Dr. Catherine Meeks

Dr. Catherine Meeks, the founding executive director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, will visit St. Stephen’s Church Sunday, December 8, to preach at Sunday services and speak during our Sunday Forum series titled “Racial Healing as Spiritual Formation.”
She is known throughout the Episcopal Church and beyond for her work in racial healing. In 2022, she was awarded the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award medal for her “years of dedicated service to this great nation [which] have made a difference in the lives of many.”

In addition to her leadership of the Absalom Jones Center, Dr. Meeks is known for her work as a Georgia Public Radio commentator and for her books: she is editor of Living into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America and co-author of Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as a Prophet of our Times. She is also the author of The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning, a book which St. Stephen’s parishioners have used in small groups as they learn about racial justice and pursue healing.

Before founding the Absalom Jones Center, Dr. Meeks served Mercer University for 25 years as assistant dean of women, instructor, and assistant professor. During that period, Macon, Georgia Mayor Jim Marshall recruited her as a loaned executive where she led the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force for two years. That work brought her to the attention of Wesleyan College where she was recruited to be the Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-Cultural Studies. She retired in 2008.

In 2017, the Diocese of Atlanta called her out of retirement to serve as founding director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing which has become a resource for the entire Episcopal Church and beyond. She retired from the center in January 2024.

Dr. Meeks holds a bachelor of arts in speech education from Pepperdine University, a master’s degree in social work from Clark Atlanta University (formerly Atlanta University), and a Ph.D. from Emory University.
During her visit to St. Stephen’s, she will speak in the Sunday Forum on December 8 and will preach at the 9 and 11:15 a.m. services and give the reflection during the 5:30 p.m. service.