2 church leaders win Human Rights Award

Four years ago, members of the Trinity Episcopal Church established an all-inclusive homeless shelter for those in need during the winter months. This community service fits with the church’s mission of accepting anybody, despite potential vices, church officials said.

For their community service, Rev. Charles Dupree, 42, and Rev. Virginia B. Hall, 69, won this year’s Human Rights Award from the City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission.

The award, which has been presented for the past 11 years, honors individuals or groups who have made specific and significant contributions to improving civil rights, human relations or civility in Bloomington.

Before Trinity established its homeless shelter, which operates within its limestone church, a low-barrier shelter for Bloomington residents was nonexistent. Now, the shelter has become interfaith, expanding between four locations.

The shelter allows anybody to come in off the streets to stay overnight — no screenings, no questions asked, no Breathalyzer tests.

“There were screening processes that kept people out of shelters, and we were learning that people were dying or losing their limbs as a result of the cold, and that’s just not right,” Dupree said. “Nobody deserves to die because they can’t get into a particular type of shelter.”

According to her nominator, Hall was selected for her work with the Monroe County Religious Leaders group, an interfaith group of lay and clergy who are committed to “advocating for the religious principals of mercy, peace, social and economic justice and stewardship of the earth.”

Hass has been the assistant rector at Trinity for five years after moving to Bloomington from California.

“Thanks in large part to Hall’s leadership, both from the pulpit and behind the scenes, during recent years Trinity’s culture has shifted significantly from one in which Outreach was a minor part in the church’s affairs to its present state, in which service to the community has become a central part of the parish’s identity,” her nominator wrote, quoting a Trinity parishioner.

Dupree was nominated for his belief in creating opportunities for all people to be self-determined, respected and fully included in society.

“He has opened up the doors of his congregation to individuals with developmental disabilities, establishing multiple ways for them to share their gifts and abilities with the community,” his nominator wrote.

Dupree has been the senior pastor at Trinity since fall 2008 after moving to Bloomington from upstate New York.

Along with providing equal opportunities for all members of the Bloomington community, Dupree and Hall have also paved the way for a more inclusive religious
community.

Both Hall and Dupree are priests. Hall is a woman, and Dupree is openly gay.

“The doors of some churches have been closed to me, and I don’t think that’s right,” Dupree said. “There are so many populations who have been dissed by the church, and I think the gay community is one of them.”

Although Dupree has been a Christian his entire life, he has been told on several occasions that the church is not ready for a gay priest. He said he would not dare to go to some churches. Despite his acceptance of God, he said the church has not always been supportive of him.

But luckily for him, Trinity follows moderate beliefs, he said.

Following the Civil Rights Movement, the Episcopal Church began accepting ordained women in 1976. Hall was ordained in 1979.

But she said she was also not accepted as a church leader without a struggle.

“We had one or two people who left when Charlie came, and a couple of people who haven’t been too happy with me, but I think it’s very, very minor,” Hall said.

Hall also has a personal connection to those who are homeless because her sister was homeless, she said. Hall was unable to support her sister, who Hall said was struggling with mental illness, and her sister never got back on her feet.

“I want everybody to know that they can have a fulfilling life, and I want that message of unconditional love and compassion from the church,” Dupree said.

Byron Bangert, chair of the BHRC, will present Hall and Dupree their award at the Bloomington Common Council meeting April 4.

“When we are baptized, there are promises that we make, and one of these promises is to respect the dignity of every human being, and the shelter grows out of that as well,” Hall said.