The Episcopal New Yorker Spring 2013 : Page 8

Absalom Jones The Absalom Jones Celebration: A Tribute to Inclusion and Diversity in Our Diocese By Carla Burns O n Saturday, February 16, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, we celebrated for the second year in succession the life and work of Blessed Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest and the first priest of color in the Episcopal Church. In contrast with a past in which, in 1787, he was removed from St George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, this service honored Blessed Ab-salom, and was an example of inclusion and the rich cultural diversity that we share and value in our diocese. Bishop Dietsche celebrated the Eucharist, and the Rev. Paul Rodgers Abernathy, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., delivered a well-received sermon entitled “Of Birds and Lilies” concerning maintaining faith in challeng-ing times. (See sermon text at dioceseny.org – news item for February 16.) The Gospel Choir of Philadelphia’s African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas—the church that Blessed Absalom Jones founded after his ouster from St. George’s—were special guests. This inspiring and talented group contributed so much energy to our serv-ice that everyone agreed that (with a uniquely Episcopal flavor) the Cathedral was rockin’! The Eucharist was followed by a reception, during which attendees were treated to performances by New York T aiko Aiko Kai of T eachers College T aiko Society & Biwanko/New York Osuwa T aiko Association, who performed Japanese style drumming, as well as the lively and colorful HAGUA, a group of indigenous Guatemalan dancers from St. Peter’s, Port Chester. The program was rounded out by a Spanish language choral group also from St. Peter’s, Port Chester, led by their musical director, Juan Gil. In keeping with this year’s celebration theme, “The Servant Leader,” attendees also had an opportunity to get involved in service organizations like the New York Correc-Guatemalan dancers from the HAGUA group of St. Peter’s, Port Chester, at the Absalom Jones Celebration, Feb 16. Photo: ©Hal Weiner tional Association, the Diocesan Environmental Committee, and the Federation of Protes-tant Welfare Agencies. Burns is a member of the Church of the Holy Innocents -St. Mary’s Chapel, Highland Falls, and chair of the diocese’s Anti-Racism Committee. Who was Absalom Jones? By Carla Burns B Drummers from the New Yorker Taiko Aiko Kai of Teachers College Taiko Society & Biwanko/New York Osuwa Taiko Association, at the Absalom Jones Celebration, Feb 16. Photo: ©Hal Weiner lessed Absalom Jones, the first African American priest of the Episcopal Church, was remarkable in many ways. He was born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware in 1746, and taught himself to read in his early teens from books he purchased with pennies given to him by visitors to his master’s home. At sixteen, he was sepa-rated from his family when a new owner took him to Philadelphia, where he worked as a clerk in his owner’s store by day and was allowed to work for himself and attend an all-black school at night. In 1770, he married a fellow slave, and through hard work, he bought her freedom before his own, so that their children would be born in freedom. He then saved enough to purchase his own freedom in 1784. Blessed Absalom was an active member of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, where he served as lay preacher for the black members of the congre-gation. In 1786, Richard Allen (eventual founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church) joined him there. But when Jones’ and Allen’s combined efforts resulted in a tenfold growth in St. George’s black membership, many white members did not welcome the increase, and attempted to segregate the black congregants. During a November 1786 Sunday service, ushers tried to remove all blacks, including Absalom Jones, from the main floor of the church to the balcony—whereupon Jones, Allen, and the other black members left the church as a group. Subsequently, in April 1787, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen founded the Free African Society, which held regular meetings and raised dues for the benefit of those in need (when, for example, a yellow fever epidemic swept the city in 1793, the Free African So-www.episcopalnewyorker.com 8 THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER Spring 2013

Absalom Jones Celebration

The Absalom Jones Celebration: A Tribute to Inclusion and Diversity in Our Diocese By Carla Burns On Saturday, February 16, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, we celebrated for the second year in succession the life and work of Blessed Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest and the first priest of color in the Episcopal Church. In contrast with a past in which, in 1787, he was removed from St George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, this service honored Blessed Absalom, and was an example of inclusion and the rich cultural diversity that we share and value in our diocese. Bishop Dietsche celebrated the Eucharist, and the Rev. Paul Rodgers Abernathy, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., delivered a wellreceived sermon entitled “Of Birds and Lilies” concerning maintaining faith in challenging times. (See sermon text at dioceseny.org – news item for February 16.) The Gospel Choir of Philadelphia’s African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas—the church that Blessed Absalom Jones founded after his ouster from St. George’s—were special guests. This inspiring and talented group contributed so much energy to our service that everyone agreed that (with a uniquely Episcopal flavor) the Cathedral was rockin’! The Eucharist was followed by a reception, during which attendees were treated to performances by New York Taiko Aiko Kai of Teachers College Taiko Society & Biwanko/New York Osuwa Taiko Association, who performed Japanese style drumming, as well as the lively and colorful HAGUA, a group of indigenous Guatemalan dancers from St. Peter’s, Port Chester. The program was rounded out by a Spanish language choral group also from St. Peter’s, Port Chester, led by their musical director, Juan Gil. In keeping with this year’s celebration theme, “The Servant Leader,” attendees also had an opportunity to get involved in service organizations like the New York Correctional Association, the Diocesan Environmental Committee, and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. Burns is a member of the Church of the Holy Innocents - St. Mary’s Chapel, Highland Falls, and chair of the diocese’s Anti-Racism Committee. Who was Absalom Jones? By Carla Burns Blessed Absalom Jones, the first African American priest of the Episcopal Church, was remarkable in many ways. He was born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware in 1746, and taught himself to read in his early teens from books he purchased with pennies given to him by visitors to his master’s home. At sixteen, he was separated from his family when a new owner took him to Philadelphia, where he worked as a clerk in his owner’s store by day and was allowed to work for himself and attend an all-black school at night. In 1770, he married a fellow slave, and through hard work, he bought her freedom before his own, so that their children would be born in freedom. He then saved enough to purchase his own freedom in 1784. Blessed Absalom was an active member of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, where he served as lay preacher for the black members of the congregation. In 1786, Richard Allen (eventual founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church) joined him there. But when Jones’ and Allen’s combined efforts resulted in a tenfold growth in St. George’s black membership, many white members did not welcome the increase, and attempted to segregate the black congregants. During a November 1786 Sunday service, ushers tried to remove all blacks, including Absalom Jones, from the main floor of the church to the balcony—whereupon Jones, Allen, and the other black members left the church as a group. Subsequently, in April 1787, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen founded the Free African Society, which held regular meetings and raised dues for the benefit of those in need (when, for example, a yellow fever epidemic swept the city in 1793, the Free African So ciety cared for Philadelphia’s sick and dying). The Free African Society was the progenitor of The African Church, which was organized on July 7, 1791. Both Jones and Allen wanted to remain affiliated with the Methodist church, but their followers overwhelmingly voted to affiliate themselves with the Episcopal Church as a result of their persecution by the Methodists at St. George’s. Allen disagreed with this decision and withdrew from the African Church, taking a small number of followers with him. Blessed Absalom remained as the leader of The African Church, which was formally received into the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania on October 17, 1794 and renamed St. Thomas African Episcopal Church—the first black Episcopal parish in the United States. The bishop of Pennsylvania, William White, ordained Jones a deacon in 1795 and as priest in 1804, making him the first Episcopal priest of African descent to be ordained in the United States. Despite the split in The African Church, Jones and Allen continued to work together. They were among the founders of the African Masonic Lodge in Philadelphia in 1798, and led the black community in petitioning first the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1799, and then the United States Congress in 1800, for the abolition of slavery. In 1809, they founded the Society for the Suppression of Vice and Immorality. In 1816, Jones saw his friend Allen consecrated the first bishop of the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal Church. And in 1817, the two men were united again when they condemned the newly formed American Colonization Society, which encouraged freed slaves to return to Africa. One year later, on February 13, 1818, Absalom Jones died at his home in Philadelphia. Absalom Jones Celebrations in the Twenty-first Century: Splendid ... Still Insufficient By Jean Ballard Terepka This February there were wonderful services and splendid ceremonies in many churches and dioceses to celebrate the legacy of Blessed Absalom Jones. Such celebrations are a relatively recent phenomenon—one that reflects both the profound spiritual and practical determination of African-American Episcopalians and broad social, cultural and political developments in the country as a whole. Jones himself is known for establishing, at the end of the 18th century, a church apart and separate from—but still within—the Episcopal Church; and throughout the following 19th century the experience of Episcopalians of African descent remained largely one of imposed separateness and heroic self-sufficiency. Developing the power among people of African descent to end the general segregation that this reflected, both in the Episcopal Church and beyond, would depend on two critical factors: national collaboration and accessible, accurate accounts of the ways in which the past has shaped the present. Long before the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York in 1909, Episcopalian clergy of African descent came together as a group to identify and promote their shared goals. The Convocation of the Colored Clergy, later renamed the Conference of Church Workers among Colored People (the Conference) was founded in 1882, and came to constitute a powerful force for change in the church as a whole. “…Through protest and agitation,” according to contemporary historian Reverend J. Carlton Hayden, “[it] served as the conscience of the Church, recalling it to its catholic ideal” (www.ube.org/ube-history.html). Just as the NAACP began publishing a journal, The Crisis, to address issues of race and segregation, there was also a major publication associated with the Conference: The Afro- American Churchman, later renamed The Church Advocate, edited by the Rev. George F. Bragg (1863-1940), who was rector of the influential historically black parish of St. James in Baltimore and author of books on William Levington (1909), Richard Allen and Absalom Jones (1915), and the elegant, comprehensive History of the Afro-American Group of the Episcopal Church (1922). In the decade following World War II, the Conference was weakened by internal divisions around issues of organization, strategy and policy, and finally ceased to meet in the mid-1960s. There followed a period of floundering among African-American groups in the Episcopal Church until 1968, when 17 priests of African descent in New York City founded the Union of Black Episcopalians (originally the Union of Black Clergy and Laity), holding their first meeting at St. Philip’s Church in Harlem. In 1973, the tumult and turmoil of the civil rights movement and the spiritual and moral power of the voices of black Episcopalians had their effect on the Church’s 64th General Convention. It was then that the feast of Absalom Jones—fixed on February 13, the date of his death, which falls conveniently during Black History Month—was declared an elective celebration and commemoration within the Church. Ever since, the Union of Black Episcopalians and its regional chapters have been instrumental in planning Absalom Jones celebrations and special services. The pattern was consolidated in 1991, when the 70th General Convention resolved to “endorse and support the national bicentennial celebration … Two Hundred Years of the Black Presence in the Episcopal Church: One Faith, One People, One Struggle” (Resolution 1991-D149) to take place in Philadelphia in 1992. This celebration commemorated the 200th anniversary of Blessed Absalom Jones’ founding of St. Thomas African Episcopal Church—the first “African” parish in the Episcopal Church—and was organized and co-sponsored by that church, the Diocese of Philadelphia and the Union of Black Episcopalians. “It is the responsibility of all Episcopalians,” the resolution concluded, “to increase our knowledge of the one faith by developing a truly multi-cultural historiography and by preserving and sharing this common religious heritage.” In the last decade of the 20th century and the first of the 21st, Absalom Jones celebrations and special services became more frequent. Initially, most were presented as part of the Church’s own Black History Month: They were – and they remain – occasions for teaching and education. But the legacy of Absalom Jones lies in much more than a history lesson about a remarkable priest and a Philadelphia congregation, or even his example of courage, energy and eloquent leadership. For faith and identity existed as one within Absalom Jones: He was and remains a revelatory exemplar of the ways in which a Christian’s certainty that God loves us all equally, slave and free, informed his every personal and public act. His determination to create a sacred space in which all people could live their own faith fully and without constraint was itself limitless. His practical acumen and indomitable spirit were made strong by his love of God. Absalom Jones’ life and faith inspired all who knew him. They continue to inspire us now. The Episcopal churches and dioceses in which the feast day of Absalom Jones is observed, like New York, celebrate the capacity of faith to make God’s love manifest in all our lives and communities. But in February 2013, more than half of the Church’s dioceses made no acknowledgement of the feast of Absalom Jones. Forgetting Absalom Jones deprives Episcopalians— and all Christians and people of faith—of his enduring ability to encourage us in examining the intersections of personal identity, corporate identity and the life of the Church. Celebrating Absalom Jones’s legacy, in contrast, enables us all to understand more deeply the place of conscience in our daily lives and in our Church. Terepka is a member of and archivist at St. Michael’s Church, Manhattan. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Harold T. Lewis, Yet With a Steady Beat: The African American Struggle for Recognition in the Episcopal Church (1996). Gardiner H. Shattuck, Episcopalians and Race: Civil War to Civil Rights (2003). The Church Awakens: African Americans and the Struggle for Justice, an electronic publication and online exhibit of The Archives of the Episcopal Church (2008; www.episcopalarchives.org/Afro-Anglican_history/exhibit).

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