The Trail of Souls is a project of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland that invites churches founded before 1864 (the year Maryland abolished slavery) to research and acknowledge their history with slavery and its legacies. The charge, as articulated at the 2006 Diocesan Convention, is “specifically to research and report on the historical role of the Episcopal Church in these systems of slavery and racism, so that we as a people of God can come to make a full, faithful and informed accounting of the legacy we inherit and better understand how we can work, both individually and collectively, to ‘repair the breach.’ (Is.58.12)” (2006 Diocesan Convention). Parishes around the Diocese have been actively engaged in this work for several decades.

Two Trail of Souls pilgrimage events have been held: a daylong journey to significant sites in the Diocese on November 1, 2014, marking the 150th anniversary of the abolishment of chattel slavery in Maryland, and a community pilgrimage on November 4, 2017, through four historic Baltimore churches currently grappling with their histories with slavery. The Trail of Souls also comprises a virtual pilgrimage on its website, trailofsouls.org. To date, twenty-six parishes in our Diocese have made contributions to the virtual Trail of Souls. St. Anne’s has not been among them, but the Truth & Reconciliation Ministry believes that now is a good time to change that.

St. Anne’s Truth & Reconciliation Ministry and Cemetery Committee have been engaged in this research for nearly five years, and we are starting to put together our results in a way that can be shared with the congregation and the public. The purpose of this work is not to dwell on dark times or to punish ourselves for the sins of our ancestors. Rather, the purpose is to be reconciled with our own history as a parish, as a way of demonstrating that justice cannot be attained, nor the radical love of Jesus shared, until past wounds are openly acknowledged and allowed to heal. Telling the stories, as well as we can, of St. Anne’s historic involvement with slavery can help to restore dignity to those who had it taken from them and can represent our own current commitment to values rooted in love.

Katie Burke, Co-Chair Truth and Reconciliation Committee