Lifting Every Voice: UBE's next generations launch new chapters of ministry, history, tradition
Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2008 [020708-01]
Daphne Mack
New leaders are rising up within the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) as its members mark a 40-year milestone. "It is crucial that members of the African Diaspora have a way to gather, support, and encourage one another," said the Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, 41, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, in Syracuse, New York, and chaplain at Syracuse University.
The "talents, wisdom, and gifts of people working individually and corporately" help "ensure that the Episcopal Church is faithful in its vision to be the church for all who feel called to it," she added.
This month -- as congregations and the nation observe Black History Month -- UBE begins its fifth decade as a force for social justice and change in the Episcopal Church. Its mission is as spirited as the historic anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
"The purpose of UBE today, as it was 40 years ago, is to serve God and people of color in the Episcopal Church in ways which empower them to do ministry," said the Rev. C. David Williams, newly elected president of UBE and dean of Trinity and St. Philip's Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey. "The essential purpose of the body has always been empowerment for ministry."
UBE traces its beginnings to February 8, 1968, when 17 black priests met in Harlem at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, New York City, and formed the Union of Black Clergy and Laity (UBCL) "to remove racism from the Church and society and to stimulate the growth of black membership," according to a UBE historical account. The Union was not yet two months old when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot in Memphis, Tennessee.
UBE forerunners included the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU, formed in 1957) and the Conference of Church Workers Among Colored People (dating from the 1880s). Historians believe the first national organization among Black Episcopalians was founded in 1856 by James Theodore Holly of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, New Haven, Connecticut.
UBE's work stands in the continuing tradition of more than 200 years of black leadership that has worked to eliminate racism from the church, and to promote inclusion, growth and development of black clergy and membership.
Members of UBE's "next generations" say the organization is necessary, and speak of a revamped purpose.
"UBE is important to the Episcopal Church because it offers a different perspective on the Church," said the Rev. Deon Johnson, 30, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brighton, Mich. "It would be easy to for us as the Episcopal Church to journey forward towards the kingdom with a singular goal and a singular way of getting towards that goal, but what UBE and organizations like it offer is a view informed by the past that comes out of a struggle for recognition.
"UBE offers a broader view and a wider perspective on the life of the Church that helps us to be more fully the body, bound and knit together," he added. "UBE is important because it safeguards and nurtures the collective consciousness and rich history of the African-American experience in the Episcopal Church," said Bertie Ray, 42, of Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"UBE validates the immense role and responsibility of Black Episcopalians, and it says to the Anglican Communion that with Afro-Anglicanism comes great culture and an abiding belief in community, which is central to our calling to love our neighbor as ourselves."
The Rev. Cheryl Parris, 39, rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, in Savannah, Georgia, said "the Union serves a variety of purposes.
"For me, the Union has been a place to think through a number of issues, a home group of people who support and understand various concerns, a classroom where I have re-learned why I love the Episcopal Church and a context to demonstrate valuable leadership skills," she said.
Celebrate the past UBE is now a confederation of more than 55 chapters and interest groups throughout the continental United States and the Caribbean, with members also active in Africa, Canada and Latin America. Participants from across this network will assemble for UBE's annual meeting and conference, set for June 29–July 3 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Philadelphia-Cherry Hill, located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
"Celebrating Our Past: Reaching New Horizons" will be hosted by the Philadelphia chapter of UBE and feature Youth Explosion IV, a founder's luncheon honoring UBE incorporators, past presidents and life members, a gala and tribute to the Rev. Canon Thomas Logan Sr. and the late Rev. Paul Washington, and an ecumenical reconciliation Eucharist.
The Rev. Angela S. Ifill, missioner for the Episcopal Church's Office of Black Ministries, said UBE founders "poured a solid foundation upon which the present day Union of Black Episcopalians now stand."
"Since that time the organization has been a consistent presence in the Episcopal Church advocating for change and gathering Black Episcopalians for its annual meeting and conference," Ifill said. "In celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the organization's challenge is to continue to build on the auspicious past of its founders as it addresses present day issues that affect the black community both in the church and society, and to leave an outstanding legacy of achievement for those who will follow."
What's next?
As the Union moves forward, it "must become a proactive group," president Williams said. "Speaking out on issues that don't always coincide with a black agenda, but have a lot to say about our mutual fate with others in the Episcopal Church," he added. "We can ill afford to stand by while other national bodies and organizations speak for us...or try to.
"Becoming proactive often means stepping out to be heard and to be felt," Williams said. "The residual from that kind of ministry often adds a dimension of integrity and inclusiveness not experienced before in the church."
"Over the next 40 years, I would like the UBE to do its part to recruit and provide scholarships to seminary for 1,000 African-American women and men under the age of 30," said Ray, chair of his congregation's Welcoming and Membership Vision Committee. "This will ensure our legacy in the Episcopal Church, and it will undoubtedly impact the thinking of the broader membership of the Afro-Anglican communion and its leaders."
Earl Francis, 36, president of the Men's Guild and chair of the Stewardship Committee and choir of Harlem's St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New York City, said he would like to "see UBE (membership) grow" and would help to "spread the word."
Parris, who has served as an at-large representative and leads an education committee for UBE, said the Union must continue sharing history and resources and leadership while the makes transitions in its leadership.
"By encouraging dialogue as a bridge organization the Union can continue to support the growth and enhancement of black (and other) churches throughout the Episcopal Church," she said.
Baskerville-Burrows, who has served as co-dean of two national conferences said that as the Union struggles to retain younger members -- much like black congregations in general -- "I have hopes that some radical, perhaps even painful, changes will be put into effect to change that.
"Like anything else, my peers ask the question of whether it will be worth their time to be involved and I hope that in the years to come, UBE will help others to see that there is something worthwhile there."
She also said it is time for the Union to "move its primary focus away from anti-racism work."
"Obviously, that work still needs to be done, but in these days I don't think that the UBE is the organization to be doing it. UBE conferences used to look more like the 'Transformation and Renewal' conferences held at Kanuga. I personally think that UBE has to find a new raison d'etre and the current generation of younger clergy and laity won't find it in political activism with UBE since they've not seen the efficacy of that," she explained.
Johnson, who has served as chaplain at two past conferences and will again in June, describes the next 40 years as bridging a gap.
"I expect that UBE together with the Office of Black Ministries can become a bridge between those of Afro-Anglican decent and the wider church, that together they can be forces for reconciliation but also a place where Afro-Anglican heritage is lifted up to the broader church," he said.
One person can make a difference Baskerville-Burrows said one step toward moving UBE into its future is "bringing as many parishioners as possible to the gathering in Philadelphia." She also spoke of "helping to bring together some of my peers -- lay and ordained -- who were so active in UBE 15 years ago."
Parris shares the desire to draw others into UBE. "Hopefully I will not be a 'partner in our own oppression,' " he said. "Number one, with God's grace and the people's help, I will be a great rector, and great rectors bring people into the Union. My hope is to encourage people in my diocese to take an active part in the life of the Union."
For his part, Johnson said assisting with liturgy is "perhaps the gift that I can offer."
Summing up his hopes for UBE as its president, Williams said his vision "is one wherein unity may overcome a perceived estrangement within the Union itself. That is the first step towards becoming an active partner with the rest of our sisters and brothers of the Anglican Communion."
More on the Union of Black Episcopalians is available here.