Author Archives: Mary Blocher

The Sacred Reckonings Framework

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More recently, the Racial Justice Working Group deepened its understanding of the essence, practices, and spiritual underpinnings of reparations work by attending the May-June 2026 Sacred Reckonings program,  sponsored by Episcopal City Mission and the Reparations Interfaith Coalition.

We were inspired by the leaders of the program who have years of experience in social justice organizing and education for faith communities. We were inspired by the commitment of the participants who represented churches and faith-centered groups at various stages in the journey of repair. We witnessed the power of approaching the work with active listening, humility, curiosity, and good will. Our time together was punctuated by song and silence; by activities that drew upon feeling as well as thinking; and by experiences of remembering the past and dreaming of a better future.

A tangible outcome from the program was our adoption of the Sacred Reckonings framework (more on this soon), a process-oriented way of engaging with reparations work that may be applied in many faith-based organizations and groups.

The framework and our introduction of it took place at our July 19, 2026, Chapel Camp. We will write more soon about the session that day and how Emmanuelites who attended contributed to our growing awareness and knowledge of this sacred work.

–Mary Beth Clack, Joel Anderle, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Ben Ericson, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

Repairer of the Breach

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Our thanks to the Reverend Dr. Martha Tucker for this meditation which first appeared in this column in 2023.

kintsukuroiIf you remove the yoke from among you, the accusing finger, and malicious speech;
If you lavish your food on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall become like midday….
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”

—Isaiah 58:9–10, 12

So many prophets radically and poetically call us to participate in a sacred restoration of wholeness, to be “restorers of the breach”. I believe that this is a valuable lens through which to gain perspective on the concept of reparations.

It is not about money, at least not principally so. It is about becoming part of a movement of restoration to a sacred wholeness in which all will be One, in which divisions will cease, in which mountains are leveled and valleys raised up, while lions and lambs live in peace.

The above are prophetic images and metaphors for some ultimate harmony in the realm toward which we are progressing, toward which God invites us. And…that realm, that “kingdom”, is here and yet to come, within and without. To jump to a discussion of reparations without the context of the goal of holy wholeness might tempt one to seek quick material fixes and similarly transactional responses. If I write a check, then I can discharge my duty.

The problem is that all that misses the opportunity, the opportunity, to make reparations a mission and ministry, to allow it to change our hearts. It seems to me to begin with a genuine acknowledgement that we are broken and have also been part of the breaking, albeit in some cases unknowingly and unwillingly, is to begin the process of gathering the fragments.

Deep bias and hegemonic power can masquerade as harmless when in fact they are crushing souls and discriminating mightily. Love in all its holy manifestations is what will mend and repair. I wonder whether the focus might be on gathering the fragments in the wake of centuries of oppression and becoming repairers of the breach.

Taking a cue from the Japanese art of kintsukuroi, wherein broken pottery is reassembled with a beautiful golden glue filament so that the seams and brokenness become renewed and even more beautiful and certainly unique, might be the prompt.

Imagine taking this image to God’s creation, where the binding gluey glittering materialis kindness, mercy, justice and humility. Imagine each of us pouring our gluey stuff into and onto the brokenness of the world, especially pouring it into the seam of the racial divide.

Specifically, I feel invited to turn toward the shards of systemic oppression and to offer compassion. I hope to be surprised by the beauty and magnificence of a renewing wholeness of humanity. I hope to become a repairer of the breach.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

The Green Book Tour: Some Highlights

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Fern Cunningham’s sculpture Step on Board shows aboltionist Harriet Ross Tubman with a Bible under her arm.

On June 20th, 2026, I joined The Green Book Tour led by Byron Rushing and the Rev. June Cooper.  The Negro Motorist Green Book, published between 1936 and 1966 as a guidebook for African American roadtrippers, became known as simply The Green Book..

On this sunny but windy day we all met outside of the Union United Methodist Church (originally a Congregational Church) on Columbus Avenue in Boston. There were about a dozen of us in addition to the leaders of the tour. Both Byron and June have a depth of knowledge about the South End of Boston and the history of the businesses which were advertised in The Green Book. These businesses, including hotels, were either Black-owned or served Negroes. Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe on Columbus Ave. is still operating. It was originally owned by a Greek family and was advertised in The Green Book.

The Harriet Tubman House on Holyoke Street offered rooms to Black women who were either in school or working in Boston and would not have been able to rent in the area otherwise. Very near to this location we visited the Harriet Tubman Park with its two sculptures, one of which honors Harriet Tubman herself. The other sculpture sported a traffic cone on its top; evidence of a visit by the Tartan Army, which had visited Boston from Glasgow for the World Cup.

This area attracted many jazz musicians during the height of the Jazz Age. Of the many clubs once open there were two that were Black-owned establishments: Wally’s Café (originally Wally’s Paradise located across the street from its present location) and Estelle’s,  which is now a condominium building at 888 Columbus Ave.. The Hi-Hat at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Columbus Ave., which burned down after the Second World War, was replaced by a settlement house. It is now modern housing (apartments and/or condominiums). The Columbus Avenue African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Northampton Street was originally a synagogue. Where one would usually see a rose window, it has a Mogen David or Jewish Star.

Our tour ended at Slade’s, where we had lunch and chatted amongst ourselves. It was a beautiful day for a long walk in Boston.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

St. Cyprian’s Hosts Junteenth Celebration

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Let us celebrate our collective liberation and hear how the struggle for justice and freedom continues. –from the Introduction to the service bulletin, St. Cyprian’s Church, June 19, 2026

The Juneteenth liturgy this year drew upon a variety of sources: the Book of Prayer of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the American Book of Common Prayer, and Prayers of the People by Bishop Carol J. Gallagher (2023),

The Rev. Canon Dr. Canon Jean-Baptiste Ntagengwa, the Rev. Kevin Vetiac, and Rev. James Hairston, designed the service. Lift Every Voice and Sing provided most of the hymns. The singing was alternately rousing, joyous, reflective, and heart-felt, as in the rendition of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” (sung by Rev. Vetiac).

A stirring sermon was given by The Rev. Canon Jordan F. Casson, a Philadelphia colleague and friend of Canon Jean Baptiste. Canon Casson’s years of advocacy and support for social justice were reflected in his choice of stories, anecdotes, and experiences in that journey. In his preaching, he blended emotional intensity, humor, and meditation. Emmanuelites who attended found inspiration in his words and a mindfulness that the struggle for justice continues.

St. Cyprian’s welcoming parishioners, who had laid out the altar’s kente cloths,  provided lunch and conversation. Many parishes were represented, which made for a lively time, good cheer, and thoughtful conversations.  All in all, it was a blessed Juneteenth.

–Compiled from the comments of attendees Mary Beth Clack, Joel Anderle, Bill Comer, Liz Levin, Mike Scanlon, and the Rev. Pamela Werntz.

St. Cyprian’s Church to Host Juneteenth Celebration

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The Diocese of Massachusetts and the Bishop John M. Burgess Massachusetts Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians are coordinating this year’s Juneteenth Celebration on June 19, 2026. St. Cyprian’s Church, 1073 Tremont Street, will be the site of the 10am service and gathering afterward. All are invited to St. Cyprian’s to share the experience and spirit of Juneteenth.

Preaching will be the Rev. Canon Jordan F. Casson of St Michael’s Church, (Anglican/Episcopal), Yeadon, PA. He was commissioned Canon for Peace and Reconciliation for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in 2020. He chairs that diocese’s Absalom Jones Committee and leads its Loving Presence initiative.

Canon Casson’s years of advocacy and support for social justice led to his induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers and Scholars in 2014. Established in 1985, the Board honors global religious and ethical leaders who exemplify a commitment to nonviolence, social justice, and civil rights, and who are dedicated to advancing peace, human rights, and moral social responsibility.

We recommend Annette Gordon-Reed’s Juneteenth (New York Liveright, 2021), a succinct and thoughtful blend of personal history and historical scholarship on the meaning of the commemoration to her family and to our country.  In this video, she describes reactions to official document, General Orders, No. 3, which announced the declaration of freedom for enslaved persons in Texas. Jubilation was met with retaliation for that jubilation, reflecting both the reactions to the ending of legal enslavement, and the beginning of a renewed advocacy and struggle for civil rights in this country.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

 

Juneteenth 2026

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The National Museum of African American History will honor Opal Lee, the “grandmother of Juneteenth” in this year’s events.

Events for Juneteenth in Boston will take place from June 18-20, 2026. The flag raising ceremony on June 18th will commemorate “June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.” The city’s Juneteenth is a “celebration of freedom, remembrance, and the ongoing pursuit of equity and justice.” Other city events are described here.

Both locations of the Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket, will mark the holiday with a summer season of freedom as described here.  The Museum of Fine Arts offers a substantial array of programs as does the Institute for Contemporary Art: We Create the World.

This column provided a reflection by Alden Fossett in 2024.  Alden will be ordained to the diaconate in our diocese this week.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

Who is America at 250?

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On view at the Boston Athenaeum until May 16, 2026, is the traveling exhibition,
“Who Is America at 250? Artists’ Books on the State of Democracy”.

Organized by the San Francisco Center for the Book and presenting works related to immigration, social injustice, racial inequity, and wage inequality, the exhibit prompts questions about the challenges and prospects of democracy. Its curators see the artists’ book as a meaningful conduit for open contemplation of democracy. Continue reading →

Vida Dutton Scudder at Denison House

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Pulpit statue of Vida Dutton Scudder by Ted Southwick

After the dedication of Emmanuel’s pulpit statue of Vida Dutton Scudder last month, we focus here on her relationship to Denison House, which was founded by the College Settlements Association in 1892. Managed by women, the house at 93 Tyler Street, a hub for social services and educational programs, welcomed emerging immigrant communities in Boston. The House’s first director was Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961), economist, sociologist, and winner of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize. When Balch returned to teaching, Helena Dudley (1858-1932), labor and peace activist, and Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954), pacifist, educator, and Christian Socialist, became co-directors. Among her many notable achievements, Scudder helped to found the Episcopal Church Socialist League in 1911 and became chairperson of the Church League for Industrial Democracy (CLID). She was known for her conviction that philanthropy should be accompanied by social reform.

In the typescript “Early Days at Denison House,” Scudder reflected on its accomplishments over the forty-five years since its founding. Activities were full of joy: “Young college women were sharing the best that life had brought us”. While “labor troubles” and unemployment abounded early on, she asserted that “a zest for social reform glowed as steadily…as the welcoming fires” of the house. Scudder concluded this brief piece with:

Dubbed radical in many quarters, we went on our way undaunted; the early leaders of organized labor were our devoted and inspiring friends; a Federal Labor Movement meeting at the House and a study-circle concerned with economic problems to which sundry distinguished citizens belonged, are activities I like to remember….How conservative Boston reacted to our ardent centre of social thought and experiment is another story. There is no time to tell it here. But the young people connected with Denison House today are heirs of a fine tradition.*

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

*Records of Denison House, 1890-1984. Series I. HISTORY. “Early Days at Denison House” by Vida Scudder, 1937. (B-27, folder 1. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.) Digitized copy consulted.

The Pauli Murray Fellowship

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In October 2021, the Pauli Murray Fellowships were established by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The Spring 2026 ACLU Magazine reported on two activists, Areej Qadeer and Ollie Henry, who were selected for the 18-month positions in non-profit management at the ACLU. Areej had been working in grassroots organizing in the American-Muslim community, serving on the Council of American-Islamic Relations’ legal team. Ollie’s work for reparations, advocating at the intersection of gender, disability, and race positioned her to support the ACLU’s initiatives in these areas. Part of their work had involved leading workshops for high school and college students at the ACLU National Advocacy Institute, which focused on building coalitions for intersectional legal work. Continue reading →

Racial Disparities in Health Care

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The Boston Globe recently reported data related to the widening gap in life expectancy between Boston’s Black residents and the city’s other racial and ethnic groups.  Growing from 3.3 years to almost 7 years, it has doubled in the past decade according to new data from the Boston Public Health Commission. Continue reading →