Reparations

Reparations is the spiritual and material process to remember, restore, reconcile, and make amends for historical and continuing wrongs against humanity that can never be singularly reducible to monetary terms, but must include a substantial investment and surrender of resources.

— EDOW’s Working Definition of Reparations

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is committed to bravely uncovering, understanding, reckoning with, and acting to dismantle racism within ourselves, our faith communities, the diocese, and our localities. This work includes reckoning with our diocesan history of participation in anti-Black racism and learning more about the legacy of benefit the diocese has received from that participation.

Our journey toward reparations will not be without its challenges. Yet our commitment to justice and equity requires that we walk this road of self-discovery, understanding, confession, repentance, and ultimately, restitution for our institutional involvement with white supremacy.

Diocesan Convention 2023 at Washington National Cathedral

The Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart speaking in support of reparations resolution at 2023 diocesan convention

News and Events on Reparations

Catch up on Reparations News and Events, including the 2023 Progress Report of the Committee on Diocesan Reparations
Subscribe to the Diocesan Bulletin newsletter to receive the latest updates about reparations in the Diocese of Washington

Reparations Resolution

Read “Toward Repentance and Reparations in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington” (PDF), the resolution that was passed at the 2023 Annual Convention.
View discussion of the resolution at the 2023 Annual Convention.

Reparations Training and Education Resources

The Diocese of Washington has developed training resources for use by parishes to learn more about reparations. The diocese has also conducted educational events on reparations and provided online resources from the events.

Learn more about Reparations Training and Educational Resources

Parish History Projects

At the 2021 Annual Convention, the Reparations Task Force invited parishes across the diocese to undertake parish history projects to engage in the work of truth telling to better discern how to be a more equitable and racially just diocese.

Learn more about Parish History Projects

Research on Reparations

The Diocese of Washington has sponsored research to evaluate reparations programs and identify best practices. The diocese continues to research our historical involvement with chattel slavery and shares relevant research from other sources.