In 2006 The Episcopal Church began discussions in support of federal reparations studies and churchwide initiatives to address the long-term impact of slavery, segregation and injustices within its communities of faith. Since then, a number of Dioceses throughout the country have initiated efforts to fund projects for Black and Indigenous communities. In this session, the ECCT’s historical connection to, and benefits from, slavery will be reviewed. There will also be a discussion on the Diocese’s efforts, through the establishment of the ECCT Reparations Task Force and later the Reparations Fund Board, to use methods such as “truth-telling and listening” to both uncover the harms created through slavery and to build mechanisms to address the root causes which allowed these inequities to be sustained.
FACILITATORS: The Rev. Rowena J. Kemp is the 9th Rector (first female and first Person of Color) of Grace Episcopal Church, Hartford and Dean of the North Central Region. She is also the National Chaplin of the Girls’ Friendly Society USA. She previously served as the Assistant Rector at the historic Trinity on the Green in New Haven, and as a Presbyter in the Middlesex Area Cluster ministry of the Episcopal churches in Northford, Higganum and Killingworth, CT while employed full-time in the Program of Applied Translation Research at the Yale School of Medicine. She is a native of the Bahamas who received her M.DIV and diplomas in Anglican Studies from Yale Divinity School and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. She is the mother of two boys and loves photographing people. She served on the ECCT Reparation Task Force and is a member of the Reparation Fund Board.
Stephanie Lightfoot attends St. Monica’s Episcopal Church, in Hartford, where she has been a member since 1984, and is a Lay Eucharistic Minister and Senior Warden. She retired from The Travelers Insurance company in 2015, as Director of Worker’s Compensation Statistical Reporting after 34 years of service. She is the mother of two sons and grandmother of three granddaughters. She comes to this work on the Reparation Board with an open mind and heart to address long standing hurts and divides as we move forward toward reconciliation and healing.
Colleen Foster-Bey attends St. Stephen’s Church, in Bloomfield, where she has been a member since 1989. She’s served on the Vestry and Altar Guild, and as Eucharistic Lay Minister and Sunday School Teacher. Colleen worked for 22 years at UConn’s Center for International Community Health Studies in Farmington where she retired as Assistant Director. She also worked 9 years as Research Associate and Intervention Coordinator at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford. She’s married with two daughters. Colleen’s participation on the Reparation Fund Board allows her to work with a cross-section of dedicated members of ECCT in acknowledging and addressing the hard truths of its history.
Event Timeslots (1)
Session One (9:45–11:15 AM)
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