The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing enters a powerful new season of growth and impact under the leadership of Acting Executive Director Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright. With a refreshed mission, expanded offerings, and a bold vision for spiritual and social transformation, the Center continues its sacred work of equipping morally courageous leaders to confront injustice and live into God’s dream for justice, healing, and reconciliation.
Dr. Wright brings more than 27 years of experience in education, leadership development, and organizational transformation. A widely respected speaker, author, and strategist, she is the co-founder and executive director of Thrive With Dignity, LLC, which partners with institutions to align their stated missions with lived practices through integrity audits, leadership consulting, and transformative curriculum design.
Dr. Wright is the author of eight books, including DIGNITY: Seven Strategies for Creating Authentic Community, selected by the National Association of Episcopal Schools as its 2023 featured book. Her most recent work, Deep Joy: 40 Meditations for Your Journey, highlights her commitment to spiritual wholeness and mental wellness as key pillars of leadership, especially in very complex and difficult times.
“We are excited to expand our offerings, launching a refreshed Pilgrimage of Racial Healing curriculum and offering new Train-the-Trainer programs, both in person and virtually,” Dr. Wright shared. “These opportunities are designed to support dioceses and communities as they deepen their own local justice work and build capacity for lasting change.”
The Center’s revitalized mission is clear:
To equip morally courageous leaders—guided by our Christian faith and baptismal covenant—to respect human dignity, confront injustice, and restore communities rooted in justice, healing, and reconciliation.
“That’s not just beautiful language,” Dr. Wright added. “It’s a bold call to live differently—to act with purpose and integrity, especially when it’s hard. This is not technical work. It is spiritual work. It is adaptive work. It is holy work.”
The legacy of the Rev. Absalom Jones (1746–1818), the Episcopal Church’s first Black priest, remains at the heart of this mission. “Absalom Jones was an enslaved man who dared to confront the system of oppression he inherited,” said Dr. Wright. “He became a tireless advocate for justice and dignity—and he did not act alone. He collaborated with others, including unexpected partners, and always in partnership with God. That’s the spirit we carry forward at the Center.”
Expanded Offerings from the Center (Fall 2025)
Pilgrimage of Racial Healing
Formerly known as Dismantling Racism Training
This renewed pilgrimage forms and equips morally courageous leaders to respect human dignity, realign with the spiritual and ethical commitments of our faith, and—through spiritual reflection and shared learning—confront racism and restore justice in their communities.
Train-the-Trainer Program: Preparing Pilgrimages and Pilgrim Leaders
Partner with the Center to co-create and launch your own Pilgrimage of Racial Healing curriculum. Ideal for Diocese and communities seeking to create their own local justice work of racial healing and reconciliation.
Vestry Retreats and Leadership Workshops
Designed for clergy and lay leaders, these sessions draw on the Baptismal Covenant and the DIGNITY Lens© to build mission-aligned leadership capacity and strengthen the courage to address adaptive challenges.
Dignity and Integrity Audits
A strategic assessment tool for parishes, congregations, vestries, and other leadership bodies. These audits help identify gaps between mission and practice and offer pathways for growth and alignment—with human dignity at the center.
Common Stories, Common Ground
Monthly intentional storytelling gatherings (in-person and virtual) that foster deeper understanding across lines of difference and build authentic community.
Breaking Bread, Building Understanding: Lunch and Learn Pilgrimage
An experience for small groups that includes lunch, a guided tour, and a facilitated conversation designed to equip pilgrims with insight, language, and tools to better understand and confront racism and other forms of injustice—fostering awareness and inspiring action in their communities. Especially meaningful for youth and student groups, this offering can also be customized for participants of any age.
Living God’s Dream: Children and Youth Curricula
A two-pathway curriculum (Grades K–5 and 6–12) that nurtures young people to live into God’s dream for justice. These programs continue to serve as trusted tools and national resources for justice formation for children and youth.
Looking Ahead to Spring/Summer 2026
Absalom Jones Fellowship Program
This transformative leadership development program for Atlanta University Center students blends Christian discipleship, adaptive leadership, and deep spiritual formation. Through retreats, cohort learning, and mentorship, Fellows will grow in purpose and increase their capacity to lead impactful change in their communities and beyond.
Founded in 2017, the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing emerged from the Diocese of Atlanta’s faithful response to a General Convention mandate for anti-racism training. Today, it continues to evolve, embodying a bold and faithful commitment to healing the chronic illness of racism in our spiritual formation and collective life.