Dear People of St. Paul's,

We would like to report on the Vestry’s discussions regarding the Prayerful Conversations held in August about the historic Confederate imagery and symbols in our church, and to inform you of the decisions we have reached.

First, we thank everyone who participated in the Prayerful Conversations.  The level of participation and engagement by the parish community was amazing.  The conversations included wonderful discussions about our history and what St. Paul’s means to each of us.  The Conversations also produced many, many exciting ideas for presenting and interpreting our history in a more honest and complete way and for engaging in a deeper conversation with each other and the wider community about history and race in Richmond.  The comments we have received have been that the Conversations were overwhelmingly positive, and we can be very proud as a congregation for how we responded to a difficult subject with depth, compassion for one another and honesty.

As you will see from JSA’s summary report (PDF), the Prayerful Conversations went well beyond a discussion of Confederate symbols.  The Vestry has also had wide ranging discussions in each of our meetings since July about what the Prayerful Conversations mean for St. Paul’s and how we should move forward.

At its November 10 meeting, the Vestry reached a decision to focus St. Paul’s on a journey of racial reconciliation.  At that meeting, the Vestry overwhelmingly voted in favor of adopting the attached motion (PDF) taking two actions.  First, we as a Vestry believe that the Prayerful Conversations present St. Paul’s with an exciting opportunity to dig deeper into our history, to talk honestly about that history and to engage in a richer conversation about issues of race in our community.  Accordingly, the Vestry voted to immediately convene a group of parishioners to design a process to engage the congregation in a spiritual journey that will involve more extensive conversations about St. Paul’s history, the role of race and slavery in that history, how we can put our history into context and what that history means to us today.  This conversation will include more extensive research into our entire history, the development of a litany of reconciliation for the church to use on a regular basis and the creation of a memorial that appropriately honors the enslaved people of Richmond, especially the enslaved members of St. Paul’s.  If you are interested in participating in this work, please let any member of the Vestry or the clergy know.

Second, the Vestry believes that the symbol of the Confederate battle flag should no longer remain in a church in which all people are welcome.  While we do not believe that we should attempt to remove all symbols reflecting St. Paul’s past during the Civil War, the Vestry is united in agreement that it is not appropriate to display the Confederate battle flag in the church.  Therefore, the Vestry has directed that all images of the Confederate battle flag be removed from the nave and narthex of the church as soon as possible, by the following actions:

  • Retiring the St. Paul’s coat of arms, which incorporates the Confederate battle flag, removing the two kneelers from the high altar which contain the battle flag, and requesting that the St. Petca's Guild create new kneelers for the high altar which do not contain the coat of arms.
  • Removing one of the Robert E. Lee plaques on the east wall of the church and one of the Jefferson Davis plaques on the west wall of the church which contain the battle flag.
  • Removing the Confederate soldier memorial plaque erected in the Narthex in 1961, which contains the battle flag. 
  • Modifying the Varina Howell and Varina Davis plaques on the west wall of the church to remove the battle flag but not removing the entire plaque.
  • Modifying the Frederic Robert Scott plaque above the brass doors on the west side of the church to remove the battle flag but not removing the entire plaque.

Photos and descriptions of each of these memorials are available here (PDF).  While certain memorials are being removed from the nave and the narthex, St. Paul’s will retain them and incorporate them into an historical exhibit of our history.  The Vestry does not propose to alter the stained glass windows or to remove or modify any of the other memorials that make reference to the Confederacy.  As with all our history, we plan to present and interpret those memorials in a way that makes clear our commitment to racial reconciliation.

We have an exciting opportunity before us to revisit and update our narrative in a way that will have an impact well beyond our walls.  During the Prayerful Conversations, one parishioner commented that St. Paul’s should become known as a Cathedral of Reconciliation.  The Vestry wholeheartedly agrees, and we are excited to begin on the journey towards that goal with all of you.

Sid Jones, Senior Warden
Dabney Carr, Junior Warden
Linda Armstrong
Missy Benson
Philip Brooks
Lewis Holley
Philip Huss
Brian Levey
Susie Scott
Jennine Sherrill
Joyce Smith
Mitzi van der Veer
Roger Whitfield 

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