Texas church targets racism
Episcopal Diocese launches $13 million project for healing
More than 160 years after it elected a slave owner as its first bishop, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas is launching a $13 million initiative aimed at healing individuals and communities “directly injured” by its history of racism.
The funding, which the diocese called unprecedented for a racial justice project, will go toward “racial reconciliation projects and scholarships” at a number of historically black colleges, seminaries and organizations in Texas. Some of it will underwrite work by the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit that established a lynching memorial in Alabama.
“It’s about mending the racial divide in our communities,” said Bishop C. Andrew Doyle, head of the Texas diocese. “It’s about naming the past but moving forward together.”
Doyle, who met with 38 representatives of historic black churches to invite their collaboration and support, said in an in
terview that the need for racial healing has become increasingly apparent during his ten years at the diocese’s helm. He said that while many clergy and laypeople have spoken out against slavery and racism, other leaders have remained silent or even defended the system and white supremacy.
The Episcopal Church is among the nation’s least diverse, with 90 percent of members white and 4 percent black, according to the Pew Research Center. Only Methodists and Lutherans have a higher percentage of whites.
But Episcopal leaders increasingly have advocated for racial justice this millennium. In 2006, the denomination called for a commission to explore reparations. Last year, denominational leaders testified before Congress in support of the idea.
In 2015, the Rev. Michael Curry was elected as the national denomination’s top bishop, the first black to hold the post. He said in a statement that the initiative “took my breath away” when he first read about it.
The initiative is the latest effort by a religious institution aimed at racial reconciliation: In 2017, the Reformed Theological Seminary unveiled a new scholarship program for African Americans. Last year, Princeton Theological Seminary pledged roughly $28 million in reparations for the school’s roots in slavery — specifically, to change its curriculum and hire more researchers into the legacy of slavery.
At Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, a team of scholars in 2018 released a lengthy report on “the legacy of slavery and racism in the history” of the school, which is the faith group’s most prominent training center for future ministers.
The Southern Baptist Convention was founded after splitting from its northern counterpart over support for slave-holding missionaries. Racial issues continue to persist in the faith group and are at the core of recent infighting within the convention.
Kyle J. Howard, a theologian who is outspoken about race issues, said he was encouraged by the initiatives undertaken by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and other religious institutions. But he also said more needs to be done to reconcile the centuries of economic inequality that is rooted in slavery.
“When it comes to slavery, there are many Christian denominations that have not only sinned against an entire people group, but continue to benefit from the economic and social oppression of the black community,” Howard said.
He added that schools should also prioritize hiring more diverse faculty — or they “will likely becomes a base for assimilation and colonization rather than the diverse community they desire.”
Doyle said he sympathized with Howard’s concerns. He added that the diocese’s new initiative is only one step towards equality and healing.
Doyle noted that Alexander Gregg, the slave-owning first bishop of the Texas diocese, pushed for the church to remain loyal to Southern secessionists during the Civil War. He also noted that the diocese’s first congregation, Christ Church in Matagorda, was built by slaves.
Recognizing such histories is imperative to creating a more just and equal society, said Doyle. He cautioned that some might dislike the initiative because of its focus on the past, but said that reconciling historical injustice is crucial to building a more just and equal future.
“When we believe that God is big enough to mend the broken, we should not be afraid of naming truths that are part of our history,” he said. “… All of our futures are tied to our past. There isn’t one future that is somehow disconnected from the story that got us here, and we must be willing to see the connectedness of the past to see how it shapes our future.
“There is still a lot of institutional racism and a good measure of change is still needed,” he added.
Initiative funding will go toward several scholarships at the Seminary of the Southwest; the Thomas Cain Fund for Historic Black Churches; the Henrietta Wells Scholarship Fund for Historically Black Colleges and Universities; the John and Joseph Talbot Fund for Racial Justice; and the Episcopal Health Foundation Congregational Engagement.