Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will visit the Diocese of Western North Carolina to preside and preach at a Service of Repentance, Healing and Reconciliation in support of that diocese’s work to dismantle racism:
Episcopalian Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to present apology for church’s complicity in slavery
From “Mountain Express” online
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the . . . Episcopal Church will visit the diocese Saturday, April 9, to preside and preach at a major Service of Repentance, Healing and Reconciliation at Trinity, Asheville, located at 60 Church Street in downtown Asheville. The service will begin at 11 a.m.
At this service, Bishop Taylor . . . bishop of the diocese of Western North Carolina, will extend an official apology for the diocese’s complicity in the institution of slavery and segregation. All 65 parishes in the diocese will be represented and will offer up their history and relationships related to segregation and slavery.
Efforts to coordinate this service have been ongoing for the past two years under the direction of the Commission to Dismantle Racism, which trained teams from dozens of parishes to lead the “truth and reconciliation” process. Subsequently some have reached out into their communities and begun to build bridges across historic racial divides. Additionally many parishes have started collecting oral histories of racially charged events.