Episcopal priest could be defrocked over 'Eucharistic fast'

An Episcopal priest may lose his credentials in the denomination after observing a “Eucharistic fast” in the name of racial justice. A panel charged with overseeing the case in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia concluded on May 8 that Cayce Ramey violated his ordination vows and should be “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God’s word and sacraments conferred at ordinations to Priesthood and Diaconate,” according to a news release.

Ramey, an activist against White supremacy who previously served as rector of All Saints Episcopal Church Sharon Chapel in Alexandria, Virginia, has refused to preside over the Eucharist or to receive it personally since 2022. His fast, he reportedly said, would last until he saw “clear proof of repentance and amendment of life in the Episcopal Church regarding white supremacy and racial injustice,” according to a pretrial document filed by a church attorney.

“I see racial justice as central to the Gospel and the only means of addressing the original sin of white supremacy in the United States and the Episcopal Church,” Ramey wrote in a pretrial brief. “I was ordained into a part of God’s church built on the wealth, power, and privilege gained from the enslavement and ongoing oppression and exploitation of Black people. . . . How then can I administer the sacraments at the whites-only lunch-counter-altar built on top of the bodies and blood of people our theology enslaved?”