Home > Offices > Catholic Social Action > Breaking Open the Sin of Racism
Breaking Open the Sin of Racism
Series Summary
Breaking Open the Sin of Racism is an 8-part video series by scholars at the University of Dayton, a Catholic Marianist university, and Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton, Ohio. The video series and discussion guide are prepared for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for use by faith-organizations. The series begins with a macro global and historical examination of race and racism, and progresses to a micro examination of the interpersonal impact of race and racism.
Objectives
- To increase awareness of the invisibility of privilege, systemic racism, anti-racism, and the predominance of whiteness in our nation, and particularly within the context of the Catholic Church
- To foster dialogues among parish members
Video Series
The videos below can be used in a variety of ways. They can be viewed for individual reflection, with a small group, or as a workshop. There are resources below to assist you in utilizing these videos to implement a four-week discussion series in your parish or community.
Discussion Guide
This DISCUSSION GUIDE was created to accompany these informative videos available here designed for facilitated small group conversations but can be used in many different ways, including for personal reflection. The discussion questions for each video were created by the video’s presenter, an expert in their field.
Host Materials
The materials below have been created to assist you in implementing a four-week workshop series utilizing these videos in your parish or community. You are welcome to organize a group and utilize these resources yourself or contact Andrew Musgrave for assistance through the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Anti-Racism Task Force.
Check out training video below.
Add your event to our schedule and let us help you advertise by COMPLETING THIS FORM.
Digging Deeper
Want to learn more? Here are some resources for you and your community as you discern the next steps on your journey towards becoming anti-racist. Click the title below to be taken directly to the resource.
The document Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love (A Pastoral Letter Against Racism) was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It addresses the sin of racism and calls all of God’s people to actively work to combat it. There is also a STUDY GUIDE available to use while reading the document.
- Archdiocese Archive
- Other Diverse Parishes (ex. St. Leo Parish, Holy Family Parish, St. Bernard/Mother of Christ Parishes, Resurrection Parish, St. Joseph Parish)
- Mercer County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society
- Knights of St. Peter Claver (events)
- Athenaeum Library
- Ripley Ohio Historical Sites
- Ohio Historical Sites
- Carthagena Ohio
- Carthagena Black Cemetery
- Shelby County Historical Society
- Dayton/Montgomery county historical society
- YWCA Anti-Racism programming check for current events
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center exhibits and events
- Cincinnati Black Theatre shows, events and programming
- Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center: Race and Racism in Cincinnati Bus Tour Or contact [email protected] for additional information
- Annual Juneteenth Celebration
- Open Wide Our Hearts
- Pope Francis’ Address to Brazil’s Leaders of Society: Apostolic Journey to Rio de Janeiro on the Occasion of the XXVIII World Youth Day
- Archdiocese of New Orleans's Racial Harmony Pastoral Letters (and other resources)
- The Horizon of Possibilities “The Catholic Church and the Racial Divide in the United States: Old Wounds Reopened”
- White Supremacists Movements are Incompatible with the Law of Love
- The Racial Divide In The United States Text and Study Guide
- The Catholic Church and the Black Lives Matter Movement: The Racial Divide in the United States Revisited
- Even Their Virtues Were Being Burned Away
- Edward Fenwick History at Xavier University: The first bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and slave owner
- Website for the National Black Catholic Congress
- Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center: Race and Racism Cincinnati Toolkit
- Dayton History
- Information about Father Clarence Rivers
- Ohio Native American History
- African American Holy Cards
- Archdiocese of Cincinnati African American Pastoral Ministries
- Archdiocese of Cincinnati Hispanic Ministries
- Archdiocese of New Orleans's Racial Harmony resources
- Institute for Recovery from Racism (Detroit)
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Social Areas of Cincinnati Poverty, Race and Gender in Cincinnati
- Urban Appalachian Community Coalition
- Queen City Catholicism: The History of the Church in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
- Dayton’s Face Lifting
- Catholic Update: A Catholic Response to Racism
- Racism and Catholics: Cincinnati priests could be taking message against it to parishes soon
- Ohio Historical Marker Dedication: “Carthagena Black Cemetery”, The Monitor, July—September 2017
- Colored Catholics Take Over Another Cincinnati Parish: NCWC News Service, 9/10/1929
- The Communicant by Steve Keme, Cincinnati Magazine, August 1982 Article about Father Rivers
- Vanished Black Rural Communities in Western Ohio
- Article About Archdiocese of Cincinnati Racism Listening Sessions
- Black Catholic Reflection on Mass
- 'Pick up my book, slave': Black students face hostile environment at Ohio school district
- A new kind of Catholic community is revitalizing Flint, Michigan
- Is Your School Affirming Institutional Racism During Black History Month?
- Next Step in Diversity Training: Teachers Learn to Face Their Unconscious Biases
- 65 Years After 'Brown v. Board,' Where Are All the Black Educators?
- The Hate U Give (Movie)
- I Am Not Your Negro (Movie)
- 13th (Movie)
- When They See Us (Netflix Movie)
- Lee Daniels’ The Butler (Movie)
- Selma (Movie)
- Blackish (TV show)
- The House I Live In (Documentary)
- Finding Your Roots (TV show)
- AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock (Documentary)
- Blissful Thinking episode 1 prejudice (Hulu TV show)
- The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (Netflix show)
- Hate thy Neighbor (Hulu)
- Understanding Racism Curriculum by St. Mary’s Press It covers the following topics: privilege, institutional racism, implicit bias, and solidarity which are enlivened through engaging polls, powerful scenarios, productive discussions, and lots of practice activities. Through this dynamic eLearning course, students are empowered to create solutions and figure out how to unite as one human family.
- Integration & Segregation (playlist by David Hoffman)
- Race Relations & the Church (Bishop Edward Braxton with Raymond Arroyo)
- Segregated by Design Film: Examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area I America through law and policy.
- History of Mercer County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Volume 1 edited by S. S. Scranton; Racial history of Mercer County.
- I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown; Powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words. Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric.
- Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome Book by Dr. Joy Degruy; The book addresses the residual impacts of generations of slavery and opens up the discussion of how the black community can use the strengths we have gained in the past to heal in the present.
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson; A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice.
- Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult; Tells the story of an African American labor and delivery nurse and the racism surrounding her care of a white supremacist couple's newborn son.
- Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil war to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon; It explores the forced labor, of prisoners, overwhelmingly African American men, through the convict lease system used by states, local governments, white farmers, and corporations after the American Civil War until World War II in the southern United States.
- Dismantling Racism the Continuing Challenge to White America by Joseph Barndt; Racism permeates the individual attitudes and behavior of white people, but even more seriously, it permeates public systems, institutions, and culture. This book does not intend to attack or to produce guilt, but its message is tough and demanding.
- Faith and Action A History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 1821-1996 by Roger Fortin; This book tells the history of African American Catholics beginning with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's opposition to slavery and the beginning of segregated parishes to the establishment of the program African American Ministry Empowered and Nurtured (AMEN) by the Office of African American Catholic Ministries in 1995.
- The history of Black Catholics in the United States by Cyprian Davis; A book about larger context of African Americans in church. Includes information about Daniel Rudd who was significant figure to archdiocese regarding African American catholic history.
- Racial Justice and the Catholic Church by Fr. Bryan N. Massingale; Examines the history of racism in the United States from the Civil War to the twenty-first century and discusses the teaching efforts of the Catholic Church to put a stop to racism and promote reconciliation and justice.
- From Slave to Priest the Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton by Caroline Hemesath, O.S.F. Born into a black Catholic slave family, Fr. Augustine Tolton conquered almost insurmountable odds to become one of the very first black priests in the United States.
- Catholic Cultures: How Parishes can respond to the changing face of Catholicism by Patricia Wittberg, S.C. Offers a view of Catholicism through the eyes of Catholics from these different cultures, so that we may all be challenged to grow in our reception of the Good News.
- Building Intercultural Competence for Ministers (Bilingual) by Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops; Designed to help ministry leaders achieve a basic level of awareness and proficiency in the area of intercultural competency through the five guidelines.
- Seeking Charity and Justice a Vincentian Guide to Diversity/Multicultural Issues by Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Training manual providing guidance on how to address racial issues in the community while serving.
- Blood in the Streets - Racism, Riots and Murders in the Heartland of America by Daniel L. Baker and Gwen Nalls; Based on actual events, the book describes in detail what it was like during urban America's most violent decade; 1965-1975 in Dayton, Ohio.
- A History of Race Relations in the Miami Valley: A Brief Overview; Available at Carillon Historical Park, 1000 Carillon Boulevard, Dayton 45409. A booklet that covers up racial history in the Miami Valley.
- History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 1821-1921 by Rev. John H. Lamott, S.T.D., Frederick Pustet Company, Inc, 1921; Shows how people develop a filter of prejudices to protect themselves from confronting those who differ from them in some way and getting to know them as individuals.
- Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt; We do not have to be racist to be biased. With a perspective that is both scientific, investigative, and also informed by personal experience, Eberhardt offers a reasoned look into the effects of implicit racial bias, ranging from the subtle to the dramatic.
- Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving; New insights into how racism works and why you (or white people you know) can get so anxious when it comes to talking about race and racism.
- Red, Black, And White by Ulrich F. Mueller; A book detailing the history of the mostly African American community of Carthagena in Mercer County, Ohio. The author states in the forward that his intent for this book is "to put Carthagena, Ohio on the map."
- The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton; Anthony Ray Hinton was poor and black when he was convicted of two murders he hadn't committed. For the next three decades he was trapped in solitary confinement in a tiny cell on death row.
- Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson; Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.
- America’s Original Sin by Jim Wallis; America’s problem with race has deep roots, with the country’s foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation’s original sin.
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree Paperback by James H. Cone; The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk.
- White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo; White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress.
- What We Have Seen and Heard Essays and Stories from Black Catholics of Baltimore by Office of African American Ministries by the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Reflections on African American Catholic experience.