Celebrating Diversity without Addressing Disparity is Hypocrisy

We need other human beings to help us to be human. We are made for interdependence, for complementarity. We are made for family, the human family, God’s family. Let us make sure that we value every member of it.

Preface by John Sentamu (former Bishop of Birmingham, recently retired Archbishop of York) to An Amazing Journey

In 2012, I was invited to attend the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC) a sub-committee of the Archbishop’s Council. Original name: Committee on Black Anglican Concerns, which was changed in 1994 to CMEAC. I was the first person appointed to work for the Committee in 1987, so I was pleased to attend the event. It was impressive to see so many young minority ethnic  Anglican clergy in attendance. However, I wondered how many of them would stay the course, or leave totally broken and disillusioned? In my book entitled An Amazing Journey: the Church of England’s response to institutional racism, I wrote a section on the ordained ministry and whether it would continue to be a revolving door for minority ethnic Anglican clergy? ‘I have heard and seen many times over the pain expressed by clergy who have been hurt and disillusioned by the attitude of church wardens, the PCC, the archdeacon, and sometimes that of the bishop. They are given a hard time, and yet as in the case of other priests they are trained to minister to the whole church, and not just parishes with a majority minority ethnic people.’ (Please note this is still happening in 2020, recently a priest was told he would not be comfortable in a parish because the congregation was middle class and monochrome – and so it continues!

The Church of England – the Established Church – has known about intstutional racism in its structures for decades. In 1985, the Faith in the City: A Call for Action by Church and Nation report of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas was launched. The report clearly documented the alienation which black people were experiencing within the Church of England; and the need for the church to address racial discrimination and disadvantage, because many black people felt ’frozen out’ and alienated by patrician attitudes. The Faith in the City report stated that a clear lead should be given from the centre; a Standing Commission on Black Anglican Concerns should be established for an initial period of five years, then reviewed. This was one of 63 recommendations; and the ONLY ONE which was rejected by the General Synod (GS). Instead a Committee on Black Anglican Concerns was set up. The topic of race will not disappear, yet the church has always limited this work through lack of proper financial and staffing resources. An Amazing Journey sets out in detail what the Committee was able to accomplish, despite funding limitations.  Racism is sin, it is unbiblical, immoral and evil. The Church of England needs to develop effective educational and training programmes towards implementing systemic change at all levels: in its schools, resource centres, further education and theological colleges; House of Bishops, cathedrals; chaplaincies, clergy and other ministers, parishes; deaneries, diocesan and GS levels, inclusive of administrative staff. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of the Unity and Diversity in the Body of Christ, each is a part of the Body of Christ. We should have equal concern for each other and if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. Martin Luther King said, ‘We shall have to repent in this generation not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.’  Friends, are we part of the solution, or part of the problem?

Let us pray:
Father God, please give those in authority humility,
and genuine commitment to the task of working to combat institutional racism.
Help us all to be conscious of the fact that we are one human race;
we are all made in your image, and each is of unique worth in your sight.
As Christians, we must consciously strive to be communities of reconciliation, love and justice.

Gracious Father, we pray for the Holy Catholic Church.
Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace.
Where it is corrupt, purify it, where it is in error, direct it;
where in anything it is amiss, reform it.
Where it is right, strengthen it, where it is in want, provide for it;
where it is divided, reunite it,
for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son, our Saviour.

Amen

The Dream of God: A Call to Return by Verna Dozier

Glynne Gordon-Carter