Bad Catholics, Good Trouble #2

Available now!

Thanks to Matthew Cressler for this post!

I'm thrilled to share that BAD CATHOLICS, GOOD TROUBLE #2 has officially debuted!!! In case you haven't checked it out yet, Bad Catholics, Good Trouble is a webcomic series that brings to life true stories of Catholic injustice and the ordinary people of faith who did extraordinary things to confront white supremacy in their communities. Our first story, "An Exception to the Rule," centered on Sr. Angelica Schultz, the nun hit in the head by a brick while marching for open housing in Chicago in 1966. It was made possible by the support of a Luce-AAR Advancing Public Scholarship grant and featured artwork by Marcus Jimenez, web design by Megan Goodwin, and was co-authored by the niece and grandniece of Sr. Angelica! 

Our second story, "What Are You Going To Do?", is adapted from oral history interviews I conducted with Arthur C. McFarland, a Black Catholic leader and Charleston, SC native who served as a municipal court judge, the supreme knight of the Knights of Peter Claver, and co-president of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM). The webcomic follows Arthur's journey from Jim Crow Charleston to the University of Notre Dame, where, in the late 1960s, he confronted the overwhelming whiteness of the institution and brought the Black Revolution to the Catholic campus. Marcus and Megan are back in action once again, with stunning artwork and incredible web design, and this one was funded by a Fellows Grant from The Crossroads Project, a collaborative research initiative directed by Judith Weisenfeld, Anthea Butler, and Lerone Martin and supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and Princeton University.

So, as you consider your classes for next year, consider assigning some BC/GT webcomics. They come ready-made with lesson plans and primary and secondary sources embedded into the website, and I'm happy to visit classes to discuss them! And, to paraphrase Batman's immortal words, "Tell your friends about it!!!"

Matthew J. Cressler is a writer, scholar of religion, and chief of staff of the Corporation for Public Interest Technology. He is the author of Authentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migrations and the creator of Bad Catholics, Good Trouble, the educational webcomic series. He is currently co-writing Body & Blood: Catholic Horror in America with Jack Lee Downey, Kathleen Holscher, and Michael Pasquier.