To love your neighbor, you must know your neighbor. And to know your neighbor, you often times have to go beyond the mind you have. The Greek word for conversion, metanoia, means just that: “to go beyond the mind you have”, so that loving your neighbor usually requires some kind of conversion. Conversions are often uncomfortable and even painful. It can be hard but it can also be liberating and healing to let go of what you assumed to be true so as to accept a little more of what is actually true, especially what has been and is actually true for someone else––namely, your neighbor.

A new narrative podcast series called The Ark and the Dove seeks to allow listeners to grow in knowledge of their neighbors in the Catholic Church and in the United States. The way it does that is by investigating the complex dynamics of race and religion in America through the lens of the Black Catholic Church. It holds together both broad issues of race and religion with local, particular stories of specific communities, parishes, and schools, especially within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Our episode today focuses on The Ark and the Dove, with my guest and the podcast’s co-creator, Edward Herrera.

In addition to his work on The Ark and the Dove, Edward Herrera is the Executive Director of the Institute for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Follow-up Resources:

• The Ark and the Dove podcast series
• “The Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism, with Gloria Purvis,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
• “Black Lives and the Preferential Option for the Poor” by John Cavadini, via Church Life Journal

This episode is sponsored by: Dr. Michael Dauphinais, https://catholic-theology-show.castos.com/

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.