Washington National Cathedral to remove Confederate commemorative windows

The Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday voted to take down stained glass windows honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

“The Chapter believes that these windows are not only inconsistent with our current mission to serve as a house of prayer for all people, but also a barrier to our important work on racial justice and racial reconciliation,” according to a letter from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde and the National Cathedral’s chapter chair, John Donoghue, and dean, Randy Hollerith.

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“Their association with racial oppression, human subjugation and white supremacy does not belong in the sacred fabric of this Cathedral,” the letter said.

The stained glass windows will be “deconsecrated, removed, conserved and stored until” the Cathedral can “determine a more appropriate future for them.” 

The Cathedral will conceal the stonework and window openings until it finds replacements. 

The decision comes as Confederate memorials and statues are under renewed scrutiny following the violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last month. One counterprotester died and numerous others were injured at the “Unite the Right” rally meant to protest the removal of a statue of Lee.

The letter from the Cathedral’s leadership also explains that the Cathedral first began a dialogue about slavery and racial justice following the 2015 racially motivated shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., that killed nine churchgoers.

The Cathedral said it plans to open the dialogue to the community so individuals may “express their views and feelings.” 

“Whatever their origins, we recognize that these windows are more than benign historical markers,” the letter said. “For many of God’s children, they are an obstacle to worship in a sacred space; for some, these and other Confederate memorials serve as lampposts along a path that leads back to racial subjugation and oppression.”