Building a Diverse and Inclusive Congregation at Christ Church Cathedral

In this guest blog, The Very Reverend Gray Lesesne, D.Min., Dean and Rector of Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in Indianapolis, shares how the congregation is addressing systemic racism and fostering inclusivity. Supported by a Center for Congregations Resource Grant, they are working to dismantle white-centered leadership and create a more inclusive environment. Their journey offers insight into the ongoing work required to unite diverse populations within a congregation.

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Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral is a growing multicultural congregation in the heart of Indianapolis. With approximately 320 households in our faith community and an average Sunday attendance of 290, our congregation, founded in 1837, seeks to welcome all people, no exceptions.

As Indianapolis’ racial and ethnic demographic makeup has diversified and blossomed over the years, we have benefited from this diversity, and the faces of the people in our pews in our three Sunday worship services today are quite different than those of the past century. Our 1 p.m. liturgy on Sundays is completely in Spanish, welcoming people from Mexico and more than 15 Central and Southern American countries. 

Despite the demographic flourishing in the neighborhoods around us and in our own pews, we are still painfully aware of the power that systemic racism holds over our congregation, and especially of the patterns and behaviors of white-centered leadership that pervade in our faith community, despite our best intentions. In 2023, we applied for and received a Center for Congregations Resource Grant to help us identify those patterns and behaviors of systemic racism so that we could begin the long-term work of repentance, reparation, and reconciliation. The audit was conducted by The Mission Institute, the same organization that completed a similar audit for the worldwide Episcopal Church and many other religious organizations. It included:

• Identifying current patterns around representation, identifying barriers to racial equity, inventorying white supremacy culture embedded in policy, practices, and behavior of our congregation. 
• Targeted data collection of key leadership through an online survey tool.
• Narrative interviews with key constituents to paint a more detailed and nuanced picture of the current realities of our church.
• Analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data to uncover patterns of racial inequity or areas of justice and to make sense of why these patterns might exist in the first place.
• Theological reflections.
• Key questions and recommendations for future and ongoing strategic engagement.

The results of the audit were eye opening. Longtime members of Color shared, in loving but frank terms, the ways in which they have been “othered” and discriminated against over the years, both explicitly and implicitly. Marginalization was an overwhelming theme that surfaced throughout the audit, especially among the Latino members of our congregation. Given that everyone has multiple social identities such as class, sexual orientation, ability, and race, our understanding how intersectionality deepens the complexity of racial oppression will move us toward greater inclusivity.

Knowing that the dismantling of systemic racism is a lifetime’s work, our Racial Justice Team and church’s Vestry (governing board) have identified more than 40 practical and immediate first steps. Some steps are simpler than others, such as changing of internal directional signage to be bilingual and diversifying the artwork we hang in our building. Other steps, including careful reflection about how and whom we recruit for ministry leader positions rather than just asking “folks we know” to serve, are more significant and will take time and intentionality. One other piece of major work ahead for us is to reflect on how our congregational music in worship can either reinforce or work to dismantle white centeredness.

In this all work and ministry, we trust that God is with us, and that God’s vision of a beloved community, in all of its rich and wonderful diversity, will grow stronger and stronger among us as the Spirit guides us into all truth.