Ecumenical Group Addresses Racism in United States

National Council of Churches' Faith and Order Convening Table Meets in Washington, DC

Late last week, I attended the spring meeting of the National Council of Churches’ (NCC) Faith and Order Convening Table, where I represented the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as part of an ecumenical dialogue on the legacy of racism in American society and in the churches, as well as the churches’ work to transform society in the struggle against racism. The gathering was a grace-filled opportunity for representatives of different Christian denominations to reflect together on how Christianity has been intertwined with racism throughout American history and how we, together, can respond to the ongoing racism present in society today.

(The United Methodist Building, Washington, DC, location of the headquarters of the National Council of Churches; Photo: Matthew Shadle)

The Faith and Order Convening Table is the body within the NCC focused on theological dialogue among Christian denominations. Other Convening Tables are focused on different aspects of ecumenical work: Christian Education, Faith Formation, and Leadership Development; Interreligious Relations; and Joint Action and Advocacy. The Faith and Order Convening Table grew out of the Faith and Order Commission, which was established in 1959 to engage in theological dialogue on both church-uniting and church-dividing questions of doctrine and church structure. The four convening tables were created as part of a re-structuring of the NCC that took place in 2013.

This re-structuring represented not just a change in the organization of Faith and Order, but also a shift in mission. Although the members of the Faith and Order Commission had traditionally been engaged in dialogue over questions of doctrine and congregational organization, the Faith and Order Convening Table has been more focused on issues of social ethics or social justice. These social issues are “church-uniting” and “church-dividing” in a different way than doctrinal issues; for example, although the different Christian denominations may be united against racism, many are also divided within themselves over questions of race. Since 2013, all of the convening tables, not just Faith and Order, have been asked to focus on priority issues established by the NCC leadership.

In 2018, the NCC launched the A.C.T. Now to End Racism initiative at a public rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., signaling a major focus on the issue of racism. This was certainly a timely initiative, coming on the heels of the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. The initiative helped begin conversations that would pave the way for the response of churches to the widespread protests and conversations about race in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in the summer of 2020. It is also significant that the initiative originated from a major Christian, ecumenical body: Christian nationalism, most typically found in evangelical churches, is often linked to resurgent forms of racism and white nationalism, and congregations of all denominations remain, for the most part, racially divided.

(Photo: Glendale United Methodist Church - Nashville, Public Domain)

The A.C.T. Now to End Racism initiative also set the agenda for Faith and Order’s dialogues in the following years. The initiative centers around three themes:

• AWAKEN ourselves to the truth that racism is ever-present, deeply rooted in American culture, and profoundly damaging to our communities.

• CONFRONT racism, speak truth to ourselves, our communities and institutions, and stand against injustice.

• TRANSFORM the hearts, minds, and behaviors of people and structures that shape society.

The Faith and Order Convening Table took these three themes and developed them into three areas of theological dialogue: Awakening to the Reality of Racism as America’s Original Sin, Confronting White Supremacy as the Defining Myth of America, and Transforming the Church and Humanizing the Public Square. Each provides opportunities for theological reflection and Christian introspection about our complicity in the legacy of racism, and the three together provide a historical arc encompassing the past, present, and future. We formed three working groups, each focused on one of the topic areas.

At the end of each cycle of dialogue, the Faith and Order Convening Table produces a resource that reflects our work and that will be of use to churches. For this cycle, we are publishing a book tentatively titled Addressing Racism as the Church: Some Theological Considerations and divided into three sections, based on the topics of our three working groups. Chapters throughout the volume analyze the reality of racism in light of Christian doctrines such as the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and original sin, and explore strategies for addressing racism in its various forms.

My own chapter is titled “How to Be an Antiracist Congregation: Case Studies and Best Practices.” The chapter includes examples of congregations from different denominations that provide good examples of what it might look like to be an antiracist congregation, while recognizing that no congregation is perfect and that the struggle against racism is an ongoing process. The chapter also includes a list of best practices drawn from the case studies and suggested resources for congregations looking to engage in antiracist initiatives.

This meeting of the Faith and Order Convening Table was our first in person gathering since before the COVID-19 outbreak began in 2020. Therefore, it was not just an opportunity for the participants to share viewpoints as representatives of our various Christian denominations, but also a chance to rekindle old friendships and to welcome newcomers who had joined us for online meetings but whom we had never met in the flesh. The gathering certainly confirmed the old insight that the best ecumenical work gets done around the dinner table rather than during the formal meetings.

Addressing Racism as the Church: Some Theological Considerations should be available in print and as an ebook some time in the first half of 2024. I will also look into the possibility of publishing “How to Be an Antiracist Congregation: Case Studies and Best Practices” as a stand-alone document online.

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Of Interest…

• Just days before the Faith and Order Convening Table met, we lost a great ecumenist. Rev. John W. Crossin, OSFS passed away on May 12. The author of many books and articles on ecumenism, Fr. Crossin had served as the Executive Director of the USCCB’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs from 2012 to 2017, also serving as a Consultor for the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. It was Fr. Crossin who, late in 2016, invited me to represent the Catholic bishops at the Faith and Order Convening Table, starting in 2017. His full obituary, with details on his life and works, can be found here.

• In other ecumenical news, the World Conference of Churches’ Commission on Faith and Order is organizing a World Conference on the theme of “Nicaea 2025,” celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea as an ecumenical opportunity. The Council of Nicaea, of course, defined Christian belief in the divinity of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. In addition to this World Conference, the WCC is encouraging ecumenical organizations, church bodies, theological societies, and other Christian groups to plan their own celebrations, conferences, and events centering around the theme of “Nicaea 2025.” In the past, Pope Francis has also pointed to the upcoming anniversary of Nicaea as an ecumenical opportunity.

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Coming Soon…

• Last week’s post on Pope Francis’s recognition of 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs led to some harsh responses from “traditionalist” Catholics on social media, but rather than feeding the trolls, in an upcoming post, I want to explore the doctrine of extra ecclesiam nulla salus, or “outside the Church there is no salvation,” particularly Popes Pius IX and Pius XII’s contributions to the doctrine.

• I am still working on some quite interesting interviews that have been delayed for various reasons—stay posted!