Equitable Healing Reparations Initiative
“Christ and his Disciples on the Road to Bethany” by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1903)
This painting depicts the journey of Christ to Bethany: the location of his resurrection of Lazarus, friendship with Mary & Martha, and the ascension. At the ascension he invites his disciples to act as his own body in the world—bringing just mercy to the ends of creation. In the absence of Jesus’ physical body, the Church is called to become his hands and feet.
What is it?
With desire to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, loose chains of injustice, and cooperate in the rebuilding of broken walls and the restoration of streets with dwellings, the St. Mary of Bethany Parish Council has created the Equitable Healing Reparations Initiative. The first act of the EHRI will be paying off student loans of Black therapists in Nashville. We want to take repentant, embodied, economic, and constructive steps to plant seeds of restoration for financial justice and mental health with individuals and systems predominantly white institutions have hindered and wounded.
Why Reparations?
“The wealth gap between black and white citizens is colossal, and there is no end in sight. A 2011 study revealed that a typical white household had sixteen times the wealth of a black one. According to a 2014 report, for every dollar in a white household, a black household has less than seven cents. Black people comprise about 13 percent of the population but hold less than 3 percent of the nation’s total wealth. Even among the richest people, the wealthiest 1 percent of black families have about $1.6 million compared to $12 million for the wealthiest 1 percent of white families. The reasons for these gaps include redlining in real estate, denying bank loans to people of color, and higher unemployment rates among black people, just to name a few. These gaps will persist unless a broad-based reform effort takes hold. One facet of these reforms could include reparations.”
—The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby“Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.”
—Isaiah 6:7
We are called to proclaim with our whole lives the kingdom of God as a present reality, speaking God’s peace and justice to nations walking long in oppression and injustice. The church, acting as a signpost for God’s reign on earth, has the flexibility and duty to step into places of injustice as a field hospital seeking urgent healing to immediate pain. While the United States government debates and politicizes reparation actions, the church can step into the inequity and act in accordance with peace. The EHRI is an attempt to redistribute wealth in order for new wealth and justice to exist in communities that have been hindered from wealth building and equitable distribution.
Why Mental Health Reparations?
The disparity that exists between the number of white and Black therapists in America has been a focus of news stories in religious and secular spheres—here are stories on the subject from NBC News and Christianity Today.
Justice too long delayed (christianity today)
“It’s time for the church to make restitution for racial sin.”
—Timothy Dalrymple
Mental and spiritual healing are subjects we have taken seriously at St. Mary’s. We have multiple therapists and spiritual directors in our community and we are a church that therapists and spiritual directors recommend to their clients as a place where mental and spiritual healing are emphasized and valued. The majority of the therapists and directors in our community are white and Fr. Danny has experienced conversations with Black people desiring a Black therapist; often to process and heal from experiences of racial discrimination.
The EHRI is an immediate step of action in an attempt to begin to correct an unjust disparity the white church has been complicit in creating and sustaining.
First Steps, Hopes, and Goals
We have opened the Equitable Healing Reparations Initiative Account and money has already been given. We have partnered with a Black therapist in Nashville who is willing to be the first participant in the EHRI. St. Mary’s has taken on the student loan payments and will pay off the loan.
We are aiming to raise $55,000 this year to pay off this therapist’s loan. We are putting $750/month into the account from our annual budget. Designated gifts to the EHRI can be made from St. Mary’s members as well as from those outside of our community. The first $1,000 reparation offering was from a therapist in Nashville who does not worship at St. Mary’s. Our goal is for these combined efforts and resources—our parish budget, contributions from our community, and contributions from outside our community—to pay off this loan by August 2021.
The Nashville therapist participating in the EHRI will help us along the way as we pilot this initiative this year. We do not have a review board for applicants at this point in the process. For now, and the immediate future, the reparations will be entered into relationally with Black therapists with whom we are connected in Nashville. Thankfully, because of the number of therapists in our community, we are in a solid position to connect with those in the community who can co-labor in this work.
Please join us in prayer that money will come into this account quickly so more student loans can be paid. We hope this will extend to scholarships in the future, but recognize we are not at that point in the development.
Bishop Desmond Tutu called the work of the TRC in South Africa “a beacon of hope in a feeble attempt.” We confess this initiative is a feeble attempt and our hope and prayer is that it can become a source of justice and healing for individuals and systems in our community and beyond.
How to Give
Online Offerings can be made at St. Mary’s Online Giving. Click the Tithes and Offerings button to bring up the options for designated giving funds and choose Equitable Healing Reparations Initiative. Every dollar given to this fund goes directly to paying off student loans for Black therapists.
Checks can be made to St. Mary of Bethany Parish/EHRI and mailed to P.O. Box 2031 Brentwood, TN 37024.
Vocabulary: Words Matter
Two initial distinctions in vocabulary are important as we enter into this new action. First, the Equitable Healing Reparation Initiative is an act of justice and not charity. Reparations are financial payments made to those who have suffered wrongs. And second, the EHRI is not an account for donations. Accordingly, the money given should be referred to as an offering or a reparation and not a donation or as charitable giving.
Invitation
And finally, this will be a learning endeavor for St. Mary’s. We are approaching this slowly and humbly with a listening posture. You are invited to communicate your ideas, comments, and concerns as we begin and grow this initiative.
With hope,
St. Mary’s Parish Council
Pace Verner
Karin Simmons
Kris Plunkett
Cory Martin
Pam Harmon
Sarah Haas
Mele Girma
Mindy Cook
Danny Bryant
Susan Berthiaume