Before the board members of the Union of Black Episcopalians decided to have this year’s annual conference in Cincinnati, they first had to weigh the options of going to Cincinnati, a city that has had racial conflict in recent years, and one which is under an economic boycott from local African American leadership.

The UBE honored that boycott in 2002 by changing its venue to another location, and organizers were not surprised when the July 5-9 event this year was met with a handful of demonstrators. What was perhaps surprising was the response: the UBE invited the demonstrators to attend the opening Eucharist and also invited them back to participate in a reconciliation seminar sponsored by the Cathedral Racial Reconciliation Institute.

According to its Internet website, Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati founded the institute to reconcile the members of Cincinnati’s African American and white communities by raising up individuals who can and will use their social networks to bridge hostilities between the two communities and act to lower institutional barriers to full community participation.

Organizers hope the seminar will be the beginning of an ongoing, organized reconciliation approach to race relations in the Cincinnati area. Experts and leaders in the fields of law, government, public policy and economics were among the participants and workshop presenters.