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WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: "Take down those windows"
Windows celebrate the glory of white supremacy, says parishioner
OPINION
By Robert L. Hunter
www.virtueonline.org
August 16, 2016
The night of June 17th., 2015, at Bible study, Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina, Dylann Roof murdered Cynthia Hurd, Ethel Lee Lance, the Reverend Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, the Reverend Sharonda Singleton, Susie Jackson, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the Reverend Daniel Simmons Sr., Roof had written a manifesto based on white supremacy and had pictured himself posing with the Confederate flag.
The Very Reverend Gary Hall, then Dean of the Washington National Cathedral made public mention that the Confederate flag appears in two windows to memorialize Confederate generals, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. These windows were installed by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1953. There are inscriptions that celebrate these men as "exemplary Christian people". June 27th. Ten days after the murders at Mother Emanuel Church, Dean Hall called on the governing Board (Chapter) to remove the Confederate windows as symbols, inappropriate for the Cathedral as a House of Prayer for All People.
Eight months after the un-expected resignation of Dean Hall, the governing Board of the Cathedral now installs the Reverend Randolph M. Hollerith as the new Dean of the Cathedral. He inherits the removal of the Confederate Windows as a continuing issue. The governing Board has designated a two year time frame to determine the future fate of the windows. To date the decision has been announced to excise the Confederate flags but leave present the two Confederate Generals.
The new ministry of the Reverend Mr. Hollerith as the Cathedral Dean is to be seen in the context of the church murders at Emanuel, the removal of Dean Gary Hall and the removal of the Confederate windows. The voice of Dean Hall in speaking to how the windows continue to extoll the exceptionalism of white supremacy was a voice not acceptable to be heard from the Cathedral pulpit.
On July 17th at 4 P.M. the Cathedral sponsored a seminar "What The White Church Must Do".
There was plenty of analysis but there were no remedies to move the White Church from paralysis. Just to speak of the Cathedral as one of the "White Churches"; can the new Dean and Board do a little part of "What the White Church Must Do" and remove the Confederate Windows? "What The White Church Must Do" may be too much to do; we may well ask "When Will the White Church Do Must"?
Upon Dean Hall's resignation, I was suspicious that the Cathedral Board would quickly find a replacement Dean who would be accepting of the Daughters of the Confederacy memorial windows. My suspicion was confirmed with the announcement that the Reverend Mr. Hollerith was announced as the new Cathedral Dean. For the past twenty five and more years of his ministry, it is to be noticed that his ministry has been in Savannah, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia, with churches that still remain sympathetic to the "lost cause" to the nation once known as The Confederate States of America.
Do Dylann Roof and the Board/Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, now share the same passionate allegiance to the ideal of "white supremacy" as represented by symbols of the confederacy? This question will be answered when the new Dean and Cathedral Board act to remove or retain the Confederate Windows. Is this new ministry of the Rev. Mr. Hollerith, a ministry of change or is it to be a custodial vocation, where things and practices remain unchanged?
Into this issue, I involve myself protesting the continued presence of the Confederate Windows. I bar myself from attending any future services or Diocesan programs at the Cathedral. As my health and the weather permits, I shall choose occasions to publicly protest, that the Cathedral is a house celebrating the glory of white supremacy.
This may be a long term protest. I hope there will be those who will continue this protest if it takes years. It may be that this protest to remove the Confederate Windows will spur more monetary support contributions from the Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy. Then the protest produces a positive result, because it takes a lot of money to uphold the historic past and present life system of "white supremacy".
Robert B. Hunter
Robertbhunter35@gmail.com
VOL invites contra points of view on the removal of these Confederate windows. You may send your opinion to david@virtueonline.org
