Seminary of Southwest Reports on 2022 Programs

The Seminary of the Southwest continues its work to support racial justice and reconciliation through its Beloved Community Initiatives in 2022.

With a strategic plan established by its board of trustees and chaired by the Rt. Rev. Kathryn M. Ryan, the seminary is committed to training a diverse group of ordained leaders. Seminary of the Southwest uses a curriculum rooted in Jesus Christ and the dynamism of the Anglican tradition; the antiracist vision of a beloved community; the exploration of new models of ministry; and the centrality of conversation and collaboration with people inside and outside the church. In addition, the seminary is focused on being one of the educational and cultural treasures of Austin. It's a gathering place for interdisciplinary conversations about things that matter most, and the seminary serves the community in times of challenge.

To achieve its objectives, Seminary of the Southwest highlights these tactical efforts and resources in 2022 which are funded through the Racial Justice Initiatives Committee:

Academic scholarship awards—Scholarships were awarded funded by endowments created to support racial justice initiatives. Through the Pauli Murray Scholarship in academic year 20212022, $10,000 was awarded to a student. In academic year 2022-2023, four students received $25,000. Through the David Franklin Taylor Scholarship, four students gained $23,567 in awards in 2021-2022. The 2022-2023 awards are pending.

Bertha Sadler Means Endowment—This endowment funded the appointments of the seminary’s Black Religious Scholar Visiting Professor the Rev. Stephen Ray and the Director of Beloved Community Initiatives the Rev. Valerie Mayo, along with program expenses related to racial justice initiatives. New director Mayo is currently developing a webpage within ssw.edu to focus on the seminary’s racial justice initiatives. During 16 months ending Sept. 30, 2022, the endowment funded $57,179.

Soul in the City—The seminary’s Center for Writing and Creative Expression launched its 2022 Soul in the City event series at its campus by welcoming award-winning poet Roger Reeves. His poetry provides equal measures of darkness and light, agony and ecstasy, and catastrophe and joy, explained host Claire Colombo, Ph.D., director for the center.

Service of Remembrance and Truth Telling—The seminary presented a Service of Remembrance and Truth Telling. The goal of the service, which is now a mainstay in the seminary calendar, is a way for the community to remember its own racial history in Austin and in the Episcopal Church. Another goal is to set intentions for future work in racial healing and justice. In 2022, the service featured original music by staff member Duane Carter, Booher Library. Musical contributors Francisco Chavez and Sharon Coleman performed as Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, dean and president, preached the sermon, and the Rev. Valerie Mayo presided.

“Originally conceived by students as part of the work of reckoning and reconciliation, the service of Remembrance and Truth Telling has become an important part of our common life for the past two years,” Briggs said.

Beloved Community Initiatives

The Rev. Valerie Mayo was appointed Director of Beloved Community Initiatives in 2022.

Created this past year, the position of Director of Beloved Community Initiatives will play a leadership roles in several areas of community life at Southwest, most specifically in helping achieve the ‘Beloved Community’ goals outlined in Southwest’s current Strategic Plan. Mayo will work collaboratively with key members of Southwest leadership to utilize the Bertha Means Endowment to foster diversity in academic programming concerning both faculty and students. She will assist in implementing strategies

Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage — A noted program supported by the seminary is the annual Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage, In August 2022, the annual Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage took place in Hayneville, Alabama, in remembrance of Episcopal church martyr Jonathan Myrick Daniels. People from many dioceses and seminaries travel across the country to see where Daniels was shot to death in August 1965 while trying to protect an African American teen girl.

Thirteen grad students, faculty, and alumni traveled to Hayneville from Southwest in Austin in August 2022.

“We remembered many who namelessly lost their lives to racially motivated violence, and many who selflessly decided their lives to hold resistance,” said the Rev. Jeehei Park, Ph.D., a faculty member who made the pilgrimage.

Park called the pilgrimage transforming, leaving everyone with much to process and work to do in various contexts.