Reverend Sharon Hunt Resigns After Racist Abuse at Putney Parish Supper

Fourteen people sat down to a meal in a home in Putney, expecting a pleasant evening among friends. By the end of the night, according to a letter read to the congregation, one of them felt attacked, unseen, and unwelcome in the very parish she had served. That letter, and the silence that followed it, is why a priest has now stepped away.

The Reverend Sharon Hunt joined the Church of England parish of Putney in southwest London in 2023, The Times reports. She was serving as a curate, and she had stepped up to take on extra responsibilities during a vacancy for a lead priest. She was, in other words, not a visitor passing through, but a priest carrying more than her share while the parish waited for its next leader.

Her letter, seen by The Times, was dated October 25 and entitled "laying down my curacy and stepping away from St Mary's church and the Parish of Putney." The Archdeacon of Wandsworth, the Venerable Bridget Shepherd, read it out during a service last Sunday, and it was emailed to the congregation, according to The Times and the Religion Media Centre.

In her letter, Hunt wrote a sentence that places her resignation in a history far longer than her own time in Putney. It is a sentence about firsts, and about how long a church can go before a door opens.

It should not go unnoticed that I am the first African-Caribbean heritage priest in the almost 700-year history of this worshipping site.

That phrasing comes from Hunt's letter as reported by The Times. Headline descriptions have varied: The Times headline describes her as the first black priest in the church's 700-year history, while the Religion Media Centre describes her as the first Black curate in the church's 700-year history. This article uses Hunt's own phrasing from her letter, and notes the variants only as attributed descriptions.

Seminar Supper on September 24: What Sharon Hunt Wrote

Hunt said she attended a parish "seminar supper" on September 24. The Times, drawing on the church website, describes the seminar supper as a monthly meal for around 14 people at a local home. It was meant to be an ordinary gathering, the kind of evening where a parish becomes a community rather than just a building.

What happened, in Hunt's own words as reported by The Times, was something else entirely. She did not soften the language, and the letter should be allowed to speak for itself on the one point that matters most: what she says she experienced that night.

What was meant to be a pleasant evening amongst friends turned into a personal attack on me and my personhood. I was on the receiving end of racist abuse.

That account of the abuse is attributed to Hunt's letter as reported by The Times. The Times states that Hunt "did not explain who had abused her or what exactly was said." This article therefore does not name any alleged abuser, and it does not invent the words said, because the sources opened do not supply them.

What Hunt did describe, in painful detail, was the response of the other people in the room. She wrote that other community members present "witnessed what was taking place and sat in silence" and that "The silence was palpable," according to The Times.

Silence, in her account, was not neutral. It was part of the harm.

The silence was palpable.

Hunt added that silence "is equally as harmful as the racial words that are spoken" and that she felt "neither seen nor valued as a member of this community," The Times reports. Those two phrases together explain why a single evening could end a curacy. It was not only what was said, in her account, but the feeling that nobody in the room would stand beside her when it was said.

Diocese of Southwark Response to Racism at St Mary's Putney

Archdeacon Bridget Shepherd responded in a statement quoted by The Times and the Religion Media Centre. Her words were short, direct, and left no room for doubt about how the diocese viewed what Hunt described.

What took place at the Seminar Supper was unacceptable. No one should have to tolerate racism — however it manifests itself.

The Diocese of Southwark also issued a statement on behalf of St Mary's, Putney.

It said: "We condemn racism unequivocally. It is abhorrent, unacceptable and has no place in the Church."

The diocese statement said pastoral support was provided, the matter was referred through the diocesan process, and over the coming months the diocese will review lessons and consider how to strengthen anti-racism work with the parish.

No investigation outcome was reported in the sources opened for this article, and this article does not claim one. What is on the record is a resignation, a letter, a statement of condemnation, and a promised review. The gap between those things is where the parish now has to live.

Readers following the Church of England and parish life can see related coverage in King Charles inaugurating the Church of England General Synod, in the Georgia martyrs beatification Mass at the graves, and in a Highland Park church voting to leave the United Methodist Church. Each story shows a church wrestling, in public, with who belongs and who decides.

Hunt's letter has now been read aloud, emailed, and reported, and she has stepped away from the parish she served since 2023. The question that remains is what the parish does with the silence Hunt described. A review over the coming months may answer part of it, but untill then the harder test will be quieter: whether the next priest who is first in some way finds a room that speaks up.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.