During the 2024 Diocesan Convention, the Rev. Peter Jarrett-Schell, on behalf of the Committee on Diocesan Reparations, presented findings on congregational resources by racial history and makeup. Here are highlights from that presentation. To view the recording of the presentation, see Congregational Resources by Racial Makeup/History on our YouTube channel.
In 2023, members of the Committee on Diocesan Reparations conducted an exploration of parish assets and resources through the lens of possible racial disparities. They considered both the racial history of parishes as well as their current racial demographics. For this exploration, they used financial data from the compiled 2021 parochial reports (the 2022 reports had not yet been compiled). For the racial history data, they consulted the report of the Task Force on Black Ministries as well as The Episcopal Church archives.
Overall, the financial and parish data showed that:
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- Black congregations are understaffed and their staff are underpaid.
- Attendees of Black congregations donate more than attendees of White congregations.
The data also showed that:
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- Predominantly White congregations have almost five times the assets, per attendee, of Black congregations.
- Lower resources correlate with lower attendance.
In acknowledging the need for remedy for these disparities, Peter noted, “As Paul reminds us in his First Letter to the Corinthians, we are one body together. And when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers as well. When one part of the body is honored, the whole body rejoices with it. If we are not willing to address these remedies, we must question whether we are serious about the faith commitments we have made as Christians.”
Highlights of the Investigation
In line with the Committee’s charge to investigate EDOW history with anti-Black racism, the team categorized congregations into three groups:
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- Historically and predominantly Black: 7 congregations
- Predominantly (but not historically) Black: 15 congregations
- Predominantly White: 61 congregations
The committee members also separately considered one predominantly Latino congregation (St. Matthew’s) as well as Washington National Cathedral.
As they assessed the data, they noticed a number of dramatic disparities. As Peter noted during this presentation, “all of our congregations are facing many challenges, but it is clear that we are not facing them equally.”
One of the most dramatic disparities appeared in the area of clergy staffing. While approximately one-fifth of predominantly White congregations in the diocese are in transition, a majority of both predominantly and historically Black congregations have no pastor at all.
When they looked at compensation, they noted a more than $40,000 discrepancy between the compensation of clergy serving historically and predominantly Black congregations and the compensation of those serving predominantly White congregations.
The data showed that these kinds of disparities are not attributable to the difference in the commitment and giving of parish members. In fact, attendees of historically Black and predominantly Black congregations gave more per year than attendees of predominantly White congregations.
The team noted the biggest disparities between the Black churches and White churches in the areas of investment assets and investment income. The average predominantly White congregation has about $15,000 in investment assets per attendee whereas predominantly Black congregations have only $5,000 and historically Black congregations have only $3,000.
For more data on these disparities, watch the full presentation of Congregational Resources by Racial Makeup and History.
