Summit Challenges Blacks to Address Concerns
Episcopal News Service. August 4, 1999 [99-120]
Marie Panton
(Episcopal Life) They were unified in their responses. They talked about the sin of racism in the church and society, women's ordination, human sexuality, worship, and youth involvement in the church. They said they wanted to see crime, education, poverty -- issues that affect blacks significantly -- be an integral part of the church's agenda.
Nearly 200 Episcopalians of African descent met in June to develop strategies to increase black leadership in the church and the community. The conference, "The Rt. Rev. Quintin E. Primo Leadership Summit," was named in honor of a former suffragan bishop of Chicago, who served the church for 45 years, championing issues of justice and the inclusion of persons of African descent at all levels. He died last January.
Held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Union of Black Episcopalians, the summit was sponsored by the black bishops, the Office of Black Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center, the Union of Black Episcopalians and the Caribbean Anglican Consultation.
"It is designed to allow people of color to examine unified ways to ensure blacks are adequately educated, prepared and provided access to all aspects of life in the church from the local to the national level," said the Rev. Sandra Wilson of Minneapolis, president of UBE.
"We need not have a spirit of timidity as we respond to the cries of the poor, to crumbling neighborhoods, to disintegrating families," said Wilson. "We have no time to do anything except live the Gospel mandate to stand with and work on behalf of the poor and oppressed."
The Rev. Herbert T. Johnson of Detroit said he came to be edified. "I hope to develop some ideas and skills that I can take back and motivate our people so that we can move forward into the new millennium," he said.
Commenting on a vast need for healing in society, the Rev. Kwasi Thornell, coordinator of the conference, said, "Black clergy and lay leaders have to face the issues before us. We cannot be complacent because we have made a few gains," he said.
He reported the realities of some scarcities within the black community:
- People of African descent are not being attracted to the priesthood.
- Black clergy are not being elected bishop (there has been one black bishop elected in the last eight years).
- Blacks are not gaining in membership and evangelism programs are weak.
- Congregations are becoming older, and there is a lack of new leadership.
- Racism, employment, affirmative action, war, crimes are not being discussed at diocesan or national conventions.
- We are not holding on to our young children in our urban communities.
- Two-parent families are in decline.
Borrowing from the words of a famous Anglican theologian in his address, the Rev. James Forbes, senior minister of The Riverside Church in New York, said, "[There is] no time for foolishness. There is a serious sense of urgency to get done what needs to be done." He urged participants to focus on the work to be done, by finding the power to see it through.
Drawing on issues highlighted in speeches and a panel presentation, nine visioning groups tackled 10 concerns, such as justice and oppression, worship, and developing programs of support.
Based on a 1998 Kaiser Family Foundation national survey of African-Americans living with HIV/AIDS, panel member Jesse Milan Jr., director of the National Prevention Information Network, an information source on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis, reported that African-Americans account for 13 percent of the U.S. population yet they account for 53 percent of those infected with HIV. AIDS is the No.1 killer of African-American males between 22 and 45, and 96 percent of blacks believe that the federal government is not doing enough about HIV/AIDS prevention.
Milan urged participants to become knowledgeable about the disease, both personally and in the community, and to become involved in the issue.
Erica Clifton, 20, a junior at Ohio State University, Columbus, addressed women's ordination, human sexuality, and youth and young adults in church.
"We need to stop arguing about women's ordination," said Clifton. "Who did Jesus send to tell he was risen from the dead? Jesus had no prejudice about whom [he sent] to spread the good news."
She implored leaders to stop arguments about gays and lesbians because "ridiculing is not nice by Christians."
Bishop Orris J. Walker of the Diocese of Long Island, N.Y., said he hopes the black community will work at not being divided on the issue of homosexuality. "The church's ministry to and with gay people has been a subject no one wants to discuss...There are many gay and lesbian people active in very responsible positions in the church.
"I hope that the black community will not stay on the sideline and say, 'This is not an issue for us,' but that this is a liberation issue that needs our full attention. The gospel calls us to be involved in all situations where oppression exists."
Marisa Jennings, 18, of Los Angeles maintained that youth and young adults need a place in the church.
"We do not know where we stand. There are resources [for me] with no knowledge on how to get hold of them," said Jennings. "I think the UBE needs to take an active role in helping us if we are the future...extending a hand to help us get the information we need."
The black community is divided between citizens of the First and Third Worlds, said the Rev. William Guthrie of East Orange, N.J. A member of the Caribbean Anglican Consultation he urged participants "to be careful not to get caught up in the old divide-and-conquer strategy that plays racial groups against each other.
"Developed and developing worlds should seek to build bridges of understanding instead of walls of separation within our various groups," said Guthrie.
Kelly Brown-Douglas, author of" The Black Christ" and "Sexuality in the Black Church," told a story of Anna Julia Cooper, a lay person in the Episcopal Church some 150 years ago. Although Cooper was never accepted or treated as a full-fledged member, she never saw herself as a victim, Brown-Douglas said. An educator and activist, in 1886 Cooper addressed a convocation of Protestant Episcopal clergymen in Washington, D.C., on the education of black women and said, "When and where I enter, the entire race enters with me." Brown-Douglas then challenged participants "to use these words as an outline as we contemplate who we are and what we are as we move into the 21st century.
"We need to redefine what it means to be on the margins of the Anglican institutions... to transform our understanding of what it means to be marginalized," she said. "Are we victims or vanguards on the margins?" said Brown-Douglas.
Bishop Clarence Coleridge of the Diocese of Connecticut said blacks can increase power on the margins by always being visible. "Most people of the dominant group in the Episcopal Church are people of good will and fairness...but even people of good will could ignore the pressing problems of those on the margins if we don't make our voices and needs resolutely heard and known," he said.
Wilson said she hopes blacks will bring their gifts of moral courage and preaching the Gospel to call for future change. "We have to call the church to walk its talk. We have to lead others to have the courage to transform the society into places of inclusivity, equity, justice and peace so that we might become a beloved community where racism, sexism, heterosexism and other '-isms' exists no more," said Wilson.