Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio Allocates $500,000 for Racial Reparations
The Diocese of Southern Ohio has committed $500,000 as initial funding for a racial reparations program, mirroring similar initiatives gaining momentum across The Episcopal Church as it confronts its historical involvement with white supremacy and racist systems. Bishop Kristin Uffelman White announced the funding on February 23, explaining that the money will come from a diocesan endowment fund.
The funds will directly support four historically Black congregations within the diocese: St. Philip Episcopal Church in Columbus, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Trotwood (near Dayton), St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Cincinnati’s Evanston neighborhood, and St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights (near Cincinnati).
“This action does not indicate the completion of this work, nor the end of anticipated restitution of financial resources,” Bishop White said in a news release. “Rather, it marks an important first step in an ongoing process and demonstrates a meaningful financial commitment to reinvest in the vitality and self-determination of our Black leadership and communities.”
The Diocese of Southern Ohio’s current efforts stem from a task force formed in 2020 by then-Bishop Thomas Breidenthal. The task force was charged with researching the diocese’s history, initiating conversations, and recommending actions in support of racial justice. The Commission on Reparative Justice, comprised of representatives from each of the four historically Black congregations, is now leading the diocesan efforts.
The Diocese of Southern Ohio is not alone in this endeavor. Numerous other Episcopal dioceses are at various stages of considering, developing, and implementing financial initiatives dedicated to reparations, acknowledging the church’s historical reliance on enslaved labor and other forms of racial exploitation to build its financial foundations and physical structures.
The Diocese of Maryland established a $1 million seed fund in 2020 for its own reparations program, awarding its first grants in 2022. Applications for the latest round of grants were due earlier this month, supporting “programs that are building up Black communities and helping to repair the breach caused by systemic racism in Maryland and in the United States.”
The Diocese of New York also emerged as an early leader in financial commitments to atone for the ways the church benefited from systems that oppressed people of color. In 2018, its convention authorized the creation of a Reparations Fund, followed by a commitment of $1.1 million from its endowment in 2019 to support future recommendations from the Reparations Committee, later renamed the Reparations Commission.
In 2021, the Diocese of Virginia, tracing its colonial roots back to 1607, passed a resolution to establish a $10 million endowment for a reparations fund and allocate an additional $500,000 for a racial justice and healing fund.
Other Episcopal dioceses and institutions with reparations programs include the Diocese of Texas, the Diocese of Washington, Virginia Theological Seminary, the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, the Diocese of Michigan, the Diocese of Chicago, and the Diocese of Long Island.
Within the Diocese of Southern Ohio, which encompasses 70 congregations in the southern half of the state, the $500,000 will be used to “help establish or strengthen parish endowments of the four congregations, supporting their long-term financial health, vitality and ministry,” according to the diocese’s news release. The Rev. Aaron Rodgers, Southern Ohio’s missioner for Black ministries, has been assigned to assist the four congregations in strengthening their capacities for mission with these additional financial resources.
