{"id":112770,"date":"2026-02-13T05:25:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/112770\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T05:25:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:25:26","slug":"pennsylvania-episcopalians-church-to-celebrate-life-and-legacy-of-absalom-jones-episcopal-news-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/112770\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Episcopalians, church to celebrate life and legacy of Absalom Jones \u2013 Episcopal News Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Absalom<\/a><\/p>\n

Portrait of Absalom Jones by Philadelphia artist Raphaelle Peale in 1810.<\/p>\n

[Episcopal News Service] Church leaders and Episcopalians in the Diocese of Pennsylvania will celebrate the Feast of the Rev. Absalom Jones, The Episcopal Church\u2019s first Black ordained priest, on Feb. 15 during a livestreamed service at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas<\/a> in Philadelphia, where Jones\u2019 remains are interred in a side altar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always start the service with silence and prayer surrounding [Jones\u2019] final resting place. It\u2019s a very moving tradition,\u201d the Very Rev. Martini Shaw, St. Thomas\u2019 rector since 2003 and dean of the Diocese of Pennsylvania\u2019s Schuylkill Deanery, told Episcopal News Service.<\/p>\n

This year, former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach, and Pennsylvania Bishop Daniel Guti\u00e9rrez will preside. The celebration is taking place in partnership with nearby Christ Church<\/a> and St. Peter\u2019s Episcopal Church<\/a> in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about St. Thomas is the congregation knows how to praise God and joyfully shout, \u2018Hallelujah,\u2019\u201d Curry told ENS in a Feb. 9 phone interview. \u201cThey know how to find the strength to continue the struggle for God\u2019s love and God\u2019s justice and compassion in this world, to help us continue to take up the cross and follow Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time, members of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church<\/a> in Philadelphia \u2014 the AME Church\u2019s oldest congregation, founded by the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen \u2014 also will join this year\u2019s celebration. This also will be the first year a presiding prelate<\/a> of the AME Church and the pastor of Mother Bethel will participate in Absalom Jones\u2019 feast day celebration at St. Thomas.<\/p>\n

Absalom Jones<\/a> was born into slavery in 1746 and released from bondage in 1784 following the American Revolution. Three years later, he and Allen, who also was the first bishop of the AME Church, co-founded the Free African Society<\/a>, an organization that provided aid to Black people newly freed from enslavement.<\/p>\n

Jones founded St. Thomas in 1792 and served as the church\u2019s first rector. In 1802, he was ordained a priest. Jones\u2019 feast day is on The Episcopal Church\u2019s Lesser Feasts and Fasts<\/a> calendar on Feb. 13, the date commemorating his death in 1818 at 71.<\/p>\n

As is tradition, other congregations and dioceses nationwide also will be celebrating Jones\u2019 feast day with special worship services and other events.<\/p>\n

Also, coinciding with Jones\u2019 feast day, The Episcopal Church raises money annually for the Absalom Jones Fund to support its two historically Black colleges: Voorhees University<\/a> in Denmark, South Carolina, and St. Augustine\u2019s University<\/a> in Raleigh, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these difficult times, when even Christian communities can be strained by the forces of division and despair, our church urgently needs more leaders like Absalom Jones \u2013 leaders who act on behalf of the oppressed and distressed of our times, and at the same time embody the command Jesus gives us in the Gospel appointed for his feast day: \u2018This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,\u201d Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said in a Feb. 12 letter<\/a> promoting the fund. Rowe preached at St. Thomas\u2019 for Jones\u2019 feast day in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebration comes two weeks after the National Park Service removed<\/a> an open-air exhibit featuring Jones and Allen from Independence National Historical Park.<\/p>\n

The now removed exhibit, \u201cThe President\u2019s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,\u201d opened in 2010 on the site where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived in the 1790s. It was removed in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s March 2025 executive order prohibiting<\/a> national sites from showcasing negative aspects of U.S. history, including slavery.<\/p>\n

The removal \u201cstrategically\u201d occurring days before the start of Black History Month, February, was \u201cabsolutely deliberate and calculated,\u201d Shaw said, noting that 2026 also marks the 250th anniversary<\/a> of the United States\u2019 founding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings a totally different emphasis and focus on the celebration this year at the church,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cBut while some want to erase history, we in the church are prepared to celebrate history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The executive order<\/a>, called \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History,\u201d also directed the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, to defund Smithsonian exhibits. The order specifically targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., accusing<\/a> the museum of promoting \u201cdivisive\u201d and \u201canti-American\u201d ideologies.<\/p>\n

The Diocese of Pennsylvania is working to get copies of the educational panels featuring Jones from the exhibit to display in churches throughout the diocese, Guti\u00e9rrez told ENS in a Feb. 10 phone interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider Absalom Jones as equal to our Founding Fathers. He was a founding father not just in our faith, but also the United States because he represents the best of our country,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez said. \u201cI pray that we carry the spirit of Absalom Jones with us into our churches, into our protests, into our voting, into our daily interactions, into our service. The best way to honor Absalom is by carrying his spirit of everything he accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Guti\u00e9rrez released a statement calling on Trump to apologize or resign after he shared a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle. The Feb. 6 statement<\/a> has been shared thousands of times on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis behavior is beneath the office of the president. \u2026We have to not just be better, but we have to be human towards one another,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez told ENS. \u201cThis is why we shouldn\u2019t look at Absalom Jones as just a figure that we celebrate once a year, but all year, especially now during this time of what the United States is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like previous years, St. Thomas\u2019 annual celebration of Jones\u2019 feast day will include traditions like singing Harold T. Lewis\u2019 \u201cBlessed Absalom\u201d hymn<\/a>. The celebration also will incorporate items Jones used when he was alive, including the altar and table he used for worship services.<\/p>\n

Because the celebration falls the Sunday before Ash Wednesday \u2013 Feb. 18 this year \u2013 a New Orleans-style jazz band will perform Mardi Gras tunes.<\/p>\n

Finding motivation to celebrate is often difficult, Curry said, but \u201cjoy can always be found somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn spite of the hardship, in spite of the difficulty, in spite of the suffering \u2013 sometimes you just got to shout, \u2018Hallelujah,\u2019 anyhow,\u201d Curry told ENS. \u201cAll that said, we will have Mardi Gras, and we will celebrate. We will be joyful even in the midst of this hardship \u2013 this travail \u2013 because we will not cease from laboring, and we will not cease from praising God.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portrait of Absalom Jones by Philadelphia artist Raphaelle Peale in 1810. [Episcopal News Service] Church leaders and Episcopalians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-112770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}