October is dedicated to honoring the God-given dignity of human persons. That commitment to life—all of life—carries added meaning for us in Philadelphia. This is where the claim that “all men are created equal” was written into our founding documents 250 years ago.
Inspired by that synergy between faith and country, a team of local Catholic educators is working with New Encounters: Catholics Confronting Racism to offer an interactive symposium Nov. 14 at St Joseph’s University entitled “America at 250: Catholic Schools, Racial Justice and the Courage to Teach ‘All Are Created Equal.”
The archdiocesan Office for Catholic Education is helping to promote it among diocesan schools. Private and Independence Mission schools are also on board.
The goal of the symposium is to equip teachers with the knowledge, spiritual and curricular resources and skills to bring this message into their classrooms: that racial healing is an authentically Catholic pro-life issue.
Students who are now in Catholic schools—both in the city and the suburbs— will grow up understanding that embracing racial justice is at the core of what it means to be a Catholic, and an American.
Catholic schools across the Archdiocese are invited to send two educators to the symposium. In advance, all will be asked to read two of Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez’s powerful statements on racism, “We Are One Body” (2023) and “On the Occasion of Juneteenth” (2026).
At the symposium, teachers will receive classroom-ready materials for every grade-level including many featured on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Act 48 credit will be available through Cranaleith Spiritual Center, an apostolic work of the Sisters of Mercy and a partner of New Encounters.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Marcia Chatelain, is a Pulitzer-prize winning historian who taught at Georgetown University before coming to the University of Pennsylvania.
A panel of educators and Catholic school alumnae will share perspectives on how our schools have made and/or missed the mark regarding racial justice over the years. They will encourage participants to recognize that “now is an acceptable time” to recognize that racism hurts all of us, of every ethnicity.
Academic course content and imagery in school hallways that reflects the diversity of our Church and our communities will show students what racial healing looks like.
All of the content is grounded in Catholic social teaching and in faith-filled role models like St. Katharine Drexel and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman.
In the affirmation that “all men are created equal,” our Declaration of Independence held both promise and tension. The signers were clear about the dignity and rights of colonists oppressed by British rule, but they stopped well short of acknowledging them for African-descended persons in the colonies, most of of whom were enslaved.
We continue to struggle over this legacy. But Catholics are a “resurrection people,” and with every generation of children we educate, we have the opportunity to form young people who understand that both our country and our faith call on us to embrace the dignity of all. That is the vision this symposium will promote.
God willing, when the time comes to celebrate our country’s 300th anniversary, our Catholic schools may be recognized as courageous trail-blazers in racial justice!
Participants can register for the symposium here. Inquiries are welcome at newencounterscatholics@gmail.com.
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Mary S. Laver is the director of New Encounters: Catholics Confronting Racism.
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