REV. JOSEPH WALLACE-WILLIAMS
For 188 years, the Church of Saint Luke and The Epiphany on 13th Street in Center City, Pennsylvania has been a house of worship. The last 41 years have kept the church at the forefront of the AIDS Crisis and Women’s Rights. They are continuing their practice of radical spirituality by installing Rev. Joseph A. Wallace-Williams as the first Black and first openly gay rector of the historically white episcopal church. "I'm feeling like this is just a continuation of what I've always been about how God has always used me and that's exciting and scary," Wallace-Williams said to CBS. "It's very aw-filling." Wallace-Williams believes his service is an opportunity to expand the idea of faith. "How do I get people to hear the message? I love them,” he said. “We meet them right where they are. Black, white, gay, straight, male, female, binary, non CIS gendered, we meet them right where they are and we love them just as God created them.” —E.W.