New circle forming in October!

Nearly 150 people across the Diocese of Southwest Florida have completed the Sacred Ground series.
Registration for the 2023-24 Circle is closed.

I found the readings and the documentary movie selections assigned to each session opening my eyes and giving me a much better understanding of the systemic racism in our nation occurring over hundreds of years. It is spread among the many different minority groups in America and continues today. I would encourage anyone interested to sign up and learn more about themselves, the Episcopal church as a whole, and how our nation, our church, and we as individuals together played a large role in how we arrived where we are at today and the changes we all need to be a part of moving forward to allow us to be a more inclusive, fair and just nation.
-Michael Ricciardi, Cathedral member

Sacred Ground, a program to foster racial healing and reconciliation, will return to the Cathedral in October. This film-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith, is an initiative of the wider Episcopal Church, part of a commitment to justice in our personal lives, ministries, and society.

This Sacred Ground circle will open with an in-person meeting on Saturday, October 21, from 10 am-3 pm. Then the group will meet biweekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, time to be arranged, with a three-week break in December and resuming January 3. The final session is an in-person meeting on March 2 from 10 am-3 pm.

It draws on powerful documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European-American histories, and invites participants to unpack their own histories and experiences in a safe space.

Sacred Ground is an attempt to respond to the profound challenges in our society around race and racism, as well as the difficult but respectful and transformative dialogue we need to have with each other about them. It invites participants to walk back through history in order to peel away the layers that brought us to today, and to do so in a personal way.

During 2020 and 2021 we hosted three Sacred Ground circles in which more than 30 individuals came together to explore the history and resulting consequences of race for our times and communities.

There is no charge. All are welcome, whether you are well-versed in these issues or are just beginning the journey.

Please be in touch with Betsy Adams (betsygadams@icloud.com) for more information or speak to your St. Peter’s friends and family who have participated in Sacred Ground circles and hear their stories of how their lives and thinking have been changed by their involvement: Michael and Betsy Adams, Karen Amundrud, Kathy Coughlin, Susan Darrow, Cynthia Garrels, Barry and Mary Howe, Misty Landers, Rebecca Lyons, Fay Mackey, Hillary Peete, Anita Pernell-Arnold, Michael Ricciardi, Cathy and Rich Rome, Scott Strader, Ken Taber, Sam Tallman, and Karen Torrisi.