Faith from the Margins

Check out the last episode of our second season, where we had the opportunity to talk with the Reverend Benjamin Perry about his new book "Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter". Benjamin is an award winning writer and his work focuses on the intersection of religion and politics. He is also the Minister of Outreach and Media Strategy at Middle Church in NYC. During our conversation with Benjamin we discussed his own journey of learning to cry again, how our culture views emotions, and the spiritual dimension of tears and crying.

In this episode we talked with the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, who is the first director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Center for Repair of Historical Harms. Jermaine helped us to understand the difference between repairs, and reparations, while also discussing the role of churches and denominations in this process. We also had the opportunity to learn from Jermaine about the theological dimension of this issue and how it has affected and continues to impact the way we see the future. Feel free to contact Rev. Jermaine if you want to know more about him and his work.

In this episode we talked with Marchaé Grair, who is the Communications Director for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism and a Senior Partner at Still Harbor, an organization that trains spiritual directors and spiritually grounded facilitators.  ​Our conversation with Marchaé focused on the topic of what does it mean to be an abolitionist. Marchaé shared their own journey, the connection between being an abolitionist and spirituality, and several resources that you can find below. - We Do This Til We Free US: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba- No More Police, A Case for Abolition by Mariame Kaba & Andrea J. Ritchie - The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale - The Movement for Black Lives  Follow us on IG @faithfromthemargins to continue the conversation!

Andrés, one our of our co-hosts, shares an update about Season 2 and the work we are currently doing. Andrés mentioned a couple of things during this update and you can learn more about them here: - Our Episode with Naomi Ortiz and the quotes they shared on their IG account. - Our Spanish episodes, which you can listen to here. - Learn more about The Nap Ministry and their book. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram.  Thank you!

Join us this week for our conversation with Naomi Ortiz, author of Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice (Reclamation Press), which offers a powerful insight into self-care. Naomi is a Poet, Writer, and Visual Artist whose intersectional work focuses on self-care for activists, disability justice, climate action, and relationship with place.  During this episode we talked about how to practice self-care in practical ways, what is disability justice and Naomi's relationship with spirituality, place, and the process of writing. Learn more about Naomi here and follow us on Instagram @faithfromthemargins  to give us your feedback.

Listen to our first episode of Season Two where we talked with Patty Krawec, author of the upcoming book, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future. Patty's book is now available for pre-order here. During our conversation with Patty we explored the topics of colonization, decolonization, indigenous erasure, and the role of faith communities in these issues. Patty is an Anishinaabe/Ukrainian writer and speaker belonging to Lac Seul First Nation in Treaty 3 territory and residing in Niagara Falls. She serves on the board of the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre and is the cohost of the Medicine for the Resistance podcast. In November 2021, after three years of personal fundraising, she cofounded the Nii'kinaaganaa Foundation with journalist Nora Loreto and Blackfoot activist Terril Tailfeathers. Nii’kinaaganaa challenges settlers to pay their rent for living on Indigenous lands and then disperses that money to Indigenous people and organizations who are building their communities in a variety of creative ways. Learn more about Faith from the Margins here.

For our final episode of Season 1 we had a conversation with James Ozga, a long time member of our church, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Houston, TX. We talked about the role of faith communities during the AIDS/HIV epidemic, his experiences as a gay man, marriage, and the importance of feeling relevant as people get older. James moved to Houston from Chicago in 1979.  He met his husband in 1980 started going to St. Stephen's that same year. He has been involded in different ministries: Lay Pastors, ushering, rosary group, hospitality, Diocesan council, Gay Pride, and many other activities.

Check out our conversation with Lenny Duncan, former ELCA pastor and author of Dear Church, a Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US and United States of Grace. In this episode, Lenny shares his interaction with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry about Black Lives Matter, his experiences doing anti-racism and reparations works, and his decision to leave his calling as a pastor, along with many other interesting topics. In his remarks about Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Lenny mentions that the Bishop has never publicly said “Black Lives Matters (BLM).” We found a video from 2015 where he talks about BLM, watch it here. You can follow Lenny on Instagram @lennyduncan and check out his podcast @blackberryjams.

Finally, the second part of our interview with Dr. Sandra Montes (@sandratmontes) is here! Listen to our conversation where we talked about love, faith, what it means to be true to ourselves, and so much more! Dr. Sandra is the Dean of Chapel at Union Theological Seminary in NYC and the author of "Becoming REAL And Thriving In Ministry", published by Church Publishing. Sandra was born in Perú, grew up in Guatemala and settled in Texas as soon as she could. Her passions are God, family (especially her son), music, education, liturgy, social and racial justice and writing. To listen to our previous episodes, which include the first part of our conversation with Sandra, visit www.faithfromthemargins.com.

Listen to our conversation with Dr. Sandra Montes, who is the Dean of Chapel at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Dr. Montes is also the author of "Becoming REAL And Thriving In Ministry", published by Church Publishing. Sandra was born in Perú, grew up in Guatemala and settled in Texas as soon as she could. Her passions are God, family (especially her son), music, education, liturgy, social and racial justice and writing. Follow Sandra on Instagram @sandratmontes. Learn more about our podcast at www.faithfromthemargins.com!