Throughout much of this year, social injustice and inequality have been a very talked-about topic. After the brutal killings of George Floyd and many others by the police, the topic of injustice has called us to introspect and have conversations. In order to aid in these discussions, the Campus Ministry planned and held a series of prayer services. Because of COVID, the dates of these prayer services had to be altered a bit.
Since early August, Ms. Carter, Mr. Perry, Mr. Riemer, Mr. Wallace, and Mrs. Crowder met together to plan a series of prayer services on racial injustice. What came out of that were three prayer services, each with a different goal.
Prayer Service One
The first prayer service was all about listening. The student body listened in on a recorded conversation between some students with Mr. Riemer and Mr. Perry over the summer about racial injustice. These students explored the topic in light of George Floyd’s death and other events that occurred over the summer. Furthermore, after listening to these conversations, there was a period of silence for reflection, followed by an examination of conscience themed on racial injustice.
Prayer Service Two
A week later, the second of three prayer services was held. Prior to this prayer service, Pope Francis released his newest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti. During this prayer service, we explored this new encyclical by Pope Francis. In this, we heard how our faith intersects with topics of social justice.
Prayer Service Three
The last prayer service was my favorite of the three. This prayer service involved a panel of Black faculty members who shared their experiences with racial injustice. We heard from Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Yohannes, and Coach Pointer in an interview-type experience.
Blake Hunter ’22 asked questions to the faculty and each faculty member took turns answering them.
I reached out to Patrick Lee ’21 and he said, “This prayer service was great because we were able to hear experiences that we usually don’t hear about, which helps us in our ongoing conversations about injustice.”
Conclusion
Mrs. Crowder reached out to me and told me that “the topic of racial injustice is an ongoing conversation” and that “these prayer services were just a start of that conversation that we hope has continued organically.” Finally, these prayer services were much needed in our community in order to spark more conversations on important topics across the community.
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