On September 19, 2022, at its regular Monday Eucharist and Assembly, Seminary of the Southwest presented a Service of Remembrance and Truth Telling. This service was originally designed by a working group organized from the seminary’s Diversity Committee, and further developed this year by the Rev. Valerie Mayo, Southwest’s newly appointed Director of Beloved Community Initiatives, in partnership with members of the faculty.
“Originally conceived by students as part of the work of reckoning and reconciliation, the service of Remembrance and Truth Telling has become an important part of our common life for the past two years,” said the Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Dean and President. This year we redesigned the service to be part of our Monday Eucharist in the early weeks of the semester in order to ground us in our history in this place.”
The goal of the service – which has become a part of Southwest’s regular liturgical calendar – is to be a way for the Southwest community to remember its own racial history as located in Austin and The Episcopal Church, and to set intentions for its future work in racial healing and justice. The service featured original music composed and performed by longtime staff member Duane Carter, Assistant Director of the Booher Library. Longtime Southwest musical contributors Fransisco Chavez and Sharon Coleman also performed. Dean Kittredge preached and the Rev. Mayo presided.
“We remain grateful for Dean Kittredge’s leadership and the Seminary’s commitment in reflecting on past and present-day realities of institutionalized, systemic racism, embracing hard truths, as we continue to move the conversation of becoming a more beloved community forward,” said the Rev. Mayo.
To watch the full service, please click below:
