On Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 10:30 AM the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine invited everyone to celebrate of the life and work of Blessed Absalom Jones. The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche, Bishop of New York, will be the celebrant and The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Bishop of Indianapolis, will preach at this very special service. The Rt. Rev. Baskerville-Burrows is the first African-American woman to serve as diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church and the first woman to succeed another woman as a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Absalom Jones was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman. After finding a black congregation in 1794, he was the first African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States, in 1804. He is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints and blessed under the date of his death, February 13, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as “Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818”. If you would like to participate in the Diocesan Festival Choir, please sign up on the Diocesan website: www.dioceseny.org/ednyevent/absalom-jones-2019/.
