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<article class="media media--image display--large"> <div class="image-container"> <div class="field field-media-image"> <img loading="eager" width="430" height="323" alt="" class="lazyload" data-src="/sites/default/files/styles/default_mobile/public/2025-02/crc-news_2025-2-26_us-canada-relationship.jpg?itok=gN9IP_9Y" /> </div> </div> </article> <br /> As brothers and sisters in Christ, we lament the brokenness we are experiencing in our cross-border relationship.

<article class="media media--image display--large"> <div class="image-container"> <div class="field field-media-image"> <img loading="eager" width="430" height="323" alt="Some of the more than 5,300 students receiving an education at the 20 COCREF" class="lazyload" data-src="/sites/default/files/styles/default_mobile/public/2025-02/crc-news_2025-2-26_christian-education-dominican.jpg?itok=vo1X7qoW" /> </div> <div class="field field-image-caption">Some of the more than 5,300 students receiving an education at the 20 COCREF</div> </div> </article> <br /> What started as an idea in 1981 has grown into a network of 20 schools with 450 staff and 5,300 students.

<article class="media media--image display--large"> <div class="image-container"> <div class="field field-media-image"> <img loading="eager" width="430" height="323" alt="Bert Adema (in red shirt) introduces performers at a celebratory concert in Regina, Sask." class="lazyload" data-src="/sites/default/files/styles/default_mobile/public/2025-02/crc-news_2025-2-26_ceremonial-garden.jpg?itok=z08bruOG" /> </div> <div class="field field-image-caption">Bert Adema (in red shirt) introduces performers at a celebratory concert in Regina, Sask.</div> </div> <div class="field field-image-credit">Victoria Veenstra</div> </article> <br /> In summer 2024, ICF hosted a special concert to celebrate a new ceremonial garden and its role in fostering community.

[Religion News Service] Religious groups challenging President Donald Trump won a pair of legal victories this week, blocking the administration’s efforts to dismantle the refugee program and reinstating sensitive-location protections from immigration enforcement in some houses of worship. On Feb. 25, a federal judge in Washington state sided with the plaintiffs — which included Church World Service, HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, as well as individual refugees and family members — blocking the president’s Jan. 20 executive order to suspend the refugee program. In his ruling from the bench, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said the president’s actions amounted to a “nullification of congressional will,” arguing the president does not have “limitless” authority over refugee admissions. Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, a Jewish refugee resettlement agency, said that unlike when Trump suspended new refugee admissions during his first term, his latest actions began to dismantle the program by abruptly cutting off funding for critical infrastructure. The funding freeze also resulted in widespread furloughs and layoffs within HIAS and other religious organizations that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees. Whitehead’s ruling will block the president’s suspension and allow entrance into the U.S. — at least for now — of refugees who had been approved to enter the country but were unable to after Trump’s executive order. This includes more than 600 refugees HIAS had been working with who, Hetfield said, had been left in a limbo. Hetfield also celebrated U.S. District Court Judge Amir H. Ali’s enforcement earlier Tuesday of his previous temporary restraining order that required the Trump administration to restore funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development and nonprofit partners, such as HIAS. “That ruling and this ruling gives us hope that you still have the rule of law in this country, and that the president is not above the law,” Hetfield said. He added: “The courts are still working in this country. Thank God.” Danilo Zak, director of policy at Church World Service, cautioned in an interview with RNS that “ it remains really difficult for us to understand what this will mean” until a written ruling from the judge is issued. Still, Zak said, “ we’re hopeful to see refugee resettlement resume and funds get reimbursed,” noting refugees resettled by CWS in the U.S. are facing homelessness without the federal funds promised to provide them housing in their first months in the country. Matt Misterek, communications director at Lutheran Community Services Northwest, said his group was also “very happy” about the ruling but said he expected the Trump administration would appeal. “There’s no guarantee the president is going to start refunding this program,” he said, noting evidence that the administration has bucked other recent court orders. Meanwhile, a small number of faith groups received a preliminary injunction Monday restricting immigration raids at their houses of worship, actions that were allowed after the Trump administration rescinded an internal “sensitive locations” policy that discouraged immigration enforcement at locations such as churches, hospitals and schools. The injunction only applies to the plaintiffs’ houses of worship, not all houses of worship nationwide. A collection of Quaker groups, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship network and a large Sikh temple in Sacramento, California, sued the Department of Homeland Security and its Cabinet secretary, Kristi Noem, last month over the policy change removing restrictions on immigration enforcement at houses of worship. The groups asked the court to declare the new policy — which leaves such raids up to the law enforcement officer’s “discretion” — to be an unconstitutional burden on their religious exercise. The plaintiffs argued the heightened possibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at their houses of worship had impacted attendance at services, even for immigrants with legal status and U.S. citizens, because of a history of ICE arrests and deportations of those groups. In the weeks since Trump took office, in several high-profile cases, U.S. citizens who are Latino or Native American have been detained and questioned, as have immigrants with legal status. Noting that one CBF congregation had reported a 66% decline in attendance at its English-language class, in addition to widespread losses in attendance for many of the plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that “a reduction in attendance at religious services and activities constitutes a concrete injury in fact.” In their complaint, Quakers noted their commitments to peace and nonviolence and wrote that the threat of armed immigration officers entering their spaces would impact all members’ ability to exercise their faith. “The presence of a weapon in a Quaker meeting would be absolutely unacceptable,” the complaint notes. Chuang, appointed to the District of Maryland by former President Barack Obama, wrote that the court doesn’t question “that law enforcement, when necessary, must have the ability to conduct operations in or near places of worship,” but that, in DHS’ new policy, “the lack of any meaningful limitations or safeguards on such activity likely does not satisfy these constitutional and statutory requirements.” For the Rev. Juan García, pastor of the Hispanic congregation of First Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia, Monday’s temporary injunction “means some fresh air to breathe” and relief from pressure. “There has been fear and anxiety among our church and not only immigrants that may be undocumented,” the Puerto Rican pastor said, but also for U.S. citizens like himself. “ We might be interrupted in our worship service any minute,” García said, noting this fear of immigration enforcement has also created anxiety around new visitors. “It is not our job” to check people’s immigration status, García said. “ There are people who need God. There are people who love God. There are people who are loved by God, so we just minister to them.” García’s church is part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a network of 1,800 Baptist congregations that formed in 1991 after breaking with the Southern Baptist Convention. The CBF’s governing board, which García leads as moderator, voted unanimously to join the lawsuit. The Rev. Paul Baxley, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, told RNS that the CBF leadership […]

[Diocese of Atlanta] To sing in the choir or take Communion at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Columbus, Georgia, you needed the ability to climb: two stories to the choir loft, three steps to the altar rail. Today those barriers are gone after the recent renovation funded by a capital campaign with the slogan “Making Room for All.” The new design makes level the sacred spaces that symbolize the passage between earth and heaven. On Feb. 23, Atlanta Bishop Rob Wright dedicated the new nave at the 10:30 a.m. service, which also included confirmation and reception into The Episcopal Church. “St. Thomas really seeks and welcomes and values all people,” the Rev. Grace Burton-Edwards, the church’s rector, said. “It was important to us to eliminate barriers to actively participating in the life of the church, sharing in the sacraments and being a full part of the body. We wanted to do everything we could to make it more possible for all people to share and participate.” Now communicants can easily receive at the altar rail, the A-frame nave holds 80 more people than before, and the 11 new parking spaces include four ADA-compliant spaces close to the chapel. Behind the new altar, a choir of 45 – with space for 60 or more – sings from behind a reredos (ornamental screen). The old choir loft is a cozy spot for families with young children and groups of youth. The project is a testament to the generous parishioners at St. Thomas. A $1 million unrestricted lead gift and a bequest helped inspire the congregation of 578. In a typical year, 160 parishioners pledge to support the church’s budget. That giving held steady as parishioners made an additional 145 pledges to the capital campaign, Burton-Edwards said. Those gifts enabled the church to avoid a construction loan and any debt from the project. “Each of these major gifts provided further encouragement that this was the right time to complete this project that was envisioned by the building’s original architect 50-some years ago,” said Ron Wirt, who chaired the fundraising committee along with Travis Wade, Tanya Edwards-Jones and Norm Easterbrook. “Being debt-free feels like an extra blessing in it all, that we’re not burdened,” Burton-Edwards added. “We were able to move forward prudently but also boldly due to the generosity of the congregation.” Designed to transform Built in 1958 with a design meant for expansion, St. Thomas has experienced significant growth in membership. By 2023, the average Sunday attendance was 226 — up 65%  from a decade before — and nearly $700,000 in plate and pledge offerings represents a 108 percent increase over the same span. Members began strategically planning ways to grow sustainably and better align the church with its mission. Along with the accessibility barriers, the original 270 seats weren’t enough; they needed 350. More parking was needed. “I think America needs 1 million more Episcopalians,” parishioner Andrew Meeks said during the vision campaign. “A million more people committed to social justice, to helping the poor, to praying for the sick. A million more people who believe in equality and that everyone is deserving of God’s love… But it would present a challenge: we are going to need somewhere for them to sit!” As the congregation explored accessibility solutions, they identified money-savers like more efficient lighting and HVAC systems. The renovation became a story that reflected who they are and where they are going. A preview during construction On the Sunday after Easter 2024, when the gospel lesson about St. Thomas’s encounter with the risen Christ is read, parishioners moved the worship space into the parish hall. Somewhat like a barn-raising, the nave-moving relocated all the pews, the altar rail, a piano and more. “We had a fried chicken lunch, the Easter egg hunt with all the kids, and then everybody moved everything into the parish hall in one fell swoop,” Burton-Edwards said. The main barriers to accessibility were in the chancel, where the altar, lectern, pulpit, credence table and seats for clergy are located. The chancel is typically raised somewhat above the level of the nave, where the congregation gathers. At St. Thomas, everything from the altar rail to the back wall was torn down and rebuilt. The organ was overhauled by Cornel Zimmer Organ Builders, with the pipes and digital components reconfigured to create an antiphonal organ, enhancing the variety of sounds and the accompanying voices. The relocation lasted during the eight months of construction, and it surprisingly previewed the power of making room for all. “I thought it was going to be unpleasant or hard or that people wouldn’t want to come worship with St. Thomas during that time,” Burton-Edwards said. “Instead, the feeling was that something wonderful is happening here. And we hadn’t even realized it, but in the parish hall we were handicapped accessible. You knew that we were all on one level.” The renovation led by Batson-Cook Construction and 2WR+Partners Architects also represented how the congregation identifies itself: “Like the apostle Thomas, we encounter the risen Christ in our lives together and find ourselves transformed.” Symbols of home and God’s enduring presence  The monumental reredos screen, with diagonal wood pieces that suggest a house, was part of the redesign by John E. Joyner III, who focuses on liturgical design and planning for Episcopal parishes. He holds a doctoral degree in architecture from Georgia Tech as well as a doctoral minor in Anglican studies from Candler School of Theology at Emory University. His design of the pulpit, lectern, Communion rail and credence tables echoes that of the patterns found in the reredos screen. A church’s design is a metaphor for its theology, Joyner said, and St. Thomas rebuilt the experience of leaving the nave (earth) and going to the chancel (heaven) to receive Holy Communion. “We wanted to stress the whole idea of the transcendent and being in eternal communion with God,” he said. The day after the […]

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The Nehemiah Mission of Cleveland is dedicated to rebuilding hope and transforming communities by providing meals, temporary housing, and support for displaced families. During a visit, CWS’s Nick Gliha witnessed their powerful work firsthand—from serving warm meals to offering CWS Blankets and Kits to those in need. Below is his blog written about the recent experience. Providing Hope Through Meals ... Read More

Annika Greco Thompson illustrates why Lent can be a great opportunity to demonstrate God’s compassion and generosity