Racial Justice
By Ellis Reyes Montes
As our Church expands to reflect the world we live in, cultivating respectful relationships with people from unfamiliar cultures is a skill we all will benefit from. In Respectful Practices for Approaching Multicultural Resou…
By Yuri Rodriguez
COVID-19 provided music, like many other art forms, with an opportunity to rethink, reimagine and refocus. In Decolonizing Church Music, Yuri Rodriguez highlights different ways to think about diverse music traditions and to …
By Westina Matthews
Westina Matthews has had the privilege of interviewing and learning from five Black women who have been consecrated as bishops in the Episcopal Church. In Gird Up My Loins, she shares a snapshot of her conversations and an in…
By Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg
While this year has stolen much from many of us, it has also pulled the curtain back on the broken systems and exploitative cultures we have lived with for years. In Unprecedented Times, Isaiah ‘Shaneequa’ Brokenleg questions…
By Kim L. Coleman
Racism exists in every space we inhabit, even in our beloved Episcopal Church. In More Than A Black Thing, Kim L. Coleman takes us through her experience of becoming and being seen as a black Episcopal priest in a ‘white’ chu…
By Heidi J. Kim
Asian-Americans have long been hailed as a ‘model-minority’ in the United States, but that certainly hasn’t shielded them from suffering incredibly hateful and violent acts of racism. In In This Moment, Heidi J. Kim shares he…
By Anna Olson
What can white persons do to actively participate in the movement to dismantle racism? In The Messy Business of Being White, Anna Olson shares the story her own childhood through the lens of race, and then lists helpful pract…
By Adialyn Milien
How is a young, black woman perceived in our Church and world? In Triple Threat, Adialyn Milien asks us to think about what it truly means to ‘welcome all’ and explains how our comfort and desire to maintain status quo is in …
By Charis Bhagianathan
In this issue, we bring you powerful voices sharing their deeply personal stories on racial justice, healing and reconciliation. As these writers open up their hearts and lives to us, let us honor them by thoughtfully listeni…
By Alissa Newton and Arienne Davison
What tools can we offer our communities to help open their hearts and minds to honest dialogue on racial justice? In Antiracism as a Developmental Effort, Alissa Newton and Arienne Davison tell us about their work in the Inte…
By Charis Bhagianathan
This moment in history like many before it is an opportunity to change something. This is a moment ripe for listening, learning and repenting. And so I invite you to consume this issue of Vestry Papers that brings together vo…
By Catherine Meeks
What does an honest conversation about repairing the breach entail? In Do You Really Want to Talk About Reparations?, Catherine Meeks challenges us think beyond monetary offerings alone, and start by having hard conversations…
By Kelly Brown Douglas
The alienation of America from its soul is at the root of normalizing dehumanizing and violence against black lives. In Do We Want to Be White, Or Do We Want to be Church? Dean Kelly Brown Douglas asks communities of faith to…
By Jemonde Taylor
Racial reconciliation can begin only when we truthfully encounter and examine our history. In Christ Beyond the Pale, Jemonde Taylor reflects on the theological roots of racism and discrimination and examines what it means to…
By Philip Vinod Peacock
How does our theology legitimize or subvert power structures in society? In Act of Protest, Act of Faith, Philip Peacock describes the radical stance on apartheid taken by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and explains …
By Stephanie Spellers
We live in a country that has been organized to ensure the systemic diminishment and elimination of people of color. In America, Why Can’t you Stop Killing Us? Canon Stephanie Spellers invites us to take the first step on the…