By Bishop Lucinda Ashby

“A Storied Pilgrimage with Race” is the unique anti-racism training for the clergy and people of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. The title of this training was chosen with care, as this 12-part series is based on stories of people interviewed and an understanding that working out our own questions and experiences of race is a journey.  This is an opportunity for people to connect with stories of people in our diocese—people known to us.  

Our diocese is a place of many languages and cultures, with an opportunity and challenge to live into the reign of God. In creating this video series, the design team discovered that the story about racial identity was complex for each person and defied the assumptions and biases of the participants. The vulnerability of those being interviewed gave permission for participants on the pilgrimage to go deeper and to test their own vulnerabilities around race and identity.

Over a period of 15 months in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, seven people, lay, and clergy of various backgrounds, came together with a singular focus:  to create an online, rich curriculum for addressing issues of racial conflict in our diocese. The Diocese of El Camino Real is rich in diversity that includes race and ethnicity, class, education, age, theology, politics, and geography; the team designed “A Storied Pilgrimage with Race” to explore the complex diversity in which we engage our ministry together. 

The videos are interviews conducted by the design team with people who are seen as, or identify as, Anglo American, Latino American, Chinese American, Japanese American, African American, Native American, and so on.  Many members of the design team were also interviewed as part of the series.  

Each video is surrounded by a quote that emerges from the interview, as well as a question to discuss at the end. Homework includes readings, art projects, other videos, and visits to museums as a way for participants to delve more deeply into the topics that affect their experiences of racial identity and learn about the ways in which racial identity intersected with politics and the role of the church. 

In many cases, patterns of immigration and generational experiences of settling in California directly affected how race and identity have intersected and are understood. The video series spans the experiences of first-generation immigrants of several cultures, as well as the lives of those who have lived and farmed the lands for many generations. The videos are honest and invitational, uncomfortable and deeply spiritual.  

This series is a great gift to the Diocese of El Camino Real, and we invite other dioceses to seek stories and honor the racial identities that form and inform their contexts. You’ll find “A Storied Pilgrimage with Race” on our diocesan website:  https://www.realepiscopal.org/a-storied-pilgrimage-with-race/

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The Right Rev. Lucinda Ashby is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, on the Central Coast of California.