Biography
Matthew J. Cressler is an independent 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, an educational webcomic series that brings to life true stories of Catholic injustice and the people of faith who confronted white supremacy and colonial violence in their communities. He is currently co-writing Body & Blood: Catholic Horror in America, with Jack Lee Downey, Kathleen Holscher, and Michael Pasquier. He has written for America Magazine, 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 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council.
Crossroads Community Stories Fellow Project
“What Are You Going To Do?”: A Bad Catholics, Good Trouble© Webcomic
Bad Catholics Comics is a digital home for webcomics that tell true stories of Catholic racism and antiracism in a medium suitable for all ages. Playing on the double meaning of “bad,” each story features bad Catholics committed to upholding an oppressive status quo and bad Catholics who took to the streets in the struggle for justice. The project illustrates how Catholics disagree on what it means to be a “good” or “bad” Catholic in the first place. This grant will support a webcomic based on the life of Judge Arthur McFarland. McFarland desegregated Bishop England High School in 1964. He helped lead “the Black revolution on campus” at the University of Notre Dame and went on to serve as a municipal court judge, supreme knight of the Knights of Peter Claver, and co-president of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry. Through oral historical interviews, collaborative storytelling, and art by Marcus Jimenez, we hope to share his inspiring stories far and wide!