“Engage in speaking the truth, so that we do not mislead anyone by our silence.”
— Book of Common Prayer
During the presidential prayer service at Washington National Cathedral for the beginning of Donald Trump’s new term, Bishop Mariann Budde asked him to have mercy on the immigrants who are among us. One would have thought that she asked him to send them all to the gas chamber from some of the responses that arose.
She is a Christian minister who was speaking truth to power from the pulpit of the National Cathedral. I am quite thankful for her willingness not to mislead anyone by her silence. We know where she stands.
Catherine Meeks
While thousands of people from across the country and perhaps beyond are thankful for Bishop Budde, as I am, there are many who are not. Unfortunately, some of those folks are fellow Episcopalians and some of them are clergy. It is not easy to understand what the objectors are using for reasons, but it is not difficult to understand they choose silence and an unwillingness to stand up for those who are downtrodden. It is difficult to know how to think about their silence, but it is important to resist joining them in it.
We cannot afford to be silent, because we are resisting the evil wind that is blowing across this land and the planet at this time in ways we are barely able to imagine.
“We cannot afford to be silent.”
One of those ways of resisting, which I helped start, is the Mercy, Courage, Action Campaign. This campaign began with about 60 of us meeting in a Zoom room to talk about doing something in response to Bishop Budde’s plea beyond simply lamenting.
Although lament is important, we knew we needed to find a concrete way to act. We were clear that we were not trying to start one more fledgling organization that had to spend more time trying to get organized than it would spend trying to do something.
We made a clear decision to engage in collective agency where we created a simple structure that would make it possible for folks to engage in a collaborative process without having to spend endless hours meeting to plan everything we would do going forward. We formed a small working group to develop a plan, and after a few meetings they presented their ideas for the campaign, which the larger group embraced.
One member of the planning group provided a link on his church’s website for the plan to be made available and established a Facebook group and we agreed to have monthly meetings to simply check in with each other. But in the meantime, everyone was invited to engage in the resistance through visibility campaign by ordering the materials that were designed as a group.
“Inaction is not one of our choices now.”
There are buttons, bumper stickers, T-shirts, billboards, wristbands and yard signs that can be ordered. All participants are invited to use websites, Facebook pages and other existing entities to help them engage in this campaign without reinventing wheels already in existence. We wanted to make it as simple as possible to be involved in this effort because it is going to be long term. We will not see the end of this political, moral, spiritual nightmare in the near future.
All of us need mercy. We are here in this moment with many layers of destruction to navigate, and each one of us has to figure out our individual response to the challenges before us as well as how to engage with others while in the midst of it.
We need mercy, and we need to be merciful. And we need courage to speak the truth.
This is essential for all of us, but it is especially important for those who have put themselves in positions of leadership to find the courage to speak the truth without fear.
And we have to act. Inaction is not one of our choices now. When we think we can stay neutral by not speaking the truth or actively resisting in times such as these, we are gravely mistaken because the effort to remain neutral is a choice with consequences also.
We are seeking to encourage as many as possible to “engage in speaking the truth, so that we will not mislead anyone by our silence.”
Catherine Meeks was given the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement and Service Award in August 2022; was listed by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the 500 women to watch in Georgia in 2022; retired as the Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-Cultural Studies at Mercer University; is a community and wellness activist and mid\wife to the soul; and the author of The Night Is Long, But Light Comes In The Morning, Meditations on Racial Healing, She previously served as founding executive director of Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing and currently serves as founder and executive director of the Turquoise and Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. She lives in Atlanta.
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The silence is too loud! | Opinion by Catherine Meeks
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