The Acts of Convention

House of Bishops

The House of Bishops Committee on Racial Justice and Reconciliation presented its Report #11 on Resolution A044 (Establishing an Anti-Racism/Racial Reconciliation Certification Framework for Becoming Beloved Community) and moved adoption of a substitute.

Original Text of Resolution:

(A044)

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 79th General Convention recognizes that widely different criteria have been used across the Church to determine if the completion of anti-racism training defined by Canon Article III.6.5(g) Training and General Convention Resolution has been satisfied; and be it further

Resolved: That The Episcopal Church (TEC) recognizes that in order to maintain a common theological framework and pastorally congruent response regarding our commitment to dismantle the sin of racism, specific components must be included in any Anti-racism or Racial Reconciliation training designed to fulfill the canonical requirement for all persons seeking ordination and all persons specified in General Convention Resolution 2000-B049; and be it further

Resolved, That the specific components that must be included in any Anti-racism or Racial Reconciliation training are as follows: 1) an Historical Component - to include Canonical Requirements, Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society’s Historical Commitment found in General Convention resolutions, “The Church’s Contemporary Response to Racism”, and “Becoming Beloved Community”, 2) an Information OR Didactic Component - to include The Baptismal Covenant, Power, Class, The Doctrine of Discovery, Race, Racism, Internalized Racial Privilege, Internalized Racial Oppression, Becoming Co-conspirators, Recognizing Racial Reconciliation, and 3) ACTIVITIES - to include Prayer, Respectful Communication Guidelines, and other activities as indicated to accomplish learning objectives for historical and informational components; and be it further

Resolved, That Executive Council’s Committee on Anti-racism will create an Anti-racism Certification Framework to more completely define the above components; and be it further

Resolved, That TEC staff shall work with the Executive Committee on Anti-Racism (ECCAR) to implement a certification process which would allow for on-line testing of clergy, laity, and trainers to ensure the consistent fulfillment of the spirit of the requirement for anti-racism training across the Church according to the Anti-racism Certification Framework defined by the Executive Council Committee on Anti-Racism; and be it further

Resolved, That TEC staff will provide an annual report to ECCAR on the status of use and effectiveness of the certification process.

Committee Substitute:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, that the 79th General Convention recognizes that widely different criteria have been used across the Church to determine if the completion of anti-racism training required in Title III and resolution 2000-B049 has been satisfied; and be it further

Resolved, that The Episcopal Church recognizes that in order to maintain a common theological framework in our commitment to dismantle the sin of racism that these specific components are essential to include in any Episcopal Anti-racism or Racial Reconciliation training:

1) Liturgy, preferably a celebration of Eucharist when possible or other corporate worship, grounding the work in scripture and spiritual formation

(Proclaiming the Dream of Beloved Community)

2) an Historical Component—including but not limited to (and, as appropriate to the context where the training is offered): The Episcopal Church’s role in slavery, its history with segregation and discrimination of people of color, the Doctrine of Discovery, The Episcopal Church’s role in taking indigenous children from their families through our participation in the boarding school system, and the Church’s responses to racism through the years.

(Telling the Truth about the Church and Race)

3) an Information or Didactic Component—including, but not limited to: the Baptismal Covenant, power, class, race, racism, internalized racial privilege, internalized racial oppression, implicit racial bias, intercultural awareness and communication, becoming co-conspirators in dismantling racism, and envisioning racial reconciliation.

(Repairing the Breach)

4) Engagement—including, but not limited to: establishing respectful communication guidelines, discussion, Bible Study, and other activities as indicated to accomplish learning objectives for these components.

(Practicing the Way of Love); and be it further

Resolved, that the Executive Council Committee on Anti-Racism continue to collect and develop, in collaboration with the staff, Christian Formation professionals, and The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, resources and best practices for dismantling racism that can be shared online to aide in the consistent fulfillment of the requirement for anti-racism training for lay and ordained leaders across the Church.

Motion carried

Substitute resolution adopted

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #299)