Incoming Bishop Coadjutor for the Diocese of New York Rev. Matthew Heyd will be discussing his top priorities for the Episcopal Church including racial justice and slavery reparations Friday ahead of his consecration this weekend, according to a press release.
Heyd will be officially appointed to the position on May 20, according to the release, and will later become the head of the Episcopalian Diocese of New York. Ahead of Heyd’s consecration, he is attending a discussion Friday with the Most Rev. Michael Curry, who was the first black presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, to discuss Heyd’s priorities as bishop, focusing on racial justice, climate change and slavery reparations. (RELATED: Archdiocese Says ‘God Is Trans’ Exhibit In New York Church Removed After Launching Investigation)
A spokesperson for the diocese told the Daily Caller News Foundation that slavery reparations have been a topic of discussion for some time.
“The diocese has already voted $1.1 million for a reparations fund and set up a task force to determine how that money should be used,” the spokesperson said. “This is the result of many years of research into the role of churches in our diocese as owners of slaves and supporters of the institution of slavery – it is not the result of a sudden rush of ‘wokeist’ blood to the head.”
NEW YORK – AUGUST 9: Lindi Bobb, 6, attends slavery reparations protest outside New York Life Insurance Company offices August 9, 2002, in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images).
The diocese issued an apology in March during a special service for its role in slavery and committed to making reparations for slavery, according to CBS News. Curry recorded a video address for the service, saying that the apology would help the church “face into painful truths of our racial past, painful truths of our continuing struggle with racism in all of its forms and all of its manifestations,” according to Episcopal News Service.
Andrew Dietsche, the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of New York told the congregation that the church was “ready now to begin to make a tangible investment in African-American people and communities as reparation for our history of slavery,” according to CBS News.
Heyd will also be discussing his plans to promote economic justice via The New York Episcopal Federal Credit Union, started in 2022, to fight against “structural injustice” that targets minorities that are “not now welcomed by commercial banking institutions,” according to the project’s website. Creation care, or climate care, is another priority for Heyd that he plans to discuss at length, according to the press release.
Curry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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