Bishop Tours Porter-Gaud School; Talks with Head Chaplain about How Students are Discussing Ukraine

The Rev. Palmer Kennedy, Head Chaplain at Porter-Gaud School

Last week, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley toured Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, an Episcopal school with a long affiliation with our diocese. In addition to meeting with school leadership, Bishop Ruth also met with the school’s new Head Chaplain, the Rev. Palmer Kennedy, who also serves as the school’s Religion & Philosophy Department Chair. During their meeting, the two talked about the current situation in Ukraine and how Fr. Palmer is discussing these current events with students, along with a history of the region that is important to understanding where we are today.

Currently, a select group of students at the school are exploring these issues through a bi-monthly Interdisciplinary Seminar Program entitled “Genocide: Past and Present” that he presents along with Dr. Tom Westerman. “It is our conviction that studying these horrific moments, some of the darkest in human history, opens our minds and hearts to the fragility and brokenness of our world generally and human beings particularly,” said Fr. Palmer. “These events are studied not as something that happened ‘out there’ or ‘back then’ but as mirrors reflecting things happening right now in our world, in our neighborhoods, and in our own hearts.”

While the seminar topic was developed before Russia invaded Ukraine, it proved to be very timely. “When we pitched this idea last semester, there were only faint whispers of upcoming trouble in Eastern Europe,” said Fr. Palmer. “At that time, the Holodomor (genocide in Ukraine during the 1930s) was scheduled as an exploration of how political economies can be leveraged with genocidal intentions. We had no idea how relevant this particular event would become. As Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, our students were again reminded history may not repeat itself exactly, but it certainly does rhyme.”

In the hopes that it might be helpful to youth and anyone in the diocese, Fr. Palmer shared a sample of the resources provided to his students, particularly in light of the often-forgotten Holodomor, to help them understand the evolution of events in the region. Find these resources linked below:

• Introduction to Neuroscience, Tribalism, and Dehumanization
• Introduction to Rene Girard and the Scapegoat Mechanism
• Overview of the Holodomor (Genocide in Ukraine)
• How Stalin Hid Ukraine's Famine from the World 
• Putin's Case for Invading Ukraine Rests on Phony Grievances and Ancient Myths
• Lecture by Timothy Snyder on the Holodomor and Its Continued Relevance

​Fr. Palmer was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida and served for four years as chaplain at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension and the Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette, LA, prior to moving to Charleston. We welcome Fr. Palmer, along with his wife and son (and daughter on the way!), to the Lowcountry and to the Porter-Gaud School.

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