader from the Diocese of Maine, said. “These small groups make a difference. This is where Jesus meets us. This is where we have accountability.”
The curriculum was designed primarily for white Episcopalians, but The Episcopal Church also welcomes people of color to participate.
Sacred Ground has been one of The Episcopal Church’s great Christian formation success stories since it launched in 2019. Thousands of groups have participated, and participation surged 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.
The church now is working to maintain the initiative’s momentum with expanded staffing and the 90-minute fall launch event.
Earlier this year, the church’s Office for Racial Reconciliation hired Lauerman and the Rev. Valeria J. Mayo, a priest in the Diocese of North Carolina, through an anonymous donation from a Sacred Ground alum. Mayo is assisting as Sacred Ground’s strategic consultant. One of the first things they did when they joined the staff was to create a Facebook group for volunteer Sacred Ground facilitators to share their experiences and best practices.
Mayo, who is Black, expressed her gratitude for Curry helping to make racial reconciliation a top churchwide priority during his nine-year term as presiding bishop:
“The spirit of the Lord is in this place. I thank God for [Curry’s] leadership and fidelity to this hard work – this long walk to freedom – and may we, all of us – God’s children – experience that liberty,” she said.
Webinar participants were able to ask questions and share their insights using Zoom’s chat and Q&A functions. One person suggested that all Sacred Ground alumni should donate money to support the two active historically Black colleges with Episcopal roots, Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Voorhees University in Denmark, South Carolina.
Many people asked if Sacred Ground would continue after Curry retires on Nov. 1. The Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for reconciliation, justice and creation care, noted that Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe, who starts his nine-year term on Nov. 1, is a Sacred Ground alumnus.
“[Rowe] knows the power of this experience for LAUNCHING folks as transformative agents,” Spellers wrote in the chat function.
“[Sacred Ground has] gotten deep in the soil of this church,” Curry said.
The group spent time thanking Curry for his leadership and Spellers invited everyone to pray for him.
“May God continue to guide your feet, hold your hand and fill your heart as you continue to walk on sacred ground,” Spellers said. “Walk in love, dear brother, knowing that you are beloved to God and to all of us, and you always will be.”
Lauerman and Mayo concluded the webinar announcing that free, in-person regional facilitator gatherings are planned, with the first scheduled for Nov. 9-10 in Durham, North Carolina, at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and St. Titus’ Episcopal Church. The gatherings will serve as opportunities for networking, discussion and worship. The event will conclude with Eucharist at St. Titus. The Rev. Miguel Bustos, The Episcopal Church’s manager for racial reconciliation and justice, will preach.
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.