The eighth and final solemn assembly in the 2008 Year of Reconciliation in Springfield will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. The theme of the solemn assembly will be "Justice and Mercy."

The 2008 Year of Reconciliation is a series of monthly events scheduled to coincide with the city's commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the 1908 race riot. The focus of the events has been on themes of reconciliation and healing. Seven previous solemn assemblies have been held on the first Saturday of each month since January.

Guest speaker for the assembly will be Abraham Lincoln Washington, pastor of Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church, located on Chicago's west side. Rock Church was founded in 1983 by Washington's older brother Raleigh Washington. Located in one of the largest and poorest areas of Chicago, Rock Church forged a partnership with Glen Kehrein, executive director of Circle Urban Ministries and together they offered a holistic approach to ministry addressing both the physical and spiritual needs of the community for over two decades. Racial reconciliation had been an important part of the relationship as both ministries sought not only to talk about reconciliation but to actively live it out in a community affected by racial strife. In 1998 Abraham Lincoln Washington became pastor of Rock Church and the two ministries were joined.

Designated prayer leaders from Springfield's faith community include Bishop George J. Lucas; Rev. T. Ray McJunkins of Union Baptist Church; Sister Katherine O'Conner of the Springfield Dominicans; Leroy Jordan, coordinator of the diocesan Black Catholic Ministry; and Pastor Steve Seiple of Hope Evangelical Free Church. Members of the choirs from Cathedral and St. Katharine Drexel parishes will lead the music.  

A march to the Old State Capitol and the eighth Race Riot Marker located between Fifth and Sixth streets will immediately follow. The marker is located near the site of the old Sangamon County Courthouse where Joe James, a black man, was tried and convicted of the murder of Clergy Ballard. Considered a minor at the time, he nonetheless was executed on Oct. 23, 1908. It was also at the courthouse during a grand jury investigation that Mabel Hallam admitted that she fabricated a false rape accusation which sparked the riot. It was there that a grand jury returned 107 indictments against 80 white rioters resulting in one conviction for petty larceny.