Furthering the Conversation on Race is a retreat designed to bring awareness to the sin of racism by defining the terms racialization and discussing how covert and overt racism ties in with our spirituality. Retreatants will have several chances to discuss how racism has affected their lives and the lives of others. The sin of racism will be discussed through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching which speaks to the dignity of the human person and asserts that we are one human family regardless of our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. Programming starts with dinner on Friday evening and ends with 4 pm Mass on Saturday.

Our Presenter:  Father Tom Santen currently serves as the Senior Associate at St. Simon the Apostle Parish. He loves parish ministry and has served the Archdiocese of St. Louis in that capacity for over fifty years. In addition to parish ministry, Father Santen loves to teach and facilitate retreats. His first full-time teaching assignment was at De Andreis High School, an all-male high school with a racial mix of black and white students. He taught at De Andreis from 1972 until its closing in 1976.  

Father Santen has extensive experience leading retreats and parish missions. He was the co-director of the SEARCH retreat program, a retreat program for upper high school students and young adults in the archdiocese from 1972-1982. In 2001, Fr. Santen along with Father Rich Bockskopf initiated the ACTS retreat movement in St. Louis.  

Fr. Santen has a B.A. in philosophy, an M.A. in Historical Theology and completed his doctoral studies in Historical Theology.