PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Rev. Joseph Wallace-Williams is not new to breaking barriers. He’s been first before, in fact, as the first openly gay African-American ordained in the Diocese of Louisiana in 2012.
Next month, the New Orleans native will be installed as the first Black rector of a historically white Center City Episcopal parish — the Church of Saint Luke and The Epiphany on South 13th Street.
He was drawn to this church and its ministry, which constantly looks for ways to serve the disenfranchised. The church has a long history of activism for social justice issues too, like sexual orientation, gender identity, racial equality and the AIDS crisis.
“It will continue,” Wallace-Williams assured. “It definitely will. They’re never going to be not queer-affirming.
“It is a continuation of who they say they have been. What does [my appointment] mean to me? It’s confirmation that God has called me to be a bridge-builder.”
Related
The Church of Saint Luke is 85% white congregants, he said, and his preaching methods have been welcomed.
“We do traditional prayer book alongside changing the language so that we are inclusive in our language,” he explained. “That has made some people a little uncomfortable, but it’s also, by and large, the congregation had said yes, this is what we want.”
Looking ahead, Wallace-Williams wants to help his new congregation find its next cause and blaze the same trail that the church did when it took up these issues in the past.
“Everybody is welcoming gay people now,” he said. “It’s almost, in the Episcopal church, a non-issue, so I want their next mission to be whatever it’s going to be, and then for them 20, 30, 40 years later to say, ‘What are we gonna do now?’ ”
Wallace-Williams will be installed on March 5 and will serve as the ninth rector of the 188-year-old Church of Saint Luke.
