Racial Justice and Healing
In our baptismal covenant, we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and are asked, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” And we respond, “We will, with God’s help!”
Parishioner Ryan Smith Appointed
to Refreshed Truth and Reparations Task Force
by Communications Team | Sep 18, 2025
The Rt. Rev’d E. Mark Stevenson and the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia are pleased to announce the appointment of the refreshed Truth and Reparations Task Force. In accordance with Resolution R10A, adopted by the 227th Diocesan Convention in 2021, the Task Force is charged with continuing the vital work of addressing, through education, listening, and acts of repair, the Church’s historical complicity with chattel slavery; violence against Indigenous peoples and the land; segregation; and other racist systems. Building on the foundational work of its predecessors, working closely with the Canon for Racial Justice and Healing and the Ministry for Racial Justice and Healing, the Truth and Reparations Task Force will continue to guide the Diocese in its journey toward racial justice, healing, and repair.
The Rev. Amelie Wilmer is pleased to share that our beloved parishioner Prof. Ryan Smith has been appointed to the newly formed Truth and Reparations Task force. When she met with Bishop Stevenson last spring, he encouraged her to consider a parishioner who would add value to the task force, and she proposed Ryan.
Social Justice Activities
Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration
Postponed
This year's Indigenous People's Day, scheduled for Monday, October 13, has been postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date in November due to a developing storm with heavy rain and high winds predicted to move in to the Richmond area this weekend with after-effects lasting through Monday.
On Monday, visit the Library of Virginia's Indigenous Perspectives to reflect on the importance of our indigenous population as an alternative to our postponed celebration.
RISC
St. John’s supports and is a member congregation of RISC—Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities—a grassroots, direct-action organization made up of congregations throughout the Richmond Metro Area.
Founded in 2002, RISC uses the power of large numbers of people to hold our public officials accountable and to solve critical community problems. Since we have been a member, RISC has focused primarily on three issues: affordable and healthy housing and gun violence. Contact persons: Daryl Quackenbush (daryl.quackenbush@gmail.com) and Sarah Mattingly (smattingly@mac.com).
Juneteenth 2025
The success of our fifth annual joint celebration of Juneteenth with the St. Peter's and St. Philip's parishes has been well-documented in our local press, including the main headline in today's Richmond Times Dispatch.
The celebration began with a brief Libation Ceremony in St. John's Churchyard followed by a march to Peter Paul RVA, where participants attended a prayer service featuring BK Fulton as homilist and enjoyed a performance by Ezibu Muntu, a West African drum and dance company. The festivities concluded with a picnic at St. Peter's Church.
Peter Paul RVA's executive director provide the day's reflection, including the following remarks:
Chattel slavery, in many ways, has been made out to be a glorious system, which taught the enslaved individuals how to be ‘civilized...Even though we are in the year 2024 with limitless access to resources and technology, there are a number of individuals that still operate in this type of thinking... We, as the unified church, as moral and ethical humans, must be unapologetic in the way we remember and assess the atrocity that was chattel slavery.
