St. Ann’s Associate for Faith Formation, Fr. Craig Townsend, and the parish clergy are excited to announce a four-part adult education series, Race and Faith, that will meet on Sunday afternoons, September 27, and October 4, 11, and 18, from 4:30-5:30 on Zoom.

It is deeply regrettable that it has taken a series of tragic and wrongful deaths of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police in the last couple of years to loosen the hold that racist structures still have over this nation. And it is a frustrating thing that while it feels as if our society may be entering a period full of the possibility of repentance and change, the constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic continue to present obstacles to those possibilities. We Christians, driven by a belief in the presence of the risen Christ in every human being, are called to further that repentance and change – and we at St. Ann’s will do so in whatever way we can despite the challenges the pandemic forces upon us. An important starting point is to explore for ourselves, as followers of Jesus, how centuries-old racist structures hinder us even now and how our faith might help us to address and change them – and thereby us.

Participants will be assigned significant reading in preparation for each session, all of which will be available online and also in print, and we will utilize “breakout rooms” on Zoom to facilitate small-group conversations. We hope that many of you will commit to join us for all four sessions and strive to complete all of the reading. Please email Fr. Craig at for registration and program materials.

Image: “Our Lady of Regla,” Harmonia Rosales