The Saint Meinrad Institute for Sacred Music will host a two-day workshop on February 27-28, 2025, titled Sacred Music and Race in the American Church led by The Most Reverend Shelton J. Fabre and Dr. Karen Shadle. The workshop can be taken for credit or non-credit.
The workshop will examine perspectives on race as heard through sacred music, with attention to historical, cultural, and liturgical contexts. Music-making and music-listening are culturally specific and often politically charged activities. Church documents acknowledge the power of music to nurture faith and enrich the liturgy with the gifts of culture. At the same time, the Church calls music to a standard of universality that moves us toward the goal of Christian unity. In grappling with this paradox, students will be encouraged to cultivate an openness to how music shapes and is shaped by one’s identity. Workshop assignments will include critical listening, reading, participant-observation, class discussion, and written response. No previous musical knowledge or skill is required.
The first evening of the workshop will include a free public concert by Grammy-award winning Fisk Jubilee Singers and a panel discussion with Archbishop Fabre and Dr. Shadle. The concert will be held on February 27, 2025, in the St. Bede Hall Theater from 6:15 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Central Time.
The Most Reverend Shelton J. Fabre is Archbishop of Louisville, KY, and former chair of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. Dr. Karen Shadle is a musicologist and director of the office of worship for the Archdiocese of Louisville.
The guest registration fee for the workshop is $395 for single registration and $445 for double registration. The fee includes a guest room and meals. The commuter fee is $295 per person. The workshop fee for currently enrolled students at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology is $693 for one course credit. Priority registration will be given to currently enrolled students. Anyone interested in attending the workshop is encouraged to register at https://www.saintmeinrad.edu/musicandrace.
The concert is free, open to the public, and no registration is required. Parking is available in the Guest House and student parking lots. For more information on the workshop and concert, contact Bella Thompson during business hours at 812-357-6336 or ithompson@saintmeinrad.edu.