FEATURES

What if Dr. Blakley were Right?
by Lovell Beaulieu

Delay on Master Plan vote was a good move
by Lovell Beaulieu

The Art of the Matter
by Fallon Jai

A Word with Mother Pheobe:
by Canon William H. Barnwell

All Dressed Up
by Anita M. Oubre

Columns & Departments

Month in Review
George Curry
Blackonomics

A Word with Mother Pheobe:
A Q&A with the Rev. Phoebe Roaf, associate rector at Trinity Episcopal Church

WHB: Mother Phoebe Roaf, you are the first female African-American priest to serve in the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. Would you talk some about your background and how you happened to go into the ordained ministry?

Mother Phoebe: On my mother’s side of the family, I am fourth generation Episcopalian. My mother’s grandparents were some of the earliest members of a very small African-American congregation in Clarke County, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley. My father’s family is Baptist so I was raised going to the Episcopal Church and the Baptist Church. I don’t have any memory of a time without God because I was born in March, baptized in June, and have gone to church every Sunday of my life.
After law school, in 1998 I moved to New Orleans to clerk for Judge James Dennis of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. And I really fell in love with the city. When the two-year clerkship ended, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from the Stone, Pigman law firm and worked there for five years. During that time I came to the realization that the practice of law was not my real calling. I certainly enjoyed it from an intellectual standpoint. But there were a lot of other aspects of who I was as a person that just weren’t appropriate to bring into the practice of law in a large firm.
When I thought about the things in life that gave me the most joy, the greatest sense of fullness and completion, I realized that it was through all of my work in the church. So I started the official discernment process for the Episcopal priesthood in 2002. That took about three years. I left for Virginia Theological Seminary (in Alexandria) and returned to New Orleans to serve at Trinity Episcopal Church as my first placement outside of seminary.

WHB: Was it sudden call to the ministry or very gradual?

Mother Phoebe: It was very gradual. A number of people over the years asked me whether or not I had a calling to the ordained ministry. This went on for 10 years before I officially started the process. My answer was always “no” because I wasn’t sure that I possessed the skills or the capacity to serve as an effective priest. I had a great deal of respect and high regard for the priesthood, and I realized that where people’s souls are concerned, it was not something to be entered into lightly.
The great thing about the discernment process in the Episcopal Church is that it’s done in community. It’s not one person . . . saying, “I guess I’m called.” You really do solicit actively the input of many different members of the community in helping you discern and support your decision.

WHB: Thank you! Now, tell us why we call you Mother. And then talk a bit about how the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church, which is a so important in this city, are similar and different.

Mother Phoebe: The first officially sanctioned women’s ordination within the national Episcopal Church was in 1979, so we have had women priests for 30 years. Since most of our male clergy prefer the title “Father,” we women naturally came to be called “Mother.” The children at Trinity Church usually call me Mother Phoebe, which is fine. But since at our church most adults call clergy by their first name, I am either Mother Roaf or just Phoebe.
As far as the differences between the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church, like the Roman Church, we are hierarchical with a Presiding Bishop and bishops in each diocese, and priests under them. For the first time, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is a woman, Katherine Jefferts Schori. The Episcopal Church is also part of the worldwide Anglican Communion with close to 80 million members.
We are like the Roman Church in our emphasis on the Eucharist, Communion, or Mass, as we variously call it, and in our appreciation of and belief in sacraments. We have seven sacraments in our church: Baptism, Holy Eucharist, confirmation, ordination of deacons and priests, holy matrimony, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction for the sick. As a priest, I am able to perform all the sacraments except confirmation and ordination. So, in the course of my work, I preach on Sundays, I celebrate the Eucharist, I perform weddings, I officiate at funerals, I teach, I help with outreach and justice-seeking ministries. I do all of the things the other clergy do, but my special work is being in charge of Christian formation and our large Wednesday evening program.

WHB: You are now serving at Trinity Church on Jackson Avenue. One of the founders of this particular church in the middle of the 19th century was Bishop Leonidas Polk, who became a Confederate general during the Civil War. Since our founding we have been almost altogether a White church. Would you talk about how you ended up in this parish?

Mother Phoebe: When I was ordained in December of 2007, our bishop proposed placement at Trinity. I interviewed with the rector of Trinity, Father Henry Hudson, and we hit it off right away. I appreciated his vision of where Trinity should go. Henry wants to build on Trinity’s strong history of outreach to the New Orleans community and also Trinity’s efforts to promote social justice. He wants it to be a more inclusive place. During his seminary career, he spent a semester studying at Absalom Jones Theological Institute, a predominately Black institution in Atlanta. It impressed me that he thought there were things he needed to learn there to prepare for his ministry in the South, including learning about the Black church.

WHB: Trinity is a parish of over 2000 members, yet only a handful of persons of color are members. Is that a problem for you, Mother Roaf?

Mother Phoebe: My vision of the Kingdom of God is one where all races, all ethnicities, everyone is gathered to worship together and then to support each other as we can. But Sunday at 11:00 (or in our case 10:30) is still the most segregated hour of the week. It is not just Trinity’s problem; it is a problem for most churches everywhere. I would like Trinity to be much more diverse in terms of its racial and ethnic mix. As for me personally, I have been very well received. The reception has really been wonderful. I am the third female priest to serve at Trinity and the first African American.

WHB: How can we become a church where persons of color feel more at home? I know most of us at Trinity would be grateful if our church looked much more like the city we serve.

Mother Phoebe: Trinity has had a long history of strong commitment of service to the city, including the founding in 1896 of Kingsley House, a highly effective multi-service center. But when I first moved to New Orleans in 1998, I was discouraged from attending Trinity. Some people described Trinity as a high society church, which did not care to be diverse. We do have many parishioners who live in the Garden District and belong to Mardi Gras krewes, but we also have many different people with different interests and backgrounds, and different income levels. We still need to be more diverse in regard to race and ethnicity. In answer to your question, I just wish many more people of color would give us a chance to welcome them and to make them feel at home, the same way the church has made me feel at home.

WHB: While we have not become very diverse in regard to color, we have been working hard on trying to understand racism and our complicity in it over the centuries. Thinking of TURN—the Trinity Undoing Racism Network—is this really happening?

Mother Phoebe: I think the work of TURN over the past 10 years really prepared the congregation to have me present as an African American priest. It’s a tricky thing—on the one hand I want to be seen as just one of the priests. On the other hand, I am the only female priest and I am the only African-American priest. As a woman and as an African American, I may see things a bit differently from everyone else, and I want people to be sensitive to that as well. Trinity has worked extensively with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, one of the strongest undoing racism institutions in the country, and their headquarters are right here in New Orleans. The head of People’s institute, Ron Chisom, is a close friend of Trinity and has guided us well.

WHB: What are our weaknesses at Trinity or what I like to call our “growing edges”?

Mother Phoebe: Trinity has a very beautiful, traditional liturgy, which absolutely speaks to me. But I am aware that our style of worship does not always speak to younger people or to those not raised in the Episcopal Church. So I want us to figure out how we can bring our worship into the 21st century without losing the beauty of what we have. Also, I want our parishioners to get out into the community more and to learn more about the needs of our city (especially after Katrina) and how we as individuals and a church can continue to respond. We need to be willing to get “our hands dirty,” so to speak. We need to partner more with those who are doing so much to make life better in New Orleans.

WHB: What else would you like to say to the readers of The New Orleans Tribune?

Mother Phoebe: Don’t just rely on what you might have heard about Trinity. Come visit us any Sunday morning at 10:30 (or at 8:00 A.M or 6:00 P.M) at 1329 Jackson Ave, or come to our Wednesday evening program, which begins with a Eucharist at 5:30, followed by a hot supper (only $6.00), and then a choice of study programs. Also, Tribune readers could call me at 504-522-0276; or they can call you, Canon William Barnwell, at 504-862-0311 to learn more.