Should a Confederate flag be etched out of a stained glass window? What should be done about a pew whose plaque honors Jefferson Davis or a parish church named for Robert E. Lee? Episcopal News Service reports that a number of high-profile Episcopal churches have struggled over how to handle symbols of the Confederate past in recent years, against a backdrop of increasing … [Read more...] about Sewanee Workshop to Help Priests Grapple with Confederate Past
race
Bishops Studying Episcopal Legacy of White Supremacy
A committee of American bishops is developing “a fuller theological and historical account of white supremacy and its impact on The Episcopal Church,” Episcopal News Service reports. “This might be a very difficult conversation to have in the house and certainly in the church as a whole,” said Thomas Breidenthal, who is Bishop of Southern Ohio and chairs the House of Bishops … [Read more...] about Bishops Studying Episcopal Legacy of White Supremacy
The Truth about Martin Luther King Day
By Matthew Burdette In southeast Dallas there is a place where Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard intersects with Malcolm X Boulevard. A large image of the 1964 meeting between Martin and Malcolm is on a wall. Despite repeated attempts, it was the only time the two men met. That they would shake hands at their meeting was not assured. King feared that a meeting with Malcolm … [Read more...] about The Truth about Martin Luther King Day
‘Mind the Gap’
Protesters march toward police lines in Milwaukee. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein The Rev. Tony Bleything, rector of Christ Redeemer Anglican Church (ACNA) in Milwaukee, reflects on violence that erupted after Sylville Smith, 23, was shot by a Milwaukee police officer on Aug. 13: Honestly, I feel tempted to align myself with those in the minority, the African American … [Read more...] about ‘Mind the Gap’
Name Three
Kimberly S. Fairbanks Theatre By Retta Blaney Can you name three African-American women who lived before 1865? Valerie M. Joyce asks this question to people young and old and rarely finds anyone who can meet the challenge. “That’s 250 years of women in this country,” she said. “Why can’t we name more of them?” Joyce, an associate professor in … [Read more...] about Name Three
Bloody July
By Charles Allen Wynder, Jr. The days immediately following July 4 left the nation wounded, heartbroken, and unsettled. On July 5, a police officer in Baton Rouge shot and killed Alton Sterling after pinning him to the ground. Alton had been selling DVDs outside a convenience store. On July 6, a police officer in a suburb of St. Paul shot and killed Philando Castile while he … [Read more...] about Bloody July
Going Big on Racial Justice
By G. Jeffrey MacDonaldGeneral Convention’s Program Budget & Finance Committee is gearing up to use a $2 million budget surplus from the last triennium to make an “astonishingly attention-getting” statement about the Episcopal Church’s commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.“People want to talk about reparations, but it wasn’t just the White House that was built … [Read more...] about Going Big on Racial Justice
Almost Ready for the Keys
By G. Jeffrey MacDonaldThe Rev. Bill Lupfer has worked full time for six months to prepare for his new call as rector of Trinity Wall Street, but he’s still figuring out what exactly he’ll be overseeing.“Trinity is hard to study because it has so many parts,” Lupfer said in a recent TLC interview at the New York Marriott Downtown. “I had no idea how much Trinity does.”It’s no … [Read more...] about Almost Ready for the Keys