Report
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Report on A Dream in Black and White Growing in Understanding as Catholics (2017)
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Report on A Dream in Black and White Growing in Understanding as Catholics
Traditionally, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has held an ecumenical gathering to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in one of our inner-city parish. While this has been happening for over 30 years, we have observed that there was not a lot of participation from our brothers and sisters of other faiths. This year, in light of the many societal issues that we are faced with as brothers and sisters in the Lord - and in response to the USCCB’s call for an ongoing conversation about race, poverty, housing, violence, education, & policing, we invited the entire Catholic community to join us for a different type of gathering: one of prayer and direct dialogue between individuals. Our gathering was held on Monday January 16, 2017, as part of the MLK Day activities.
We chose a new suburban location and bused in the faithful from the urban parishes. We titled this gathering: A Dream in Black and White - Growing in Understanding as Catholics." At this service of prayer and conversation, we offered prayer and praise to God, and began a serious dialogue seeking to further our mutual understanding across divides of race and color. We began with a choral prelude at 6:30 PM, and started the formal prayer service at 7:00 PM. We estimate that over 800 people of all races were in attendance. We intentionally directed the congregation to sit with someone of a different race or someone they did not know. After Scripture and prayer, we had three different short presentations followed by discussion questions for dialogue among those in attendance.