Why reparations?

Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, the largest seminary in the Anglican Communion, recently announced a plan for reparations, acknowledging the role that slaves played in building the institution.

Churches of the Diocese of Virginia plan endowment fund for reparations

The biblical origins of reparations By the Rev. Cate Anthony

Last November, the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia—composed of lay representatives and clergy from each church in the diocese—voted to establish an endowment totaling $10.5 million to begin the next phase of the work of racial justice and healing: repair and reparations. These funds will be used for grants and loans that directly benefit communities, organizations, and institutions of color, especially Black and Indigenous communities. This is a very significant step in the process of Episcopalians in Virginia reckoning with the role of the church in perpetuating and benefiting from slavery.

If you’ve never heard of reparations before, you may wonder what the point of this new endowment truly is. As a principle, reparations are understood as “material and social repayment made as acknowledgement and restitution by an offending party to an aggrieved party for wrong(s) done in order to repair the injuries, losses and/or disadvantages caused by the wrong” (Thabiti Anyabwile, “Reparations are Biblical” 2019). In many ways reparations parallel restorative justice models. Each have three main goals: acknowledgement of the wrongs done, payment for the wrongs done, and closure for both parties.

Beyond a philosophical or political grounding, reparations are actually an ancient practice with biblical foundations in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 21-22 (directly following Moses’ delivery of the Ten Commandments in Chapter 20) outlines a series of laws given by God to the people of Israel to shape their communal life. Among these, people are instructed repeatedly to make material or social repayment to those they harm or whose lives they affect negatively. In Luke’s account of Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1-10), Zacchaeus is so moved by his encounter with Jesus that he pledges the following to Jesus: “I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

While none of us own slaves in 2022, the reparations fund acknowledges that the system of slavery used to build and support the diocese in its early years has contributed to the modern-day economic, social, and cultural oppression of people of color (and particularly of Black Americans). The traumas of the past continue to echo in these days. The diocesan reparation fund seeks to address these echoes, even if only through a particular means.

Of course, monetary reparation cannot and does not erase the emotional, spiritual, or mental traumas experienced by people of color living under oppressive laws and culture in Virginia. However, establishing these endowments enables the diocese to make real and tangible amends that directly promote flourishing in the lives of people of color. Tangibility is key to

The Rev. Colleen Schiefelbein, associate priest at St. Andrew’s in Burke and one of the authors of the resolution which established these reparation funds, shares that she hopes their creation “will continue to stir conversations about race, oppression and reconciliation in our churches throughout the diocese. We are all members of the one body of Christ. There is so much work to be done to repair relationships, to open all our hearts to the wrongs we all have done to one another and begin to walk side by side with Jesus... [This step] gives us the opportunity to be reconciled with our siblings of color and to renew the fullness of God’s creation within the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.”

WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? HOW WILL IT BE DISBURSED?

The funding for this endowment will not come from the diocesan budget nor parish pledges to the diocese. The resolution adopted by the diocesan convention states:

“This Convention requests the Executive Board to establish with the Trustees of the Funds an endowment over the next five years of $10 million to be set aside as an initial investment to begin reparations. The Trustees of the Funds shall, acting with their legal obligations as fiduciaries, and in consultation with the Task Force, the Executive Board, and the Bishop.... The proceeds ...shall be disbursed by the Task Force, subject to review and veto by the Executive Board for grants and loans in furtherance of such reparations [whose objective] is to provide direct benefits to BIPOC communities, people, programs, business, and institutions with preference for any which may have been specifically harmed by past unjust actions by the Diocese of Virginia, its institutions, or churches.”

In late 2021 and early 2022, we said goodbye to three valued staff members, and welcomed one back.

Christi McFadden, our finance manager, resigned effective at the end of 2021. Christi has been a valued member of St. Stephen’s staff since 2015. She was a key figure in bringing the financial operations of several ministries under one umbrella as recommended by our auditors. She was instrumental in helping launch two e-commerce sites, the Café @ St. Stephen’s and May Fair House, to provide online ordering during the pandemic. Christi has been involved in stewardship and budgeting, providing crucial continuity following the retirement of Janet Allen. Christi kindly provided ongoing assistance as we sought a replacement for her—though she can never be replaced!

When Christi accepted the position with St. Stephen’s, she had been working at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Ginter Park as their financial administrator since 2012. She is a 2000 graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied systems engineering, gradually finding her way into finance. Christi and her husband Trent have two children, Ashley and Bowen, and they are members of St. James’s Episcopal Church.

Coco Provance, who was a long-time member of St. Stephen’s before she and her family moved to Maryland, returned to Richmond just over a year ago and was immediately recruited to join the staff. Her work has focused primarily on membership and scheduling volunteers for Sunday services. Coco has taken a position with James River Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the river. We’re glad that she will continue to be involved in our community as a parishioner. She has served in a variety of volunteer positions here, including with our farmers market and bookshop, on a May Fair house cooking team, as a Sunday school teacher, and as a St. Stephen’s volunteer at Peter Paul Development Center. The Johns Hopkins graduate has over 25 years of experience in university, non-profit, and foundation operations.

Greg Vick has served on our music staff several times over the past 15 years, beginning when Dan Moriarty was director of music. Greg played for Sunday morning liturgies, Evensong, and the Celtic service here. He holds a bachelor of arts in economics and business from Randolph-Macon College and has pursued graduate study in organ and choral conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. He has served several churches and was the Lee Hastings Bristol Organ Scholar at Trinity Church (Episcopal), Princeton. Greg works full-time at St. Christopher’s School as Director of Upper School Choral Activities. He’s decided that the time has come for him to have only one job! We are so grateful for Greg’s significant contributions to St. Stephen’s and trust he will not be a stranger.

We are happy to announce that Kerry Court is serving as the pianist in Palmer Hall on Sunday mornings, a service she and her family had been attending since their return to Richmond from Washington, D.C. Kerry, who is now the inaugural Director of the Arts at St. Christopher’s School, was Director of the Middle and Upper School Choral Ensembles at St. Catherine’s School and director of the Virginia Girls Choir here at St. Stephen’s before she and her family moved to Washington. Kerry holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Bucknell University and a master’s in conducting from the Eastman School of Music. We’re delighted to have Kerry back along with her husband Ben and their son James.