creator

Matthew J. Cressler, Ph.D.

is the author of Authentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migrations and has written for America, The Atlantic, National Catholic Reporter, Religion News Service, The Revealer, Slate, U.S. Catholic, and Zocalo Public Square.  Together with Adelle M. Banks, he co-reported the Religion News Service series “Beyond the Most Segregated Hour,” which won a 2022 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council.

illustrator

Marcus Jimenez

is an artist, writer, creator, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Dauntless Stories, which publishes the boldest comics in fantasy, sci-fi and more by some of the most fearless creators in the industry.

web design

Megan Goodwin, Ph.D.

is a freelance design nerd and the media and tech consultant for the Crossroads Project when she’s not being a scholar of American religion, race, gender, and politics. She’s the author of Abusing Religion, the co-creator and co-producer of Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast, and the co-author of Religion Is Not Done With You.

She is currently and begrudgingly writing a book about cults.

story co-author

Judge Arthur McFarland

served as municipal court judge for the city of Charleston for nearly 34 years. A native of Charleston, McFarland was among nine Black students who desegregated Bishop England High School in 1964. He co-founded the Afro-American Society as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, received his JD from the University of Virginia Law School, and began his legal career as an Earl Warren Fellow with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City. McFarland went on to serve as Supreme Knight and CEO of the Knights of Peter Claver, the largest Black Catholic fraternal order in the United States, and as co-president of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry.

story co-author

Judith Daubenmier, Ph.D.

of Brighton, MI, received her doctorate in history from the University of Michigan in 2003 after a 25-year career in journalism. She taught Native American Studies in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from 2004 to 2015. She is the author of The Meskwaki and Sol Tax: Reconsidering the Actors in Action Anthropology and has written for The Annals of Iowa. She is the niece of Sister Angelica Schultz, OSF.

story co-author

Jennifer Daubenmier, Ph.D.

is Associate Professor of Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University. She conducts research on meditation and how it impacts psychological well-being and outcomes related to stress and cardiovascular health. She has published 50 research articles and her work has been featured in TIME Magazine, Consumer Reports, and U.S. News and World Report. More recently, her work is exploring how contemplative practices across religious traditions may promote social justice. She is the great niece of Sister Angelica Schultz, OSF.