Church apologizes for role in slavery
The Daily News has a report on the national event taking place this weekend in Philadelphia. According to reports we've gotten here that Cafe, there are over four hundred people in attendance.
The event in which the Episcopal Church, at the direction of General Convention, represents a formal apology for any role the Church had in the support of the institution of slavery in the early part of the United States' history.
"Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will conduct the service at the church, founded in 1792 by Absalom Jones, a former slave and the first black Episcopal priest.Jayne Oasin, staff officer for the New York-based Episcopal Church Center, said that the church can't deny its complicity in slavery even after the trans-Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808.
She noted that some historic Episcopal churches were built using slave labor and that members owned or profited from industries associated with it.
'Slavery went against God's law of equality and justice,' she said. 'This apology is made to the descendants [of those] who were wronged.'"
Read the full article here.
Episcopal News Service has a story and pictures here.
