Jefferts Schori wasn’t shy in discussing the church’s history in America.<\/p>\n
“There are a whole lot of evil tales wrapped up in the history of this place, and a whole lot of good ones,” she said. “The rub is telling the difference.”<\/p>\n
She specifically addressed the church’s complicity in the slave trade and the subjugation of American Indians.<\/p>\n
“That has not yet fully redeemed itself,” she said. “The work is not yet over.”<\/p>\n
“In the next century, God will call on us all in humility to redeem the evil deeds of the past.”<\/p>\n
Yesterday’s service was not a somber affair, though. It was warm, but an occasional breeze offered enough respite to keep the crowd focused on the celebratory tone of the day.<\/p>\n
“That it’s lasted this long is astounding,” David Silek, who came from Front Royal in Warren County for the day, said of the Episcopal Church’s presence in the U.S. “I realized how blessed we’ve been when I was driving down here on I-95. I realized the difference then from now. If I were the captain, I could now call the queen and say, ‘We’re here.'”<\/p>\n
Sandra Garner, a parishioner from Petersburg, took an even more succinct approach: “It means to me that God is alive.”<\/p>\n