Tag Archives: The Episcopal Church

Suzanne Hiatt (1936-2002) and Pauli Murray (1910-1985)

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May 15, 2025

Emmanuel Church dedicated its third pulpit statue this past Sunday to the Reverend Dr. Suzanne Radley Hiatt, priest, theologian, prophet, professor, and advocate. Sue Hiatt was ordained as one of the Philadelphia 11 (July 29, 1974), and served as an inspirational mentor to many, including our rector.

Pam’s sermon on Sunday included examples of Hiatt’s devotion to equality and justice; as “bishop to the women,” Pam said that she was “pressing the Church to deeper inclusion and fuller love.”

It was interesting to learn that Suzanne Hiatt wrote about her connections to Pauli Murray, who discerned from our parish and became the first African American woman to be ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1977. In April 1970, they attended the Graymoor Conference, an important event in the history of women’s ordination, attended by about 60 women and numerous male supporters. Hiatt was one of the organizers and stalwart in her advocacy of the movement. Murray attended Graymoor after years of experiences as a civil rights lawyer, professor, and Women’s Movement activist. After the conference, Murray and Henry Rightor, a former lawyer and professor of pastoral care at Virginia Theological Seminary, studied the Church’s Canons and Constitutions. Their report presented their findings after the conference  and set the stage for persuasive arguments for women’s ordination.

Sue Hiatt’s admiration for Pauli Murray was expressed in an article she wrote in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.* She noted that she learned a lot from delving into Pauli Murray’s writings about Pauli’s unceasing dedication to the pursuit of justice. Hiatt considered Murray a “foremother, not only to be proud of, but also to learn from and emulate.” Those who came before Hiatt’s generation “shook the foundations so that we could topple the walls.” Hiatt deeply admired Murray’s contributions: “Pauli believed above all in justice, and despite a lifetime of disappointments and tragedies, she never stopped seeking it. She just never quit.”

May we be inspired by the women who now live on in our sanctuary, and, as Pam said in her Eastertide sermon: “Arise, wake up, come alive to become who and whose you are called to be.”

*Hiatt, Suzanne, “Pauli Murray (1910-1985): May Her Song Be Heard at Last,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 4 (Fall 1988), 69-73.

See also the chapter of the same title in The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me: The writings of Suzanne Hiatt, ed. Carter Heyward and Janine LeHane (New York: Seabury, 2014) This compilation of Hiatt’s writings is a wonderful tribute to her.

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

Reckoning with History: The First Step toward Racial Reparation

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March 22, 2025

Addressing the historical harms of slavery starts with facing up to a good deal of uncomfortable truth. What does this mean for white Americans like me or for members of an historically white American church like ours?

We must acknowledge first that the truth has been hidden from us. Participants in the “Stolen Beam” course on reparations that Connie Holmes and I teach will sometimes say, Why was I never taught this? We must seek information from unaccustomed sources, which requires effort and research.

For many of us this research may stir up internal resistance and denial, as well as underlying guilt and shame. These emotions can lead us either to turn away or to become self-congratulatory about our awareness. Such reactions may hinder our ability to address the situation effectively.

To avoid such emotional fragility, we need to rely on our spiritual resources, starting with knowing by faith that we are already forgiven. With insight also we recognize that our involvement in oppressive systems has not been entirely voluntary; external forces compromised our moral clarity. Even more reason to undo the harm that has been done through us!

We forgive ourselves not to ease discomfort but to move past blame and stagnation. This allows us to act from a place of truth and grace as we reclaim our essential connection to all lives across enforced divisions.

But repentance and conversion require collective effort. We need one another for this work. As we connect across our divisions, we find that, even as we let go of the false securities of privilege, we don’t fall into oblivion but rather find instead the supportive embrace of beloved community.

Initially, this may involve a small group of committed individuals, a circle of trusted companions on the journey with whom we can hold the true sight of who we truly are – children of a loving God – while also holding one another accountable for our actions.

Will you join us?

–The Reverend Steven Bonsey

(Steven is the former Canon Pastor at the Cathedral Church of St Paul and current co-facilitator of the “Stolen Beam” course for Episcopal City Mission.)

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

News from the Church Pension Fund

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November 3, 2024

In May 2024, the Episcopal Church’s Church Pension Fund (CPF) announced the completion of a report that augments its previously published history. Incorporated in 1914 by an act of the New York Legislature, the CPF was conceived by Massachusetts Bishop William Lawrence. Lawrence introduced a resolution at the 1910 General Convention to create a Joint Commission on the Support of Clergy.

The “Report by the Church Pension Group on the Origins and Sources of Its Assets” presents an accounting of the initial donors’ sources of wealth, original donation to the CPF, and “Connection to Enslavement of Humans or Racist Ideology.” The report concludes with the Fund’s ongoing commitment to address injustice.

The Living Church summarized the effort here.

The previous published history of the CPF is found in this timeline.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church November 3, 2024

UK Marks Black History Month

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October 22, 2024

We first learned of the United Kingdom’s Black History Month, which is celebrated in October, from the Episcopal News Service article, “Church of England prepares to mark October as Black History Month.”

In addition to the musical offerings mentioned in the above article, one of the several lectures hosted by cathedrals and churches will be given by David Olusoga, OBE, professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and author of Black and British: A Forgotten History (London: Macmillan, 2016). A BBC documentary of the same name is also posted on YouTube.

This year’s theme for the month is “Reclaiming Narratives,” and the Church of England has a rich page of resources for additional prayer, contemplation, and reflection. Study days, lectures, services, and other events have been planned, listed here:

We were happy to see that a film that we viewed a few months ago is now widely available on YouTube: “After the Flood: The Church, Slavery, and Reconciliation.”

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church October 22, 2024

Episcopal Church Summit on Truth-telling and Reparations

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September 24, 2024

The first summary of the Episcopal Church’s recent Summit on Truth-telling and Reparations has been published in the Episcopal News Service: “Church Summit Deeply Explores Truth-telling and Reckoning with an Eye Toward Reparations”.

The meeting included 106 people representing 34 dioceses who gathered “to share strategies, best practices, and resources and to pray for and encourage one another in their work.” These representatives from parishes across the country have done work in three areas; truth-telling, reckoning, and discernment. “In practical terms, truth-telling means identifying theologies and practices to unearth and name historic and systemic racial injustices; reckoning takes the form of publicly owning and naming harms and injustices; and discernment is coming to a collective, agreed-upon definition of what constitutes healing and repair.”

We recommend this article which includes a helpful link to a page with resources gathered by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. You will “meet” several of the leaders in the Church that our group has learned from in the
past year of our study in the videos linked therein.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church September 25 & October 2, 2024

Old North Church Reckons with its Links to Slavery

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September 4, 2024

Several years ago, the Episcopal News Service reported on Old North Church’s deepening its research into its connections with the slave trade, “Iconic Boston
Church Reckons with its Links to Slavery.”

Our curiosity about what has been learned since, and how the church tells its stories, led to tour Old North, Boston’s oldest surviving church. Guides lead visitors to the gallery where they narrate the history of individuals and families who were not able to purchase pews and who sat in the balcony of the church. Parishioners’ children sat on the right side facing the altar while free blacks, enslaved persons, indentured servants, and Indigenous peoples were assigned to the left side. After combing through pew records and other materials, the church has been able to piece together stories of community support and relationships that developed in the gallery. The stories are incomplete–many with questions remain–yet some patterns of social interactions are discernable. The results of their inquiries are well-presented in signage placed in certain pews, as well as on their web page, “The People in the Pews.” Continue reading →

Pauli Murray’s Reflections on Issues Dividing the Church

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July 29,2024

Following our Chapel Camp on the eve of the ordination of the Philadelphia 11, we turn to listen to Pauli Murray’s reflections on the issues that were dividing the Church at the time. From her March 18, 1977, conversation with Heather Huyck (on audiotape streamed by the Schlesinger Library), we learn about her activism prior to the vote on ordination in 1976.

She regularly supported the women seeking ordination, attending the major events from 1973-1976, writing letters to bishops, and participating in the conferences and discussions leading up to the 1976 General Convention. Pauli said that she chose not to attend that convention. She had just entered seminary and was refreshingly candid about her position. She said she told herself, “It’s your business to prepare yourself for the priesthood… and then when you’re prepared you have something to say… I thought the best thing was for me to stay home and pray.” Continue reading →

Pauli Murray on Women’s Ordination

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July 24th, 2024

Our upcoming Chapel Camp on July 29, 2024, will mark the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women as priests in the Episcopal Church. The first ordination of women took place on July 29, 1974, at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia.

The litany written by our Assistant Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Carol Gallagher, for this commemorative year emphasizes both the struggles and firmness of faith of the Philadelphia 11 and the brave women who followed the path to ordination.

We write today about Pauli Murray’s contributions to the movement for women’s ordination a few years leading up to 1974. Pauli actively championed women’s issues before considering her own ordination as the first African American woman to become a priest in 1977. She described her efforts in this way:

“The burgeoning women’s movement absorbed much of my energies, for I was serving on a faculty committee to improve the status of women at Brandeis, on the national board of the ACLU to win support for the ERA, and on the Commission on Women organized by Church Women United and chaired by my good friend Thelma Stevens.” (Song in a Weary Throat, p. 545) Continue reading →

Our Diocese’s Report on Slavery and Its Legacy

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May 14, 2024

The Diocese of Massachusetts Toolkit for Reparations has a new resource. As of
March 2024, their list of sources includes “And You Will Know the Truth, and the Truth Will Make You Free: A Historical Framework (1620-1840) for Understanding How the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts Benefits Todayfrom Chattel Slavery and Its Legacy.”

This report, written by Alden Fossett, a postulant for ordination to the priesthood and Master of Divinity student at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, was released by the Subcommittee on Reparations of DioMass’s Racial Justice Commission.

The focus of the report is on the “12 Church of England parishes founded in Massachusetts before the American Revolution and the sources of wealth that funded their construction, as well as industries that funded the expansion of the Diocese of Massachusetts during the 19th century.” It complements the earlier history, “The Episcopal Church and Slavery: A Historical Narrative,” written by the Subcommittee on Reparations in November 2021. Continue reading →

We Celebrate Bishop Barbara Harris

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April 30, 2024

This past Sunday, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Carol J. Gallagher, visited us, presiding and preaching at our Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Bishop Gallagher also dedicated our second pulpit statue. Bishop Barbara Harris’s statue joins that of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, both carved by our resident sculptor, Ted Southwick. Bishop Barbara was known to many of us and stories about her forthright manner and other qualities are legendary. We honor her in this column. While it would be impossible to cite her writings and writings about her, we present a few here.

“I would like to see the church come to some better understanding of what it means to be an inclusive fellowship, how to more fully exhibit the love of Christ in the world.”

— Barbara Harris, The Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris, 1930-2020

Harris, Barbara C. Hallelujah Anyhow! A Memoir. New York: Church Publishing,
2018.

Johnson, Qiana M., “The First Five Black Women Episcopal Priests,” Anglican
and Episcopal History 92:1 (March 2023), p. 81-102. An article about Pauli Murray, Mary, Adebonojo, Barbara C. Harris, Sandye Wilson, and Gayle Harris.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church April 30, 2024