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Absalom Jones celebration at EDS honors first African-American Episcopal priest
2003-018-6
1/29/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Episcopal Divinity School's annual Absalom Jones Celebration will feature the Rev. Kortwright Davis and the Rev. Zenetta M. Armstrong. Davis will deliver a lecture, 'The Episcopal Face of Ebony Grace,' at 7:00 p.m. on February 12. Armstrong will serve as celebrant at the Eucharist the next day at 8:30 a.m. These events commemorate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church.
The Absalom Jones celebration is also the beginning of the 2003 Organization of Black Episcopalian Seminaries Conference, sponsored by the Office of Black and Urban Ministries of the Episcopal Church and hosted by the Episcopal Divinity School.
An Absalom Jones celebration is held every year at EDS to help support the Absalom Jones Scholarship Fund. Established in 1986, the fund provides scholarships for African-American students from EDS preparing for ordination in the Episcopal Church.
Absalom Jones was born a house slave in Delaware in 1746. At 16 he was sold to a store owner in Philadelphia, but eventually bought his wife's freedom and his own. In 1787, black Christians organized the Free African Society, with Jones elected as one of two overseers. He was ordained deacon in the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1795, and priest in 1802.
Davis is professor of theology at Howard University School of Divinity and rector of Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. Born in the West Indies on the island of Antigua, Davis was one of the archbishop of Canterbury's representatives on the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission. He has also served on the Faith & Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. Armstrong is co-rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan, Massachusetts. She serves on the board of the Mattapan Community Commission as well as the board at Boston Senior Home Care.
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