Rick Ufford-Chase, a ruling elder and the Moderator of the 216th General Assembly (2004), and the Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, who last spring co-founded, along with Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and the Presbytery of Utica, co-founded the Center for Jubilee Practice, appeared last week on A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast. The two talked about their work studying, among other things, how churches might facilitate conversations around reparations in light of the wealth gap between Indigenous and African American families and white families in the U.S.
“A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” is less than a year old, but co-host Simon Doong managed to score a huge interview for the show’s Christmas episode.
In October, “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” initiated its first-ever Spanish-language episode to address the critical issue of gender-based violence in Puerto Rico and beyond.
This fall, the news has been filled with images of refugees from Afghanistan and other countries coming to the United States, and immigration has been a major issue in several recent elections.
The Rev. RJ Robles helped the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) commemorate World AIDS Day Wednesday by taking chapel service attendees on a mental journey back to the early 1980s, when some people labeled HIV/AIDS as the “gay cancer” and approached those who had the disease with fear and judgment.
There has been a lot of talk in the past year about twin pandemics and multiple pandemics, including the COVID-19 virus, extrajudicial killings of people who are Black, poverty, and other societal ills exacerbated by the circumstances of the 2020s, thus far.
But one of the quietest pandemics has been gender-based violence, particularly violence against women.
In the Communicators Network PC(USA)’s first-ever episode of Community Conversations broadcast via Facebook Live on Tuesday, the Rev. Lee Catoe and the Rev. DeEtte Decker didn’t hesitate to share their thoughts on how churches and the denomination can use social media more effectively to help amplify the voices of people who aren’t regularly heard from. Hear the conversation by joining Communicators Network by clicking here.
From committing to work for peace in our own communities to traveling to see peace work around the world, there are numerous ways people can get involved in the work of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.
