Dismantling Racism

Christ Church, Oil City received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Oil City Main Street program. Father Mark Elliston was honored by the Lenape Unami Tahkpoxtet Opaneyunk Clan with a ceremonial hawk feather and given a Lenape name, Kwiamwis Wenishuxweyo Elanantuit, which translates as Hawk who walks with the Greater Spirit. Father Mark has worked…

Last week, Bishop Sean and 22 people from the diocesan partnership traveled to Alabama to visit key sites from the Civil Rights Movement and learn about the history of racism and racial violence. Organizers hope the journey will become a regular pilgrimage for people from our dioceses. The Rev. Kim Rossi of St. Stephen’s, Olean,…

The Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination has developed a five-part Lenten series titled “Becoming Beloved Community: Here and Now.” The materials, which are based on the 2020 diocesan convention resolution titled “Framing the Journey to Beloved Community” are now available: Download the Lenten program. For more information, email Canon Twila Smith.

Statement from the Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination Denise Merriweather and Susan Woods The blanket of snow that covered the Buffalo region initially masked the differences that exist in one of the most segregated cities in the nation. From the midst of devastation, we are learning about how first responders, neighbors, family members and…

In his 2022 convention sermon, Bishop Sean mentioned Mr. Thomas Ashford, warden emertius of St. Peter’s Niagara Falls and the thurifer for this year’s convention Eucharist. When Mr. Ashford first came to St. Peter’s in 1951, he was rebuffed by the parish’s leaders and told that he would have to have a white sponsor in…

A Message from the Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination, Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania, written by Denise Clarke-Merriweather of St. Philip’s, Buffalo: How does one whose skin color is used to demonize and disparage their humanity function in a society historically filled with bigoted thoughts and actions? The answer is cautiously,…

Joseph Croskey, a member of Christ Church in Oil City, is experienced in the slow work of dismantling racism in a predominantly white community. “Even close friends here in rural western Pennsylvania will say ‘I don’t understand what Black people are talking about. I’ve got it hard, so does everybody else, and I don’t do…

Earlier this summer, more than 200 people across the partnership dioceses enrolled in Sacred Ground,  an Episcopal Church dialogue series about race that includes readings, documentary film and short videos. Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Western New York’s Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination and the partnership Mission Strategy Advisory Group, the ten-week program includes…

By Denise Merriweather, retired high school principal, member of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination – Buffalo, New York, July 7, 2020 The cathartic experience of viewing videos showing the murder of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, on May 25, 2020 has emphasized…

In late February, more than 75 people from around the region gathered at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown for a workshop on implicit bias led by Dr. Ursuline Bankhead, a licensed psychologist and member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo, as part of the partnership’s efforts to combat racism and work toward racial justice…

Earlier this month, the Bishop James Theodore Holly Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians hosted the organization’s Northeast Regional Conference in Niagara Falls. The weekend event, which included Episcopalians from across the region, will benefit the Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania for years to come, its organizers say. “We wanted a…