wfn.org | Summit challenges blacks to address concerns

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99-120

Summit challenges blacks to address concerns

by 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.

Need for healing

     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.

No time for foolishness

     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."

A place for youth

     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. 

-- Marie Panton is editorial assistant for Episcopal Life.