by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
DURHAM -- It’s looking like Durham will soon get its own saint.
The late Rev. Pauli Murray, a woman of many accomplishments – civil rights activist, feminist, author, lawyer and the first female African American Episcopal priest – will likely be named in the next few days to The Episcopal Church’s book, “Holy Women, Holy Men.”
Her nomination is up for a vote at the Anglican denomination’s general convention, meeting in Indianapolis through Thursday.
If it passes, Murray will have her own date on the Church calendar, July 1. Later this month, St. Titus’ Episcopal Church, where Murray worshipped, will hold its annual service in celebration of her work. She was born in 1910 and died in 1985. Murray’s impact goes beyond just her racial and gender barrier breaking in the church.
“Pauli Murray’s significance to The Episcopal Church is as a pioneer, as an advocate for racial reconciliation, an agent for social justice, racial and gender equality both in the church and society,” said Rev. Brooks Graebner, rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Hillsborough and member of the steering committee of the Pauli Murray Project based at Duke.
“I would consider her a woman who in many ways anticipated major movements in the life of church and society,” Graebner said.
After being turned away from UNC Chapel Hill’s graduate school in 1938, Murray participated in civil rights protests in the early 1940s and graduated first in her class and the only woman from Howard Law School in 1944. In 1965, she was the first African American to receive a J.S.D. from Yale. A year later, she was a founding member of the National Organization for Women.
Among her law and other publications is the memoir “Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family,” regarded as her seminal work. In it, she talks about growing up multi-racial in Durham’s West End. She became a priest in 1977.
The Episcopal Church’s book of saints, “Holy Women, Holy Men,” is a major revision of “Lesser Feasts and Fasts,” a worship book that included biographies of those commemorated on the church calendar. In 2009, the last time The Episcopal Church General Convention was held, more than 100 women and men were named to the new book in trial usage. Murray is among a handful to be considered at this year’s convention.
Already in the book are North Carolinians Anna Julia Cooper and Bishop Henry Beard Delany, the first African American Episcopal bishop in the state. Nominated along with Murray at this convention are two others from North Carolina -- dating to the Colonial era, Virginia Dare and Native American Manteo.
The new book is much more representative of the Church’s history and diversity, said Summerlee Walter of the office of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Many new saints are from the past century, she said.
In a video recorded during the convention this week, Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, said: “’Holy Women, Holy Men’ is one way that the Church lifts up people whose lives have exemplified what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and make a difference in the world, and Pauli Murray is one of those people.”
“Pauli Murray, a woman who functioned in a predominately men’s world, helped in the civil rights struggle, helped in the struggle for women’s equality, helped in the struggle for rights for gay and lesbian people, helped in the struggle to make this world a better place,” Curry said. “She was not always popular. People did not always agree with her, but they knew where Pauli Murray stood. She was a bridge person who helped to bridge some of the divides that keep us separated from each other.”
Graebner said that nominations are vetted well in advance, and he expects Murray’s resolution to pass. He noted that The Episcopal Church’s calendar of commemoration is not like the process of canonization in the Roman Catholic Church. The calendar includes significant examples of the faith, Graebner said, not people to pray to or through. “They’re an ongoing inspiration for all people,” he said.
Graebner finds Murray inspiring. “She witnessed to the importance of racial and gender inclusion in the Church, calling the Church to fuller acts of justice,” he said.
Barbara Lau, who leads the Pauli Murray Project in Durham, said the inclusion in “Holy Women, Holy Men” will help the project bring Murray’s story, life and legacy to a larger audience. Locally, the Pauli Murray Project is behind several community discussions, a youth poetry contest, public murals of Murray around the city, a historical marker and last year’s acquisition of her childhood home, the Pauli Murray-Richard Fitzgerald House at 906 Carroll St.
Lau hopes the house, for which a master plan is being developed, will become a destination for the community and visitors. Murray’s receiving national attention will open the door to inviting people to come celebrate Murray’s work, Lau said.
“The bigger work is thinking about how relevant her views are to today,” Lau said.
Published 7/7/12 in the Durham Herald-Sun on page A1 | Category: Local News
Printed with permission. Copyright 2012 Durham Herald-Sun