Church summit deeply explores truth-telling and reckoning with eye toward reparations

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, Washington, and the founder of Circles of Color, makes a point during a panel discussion on truth-telling Sept. 19 during the Summit on Truth-telling and Reparations held at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. The Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for reconciliation, justice and creation care, and the Rev. Peter Jarrett-Schell, who serves as pastor at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., look on. Photo: Lynette Wilson/Episcopal News Service [Episcopal News Service – Alexandria, Virginia] The Rev. Lindsey Ardrey grew up among storytellers, but there were some stories the elders and the matriarchs didn’t want to tell, stories about harm and systems of oppression whispered to one another in hushed tones.   Ardrey shared her childhood memories with nearly 100 people representing 34 dioceses at the Sept. 19-21 Summit on Truth-telling and Reparations. It was an opportunity for Episcopal leaders to share strategies, best practices and resources and to pray for and encourage one another in their work. “Because we are the church of the enslaved and enslaver, the Indigenous people and the colonizer, we are here to tell these stories in non-hushed tones,” Ardrey, the Diocese of...