Black Priest Matter... be as Christ to me.

A White Prince Lays a Church Foundation

Absalom Jones was ordained to the Priesthood in the Episcopal Church in 1804. It was 211 years later, in 2015, that Michael Curry was elevated to the role of Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. My suggestion is that this process, spanning two centuries, has not been one of building up but digging down. We have, at the very best, dug out the rough space to begin to lay a foundation.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13) Is an oft repeated bible passage. The goal, too often, has been one of keeping those out of power complacent in their enfeeblement. The conceit being that for a servant to stop laying down their life is to take up the sin of pride. 

Won't you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you? The Servant Song by R. Gillard has become a mainstay over the past forty years. The idea, which is a sound one, is that everyone who sings it seeks to enter into the kenosis of Christ, they seek to empty themselves out for the aide and support of others. The problem I have always had with the song is that it does not have the correlating, and requisite, response, to this line. I will let you be my servant, let you be as Christ to me.

To enter into the bonds of friendship as Jesus compels us, we have to name the other individual not only our servant but also our Christ. The perpetuating issue of race in America is that there is a refusal to recognize that which is Black as that which is Christ... that which is Black as that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God. If the questions is won't you let me be your servant then the answer is yes but when the question is won't you let me be as Christ to you then the answer has repeatedly been no. The repeated failure of church and society to say yes in answer to both questions is a marked point as how we fail to inhabit the realm of Christian friendship.

When Absalom Jones was ordained to the Priesthood he was ordained to serve a black congregation that had already formed around him and he and his congregation were denied voice and vote in the councils of the church. It would be 150 years before black clergy and laity were given voice and vote in the councils and conventions throughout the Episcopal Church. It would be 166 years before a black man served as bishop over a diocese. It would be 211 years before a black man served as presiding bishop. Each of these moments, that came about only through the perseverance of many in the face of extreme opposition, was a moment when the Episcopal Church began to say yes. Moments when our Church said yes, that which is Black is that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God.

This is our Church digging the foundation lines, placing the first foundation stones, for building an actual community seeking to inhabit the realm of Christian friendship. We have gotten to the point where every parish would be honored to have a Black Priest, at least specifically in respect to Michael Curry their presiding bishop, be present to preach and celebrate in their community. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish can readily respond to the call of black aspirants to the diaconate and priesthood or where every parish can readily call a black priest as their rector. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish is readily seeking to enter into the transformative but difficult process of actually processing what has been uncovered for them personally in the midst of excavating this foundation. This is, however, a very different reality then a church that has processed its issues and history with race both within and outside itself.

Our church and our society continues to fail in its ability to name that which is Black as that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God. We continue to find ways to construe that which is Black as that which bears the Mark of Cain, that which is less than human, and thus that which can be enslaved, segregated, and imprisoned. That we have so easily moved from outright slavery, to Jim Crow, to imprisonment in corporate prison labor camps speaks to how incapable we are of truly entering into Christian Friendship as a society. Thus it is that Black Lives Matter exists as a movement because as a society we have failed to enter fully into the obligation of Christian Friendship... we are more than happy to say yes, be my servant to that which is Back but have utterly failed again and again to say yes, be my Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God to that which is Black. Until we do so as a church and a society we will fail the basic paradigm of Christian relationship requisite for following Jesus.

        

Student Debt for Episcopal Ministers

This project began as a conversation around student debt between fellow clergy at a retreat. What I became aware of was that we had little or no context for our situation and that for many of us breaching the topic was problematic. As I drove home I asked myself if there was a simple mechanism for placing our conversation into some context. The answer that came to me was a roll out survey on Facebook.

A roll out survey would not give us a clear picture of actual statistics around student debt for Episcopal clergy; such would take, at the least, a randomized survey. All it can do is provide us with some dots on a map and some very initial information. My hope would be that it would provide enough information to encourage fuller, and more systematic, study.

In forming the survey I kept several thoughts in mind. I wanted to insure it would provide context for those who took part in the initial conversation, all of whom were clergy between the ages of 20 and 50, a group that overall makes up roughly 30% of our current clergy. I wanted it to be able to differentiate on issues of gender, race, LGBTQ+, and ordination status. I wanted it to take about a minute to fill out.

Outside of demographic questions the survey only sought three points of information. The total amount of student loan debt an individual had upon graduating seminary, regardless of source; the amount of one’s income currently going to pay off student debt; and the number of years post seminary it would take an individual to pay off their student debt at the minimum rate required by the lender.

The survey was exceptionally well received and within four days exceeded the amount of entries I was able to freely view by the survey host, 150. Of these responses 121 provided useable data for the study. Others expressed situations outside the studies expectations such as loans being in deferment on account of PhD studies, inheritance or other means had been used to rapidly pay off loans, or filing for bankruptcy. A handful of responses were incomplete.

Recognizing the limited number of responses I would be able to view, the hope to give context to what is a minority population of our clergy, and the nature of roll out surveys, I requested that only clergy under the age of fifty respond. The reality of student loan debt on clergy over the age of fifty soon overwhelmed that request and it became apparent that individuals over the age of fifty were filling out the survey and responding as individuals between the age of forty-five and fifty. This makes the data I report on minsters over the age of forty-five less contextual than that of the other age brackets

Before presenting the information I want to again note that this data is not representative. It provides us some context to what is going on in regards to student loan debt for ministers in the Episcopal Church. Actual objective and representative data will take more research than one individual using a free survey service and promoting it solely through Facebook. My hope is that presenting this information will be a catalyst for that needed further research.

The first column shows the various demographics. The second column the percent of that demographic with student debt. The other columns deal just with those individuals with debt, marking average debt, the range of debt in that demographic, the average percent of income going towards paying off that debt, and the average number of years post seminary it would take to pay off that debt at the minimum rates.

	Participants	% with debt	Average Debt	Debt Range	Average Percent Income	Average Years
All	121	72.00%	$61,101.21	$5-296K	13.45%	24
Under 45	96	72.00%	$66,465.58	$8-296K	13.48%	24
Over 45	25	76.00%	$55,736.84	$5-125K	13.42%	24
Male	56	70.00%	$64,505.71	$6-296K	13.71%	25
Female	65	82.00%	$63,913.68	$5-157K	13.30%	23
LGBTQ+	23	83.00%	$59,421.05	$6-120K	12.63%	24
P of C	7	88.00%	$51,616.67	$30-95K	17.50%	22
Lay	13	77.00%	$96,800.00	$35-157K	15.00%	30
Ordained	108	72.00%	$59,963.14	$5-296K	13.27%	23
20-25	1	0.00%	$0.00	0K	0.00%	0
26-30	14	57.00%	$63,125.00	$20-125K	15.00%	19
31-35	35	69.00%	$70,986.96	$18-100K	13.26%	25
36-40	31	77.00%	$69,978.26	$8-296K	14.35%	24
41-45	15	93.00%	$52,780.36	$24-120k	11.79%	23

I must stress, again, how these numbers are not representative of the church. The demographic numbers themselves show this to be true. All they provide is some context for various demographics. Taking into account the nature of a roll out study, and the varying sizes of the various demographics, no demographic has an exceptionally different context.

The context of ministers under thirty appears to be better overall than those over thirty. How much of this is on account of better funding possibilities, versus a hesitancy of younger individuals with student debt to enter into or get through discernment is unknown. It also appears that the contexts of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community are slightly more problematic than the overall average context discovered. Again what is causing this reality, and how the church is or is not contributing to it, is unknown.

Overall these numbers present more questions than they do answers. The goal of the project was not to gain answers but to get a better context from which to answer questions. To that end I hope it brings about better and more robust research so that we can understand what is obviously an issue for the majority of Episcopal Clergy.