STM Students Commit

Spring 2021 Commitment Letter

Students are fundamental to the School of Theology and Ministry, and have a particular location from which we are called to engage our communal commitments toward anti-racism and multicultural diversity. While there is still necessary work to be done at the institutional level, we hope to also emphasize our own agency in furthering this work, specifically through our academic pursuits as students, ministers, and theologians.

As students, let’s harness our collective power to diversify the voices that inform our theological study and shape our developing ministerial identities. Appreciating all areas of human inquiry calls us in this moment to listen to and learn from disciplines and churches which have reckoned more fully with their racist legacy than has the Catholic Church. At the same time, we are responsible for lifting up the voices in our own tradition, particularly Black voices, who can teach us how to be more racially just. In all of this work, we are mindful that our ministry is always one of learning, never of mastery.

As we approach our final papers this semester, we, the undersigned, commit to the following personal practices:

Read

I will incorporate theologians of color in my research and writing, recognizing that my work as a theologian and graduate student is, in part, represented by my scholarship.

I will submit these resources to a communal bibliography to be organized by discipline and to be shared at the conclusion of the semester as a community resource.

Engage

I will initiate a conversation with a peer about the implications, factors, and challenges of incorporating aspects of culture and race into an academic field and/or spiritual practice.