Mark your calendars for April 9, 2011. On that day, our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori will be in Asheville to preside over a Service of Repentance, Healing and Reconciliation for the diocese at Trinity Episcopal Church. At the service, parishes in our diocese will, in various forms, offer up their histories and relationships related to segregation and slavery. Through readings and prayers participants will recall both difficult and painful moments from the past as well as moments when black and white members of the diocese worked for racial understanding and reconciliation.
To that end, in the All Souls parish a history committee, led by Molly Walling, has been meeting to plan a course for the next several months for gathering from parish members memories of their own personal racial awareness and attitudes, of Asheville during the days of segregation and desegregation, and, particularly, what role All Souls parishioners played in discussions of race and actions related to integration and racial harmony in Asheville.
In March, members of the All Souls History Committee attended a training event at Trinity Church on “Repairing the Breach,” led by Dain and Constance Perry, who travel the country facilitating conversations about racial reconciliation. Their presentation is anchored by the showing of the film, “Traces of the Trade,” a documentary that chronicles the DeWolf family journey of faith and healing as they have struggled to come to grips with elements of racism in their family history. The DeWolf families of Bristol, R.I., were Dain Perry’s ancestors and the foremost slave traders in American history.
Workshops have been held throughout the diocese providing information on practical resources for compiling congregation histories and implementing the work.
Members of the All Souls history committee include Molly Walling, Lisa Sellers, Brenda Lilly, Beverly Gaines, Shawna Gilmore, Carole Currie and Todd Donatelli. They will schedule interviews with selected members of the congregation in the months ahead. Any member of the congregation who would like to share memories and information relating to actions and attitudes in the parish and their own experiences during that time may contact Molly Walling at mollyfw@charter.net.