Peace Out!

ANNUAL MEETING INVITATION

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Our EPF Annual Member Meeting will be on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 2:00 pm Eastern over Zoom. Former EPF National Executive Council Vice Chair Will Mebane will lead our panel discussion, "Effective Advocacy for Racial Reparations," which will leave you inspired and equipped to work for reparations in your own parish and diocese. You don't want to miss! Read on to see our panelists, who will bring stories of hope and repair across the Church. Grab the Zoom link below.

Bishop Alan Gates is the 16th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, which recently created a racial reparations fund with an $11.1 million goal.

Bishop Gates works devotedly with the Racial Justice Commission of the diocese to advocate for reparations, as part of the wider work of reckoning with manifestations of racism and white supremacy in the systems and structure of our institution.

Bishop Gates is a Massachusetts native and graduate of Middlebury College. Prior to seminary he was a Russian language translator, researcher and intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense, including a tour of duty at the State Department. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1988. 

Bishop Gates served congregations in the Episcopal dioceses of Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts and Chicago prior to his call to Ohio in 2004. He was the rector of St. Paul's Church in Cleveland Heights until his election as bishop in 2014. Bishop Gates was ordained and consecrated a bishop on Sept. 13, 2014.

Bishop Gates is currently on the board of the Anglican Theological Review. He serves on the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on World Mission, and is a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence. 

Recently elected Vice President of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton is an Indigenous ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. As a Shackan First Nation person, she represents the Episcopal Church on the board of the Anglican Indigenous Network. She served on the Episcopal Church delegation to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and also served on the Presiding Bishop's delegation to United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Rachel has 30 years of experience in cross-cultural communication, specialized ministry, social justice advocacy, and environmental advocacy. She is the founder of Circles of Color, a grassroots community of Episcopalians of color and authentic allies in the Episcopal Church of Western Washington and serves on the board of Paths to Understanding, an organization of interfaith leaders committed to mutual support on issues of social justice. 

With an academic background in cultural anthropology and cross-cultural communication, Rachel specializes in assessment and care plan development for recovery processes related to incidents of community and organizational trauma. As a writer, her work has appeared in the Anglican Theological Review, God Space, Church Foundation Vital Practices, the Living Church, and more. She maintains a reflective commentary blogsite called Greening Spirit (www.greeningspirit.com). Rachel is currently the Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, WA.

The Rev. Canon Scott Slater recently retired as canon to the ordinary for the Diocese of Maryland after serving twelve years in that role. Building on the efforts of many others before him in the diocese, Canon Slater was the author of a diocesan resolution on reparations that initiated a multi-year process of education, perspective-taking and dialogue resulting in a subsequent resolution that created a fund with an initial commitment of $1 million for restitution. The first dispersal from that fund began last year. He has also led dozens of prayer walks in Baltimore City to places where people (particularly people of color) have died from gun violence. Canon Slater grew up in Florida and attended public schools that were integrated three years before he started first grade.

The Rev. Will Mebane has been in the struggle for racial equality his entire life. Currently rector at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Falmouth, MA, Will has been deeply connected to Episcopal Peace Fellowship for decades, including a recent stint in leadership as National Vice Chair. Will will honor us by moderating our panel on reparations and will contribute so much to our understanding of why the Church must act, NOW, to repair the breach. Read more here

Scheduled Zoom meeting:

Topic: EPF Annual Member Meeting and Reparations Panel

Time: Jan 28, 2023 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88188338358?pwd=MVpBZjRxbGxHQlFYL3FBbTFDSFA1QT09

Meeting ID: 881 8833 8358

Passcode: 943914

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