Jeannine Hill Fletcher
White American with mixed-European ancestry
Professor Jeannine Hill Fletcher is a constructive theologian writing at the intersection of Catholic systematic theology and issues of diversity (including gender, race and religious diversity). She is the author of The Sin of White Supremacy: Christianity, Racism and Religious Diversity in America (Orbis, 2017). As Professor of Theology at Fordham University, Bronx NY, she also serves on the board of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, an inter-generational, multi-racial, multi-religious grassroots organization that addresses social justice issues in New York City and beyond. Her current research examines the illicit inheritance White xhristian institutions have accumulated through the sins of White supremacy, and calls churches and universities to know their history as a first step in the path of reparations. Her forthcoming book is entitled Grace of the Ghosts: A Theology of Institutional Accountability.
Reconciliation, Land and the Church
In the United States, the project of ‘reconciliation’ will require an analysis of the illegitimate-yet-legal means by which ownership of land was claimed by White Christians. In this long historical project, the Church played a distinct role through an underwriting theology that promoted White Christian ownership. Further, White Christian churches and universities have held onto the illicitly-gained land on which their institutions have been built. Thus, for reconciliation to move forward, a thorough truth-telling must first take place whereby institutions of Church and School reckon with distinctive histories and chart specific commitments to reparation. Guided by the work of Indigenous scholar Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, and Christian leaders Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson, Jeannine Hill Fletcher will share some of the framing issues that theologians in the United States are developing as resources to pursue this work.
