At College Church, antiracism is an expression of our recognition that all are created in the image of God. As such, we respond—personally and collectively— to the call to identify, and to actively challenge, structures and systems that devalue people on the basis of race, and to practice restoration in the pursuit of justice.
Upcoming Events in the Community
Through July 12, 2026* Mill Creek: Black Metropolis is a special exhibit now open at the Missouri History Museum. It explores the rich history of a St. Louis neighborhood that historians have likened to Harlem, New York. This city within a city, which lay just beyond the steps of College Church, was home of St. Louis’s major Black newspapers, the offices of numerous Black professionals, a center of social activism, and the birthplace of ragtime. Learn about the stories of this Black metropolis as well as its intentional erasure from the St. Louis landscape. For more information, go to: mohistory.org/exhibits/mill-creek
*We highly recommend this exhibit and encourage all parishioners to spend time with the exhibit before July 12!
June, 2026 Numerous events will be held throughout the St. Louis area in celebration of Juneteenth–the national holiday commemorating the official end of slavery. For a complete list and detailed information, go to: juneteenthevents.us/st-louis
June 13 8:00 am – 5:00 pm The Delmar Loop Juneteenth Celebration will feature the 5K Race for Reconciliation in the morning, an afternoon vendor fair, and an evening celebration with African dancers, drummers, musicians, and a car show. For more information, go to: visittheloop.com/events/juneteenth-celebration/ To register for the Race for Reconciliation, go to: findarace.com/us/events/race-for-reconciliation-5k
June 19 11:30 am – 6:00 pm The Griot Museum of Black History, 2505 St. Louis Ave., 63106, is hosting the 3rd annual Juneteenth ‘FREE DOME” Celebration. This event celebrates the rich heritage, history, and culture of people of African descent through music, storytelling, food, and family-friendly activities. Go to thegriotmuseum.com/events for further information about this and other upcoming exhibits.
June 23, 2026 7:00 – 8:30 pm Jacqueline D’Auria will be sharing her recent experiences as part of the Jewish Nonviolence Olive Harvest program. Learn about the cultural and economic significance of the olive harvest to Palestinian society and how this program helps to support Jewish-Palestinian solidarity. The event will be held at Matovu, 4200 Blaine Ave., 63110. For more information and to register, go to: matovustl.org/events/2026/oliveharvest
June 27 - 28 10:00 am – 10:00 pm The thirtieth annual Fiesta in Florissant will be held at the Knights of Columbus Park, 50 St. Francois St., Florissant, MO 63031. Enjoy the food, music, and fun of Hispanic culture. For more information, go to hispanicfestivalstl.com
June 27 – 28 11:00 am – 7:00 pm St. Louis PrideFest will be held downtown 1315 Chestnut St., 63103. The weekend will feature live entertainment, the Grand Pride Parade, community and nonprofit organizations, local and national vendors, family-friendly activities, and opportunities to engage with groups working to advance equality across the region. PrideFest is designed to be welcoming, inclusive, and accessible for people of all ages. For more information and to purchase tickets online, go to: eventeny.com/events/st-louis-pridefest-2026-26287/
July 9 5:00 – 8:00 pm The Missouri History Museum will present How St. Louis Shaped American Civil Rights. Join Curator of Urban Landscape and Community Identity, Gwen Moore, for this look back at the key Supreme Court cases that started in St. Louis and dramatically impacted American civil rights. For more information, go to: mohistory.org/events/stl-america-3
July 10 -12 The Missouri History Museum will host events throughout the closing weekend of the Mill Creek: Black Metropolis exhibit. Celebrate the legacy of this vibrant neighborhood, connect with fellow community members, and explore the thought-provoking exhibit one last time. For more information, go to: mohistory.org/events/mill-creek-closing-07-10-2026
For information about additional community programs, see the calendar of events at Seeds of Justice Network: seedsofjusticenetwork.org/
For more information about antiracism at College Church or to suggest upcoming events, please contact Lisa Burks at lmburks60@gmail.com or Winnie Sullivan at penultim@swbell.net.
See the article about Jewish American Heritage Month in our May 31, 2026 bulletin. To learn more, please visit the following sites:
loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome
standuptojewishhate.org
splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/antisemitism
stlholocaustmuseum.org/about-us
exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/how-many-refugees-came-to-the-united-states-from-1933-1945.
Learn more about our Parish Racial History
The Love of Christ Impels Us:
Becoming an Anti-Racist Parish
Click here to learn more about our parish Racism and Reconciliation committee.
What is anti-racism? Racial prejudice usually means a belief that some racial groups are better or worse than others. Structural racism describes the ways in which our institutions and structures create and maintain racial inequalities. Anti-racism goes beyond simply avoiding racism, and is an effort to oppose and dismantle racism and to promote racial equity.
Why is College Church talking about anti-racism? College Church has a long history of ongoing commitment to justice and racial equity. More recently, since 2014 and the Ferguson uprising, we as a parish have been asking ourselves some hard questions about our role in racial inequality. How have we ignored it? How have we supported it? How have we worked to change it? In addition, the USCCB recently released its pastoral letter against racism, which explains how the work of anti-racism is deeply rooted in our Catholic faith.
What anti-racism work has College Church been doing? Since June of 2018, parishioners and staff representatives who had been working in various ways on racial equity efforts within our parish have been meeting monthly as the College Church Anti-Racism Leadership Team. We hope to create a focused vision and mission for our parish to become an anti-racist institution. That means we want to be working purposefully to oppose racism and create racial equity: within ourselves as individuals, within our parish as a community, and within our city. We are asking: How can College Church increase our commitment to dismantle racism? How can we grow in our understanding of racism and inequality? What would College Church look and feel like if our intentional identity was that of a truly anti-racist institution?
How are we doing this work? We have connected with Crossroads, an organization based in the Midwest that helps religious communities and secular organizations learn how to do the work of anti-racism. Their vision is that Racism dehumanizes us all —Dismantling racism heals us all. Their method is to help organizations transform themselves, thereby transforming their communities. The Leadership Team attended a full-day training with Crossroads and has been using their tools to conduct focus groups within already established commissions and ministries within our Parish.
Want to be involved? Our team has been evolving and is still very much in the beginning stages of this work. We value the experiences and gifts of all of our parishioners and want to enrich the makeup of our leadership team. Please contact Cynthia Enghauser at cynthia@sfxstl.org if you are interested in being a part of this impassioned ministry.
Past Events
Undoing Our Knots
The webinar, Undoing Our Knots, presented by Dr. Maureen O’Connell was presented on March 30 , 2023. In this talk, Dr. O’Connell Maureen O’Connell tells the stories of her Irish Catholic family’s history, sharing some of the choices her relatives made that reinforced racial segregation and inequity, often with the encouragement of a complicit church hierarchy. She further explores some of the spiritual practices of our Catholic faith that help us to undo our own knots and free us to create more inclusive Catholic communities. You can view the webinar at the following link: youtube.com/watch?v=h_A3-njwx40
Our Parish vision: antiracism
Our Parish Racial History
As part of the ongoing Parish Racial Equity Review under way at College Church, the History Committee has been discovering and sharing some of the concealed stories of race that are part of the formation of our city, the archdiocese, and our parish, including its relationship to St. Louis University, and the Society of Jesus. Sharing these stories is part of our work to interrupt the systemic racism that persists within our institutions. Highlights of our findings may be seen in a printed brochure available through this link.
In 2022, a series of presentations was held to provide a more complete understanding of the story of race that continues to impact us today. Recordings of those presentations may be viewed through the following links:
Slavery, Faith, and the Pursuit of Freedom – September 18, 2022
Jesuit Ministry to African American Catholics – October 16, 2022
Voices of Resistance, Advocacy, and Activism – November 20, 2022
If you have questions or would like more information about these presentations or the work of Antiracism at College Church, please contact Winnie Sullivan at penultim@swbell.net or Lisa Burks lmburks60@gmail.com.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And to know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets