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People in Ukraine observed their fourth Easter since the Russian invasion of their nation. Oleksandra Kovalenko, a member of the Ukrainian delegation at the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, and Valentyn Hrebennyk, a graduate of the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Bossey shares their Easter experience and encourages the WCC fellowship to continue praying for people of Ukraine.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing is planning online “listening sessions” on the role of faith communities in the realignment of public health and access to universal care.

Commemorating the 140th anniversary of the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference that legitimized the colonial partitioning of Africa, this global event will confront the ongoing legacies of colonialism and systemic racism. At a time of growing polarization, the conference aims to offer an ecumenical and ethical framework of justice and solidarity.

Katherine Brown explores how we can disciple new Christians in an age of personal development, measurable results and convenience

As First Group of Afrikaners Prepares to Travel to the United States, CWS Urges Administration to Comply with Court Order to Resettle All Eligible Refugees    New York City– CWS today expressed deep concern over news that the Trump Administration will soon admit Afrikaners and other racial minorities from South Africa to the United States as refugees, while simultaneously delaying ... Read More

Olinga Foundation pairs reading lessons with moral principles, addressing literacy needs in rural communities in Ghana over the past 25 years.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, on May 8 shared a message of encouragement on the election of Pope Leo XIV. The statement reads: With great joy, we welcome the election and appointment of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Pope and Bishop of Rome. On behalf of the worldwide Anglican Communion, we share our prayers, celebration and encouragement as His Holiness takes up his global ministry in service of the Church. May he lead with faithfulness, vision and courage, embodying the Christian values of peace and justice in service of mission and evangelisation. At this point in history, the world and the Church face significant challenges. Crises of mass migration, war, poverty and division press upon us all. As ever, the most innocent and vulnerable in our societies suffer most severely. We welcome Pope Leo’s commitment to building bridges through dialogue, and his summons to all the faithful to visible unity without fear. The Anglican Communion remains committed to our collaboration with the Catholic Church in the friendship of Jesus, sustained by our formal ecumenical institutions and the pioneering ministry of the Anglican Centre in Rome. The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) help us to think and grow together. Anglicans and Roman Catholics look to these commissions – and the friendships that they enable –  in the spirit of Saint Augustine’s summons to the Communion of Love, founded in the whole Christ. We pray that God will grant Pope Leo the strength to lead wisely and we assure him of our open arms in return. May we meet the Lord together again, as he comes to us and bids us not to be afraid (John 6:20). Amen.

[Religion News Service] In a shocking vote that caught the Catholic world by surprise, the College of Cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost, 69, the 267th pope on May 8. He is the first United States citizen to become the bishop of Rome. The Chicago-born Prevost has chosen to take the name Pope Leo XIV, signaling a kinship with the 19th-century Pope Leo XIII, who was known for opening the doors of the church to the world and made Catholic social teaching a central issue during his pontificate. As he walked out of the loggia onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the cheering crowd in the square below, the new pope said, “Peace be with you all!” Remembering the Easter season being celebrated in the church, he added, “I would like this greeting of peace to reach all people, in the entire world.” At his mention of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who died April 21, the crowd roared, and the new pope reminded them: “We are all in the hands of God. Hence, without fear, united hand in hand with God and with each other, we go forward. We are disciples of Christ. Christ precedes us!” An Illinois native, he graduated from Villanova University and Catholic Theological Union but has spent much of his career outside the U.S., having served from 2015 to 2023 as the archbishop of Chiclayo in Peru, where he also holds citizenship. Prevost has faced criticism from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, for allegedly mishandling abuse complaints regarding priests in Chicago and Peru, but his supporters have pushed back against the allegations. Francis brought him to Rome to serve as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, as well as the head of the Dicastery for Bishops — a powerful Vatican office that vets bishops around the world. Francis elevated him to cardinal in September 2023. Two years later, Francis made him a cardinal-bishop, the highest rank among cardinals. He has kept a low profile in Rome, making his views on hot-button issues something of a mystery. But in a rare interview with Vatican News, he painted the picture of a church leader who “must not hide behind an idea of authority that no longer makes sense today. The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers.” In that same interview, he said that prelates are often “preoccupied with teaching doctrine,” at the risk of forgetting the message of the gospels. The quickness of his election demonstrates a unity among the cardinals who have been portrayed as a polarized group as they headed into the conclave, and in recent decades as Francis’ style produced strong reactions, especially from conservative churchmen. But in a College of Cardinals of which 80% had been elevated by Francis and inspired by his message of welcoming and inclusion, the choice of a progressive such as Prevost may have been anticipated. Prevost himself spoke of the divisions in the church in his Vatican News interview, saying, “We bishops especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in the church.” Prevost may have played a role in the sidelining of U.S. Bishop Joseph Strickland, who had become notorious for his resistance to COVID-19 vaccines and sharp criticism of the pope. In 2023, Prevost met with Pope Francis and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States, and speculation was that the conversation centered on the process of asking for the resignation of the bishop. Strickland, who has garnered a following among some right-wing Catholics in the U.S., told Religion News Service he would not retire voluntarily, but he was removed from his post roughly two months later. This is a breaking story and will be updated.

[Episcopal News Service] An Episcopal congregation that serves seasonal farmworkers in southeast North Carolina has a new church building thanks to the hard work of church members who built it themselves. It’s the first building for Iglesia Episcopal La Sagrada Familia – the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family – since its ministry began there 29 years ago. “There aren’t that many new buildings being built in The Episcopal Church,” the Rev. Fred Clarkson, the congregation’s priest-in-charge, told Episcopal News Service, let alone one constructed by the people it serves. Its presence “has brought a sense of hope to people.” The farmworkers received various gifts from individuals and the Diocese of East Carolina, of which the church is a part, Clarkson said. East Carolina Bishop Rob Skirving will preside at the church’s dedication and consecration on May 10. The church is part of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, a joint effort of the dioceses of North Carolina and East Carolina, that since 1978 has served farmworkers who come to the region for six to nine months a year on U.S. government-issued H-2A visas. Seasonal workers and immigrants who live in the area year-round mostly work in fields harvesting sweet potatoes or tobacco, or in turkey- or pork-processing plants. Construction of the new church building began in June 2023. Previously, the congregation met in a nearby open-air pavilion owned by the Farmworker Ministry. The church now has an average Sunday attendance between 80 and 100, and most who attend are young. “Our average age is probably in their 30s,” Clarkson said. “We’re one of the younger, if not the youngest, parish in terms of age in our diocese.” The dioceses’ religious outreach to farmworkers began in 1996, and the Spanish-speaking congregation includes second- and third-generation farmworkers and their children who continue to live and work in the area, as well as generations of seasonal workers, said Clarkson, who also is the East Carolina diocese’s Spanish-language ministry coordinator. In addition to the church, the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry provides a variety of assistance to area laborers. “There are over 8,000 workers who come during the season,” Mauricio Chenlo, the ministry’s executive director, told ENS. Those who are in the United States on H-2A visas are provided with housing, as required by U.S. law, and most of that is in camps, he said. Because mattresses often are worn out, the ministry buys those in bulk and distributes as many as it can. It also provides recreational activities on Sundays – the one day that workers have off – and a warehouse stocks items, including clothing and hygiene kits, that workers may need. Ministry staff and volunteers visit camps to educate farmworkers about their employment rights. This includes making sure employers don’t withhold Social Security taxes from their paychecks, since federal law prohibits H-2A visa farmworkers from collecting Social Security benefits. Some of the young, mostly male farmworkers suffer from alcohol or substance abuse, Chenlo said. “Imagine you’re coming from a little town in Mexico, and you’re in the middle of the fields for nine months,” he said. “It’s really tough in terms of emotional displacement.” A wellness initiative is available to them and other workers needing help with mental health issues. Other services are also open to immigrants who live in the area year-round, including a monthly food distribution that usually draws 500 – 600 people. Volunteers from area Episcopal churches help with setting up fresh produce, canned and boxed goods in the pavilion so people can shop for what they need. There are also twice-weekly English-as-a-second-language classes offered through the local community college. A former midwife offers a support program for pregnant women and new mothers, and a sewing class for women now has beginner and advanced tracks. Many of the area’s immigrants are undocumented, Chenlo added, so immigration clinics are offered by a Raleigh law firm that donates its services. Concerns about immigration are top-of-mind for the Rev. Cuyler O’Connor, a deacon in the Diocese of North Carolina who is a member of the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry board. They have been trying to track activity in the region around immigration, he told ENS, but like many organizations, the board struggles with accurate information. “There are constant changes from the current administration that we have to manage,” he said. Rumors of the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area prompted cancellation of the food distribution in February, Chenlo said, because people were too scared to be out in public. Half the usual number did come in March, but he continues to see fewer people in stores or restaurants. Clarkson believes the government has a vested interest in keeping area farms and processing plants operating, so he doesn’t think the H-2A visa program will be part of any orders barring migrants into the U.S. “You don’t want food supplies to be affected in any way, right?” he asked. Recalling empty store shelves caused by supply chain disruptions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, “Stuff like that freaks the government out.” The area’s economy also depends on these workers, Chenlo added. In addition to getting crops harvested and much of the nation’s turkey and pork processed, “they consume things, they buy gas, they buy groceries.” Clarkson is thankful that fear hasn’t kept church members away from services at Iglesia Episcopal Sagrada Familia, but he acknowledges that anti-immigrant sentiment could cause some people in the community to treat his church members disrespectfully. But even on those occasions, he believes the church still can help. “It’s an opportunity to remind the people who feel they’re threatened or disrespected that there are people who still respect them, people who still love them, and that there’s still goodness,” he said. “While politicians like to divide, I think it’s always the church’s task to connect and build bridges and heal.” — Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) extended ecumenical greetings to Pope Leo XIV and an assurance of continuing engagement with the Roman Catholic Church in the era of its new pontiff.