UBE Awards of Distinction Recipients

The Board of the Union of Black Episcopalians is pleased to announce the awarding of this year’s annual awards of distinction to individuals who exemplify the passion, commitment and work reflective of four trailblazers in The Episcopal Church and our UBE community. Awards will be presented on the evening of July 6, 2022, at UBE’s Annual Awards Dinner during the 54th UBE Annual Business Meeting and Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

The 2022 Bishop Barbara C. Harris Prophetic Witness Service Award

The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers | Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care The Reverend Canon Stephanie Spellers spearheads Episcopal efforts to follow Jesus’ Way of Love and to grow loving, liberating, life-giving relationships with God, each other, and the earth as Canon to Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry. The author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation – as well as The Episcopal Way and The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community – Spellers has worked for years at the intersection of practice and reflection, renewal and justice. Prior to taking her current post, she directed mission and evangelism work at General Theological Seminary in New York City, served as a Canon in the Diocese of Long Island, and founded The Crossing, a ground-breaking church within St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston. She began her career as an award-winning religion journalist in Knoxville, Tennessee, a job she took in 1996 upon graduation from Harvard Divinity School, where she studied religion and movements for social change. She later graduated from Episcopal Divinity School and, in 2018, she received an honorary doctorate from the General Theological Seminary. A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, she and her husband Albert deGrasse make their home today in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.

The Dr. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper Honors Award

Ms. Teresa Turner Chang | Co-founder of the One Human Race Initiative. Teresa Chang is the co-founder and coordinator of the One Human Race Initiative, a ministry of the Myra McDaniel Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians. She serves St. James’ Episcopal Church, an inclusive multicultural community located in Austin, Texas, as Junior Warden, Eucharistic minister, and usher. In her quiet, persistent, creative manner, Teresa has had a profound impact on congregations throughout Austin, the Diocese of Texas and beyond. She began her journey in 2012, as a facilitator who hosted courageous conversations in the larger community using the PBS series, 'Race: The Power of an Illusion'. In 2014, Teresa Chang and Sandy Battise, co-founded 'One Human Race Austin'. Teresa administers, trains the team, and facilitates workshops, virtually and in person. Teresa continues to demonstrate ways 'white allies' can use their privilege, power, and influence to contribute to conversations which shine light on opportunities to end institutional and systemic ism's - sexism, classism, and racism to name a few, in the Episcopal Church, communities of faith and neighborhoods where we live. Since 2014, One Human Race has presented its workshop and The Austin Story, which chronicles Austin’s racial history, at over 19 churches, as well as an elementary school, the Seminary of the Southwest, and organizations such as the YWCA and Episcopal Health Foundation conferences. One Human Race is an all-volunteer organization and does not charge for any of its programs.

UBE AWARDS OF DISTINCTION RECIPIENTS

The Bishop Walter Decoster Dennis Honors Award for Canonical and Ecclesiastical Leadership The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton

Elected in 2008 as the first African American Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, Bishop Sutton is a nationally recognized leader on issues such as racial reconciliation and reparations. He has testified on Capitol Hill and lectured on the benefits that reparations can bring for American society before NPR, Fox News, the Chautauqua Institution, and other public forums. He has served on the boards of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, the Maryland Green Jobs Initiative, and Bishops United Against Gun Violence. An advocate for the education of our youth, Bishop Sutton established the Sutton Scholars, a five-week summer program that provides instruction on life skills and events, learning, and mentoring to Baltimore City High School students. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Bishop Sutton graduated from Hope College (Holland, MI), attended Western Theological Seminary earning his Master of Divinity, and completed Anglican studies at the University of the South, School of Theology (Sewanee, TN). Prior to becoming Bishop, Sutton served as Canon Pastor and Director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage at the Washington National Cathedral. He continues to lead pilgrimages to the Holy Land and is an avid supporter of The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray UBE Chapter. Bishop Sutton is married to Sonya Subbayya Sutton, an internationally recognized pianist, organist and choral director. They have four adult children and stepchildren.

The Dr. Anna Julia Cooper Honors Award Mrs. Alma R. Flowers

A retired nurse whose passion for caring for and serving others extends well beyond the hospital walls where she has exercised her gifts of hospitality, encouragement, recruitment, and administration since graduating from the Brewster School of Nursing in 1963 and receiving her degree from the University of North Florida in Health Science in 1971. Her vocational assignments centering in the psychiatric field have included working for the Veterans Psychiatric Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama and with the State of Georgia. At the time of her retirement, Alma was employed as a Nurse Administrator for Outpatient services in Clayton County, Georgia where she managed program areas of Mental Health/ Developmental Disabilities, Dedicated Case Management and Crisis intervention, Group Home/Hospital Utilization, and Developmental Disability Respite Group Home. A Gold Lifetime member of the Union, Alma was elected President of the Father Sidney B. Parker Chapter of UBE in Jacksonville, Florida in 2005. She served as president of this Chapter until being elected as Southern Region Director, a role she filled until 2021. After Alma’s term as Southeast Region Director ended, she was reelected as President of The Sidney B. Parker Chapter. Alma is currently a member of the UBE Nominating Committee and serves on the Vestry of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. She is the mother of four children five grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and is "granny" "auntie" to a host of God-given children. " Her life is a shining example of what it means to love and give without expectation of getting something for it and her deep passion and love of the Lord exemplifies how God can achieve extraordinary things through the faithful work of everyday people who are willing and committed to serving their brothers and sisters in need.