St. Stephen's, the Confederacy, and Socioreligious Determinants of Health in 2022: A Case Study
Mary Lynn Dell, MD, DMin, Children's Hospital New Orleans
The United States is engaged in a cultural and moral reckoning regarding the history, meanings, and interpretations of the American Civil War. Religious institutions have been integral to the understanding of slavery, the Confederacy, civil rights, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the United States. Tragedies such as the 2015 murder of nine black worshipers in Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist with a documented Confederate flag fascination underscored the tensions between religion and race. Similarly, white congregations have been forced to wrestle with the roles slavery and slave owners have played in their histories. One prominent example of a congregation engaging in such a discernment process is Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, the home parish of George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Leonidas Polk, cousin of President James K. Polk, represents another example of historical, embodied structural racism in religious institutions.. A West Point graduate, he owned slaves in Tennessee, became an Episcopal priest and then Bishop of Louisiana before founding the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis commissioned him as a Confederate Army general in 1861and Polk led Confederate troops until his death in the 1864 Battle of Atlanta. Tangible evidence of his ministry remains in churches he served in Tennessee, a stained glass window in Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, a plaque in Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral, his portrait in Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee, and successive crypts in St. Paul’s, Augusta, Georgia, and Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans.
Even as congregations of numerous persuasions are addressing racism, many of these same parishes are experiencing declining attendance, limited income, attrition, and deaths of their members. Indeed, these religious factors interact with other social determinants of health to influence the mental, physical, and spiritual health of congregational members and the surrounding community. Confederate icons remain in the histories and physical plants of many congregations, inviting exploration of the effects of recent controversies on the overall health and well-being of members.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Innis, Louisiana, represents the intersection of these socioreligious determinants of health and the centrality of the Confederacy in the storied history of a Southern, rural mainline church with an aging congregation declining in number, yet still vital in activity and community importance. Established in 1848, its ten acre cemetery and current building were dedicated by Bishop Polk in 1859 and added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1978. A monument erected to honor an unknown Confederate soldier is featured on its grounds. Nearly all members are now retirement age, have moderate – even liberal - political views, even as their religious identities are embedded in St. Stephen’s Confederate heritage. This paper details St. Stephen’s story and personal interviews of members as a case study of the interaction of social determinants of health and the lingering influence of the Confederacy on the physical, mental, and spiritual health of congregants and surrounding community.
Even as congregations of numerous persuasions are addressing racism, many of these same parishes are experiencing declining attendance, limited income, attrition, and deaths of their members. Indeed, these religious factors interact with other social determinants of health to influence the mental, physical, and spiritual health of congregational members and the surrounding community. Confederate icons remain in the histories and physical plants of many congregations, inviting exploration of the effects of recent controversies on the overall health and well-being of members.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Innis, Louisiana, represents the intersection of these socioreligious determinants of health and the centrality of the Confederacy in the storied history of a Southern, rural mainline church with an aging congregation declining in number, yet still vital in activity and community importance. Established in 1848, its ten acre cemetery and current building were dedicated by Bishop Polk in 1859 and added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1978. A monument erected to honor an unknown Confederate soldier is featured on its grounds. Nearly all members are now retirement age, have moderate – even liberal - political views, even as their religious identities are embedded in St. Stephen’s Confederate heritage. This paper details St. Stephen’s story and personal interviews of members as a case study of the interaction of social determinants of health and the lingering influence of the Confederacy on the physical, mental, and spiritual health of congregants and surrounding community.