The Reverend Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones, a priest at Trinity Church in New York Metropolis, delivers a sermon on Absalom Jones’s legacy and the collective duty to combat for justice.
Picture by Angela James Images
The Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd, the seventeenth Episcopal Bishop of New York, on Saturday led a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Absalom Jones, the primary Black priest ordained within the Episcopal Church.
“Rev. Jones’s groundbreaking ministry, resilience, and management paved the way in which for a extra various and inclusive priesthood,” stated the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
Born into slavery, it stated Absalom Jones bought his freedom and co-founded the primary Black Episcopal congregation, “demonstrating an unwavering dedication to religion, justice and equality.”
Rev. Heyd introduced that he’s recommending to the Trustees of the Diocese that it forgives the property loans of the congregations of shade of the Diocese throughout the state of New York.
He additionally introduced that the Diocese will probably be making a Diocesan coverage designed to bolster fairness and inclusion amongst clergy in honor of Rev. Absalom Jones.
The celebrant of the service was Bishop Mary Glasspool, who will probably be retiring from the Diocese after 45 years of devoted service. Bishop Glasspool is the first overtly homosexual lady to have been named an Episcopal Bishop.
“As we weave our pastoral material, we’re going to place our communities of shade first,” stated Rev. Heyd. “That’s our mission precedence of restore. That’s the legacy and work of Absalom Jones that is still for us right this moment.”
Rev Glasspool stated: “Might God grant you the grace by no means to promote your self quick. Grace to danger one thing huge for one thing good. Grace to do not forget that the world is now too harmful for something however reality and too small for something however love.”
The Proper Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones, Episcopal Jamaican priest on the Trinity Church Wall Road, stated: “Go searching you now. That is church, that is what our nation is, that is what our world will be.
“All of us are stunning in our variety, stunning in our variations, sitting collectively looking for a option to be extra an instrument of God’s love,” he added.
The Episcopal Diocese of New York stated the occasion additionally featured GRAMMY-nominated Jazz and Blues musician Antoinette Montague and Tony nominee Danny Mixon, amongst different stellar musicians.
