All Saints Parish

Trail of Souls

Intro to Trail of Souls

The Episcopal Churches of Maryland commemorated the 150th anniversary of the official abolishment of chattel slavery in Maryland on All Saints’ Day, Nov. 1, 2014, with the Trail of Souls: Truth and Reconciliation Pilgrimage. This day-long journey visited five Maryland sites with strong ties to slavery and the Episcopal Church, including All Saints Parish in Sunderland.  Additional information about the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland Trail of Souls and Day of Repentance and Reconciliation can be found at https://trailofsouls.org/.

Recording of All Saints’ Parish Trail of Souls Service

Trail of Souls Program, November 1, 2014

(00:10) All Saints Choir ‘Do Lord’ 

(03:17) Welcome, Rev. Ken Phelps; Remarks, Jeffrey Pike and Nate Pope, Co-Chairs, PROP

(13:03) Hymn: ‘It is well with my Soul’ 

(32:52) Litany of Offense and Apology

(34:30) A Story: St. James’ Episcopal Church, Lothian

(42:48) Litany of Offense and Apology

(44:05) A Story: Christ Church, Port Republic

(54:15) Remarks, Rev. Sandra Smith, Coopers United Methodist Church

(58:26) Greetings, Mr. Michael Kent, Calvert NAACP Vice-President

(1:01:50) Collect for Social Justice

(1:02:28) A Story: Middleham and St. Peter’s Parish, Lusby and Solomons

(1:18:53) Litany of Offense and Apology

(1:21:05) Remarks, Congressman Steny Hoyer

(1:38:37) Hymn: Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel 

(1:41:17) A Story: All Saints Parish; Mr. Michael Kent, Ms. Cheryl Thompson, Mr. Dennis Laurie

(2:18:48) Litany of Offense and Apology

(2:23:28) Anthem: I still have joy 

(2:26:10) Remarks; Reading of Article 24, Maryland Constitution of 1864; Ms. Rashieda Gantt

(2:31:14) Poem: Lest we forget; read by the poet, Ms. Ernestine Brooks

(2:34:08) A Litany of Celebration and Hope; Ms. Rebecca McConkey, Rev. Donald Melvin, Greater Mount Zion

(2:35:58) Hymn: Lift every voice and sing 

(2:39:37) Postlude: Lift every voice and sing

Project to Reconcile Our Past

All Saints’ “Project to Reconcile Our Past” (PROP) was created to discover and reconnect to our history, particularly the role of African-Americans, free and slave, in the life of the Parish. We want to recognize those who contributed to the foundations of our church but whose lives and efforts have never been honored. We do not seek to re-write history, rather we seek to discover and complete our story. Strongly supported by Bishop Eugene Sutton and the Maryland Episcopal Diocese, we hope to advance the work of the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, established by the Diocese in 2008 to focus on racial reconciliation.

All Saints embarked on a continuing journey that we believe will forever change our parish and hopefully build a more understanding community in Southern Maryland. All Saints celebrated its 325th year anniversary in 2017.  One of our goals was to include what we had learned in our wonderful inclusive anniversary celebration.  The real prize has been the narrative, the evolution of All Saints as an educational resource for the County (and beyond), and as a pilgrimage site for our Diocese as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Project.  We hope that in our journey we can demonstrate that preserving the old brick church building is not only of cultural and historical importance to the African-American community, but also important to understanding the complete history of early colonial American life in Maryland.