Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints
All youth (grades 3-12) are invited to grab some coffee hour snacks and head to the Skylight Room for discussion on our new curriculum, Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints. We will meet from about 11:15-11:45; we might head down to the Youth Room as well. Come get to know some other youth and learn the stories of some amazing leaders!
Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints is an illustrated children’s book about people of diverse faiths working for more love and justice in their corners of the world, even when that means rocking the religious boat. With original portraits from more than two dozen artists and engaging profiles of people from different faiths and different eras, these are stories that inspire, educate, challenge, and encourage.
Some of the people featured in this book are well known, like the beloved St. Francis of Assisi (a favorite of Hufflepuffs everywhere for his love of animals), who gave up a wealthy inheritance to serve the poor, Rumi, the Sufi poet, and Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved teacher who developed the concept of engaged Buddhism. Some are well known, but the deep faith motivating their work is lesser known, such as Harriet Tubman, Florence Nightingale, and Mr. Rogers.
Others are less known such as Bayard Rustin, an American Quaker whose role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s is often downplayed because he was a gay man; Maryam Molkara, an Iranian Muslim transgender rights advocate; and Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi to be ordained whose story was almost lost to history.
In particular, Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints emphasizes the stories of women, LGBTQ, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color who are too often written out of religious narratives. These stories move us towards more love and a faith that works for the common good of us all. The book is written for middle-grade age children (and their adults) ages 8 and up. You can read several sample profiles here.