Racial Justice Initiative

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

John 13:34

Racial Justice Initiative

Racial Justice Initiative Update

Since Bishop Doyle’s announcement of The Episcopal Diocese of Texas Racial Justice Initiative at Council 2020, the work of bringing the Bishop’s vision to fruition has been divided among two bodies: The Seminary of the Southwest and a Racial Justice Committee.

The Seminary of the Southwest offers three scholarships to advance the Bishop’s vision.

Scholarships

The Dr. Bertha Sadler Means Endowment for Racial Justice will fund, in perpetuity, a ministry to support visiting Black scholars, research in Texas slavery and racism, teaching racial justice, formation for empowerment of Black leaders, and encouragement for Episcopal Black ministries in the diocese and the Church.

The Rev. Pauli Murray Scholarship Fund at Seminary of the Southwest is a scholarship to help students of color with living expenses while attending Seminary of the Southwest.

The Rev. David Taylor Endowed Scholarship at Seminary of the Southwest was established for students of color working towards an MDiv.

The Racial Justice Committee provides both a scholarship and funds as follows:

Scholarship

The Henrietta Wells Scholarship Fund is designated for scholarships for students attending Historical Black Colleges and Universities across the Diocese of Texas. The funds are to be used for choir scholarships and teaching internships in Episcopal schools while attending a Historic Black College or University (HBCU) in Texas.

Scholarships have been awarded to seven students since the inception of the initiative.

Funds

Two funds have been established to advance the goals of the Bishop’s initiative:

The Rev. Thomas Cain Fund for Historic Black Churches was established to provide grants for the mission, programming, or maintenance of Historic Black Churches.

The John and Joseph Talbot Fund for Racial Reconciliation was established to provide a gift to underwrite a program of church community racial reconciliation initiatives, bringing together the work of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Lynching memorial work and justice work in local communities. The Fund also seeks to celebrate the work of

African Americans within the Diocese of Texas.

Scholarships and Funds: A Historical Perspective About Dr. Bertha Sadler Means

Dr. Bertha Sadler Means is a former successful educator, civil rights activist and educator. A well-known Episcopalian in the city of Austin, she was a true education pioneer. She worked in the Austin Independent School District before her retirement, having taught in both elementary and secondary education. Her specialty was reading education. Means also left an indelible mark in higher education, having taught at both Prairie View A&M College and the University of Texas at Austin and also provided professional development at Huston-Tillotson University in the area of teaching and learning. She is also known as a political activist and community leader and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Dr. Means is a 1945 graduate of Dr. Bertha Sadler Means Tillotson College, a predecessor institution to Huston-Tillotson University. With deep roots in Austin, she continued her education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Means enjoyed a long career in education and retired from Austin Independent School District. She also served on the Huston-Tillotson Board of Trustees from 2004-2008, and is the owner of Austin Cab Company. In her honor on the campus of Huston-Tillotson University is The Bertha Sadler Means African American Resource Center located in the Anthony and Louise ViaerAlumni Hall. This honor was bestowed upon her as a result of her philanthropic support over the years. Dr. Means is a long-time, devoted member of St. James’ Episcopal Church, Austin.

About the Rev. Pauli Murray

The Rev. Pauli Murray was the first African American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Moreover, she was among the first of all women to be ordained by the Church. With dreams of attending Columbia University, she attended Hunter College in New York City, after being denied admission to Columbia because the university was only open to men. After graduating from Hunter College, she attended law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Although she graduated first in her class, she was denied the opportunity to enroll at Harvard University for additional studies- again, because she was a woman. A successful lawyer and author, her experiences fueled her passion to advocate for women and play a role in the The Rev. Pauli Murray civil rights movement. Murray broke several glass ceilings that brought about rare opportunities for Black women during that time. In 1946, she was hired as California’s first Black deputy attorney general. As a civil-rights activist, she marched alongside the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ms. Rosa Parks. She, however, protested against discrimination- not only on the basis of race, but also gender. Murray worked in academia as vice-president of Benedict College, later becoming a professor at Brandeis University until she went to the seminary and was later ordained. The Rev. Murray was the first woman to celebrate the Eucharist at an Episcopal church in North Carolina. She eventually committed her life to one of mission reconciliation and focused on ministry to the sick in a parish in Washington, D.C. A woman before her time, Murray left a rich legacy of achievement, not only in the Episcopal Church. As just one example, Yale University posthumously named one of its residential colleges in her memory. The Rev. Pauli Murray was a forward-thinking force to be reckoned with.

About the Rev. David Franklin Taylor

The Rev. David Franklin Taylor was the first African-American priest raised up by the historic Black churches in the Diocese of Texas. He was first licensed by Bishop Kinsolving in 1904 as a lay reader. He was later ordained and moved to St. Augustine’s in Galveston, where he had been a confirmand earlier in his life. Prior to returning to St. Augustine of Hippo, the Rev. Taylor had spent the first four years of his ministry at St. John’s, Tyler. The Rev. Taylor was ultimately ordained to the priesthood and served as vicar until 1912, when he was transferred to Louisiana. Prior to becoming a member of the Episcopal Church, he had been an African Methodist Episcopal minister.

Mrs. Henrietta Bell Wells was a social worker and educator who attended Wiley College. There, she was the first female member of the historic debate team, on which the movie, The Great Debaters, was based. Among several professional posts, she worked in higher education, having served as Dean of Women at Dillard University (a Methodist HBCU in New Orleans, Louisiana). The wife of the Rev. Wallace L. Wells, she was an active lay woman in the Episcopal Church. Although she lived in many cities, working in numerous churches as she supported her husband in his ministry, the Rev. and Mrs. Wells founded a church in Gary, Indiana that is listed in the National Registry of Historic Buildings. She was a devoted member of the Daughters of the King and very active in the 135th Street YMCA in Mrs. Henrietta Bell Wells New York City, New York. Mrs. Wells ended her life of ministry at St. James, Houston, located in historic Third Ward. She died at the age of 95 in 2008.

About the Rev. Thomas Cain

The Rev. Thomas Cain was the first priest of color in the Diocese of Texas. He was born into slavery in Virginia, later arriving in Galveston as a missionary priest. He was made deacon and priest by Bishop Francis McNeece Whittle, the fifth Bishop of Virginia, and he was in charge of St. Phillip’s Church for colored people in Richmond, Virginia for many years. He was a graduate of the very first class of the Bishop Payne Divinity School (a school that was founded in Petersburg, Virginia in 1878 to train African Americans for ministry in the Episcopal Church).

He transferred to the Diocese of Texas in 1888 and was placed in charge of St. Augustine’s Mission. Under his leadership, the congregation made great progress raising funds for a permanent chapel. By 1897, there were more than 180 active African American communicants, and a church was built in 1889 in the heart of Galveston. The first service was held on Ash Wednesday in 1889. Near the end of that year, a new chancel area had been constructed within the church, but on September 8, 1900, the Great Galveston Storm of 1900 washed away the church and rectory. Most unfortunately, the Rev. Cain and his wife both perished in the storm.

During his time in the Diocese of Texas, the Rev. Cain represented the diocese at a General Convention, and he planted churches in East and Central Texas.

About Mr. John Talbot and Mr. Joseph Talbot

These two gentlemen, brothers John and Joseph Talbot, were the first slaves mentioned in the historic baptismal books of Christ Church Matagorda, and they belonged to Judge Matthew Talbot who was a member of our first church, and leader of the diocese from its founding.

In 2003, Evelyn Talbot, a descendant of the Talbots, visited Christ Church of Matagorda. Its vicar, the Rev. Hoss Gwin, found her and learned that she was looking for information related to her ancestors.

These brothers were slaves, baptized in one of our churches, and their niece returned to that very church to give thanks for her own Christianity. She came to find where the gift of Jesus and the gospel had come from in her family’s life. She and the Rev. Hoss talked, and they connected with other members of the Talbot family who are still there. They had a meal and they worshipped together. Brothers John and Joseph Talbot are examples of a very complex history and story.

The initiative now has a web presence at www.edotracialjustice.org that contains a wealth of information that highlights its various opportunities.

Bell Ringing for a Civil Rights Icon

St. Alban’s, Waco, honored the late civil rights leader John Lewis with a symbolic bell ringing the day of his funeral.

The bells rang 80 times—each one to celebrate a year of Lewis’ life.

Neighbors stopped in front of the church and took a moment to reflect. Churchgoers say as small as this may be – it’s important.

Other churches across the country also participated and honored the life of the civil rights leader and long-serving congressman from Georgia.

First Recipients of the Texas Pauli Murray Scholarship Announced

In July, Seminary of the Southwest and the Texas Pauli Murray Scholarship Committee announced the inaugural recipients of the Texas Pauli Murray Scholarship. The winners were Ryan Hawthorne and Maria Victoria Umana. Currently, both recipients are students at Seminary of the Southwest. Hawthorne is pursing a Diploma in Anglican Studies, and Umana began working toward a Master of Divinity degree. Both started in the fall of 2020.

The scholarship was named after the civil rights era icon, famed poet, lawyer and first Black priest in The Episcopal Church—the Rev. Pauli Murray—and was established in 2018 to support seminarians of color at Seminary of the Southwest through an effort led by parishioners and clergy at St. James’, Austin.

The partnership between St. James’, Austin, and Seminary of the Southwest made it possible to provide “living expenses” scholarships to help make seminary education more accessible to low-income African American and women of color in The Episcopal Church. In February 2020, the Diocese of Texas announced the fund would be the recipient of $1.5 million as part of its $13 million racial reconciliation plan in the diocese.

Hawthorne was a postulant in the Diocese of Texas and a parishioner at St. Luke the Evangelist in Houston. She served as youth missioner and school chaplain at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and School in Houston, challenging students to reconsider who God is, what equality and justice call us to do and be to one another, and what the kingdom of God could look like in the future. Hawthorne already holds a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Umana was also a postulant from the Diocese of Texas living in Houston. She was born and raised in El Salvador, and after raising her two children with her husband Ramon, felt a calling to the ministry of the priesthood. “People around me started to encourage me to dedicate my life to serve others and God throughout the ministry of the priesthood,” said Umana. “At first, I was unaware of God’s call to this ministry, but my spirit would rejoice and be filled with peace every time I thought about this possibility. The more I meditated, the clearer it became that this is what God is calling me to do.”

Ryan Hawthorne

Maria Victoria Umana

Together Episcopal – Grappling with Difficult Conversations

By Denise Trevino-Gomez

In the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, we strongly believe that each person and faith community have the power to

affect real change. As we strive to improve ways to have difficult conversations around important issues, we have designed a new website specifically focused on learning how to have difficult conversations, dismantling racism, and bridging political divide. It’s called togetherepiscopal.org. The name says exactly what we hope it to be, doing God’s work together, not in isolation. By no means does the resource cover everything, but it does serve as a launching pad for anyone wanting to gain new skills and increase their understanding of complex issues.

The www.togetherepiscopal.com website will be laid out in phases. Phase One started in the fall of 2020 and offered twenty-two free workshops and multiple resources that covered an array of topics. Hundreds of people from across our diocese immersed themselves in their learning on how to have difficult conversations around racism and political divide; others learned how to preach the hard truth of the Gospel. People learned about generational effects of slavery and internalized oppression, and they learned how to be allies in this important work. Additionally, they learned about colorism, studied films, held anti-racism book studies, and prayed together. We also had the great pleasure of having people join us from several states across the country. Participants learned, laughed and cried together, but even more importantly, they showed up for one another.

Phase Two of this new website launches in late January 2021. It will offer even more resources to help us better understand issues surrounding Black Lives Matter, white fragility and privilege. It will also include family activities on how to have these conversations with our children, youth and young adult work, as well as many other important topics. A new resource, Fierce Conversations, will also be introduced as a tool for people to learn how to engage in healthy but difficult conversations…regardless of the issue.

People have shared they are afraid or intimidated to have conversations around racial topics or political divide. And who can blame them? Everywhere we turn it seems we only hear the negative. But letting fear of someone else’s story, or maybe even where it didn’t go so well for you, stop you from engaging in this work, will only hold you back from the infinite possibilities of what God knows could be. I have a sign in my office that reads, “God never said it was going to be easy… just that it would be worth it.” I live by that daily. So, if you keep hearing that this work can be hard or messy, also hear that it is some of the most life-giving, imperfect-perfect work you may ever experience. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Jesus would want us to do, and He’s not looking for perfect.

As a Missioner for Congregational Vitality with a focus on Intercultural Development, it has been my experience that no two people’s journey or experience around these issues has been the same, and it’s important for us to know that there is no right or wrong place to start. The stories highlighted here are but a few of the dozens of examples of communities around our diocese that are actively engaging in difficult conversations, dismantling racism, grappling with political divide and doing other important work. We hope you to be inspired by what they are doing, knowing you too could be the key to doing something to positively impact your community. I pray that you never hesitate to reach out to someone for a hard but important conversation, and I will hold sacred your journey in our liberating Christian life.

May God bless you in your lives and ministries.

By The Rev. Paul Johnson, Episcopal Church of the Cross, Lake Travis

“I think we may have missed an opportunity,” read the subject line of the email. It was right after George Floyd’s murder. In worship the previous Sunday, I had alluded to that moment, but had not addressed it directly. “I think we may have missed an opportunity,” the parishioner wrote me again afterwards. This person was trying to make sense of the racial injustice and violence that had come to a head in Minneapolis and of how others were trying to make sense of it as well. We concluded that we, the Church, didn’t have to miss the opportunity any longer and decided to engage the question more intentionally. As the Church, in all of our brokenness and ignorance and confusion, and with a yearning and desire for healing and wholeness, we knew that we needed to address a hard conversation together about race in America.

That is how this journey at the Episcopal Church of the Cross, a new congregation in the Lake Travis area west of Austin, began. We spoke more directly to the issue the following Sunday. A couple of weeks later, several people in the congregation began meeting virtually to share and process and get to know one another, and wonder. We continued to gather virtually throughout the summer. We sought guidance with the Missioner for Intercultural Ministry and worked on norms for difficult conversations, and we developed a plan.

We began by watching and responding to the Frontline series “Race: The Power of an Illusion.” It was a great start for us as it helped us to understand the historical pieces to racial injustices that we don’t often talk about. We learned so much from this series, reflected deeply on racism together, and learned more about ourselves as a community. But this was just one step, and we already have plans to continue the dialogue in the new year in new ways. We took that first step towards tackling a difficult topic, and because of it, we have grown as a community in ways we had not anticipated. We are branching out in new ways to go deeper in our conversations about how race operates within Christian history and the Church today. We’ll see where God takes us in all this and what new things God is revealing.

We’re not having these conversations because it’s comfortable. It’s not. And, we’re not having these conversations because we know the answers. We don’t. We’re having these hard conversations because we are the Church, called to be engaged in what matters in our world. And right now, this matters. So, we listen and learn and bring curiosity, vulnerability and humility to the table, knowing that if we couldn’t solve the problems of the nation, we could still work on our own selves. And this, we’re learning, is always the best place to start.

By The Rev. Keith Pozzuto, Episcopal Student Center, Waco

Political conversations are difficult. We are told to keep our politics and religion private, but at the Episcopal Student Center in Waco, we recognize the importance of bringing our whole lives to Jesus. And in the fall of 2020, politics was undoubtedly on all of our minds.

Back in October, Building Bridges, a workshop through the Kaleidoscope Institute and the Diocese of Texas, taught a dialogue process for taking on the tough topics that we don’t normally feel comfortable delving into. The students at ESC decided to put that dialogue process into action around political divide and race. It was just a beginning; it was an opening to a conversation that will take us a long time and plenty of grace, mercy and love for our neighbor. The discussion was, and will be, a great form of discipleship because as we conversed about our thoughts on voting rights and race, we could clearly see our differences, but also our mutual care for one another. The students practiced the tools taught in Building Bridges: how to practice respect, new ways of listening, how to break down topics so we don’t walk away overwhelmed, and other practical tools that help us live more fully into taking on difficult topics safely and sacredly.

The Building Bridges difficult conversation process allowed everyone to be able to share and speak with sincerity about their thoughts and hopes without being judged. It was a great beginning. The Episcopal Student Center is a welcoming and gracious community of students who long to be in community with and in service to their neighbors. We learned together that we have to start the conversation here and now or we may never talk, or worse, we will allow the dialogue to be led by our secular tribalism and not through prayer, discernment, and the hope of the incarnate Word!

Building Bridges offers tools to start a hard conversation, and at ESC we will continue to practice the use of those tools and remain committed to continuing our hard conversations as God so calls us to do.

St. James’, Austin, Responds to Vandalism of Historically Black Cemetery

In September 2020, headstones at Evergreen Cemetery, Austin’s first major municipal graveyard for Black residents, were vandalized. In response, St. James’, Austin, and the Union of Black Episcopalians, Myra McDaniel Chapter, gathered a group for an outdoor prayer vigil after the tombstones were vandalized. The Rev. Eileen O’Brien, rector of St. James’, wrote, “For centuries, the defacing of gravesites has been a form of cultural violence against black and other minority communities. Such efforts to erase memory, dignity, and home cannot and must not be allowed to stand. The removal of paint from the headstones will not close the wounds opened wide by this action, and so we must give ourselves all the more to this healing work of honoring memory, dignity, and home.”

Reconciling Difference in a Conflicted World

By Kathy Wiggin, St. Michael’s, Austin

Over the last year, Archbishop Justin Welby brought together leading global thinkers and peacemakers to create a five-session course called Difference that explores what it means to follow Jesus in the face of conflict. This course was offered in the Diocese of Texas, and at St. Michael’s in Austin we were eager to make it available to our congregation. With escalating rhetoric around both the Black Lives Matter movement and the national election, we felt this was a good time to explore God’s call for us to be reconcilers in a broken and hurting world.

We started with gaining insights into the power of the Three Habits of Reconciliation: Being Curious by listening to other’s stories with genuine interest and respect, being Present by sharing our own values and stories openly and with authenticity, and Reimagining by hoping and believing that any relationship can be healed.

Our offering attracted a large group of participants who joined the dialogue in a proactive way or who used the course to cope with their own tensions. As we practiced the three habits of disagreeing well (curiosity, presence and reimagining), we remembered what we already knew - that reconciliation is hard, but anything is possible through Christ. Now we have new tools and a support group to help us continue to engage and have powerful conversations.

We also had an opportunity to meet with other Difference hosts from around the country, who have a diversity of views and experiences. We have exciting plans to co-facilitate dialogue between our groups to practice crossing the divides which separate us. This work requires humility and courage, and at St. Michael’s we are up to it! By making a difference in our own relationships, we make a difference in the world. I would encourage other congregations to take up this work, too.

By Kathy Culmer

In 2012, Kevin Wittmayer, Chaplain at All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, walked the El Camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James, an ancient path through the cities and countryside of portions of northern Spain. It took him thirty-three days to complete the 500-mile walk, but the walking didn’t stop there.

In a chapel that Wittmayer visited while on pilgrimage, he found a Pilgrim’s Prayer that said, “If you’ve shared your goods with fellow pilgrims, and if you’ve received hospitality from other people on the Camino but don’t bring the Camino back home, then you haven’t walked the Camino.” These words challenged him to look for a place where he might walk a spiritual pilgrimage back in the U.S. Pilgrimages in the Middle Ages were to a shrine or church where the bones of a martyr were entombed.

As Wittmayer continued to pray and seek the answer, his thoughts turned to the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. When he considered that, however, and the number of martyrs involved, he realized that would cover far more than the 500 miles walked in Spain. So Wittmayer, who is a native of Iowa, started researching Civil Rights martyrs of East Texas to see if he could do something more locally.

Research led him to the story of John Earl Reese, a 16-year-old African American boy killed in a drive-by shooting. On October 22, 1955, John Earl Reese was shot by White men who went on a shooting spree in retaliation for a school being built for Black children in the Mayflower community. The shooter fired into a Black owned cafe between Longview and Tatum hitting Reese, who died the next day.

Kevin found himself captured by the tragic nature of the story, but also by the fact that he was born in the same year the murder took place. Reese’s death took place just two months after the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, MS. Kevin was just two months old at the time of Reese’s death.

The 19 mile walk in memory of John Earl Reese took place on October 23, 2020, the 65th anniversary of his death. The day began at 8 am with Wittmayer receiving a prayer and blessing from Fr. Bill Carroll at Trinity, Longview, the church where Wittmayer served as rector from 2003-2017. The official walk began at what is now Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, formerly the Gregg County Hospital, and ended at Reese’s gravesite in the Smith Chapel cemetery in the African American community of Mayflower.

Wittmayer was accompanied on a portion of the walk by Clent Holmes, the grandson of the bus driver who drove for James Earl Reese and other Black children, as well as residents of the Mayflower Community. For the last 5 miles of the walk, they were joined by Annisa Centers, a reporter from KLTV in Tyler. At Reese’s gravesite, the pastor of

Wittmayer worshipped at Smith Chapel the Sunday prior to the walk where he met members of Reese’s family and received the blessing of the community for the upcoming walk.

Part of Wittmayer’s motivation was his own spiritual journey, but also felt “this was a way to bring attention to the fact that this is part of ‘our’ history that needs to be remembered so it is not repeated.”

“Some of the richness of the experience,” Wittmayer admits, “were the conversations I had with Clent and Annisa. These are conversations we should have so we can learn from each other and care about one another.”

Wittmayer looks forward to continuing “the walk” after retirement in a few years. Since Camino, he has been visiting sites with relevance to the Civil Rights Movement and hopes to include many of them in future walks.

According to a sophisticated and dynamic media tracking service, an Associated Press (AP) article—featuring the Diocese of Texas and its commitment to fund racial justice projects addressing reparation and racial healing—reached over 389 media outlets with a collective readership and viewership of over 244 million people globally. The piece was featured in some of the largest media markets, including broadcast networks and newspaper outlets such as CBS, The Washington Post, Daily Mail, and USA Today.

Also, NPR interviewed Bishop Doyle for its statewide newscast to discuss the Racial Justice Initiative and for the momentum it has created throughout the nation.

The Bishop of Texas first made the announcement while presenting a Missionary Vision for a Racial Justice Initiative at the 171st Diocesan Council held in Waco, Texas, February 7-8, 2020. The initiative includes a $13 million commitment toward racial reconciliation projects and scholarships for the future training and education of people of color.

The money for the Missionary Vision for Racial Justice Initiative funds the Bertha Means Endowment, the David Taylor Scholarship, the Pauli Murray Scholarship Fund, the Thomas Cain Fund for Historic Black Churches, the Henrietta Wells Scholarship Fund for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the John Talbot and Joseph Talbot Fund for Racial Justice, and Episcopal Health Foundation Congregational Engagement.

According to the AP article, more churches of different denominations across the United States have followed the Diocese of Texas initiative’s lead, to follow suit. Within the Episcopal Church, several dioceses—including Maryland, Long Island and New York—have also launched reparations programs in the past year, while others are preparing to do so.

Associated Press Article Featuring Diocese of Texas Racial Justice Initiative Reaches Readership of Over 244 Million People Globally

Moving Forward in Truth: Giving Voice to a Voiceless Past

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” –Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King’s quote suggests that there is power in the sharing of stories to facilitate a more peaceful co-existence among us, in spite of our differences. At the very least, honest telling and earnest listening can create common ground. Stories offer the key, or at least a key, to overcoming the barrier of not knowing one another, which hinders us from loving one another as Christ commanded. Stories have the power to do that even when, and perhaps especially when, they are hard to listen to or when they challenge us or provoke us, when we find them hard to believe as true or when we don’t want them to be. Sharing our faith stories, personal stories and stories grown out of our cultural expressions and histories can, at the very least, prompt conversations that will deepen our understanding and appreciation for one another. Truth is, we do not fully know what possibilities may be unbound by the sharing of our stories with those who appear unlike ourselves, but, if nothing else, sharing gives us greater opportunity to learn of our shared experiences and our common humanity. At the 171st Diocesan Council held in Waco, Texas in February of 2020, Bishop Doyle presented a “Missionary Vision for a Racial Justice initiative” that aims to repair and commence racial healing for individuals and communities who were directly injured by slavery in the diocese. “The goal is to support the people of our communities who were actually injured by our past actions,” the Bishop said. “Moving Forward in Truth, an article series exploring the history of race in the Diocese of Texas, was initiated in February of 2020 to help bring to light the experiences of African Americans in this diocese - the struggles, the triumphs, the neglect, the celebrations, and more - with a light that not only leads to discovery but that clears a pathway for moving forward. Though not chronological, because they are still being discovered and told, the stories begin with a past that is rooted in slavery, as is our nation’s. Slavery has divided this country from its beginning and has likewise impacted the church. It has been deemed by some to be the central event in shaping this nation’s historical consciousness. There are remnants of the dilemma posed by this institution that counted some human beings in part rather than as a whole in order to perpetuate itself that still haunt us until this very day…that still impose themselves upon us affecting how we regard one another, interact with and react to one another, and, yes, even how we worship with one another.

The stories have had as their source, diocesan records, individual church histories, newspaper accounts, and the voices of those who have lived the experiences or who have heard the stories told. They have been shared with the hope that through listening with open hearts and minds, we can confront some of the truths of our past, overcome some of our differences and move forward, together, in truth. “It’s about mending the racial divide in our communities,” Bishop Doyle said in his address. “It’s about naming the past but moving forward together.” What better way than to give voice to the stories and experiences of those whose stories have gone unheard and unacknowledged, and to lend them an open and listening ear. Stories in this series appear in the bi-weekly e-news publications of the Diolog and Out of the Ordinary. Previous stories are archived at edotracialjustice.org.