[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church released a letter May 15 from Southern Africa Archbishop Thabo Makgoba thanking the U.S.-based church for declining the Trump administration’s request to help resettle white South Africans in the United States – a policy that Makgoba said is based on false assumptions about his country. Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump had suspended the United States’ 45-year-old refugee resettlement program, but he later reversed himself to make a narrow exception for white South Africans, known as Afrikaners, whom he said were “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced May 12 that the church’s Episcopal Migration Ministries, would end its federal contract to provide refugee resettlement services rather than participate in the Trump administration’s plan to let “one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.” Rowe made the decision a day after consulting by phone with Makgoba, the bishop of Cape Town and primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. In his letter, Makgoba thanked Rowe for the call and expressed “our gratitude for the stand you have taken.” “What the [Trump] administration refers to as anti-white racial discrimination is nothing of the kind,” Makgoba said. “Our government implements affirmative action on the lines of that in the United States, designed not to discriminate against whites but to overcome the historic disadvantages black South Africans have suffered.” Afrikaners, who number about 3 million people in a country of 63 million, formerly were part of the governing white minority under South Africa’s extreme racial segregation of apartheid, until its end in 1994 allowed newfound enfranchisement of the country’s Black majority. Even more than 30 years later, however, Black South Africans still struggle under the weight of their country’s historical disparities, Makgoba said. “By every measure of economic and social privilege, white South Africans as a whole remain the beneficiaries of apartheid,” Makgoba said. By some measures, “we are the most unequal society in the world, with the majority of the poor black, and the majority of the wealthy white.” Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order on South Africa pledged “humanitarian relief” to Afrikaners and criticized a South African law allowing the seizure of property without compensation in certain circumstances. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected what he calls the “completely false narrative” about the law, which was intended to address the lingering disparities that Makgoba wrote of in his letter to Rowe. For example, white South Africans, who make up about 7% of the country’s population, control an estimated 72% of the country’s farmland. Rowe’s May 12 announcement also lamented the harms that Trump’s executive order restricting refugee resettlement have caused for many of the millions of other people around the world fleeing war, persecution and other hardships in their home countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are more than 32 million refugees worldwide, and tens of millions more have been displaced within their home countries. EMM has resettled nearly 110,000 such refugees over nearly 40 years, following of the Gospel call to “welcome the stranger.” Until this year, it was eager to continue that work as one of the 10 agencies with contracts to facilitate refugee resettlement on behalf of the federal government, a program that has long had bipartisan support. Trump, in halting the refugee resettlement program, claimed without evidence that refugees had become a costly burden on American communities, yet his administration expedited the resettlement of an initial group of 59 Afrikaners, who arrived in the United States on May 12. After The Episcopal Church declined to participate in the resettlement of Afrikaners, the White House responded by questioning The Episcopal Church’s “commitment to humanitarian aid.” “Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a May 13 statement. “The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration.” Makgoba pushed back against such depictions of the Afrikaners as refugees. “We cannot agree that South Africans who have lost the privileges they enjoyed under apartheid should qualify for refugee status ahead of people fleeing war and persecution from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Afghanistan,” he said. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
[Episcopal News Service] Christ Episcopal Church in Toms River and the Diocese of New Jersey are ramping up efforts to defend the church against the mayor’s effort to seize its 11-acre property downtown and turn it into a park. A Change.org petition, started by the Rev. Lisa Hoffman, Christ Church’s rector, and posted on Facebook May 13 by New Jersey Bishop Sally French, had garnered close to 2,900 signatures by midday May 15. French told Episcopal News Service she hopes that the strong public response can demonstrate that taking Christ Church’s land “is not the will of the community and that those in government in Toms River might notice that and respond.” The congregation, with the blessing of the diocese, opened a GoFundMe page on May 14 to go toward legal fees to oppose the Toms River mayor and township council. Eighteen hours later, by midday May 15, the appeal had raised more than $2,900 of its $3,500 goal. If money remains after any legal action is concluded, the appeal says, it will go toward Christ Church’s outreach ministries. To raise the church’s visibility, Hoffman had planned to be at the church’s tent during the town’s May 17 Founder’s Day celebration. However, the event has been postponed until June because of predictions of bad weather. A “Voices for the Voiceless” rally that evening, which Hoffman will open with prayer, is still set to happen. It was organized by other activists after the town council on April 30 approved the first reading of the land-seizure ordinance. Hoffman told ENS that the rally’s purpose is “not going tit for tat with the mayor over homeless policies” but to tell people experiencing homelessness that “we are there to support them, to lift and encourage the people that find themselves in that situation and advocate for them.” Christ Church also has been posting information on Facebook about its upcoming events to show its other contributions to the community. They include its annual rummage sale on May 16 and 17, a comedy show, a strawberry social fundraiser, a Christmas in July vendor event, the annual Pipes and Drums of Barnegat Bay event, and a car and truck show. The congregation is also posting an updated list of its food pantry needs. The efforts come ahead of the town zoning board’s anticipated final vote May 22 on the church’s application to allow for a 17-bed overnight homeless shelter on the church property. Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick opposes the shelter, as do some of the church’s neighbors and others. He is behind the effort to buy the church’s land or seize it through eminent domain. The council is scheduled to take public comment and make a final decision on the land-seizure ordinance on May 28. The shelter proposal calls for updating the church’s circa 1882 parish house while adding 949 square feet to it. Since 2023, the building has hosted staff from the Affordable Housing Alliance and the Toms River Housing and Homeless Coalition. Conversations about some sort of shelter began that year, Hoffman said. The Affordable Housing Alliance would run the shelter with a grant from Ocean County. Seventeen women and men who are experiencing homelessness would receive help accessing social services and finding permanent housing, as well as a safe place to eat, shower and sleep between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. “The basic premise is to bring in people that are in the best position to get into permanent housing, give them 30 days [overnight housing] to gather resources and work with the AHA and other social service agencies to get them into permanent housing,” Hoffman said. In the morning, the Affordable Housing Alliance will provide transportation to social services, jobs and to any other agencies that the alliance has connected them with. People will have to apply for a spot in the shelter and undergo a criminal background check and an assessment of whether they could move into more permanent housing, she said. French told ENS that this approach is rooted in the “fulfillment of our understanding of the Scripture and our call to be with the poor, the homeless and those who are in need, just as Christ asks us to.” Christ Church tries to help immediate needs, she said, but church leaders are “not looking just for the quick fix, they’re looking for the long-term opportunity, and they’re trying to be good neighbors and good and faithful citizens. And that’s what we need our churches to be doing.” The shelter plan requires a land zoning variance. Its current designation does not allow for a homeless shelter, but it does permit group homes for people with developmental and other disabilities, victims of domestic abuse, the elderly and the terminally ill. None of Toms River’s zoning categories allows for homeless shelters, and there are no homeless shelters in Toms River or Ocean County. Christ Church’s outreach ministries bring many people onto the campus during the day. In addition to the help offered by the two housing agencies in the parish house, it has a weekly food pantry. Fourteen different Anonymous groups host 160 monthly meetings in the church’s buildings. Plentiful Plates of Ocean County uses its kitchen weekly to cook hot meals to distribute to local people experiencing homelessness. Ocean Christian Community, which meets in the 1882 church on the property, offers twice-monthly meals, food and clothing distribution events. The mayor has been highly critical of the presence of people experiencing homelessness in Toms River, accusing Ocean County of exaggerating the homeless issue and “dumping” homeless people into the township. He has criticized rock star Jon Bon Jovi’s pop-up JBJ Soul Kitchen at the downtown library, claiming it attracts people who are homeless. If Rodrick succeeds in his effort to seize the land and shut down the church, “Toms River will lose a vital source of support for vulnerable residents,” the Change.org petition says. Rodrick, who did not reply to Episcopal News Service requests for comment, […]
[Episcopal News Service] Earlier this year, the Rev. Christopher Easthill, rector of St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican-Episcopal Church in Wiesbaden, Germany, was elected chair of the Council of Churches in Germany, becoming the first Episcopal priest to hold that position. Founded in 1948 and reconstituted in 1992 following Germany’s reunification, the council represents 25 churches and denominations countrywide. Its members include the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church in Germany (the main Protestant denomination), the Moravian Church, the Syrian and Coptic Orthodox churches, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, the Council of Anglican Episcopal Churches and many others. It focuses on shared witness, is committed to justice, peace and upholding the integrity of creation, and advocates for the rights of persecuted Christians worldwide. Easthill, who’d served nine years on the council’s five-member board, was elected chair by the council’s membership during its General Assembly in Augsburg on March 19. He succeeds Greek Orthodox Archpriest Radu Constantin Miron, who served for six years. Born in Singapore to British nationals, Easthill, a lifelong Anglican, worked for a German insurance company for 30 years and was an active member of the Church of the Ascension in Munich before pursuing ordained ministry. He attended the now-closed St. John’s Theological College in Nottingham, England, and is a 2013 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. He speaks fluent German and has both U.K. and German citizenship. He was ordained a priest in 2013 and first served as a curate at Ascension in Munich before relocating to St. Augustine of Canterbury in Wiesbaden. Easthill also chairs the Council of Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany, a 15-member organization enabling mission and ministry cooperation among the parishes in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe and the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe. The interview has been edited for clarity. ENS: What is the Council of Churches in Germany and why is it important? EASTHILL: It’s a very broad body (like the National Council of Churches in the U.S.) that includes almost all churches present at a national level. The Roman Catholic Church is a full member, which is not the case in every country; just as, for example, the Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches. It includes evangelical free churches, although “evangelical” doesn’t mean the same thing as it does in the U.S. context. They are evangelical in the sense that they are Bible-oriented, and they can sometimes be more theologically and socially conservative on issues like abortion, for example. But they are more politically liberal than American evangelicals, and we have a lot in common on things like creation care and peace and justice, and they’re willing and want to work with other churches. Today, just under 50% of Germans – 20% in what was the formerly communist East Germany – identify as Christian, and it’s important that we speak in a common language. ENS: In the U.S., mainline Protestant churches come together as the National Council of Churches and often speak in one voice on immigration reform, gun safety, climate change and other advocacy priorities, like those of the Council of Churches in Germany. In the U.S., though, the Christian right speaks louder and has its own unique voice. What does Christian public witness and advocacy look like in Germany? EASTHILL: In Germany, most people have the [shared] language to understand what we’re talking about. The most recent criticism we received was from a conservative politician telling us that churches should stick to theological themes rather than acting like an NGO and that we should stop making recommendations on political topics. So, if anything, the overall perception is that the churches in Germany are center-left, which is really not correct. We don’t back political parties. The issues we speak up on, like looking after refugees, poverty, social justice, racism, creation care – these are all Christian issues. And yet some people think our responses are particularly left-wing. Personally, I think that says more about the people criticizing us than about us. But if anything, I would say that’s a different perception. If you say Christian here, the reaction is not going to be, oh, that’s somebody who’s very conservative and doesn’t accept my lifestyle, say if I was LGBTQ. Instead, if you’re coming from the left, you are more likely to say, “Oh, they’re good, they’re on the same page.” ENS: One thing I didn’t realize is that three different Protestant denominations make up the broader Protestant Church in Germany. And of the 48% of the population who identify as Christians, just under half, about 24%, are Catholic. Can you briefly shed some light on this part of history? EASTHILL: It’s complicated! Germany only became a unified state in the 19th century. After the [Protestant] Reformation, some parts of the country remained Catholic, and where the Reformation took effect, it was also the local ruler’s decision which Protestant denomination – Lutheran, Reformed or later United – was recognized. The main Protestant church now unites all three different “flavors” at a national level. Regionally, like our partners in Bavaria, the church will usually just identify with one denomination. On top of that, 40 years of communism in the East [East Germany] had a significant negative impact on church membership. ENS: In early June, The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria are poised to sign a full-communion agreement. What is its significance? EASTHILL: On a practical level, it allows for exchange of clergy. We have a big church in Munich and two smaller mission churches in Augsburg and Nuremberg; if there’s an English-speaking pastor, we now have interchangeability we didn’t have before. The wider impact is, it’s the first full-communion agreement that an Anglican church has reached with a German Lutheran church, with their very different history and understanding of the office of bishop. We have full communion agreements, of course, in the United States with the Evangelical Lutheran […]
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will join other leaders from across the Anglican Communion as part of an Anglican delegation attending a May 18 worship service in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square inaugurating Pope Leo XIV as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The inauguration service will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday. Other members of the Anglican delegation include Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop Thabo Makoba of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop John McDowell of the Church of Ireland and Archbishop Leonard Dawea of the Anglican Church of Melanesia. Dawea, a member of the standing committee of the Anglican Primates’ Meeting, also serves on the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission and will lead the delegation. Bishop Anthony Ball, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See, also will attend. “The delegation will represent the prayers and support of Anglicans around the world as Pope Leo is inaugurated,” the Anglican Communion Office said in a news release. “The delegation will also embody the commitment of the Anglican Communion to walk in friendship and partnership with the Catholic Church.” The Anglican Communion is a network of 42 autonomous, interdependent provinces worldwide, including The Episcopal Church, each with historical ties to the Church of England. An Anglican delegation also attended the April 26 funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected May 8 by the conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals. A native of Chicago, Illinois, the 69-year-old Leo is the first U.S.-born elected pope, though he has spent much of his career in ordained ministry outside the United States, including Peru. In 2023, Francis brought him to the Vatican, where he served as prefect of the church’s Dicastery for Bishops. The Anglican delegation will be hosted in Rome by the Anglican Centre, which has worked since 1966 to strengthen ties between the Anglican Communion’s provinces and the Roman Catholic Church. “On the day of his election, Pope Leo reminded us that Christ helps to build bridges with dialogue and encounter as we strive to be one people living in peace,” Ball, who also attended Francis’ funeral, said in the Anglican Communion Office’s news release. “At the Anglican Centre in Rome we renew our commitment to the ongoing dialogue between our traditions and our shared work, so that Christ may be known and glorified.” Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, also issued a statement about the inauguration. “We pray for Pope Leo as he prepares for his inauguration,” Poggo said. “Along with representatives of other Christian world communions, we express our support and encouragement.”
[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, announced May 13 it is selling its diocesan headquarters to a nonprofit founded partly by the diocese in the 1980s that in recent years has expanded its ministry of serving people experiencing poverty, hunger and homelessness. The nonprofit, New Bethany, was founded through a partnership with the city of Bethlehem and Cathedral Church of the Nativity. Since 2022, the diocese has allowed New Bethany to use space at Diocesan House in Bethlehem for volunteer housing, meeting rooms and offices. “New Bethany ministries was a vision of a reimagined Wyandotte Street where the spiritual and outreach needs of Southside Bethlehem and beyond would be embraced with the love of Jesus,” Bethlehem Bishop Kevin Nichols said in a news release announcing the sale. “In so many ways, this dream has been realized.” The two-story building includes more than 6,000 square feet of space. Transfer of the property’s deed to New Bethany is scheduled for late May, and diocesan staff will relocate to space in the adjacent Nativity Cathedral. Nichols declined for this story to specify the amount of the sale but told Episcopal News Service that New Bethany agreed to pay the appraised value of the property. Nichols also emphasized the productive conversations between his diocesan staff and the staff of the cathedral for shared use of its space. “We have really kind of walked into a new moment of collaboration,” he said. Taking ownership of the former diocesan headquarters “directly responds to New Bethany’s need for expanded facilities to carry out our mission and better serve our neighbors effectively,” New Bethany Executive Director J. Marc Rittle said in the diocese’s news release. “Although we have tripled our budget and doubled our staff to meet the increasing demand for our services, we are simply out of room to accommodate everyone. We are deeply grateful for the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem’s collaboration and vision in facilitating this acquisition.” The property transfer is the latest development in a time of change in the Diocese of Bethlehem, which is in the process of merging with the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. The two dioceses voted to reunify in October 2024 at their diocesan conventions. They are following a canonical process known as reunion because the two were once part of the same diocese. Under their current timeline, they expect to reunite on Jan. 1, 2026, as the Episcopal Diocese of the Susquehanna, named after the river that runs through the center of Pennsylvania. In February, the dioceses announced plans to experiment with a “sibling parish” program, connecting congregations from one diocese with counterparts from the other to help smooth the transition to one diocese by next year. Nichols also told ENS that he and Central Pennsylvania Bishop Audrey Scanlan plan to begin conducting congregational visitations in each other’s dioceses this summer. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
[Anglican Communion News Service] The central members and Anglican Communion representatives of the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission were announced on May 13. This commission works prayerfully and collaboratively to discern and nominate the next archbishop of Canterbury. The Crown Nominations Commission for the archbishop of Canterbury nomination is larger than that for other diocesan bishops, with 17 voting members in a wider commission made up of 20 members. In 2022, General Synod approved changes to the CNC’s Standing Orders that increased the number of representatives from the Anglican Communion from one to five for the Crown Nominations Commission of the See of Canterbury. They are nominated by the Anglican Communion, one from each of the five regions and include primates, clergy and lay people. Voting members Chair: Lord (Jonathan) Evans of Weardale (appointed by the prime minister) Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell Bishop of Norwich Graham Usher (elected by the House of Bishops) Anglican Communion representatives (nominated by the 5 regions of the Communion): Americas – Mr. Joaquín Philpotts. Oceania – The Rev. Canon Isaac Beach. Africa – The Rev. Professor Grace Nkansa Asante. Asia – The Most Rev. Hosam Naoum. Europe – The Rt. Rev. Mary Stallard. Central Members (drawn from the Crown Nominations Commission Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them): Ms. Christina Baron Miss Debbie Buggs The Rev. Canon Paul Cartwright The Rev. Lis Goddard The Rev. Canon Claire Lording Mr. Clive Scowen Canterbury Diocesan representatives: To be announced on the conclusion of the Canterbury Vacancy in See process. Non-voting members Secretary to the Commission: Stephen Knott (Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments) Jonathan Hellewell (Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary) The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo (The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion) Following a public consultation that saw thousands of people share their views on the qualities needed in the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Commission will convene for its first meeting later this month, followed by at least two further meetings – one in July and another in September. Through these, the Commission will agree the ‘Role Profile’ and ‘Person Specification’ for the next Archbishop of Canterbury, discern the longlist, shortlist and interview candidates. Under the Standing Orders of the General Synod, a nomination cannot be made to the crown unless it has received the support of at least two-thirds of the total number of the voting members of the Commission in a secret ballot. The Chair of the Canterbury CNC, Lord (Jonathan) Evans said: “Helping to choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury is both a great responsibility and a privilege. The Crown Nominations Commission understands the weight of this important decision and we pray for God’s hand on the process. “I thank those who have taken part in the public consultation across the country and the Anglican Communion, helping us to establish the gifts, skills and qualities required in the next archbishop. Do please keep the CNC process in your prayers as we seek to discern who God is calling to this important ministry.” For more information You can also read this announcement on the Church of England website. Learn more about the nominations process for the next Archbishop of Canterbury on the Church of England website.
[Episcopal News Service] For Episcopalians in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, caring for creation includes animal welfare because “the Lord God made them all.” That’s why, since 2023, the diocese’s Animal Ministry has been connecting owners to pets through adoption and foster events, providing access to free and low-cost vaccines and pet food and much more. Pennsylvania Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview that he was inspired to launch the ministry after observing people and their pets interact in public. “It got me thinking, what if a person passes away, or a veteran or enlisted person in the Armed Services gets deployed, what happens to the animal? What about the elderly who need help?” Gutiérrez said. “We have a responsibility to be caretakers – stewards of God’s creation – whether it’s animals, the land or the sky … everything.” Several parishes have answered the diocese’s call to care for animals. The Free Church of St. John hosted a free animal vaccine event in Philadelphia. St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Roxborough offers blessings for veterans’ pets and pets belonging to residents in a nearby retirement community. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia has established a pet food pantry and provides free animal vaccines. In Whitemarsh, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church’s animal ministry offers short- and long-term fostering assistance, pet supplies and vaccines. The church has hosted five dog adoption events for local animal organizations, and 45 dogs have been adopted so far. St. Thomas’ has also hosted a cat adoption event. The occasional social “Yappy Hours” events have broadened local foster networks. The diocese is in the early stages of building a network of churches that will train volunteer parishioners as fosters and provide 24/7 support to fosters by providing expense assistance and other resources. Fostering animals frees up space in the shelters, meaning fewer animals are euthanized. It also reduces the animals’ stress and increases the likelihood of adoption. About 6.5 million dogs and cats nationwide entered shelters in 2023, often because their previous owners abused them. “Domesticated animals are inherently dependent on us,” Gutiérrez said. “It’s hard for me to grasp … anyone who would intentionally injure a child or an animal. It just doesn’t speak to who we are as God’s beloved.” Jennifer Tucker, the diocese’s canon for communications, serves on a Philadelphia pet shelter’s board and is training to become a chaplain for veterinarians. She also helps run the Diocese of Pennsylvania’s Animal Ministry, including the ministry at her home parish, St. Thomas’. “The power of being around animals and the love they bring, it’s a gift that I can’t even put into words,” Tucker told ENS. “There are so many studies about how loneliness is a problem, and having pets helps reduce that because they give us love and acceptance, sometimes exercise, a lot of wonderful benefits.” Tucker co-leads St. Thomas’ animal ministry with Anne Anspach. They met while volunteering at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter in Abington. “I’m not sure if animals love you unconditionally, but, for example, I’ve seen dogs who’ve been severely mistreated and starved – skin and bones – yet they’ll still trust people to help turn their lives around,” Anspach told ENS. As of 2024, 66% of U.S. households include a pet, and 97% of pet owners consider pets a part of the family, according to data compiled by the American Pet Products Association and Pew Research Center. Because pets are important to many people, a certified animal chaplain at St. Thomas’, Donna Mosebach, is available to serve families through all stages of their pets’ lives for free, from blessing a new pet to leading memorial services for deceased pets. Tucker said she chose to become a chaplain for veterinarians because suicide rates are high among veterinarians due to burnout, compassion fatigue and access to euthanasia drugs. Ending an animal’s life can take a psychological toll on veterinarians, who also must console owners who are grieving the loss of their pet, a family member. “Veterinarians are supporting the animals [and their owners], and they need to be supported, too,” Tucker said. Tucker also has worked with the diocese’s Clare Project – named after St. Clare of Assisi, a companion of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals – which assists unhoused people and their pets in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, a “ground zero” of the United States’ opioid crisis. An estimated 12% of people who are homeless have pets, which provide emotional support and reduce loneliness. Homeless shelters usually lack pet-friendly accommodations and often must decline services to pet owners, according to the ASPCA. St. Thomas’ also encourages volunteers to provide daylong or hours-long respite for shelter animals and bring them to the church, where dog walking is welcome on its 42-acre campus. Sharing pictures on social media and tagging the church is especially welcome. St. Thomas’ provides resources for pet owners and foster parents to receive low-cost or free food, medical supplies and veterinary treatment, including spay and neuter services. To help encourage dog fostering and bonding, St. Thomas’ is building a “canine cottage” on campus where volunteers can bring dogs to play and rest indoors and outdoors. When built, the facility will serve as the animal ministry’s headquarters. Many Episcopal churches nationwide offer a blessing-of-the-animals worship service on or around St. Francis’ feast day, Oct. 4, which is also known as World Animal Day. At these services, everyone is welcome to bring their pets for a special blessing. In October, St. Thomas’ will have a traditional blessing-of-the-animals worship service, but with a twist: An animal fair will also take place. Veterinarians and dog trainers will offer advice for pet owners and answer questions. Family-friendly activities will include making cat toys and an agility display from a dog training club. “Every animal has their own personality, and they’re so attuned to the world. … They live for the moment – something we humans have forgotten. Animals, […]
[Episcopal News Service] When a small group of white South Africans, whom the Trump administration has deemed refugees, arrive in the United States this week, they will be assisted by some nonprofit agencies that historically have contracted with the U.S. government to do that resettlement work. Episcopal Migration Ministries will not be one of them. The Episcopal Church, according to a letter issued May 12 by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, has declined the Trump administration’s request to participate in the fast-tracked immigration of Afrikaners, part of the white minority in South Africa that formerly governed the country until the end of the extreme racial segregation of apartheid in 1994. EMM has not assisted any new arrivals since early this year, when the Trump administration halted the broader federal resettlement program indefinitely. Millions of people worldwide are identified by the United Nations as refugees escaping war, famine or religious persecution in their home countries. EMM has resettled nearly 110,000 such refugees over nearly 40 years, but “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step” of assisting the Trump administration in resettling Afrikaners, Rowe said after consulting with Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town. Instead, The Episcopal Church will formally end all federal resettlement work when its contract expires at the end of this fiscal year, on Sept. 30. EMM, after further reducing its staff, will continuing operating as a church-based ministry to serve the needs of refugees already in the U.S., as well as asylum-seekers and other migrants. EMM had been one of 10 nongovernmental agencies, many of them associated with religious denominations, that facilitated refugee resettlement through the federal program created in 1980. Refugees traditionally have been among the most thoroughly vetted of all immigrants and often waited for years overseas for their opportunity to start new lives in the United States. The Afrikaners, about 50 of whom were scheduled to begin arriving in the United States as early as May 12, were screened and cleared for travel in the three months since Trump signed a Feb. 7 executive order accusing South Africa’s Black-led government of racial discrimination against the white minority group. Afrikaners number about 3 million in a country of 63 million people. “It has been painful to watch one group of refugees [the Afrikaners], selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said in his letter. When Trump took office, some refugees who had waited their turn to be resettled and received clearance to travel to the United States had their travel plans revoked after the president signed his executive order halting the resettlement program. Trump said the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities” despite successful efforts by EMM and the other resettlement agencies to ramp up their resettlement operations during the Biden administration. Until the program was suspended, the United States had opened its doors to up to 125,000 refugees a year, with the largest numbers originating from the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela and Burma. Many had fled war-torn regions like Sudan, while others came from countries where citizens now face persecution for their past support of the United States military. “I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country,” Rowe said. “I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.” The federal refugee resettlement program has long had bipartisan support. EMM and the other contracted agencies have provided a range of federally funded services for the first months after the refugees’ arrivals, including English language and cultural orientation classes, employment services and school enrollment, and they helped covered costs such as food and rent as the refugees began to establish new lives and contribute to their adopted communities. Trump’s executive order suspending the program was one of the first actions he took after returning to office on Jan. 20. In the order, he claimed without evidence that refugees had become a costly burden on American communities. On Jan. 31, EMM responded by announcing plans to wind down its core resettlement operations and lay off 22 employees while shifting its focus to other efforts. “While we do not know exactly how this ministry will evolve in our church’s future, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with migrants and with our congregations who serve them,” the Rev. Sarah Shipman, EMM’s director, said at the time. Trump’s order gave no indication when, if ever, the congressionally enacted program would resume, other than “such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” Less than three weeks later, the president’s executive order on South Africa pledged “humanitarian relief” to Afrikaners but it did not specify how the interests of the United States would be served by granting refugee status to white South Africans and expediting their resettlement in the United States. The executive order accuses the South African government of “rights violations” toward Afrikaners, specifically a law allowing the seizure of property without compensation in certain circumstances. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected such claims. “We should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution,” Ramaphosa said in a March message. Global resettlement needs have only increased in recent years. The refugees who are resettled in the United States typically are fleeing war, persecution and other hardships in their home countries. The United Nations High […]
[Office of the Archbishop of York] On May 9, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell offered his thoughts in the Yorkshire Post on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe over the Nazis, which took place on May 8. In it he called for the active defense of international law and the rules-based order that followed the end of World War II. His remarks are printed below. Maybe it was for a school project, or maybe it was just over Sunday lunch, or on a family holiday. But I imagine most of us who did not live through the privations and suffering of WWII asked our older family members the same question: “What was it really like during the war?” My parents had been evacuated as children, my uncle had fought in Burma, and my grandmas had lived through two world wars. I knew that, to all of them, VE Day meant something. It wasn’t just the remembrance of an historical event, something confined to the past. To them, it was an ongoing celebration of a new, and present, reality. For they knew that Victory in Europe, 80 years ago, had given birth to a new world. We had fought, in the words of my wartime predecessor Archbishop Temple, against “an evil the magnitude and horror of which it is impossible to describe in words.” We fought to uphold the values that Nazism had sought to destroy – the idea that we are one humanity, that we belong to each other, and have responsibilities to each other, whatever our class, race, religion or nation – values which are deeply rooted in our Judeo-Christian tradition. But this struggle did not end with the defeat of Nazism. The fight for our neighbor continued, no longer on the battlefields of Europe, but on the political front. In the hope of creating a society that was better than before, a new world was born out of the rubble of war. At home, we established the modern Welfare State: the NHS, social housing, social security, child benefit and free legal aid, among many other things. As William Beveridge wrote in his famous Report, “a revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.” Globally, the rules-based international order took shape, so that law, not raw power, would govern relations between states. The United Nations was set up as a cornerstone, its goal to promote peace, defend human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development and uphold international law. Without Victory in Europe, this new world would never have been born. Of course, it is not perfect – structures created by humans never are – but it is nevertheless a world founded firmly on the ideals we fought for. And I shudder to think what world we would be living in if victory in Europe had not been ours, but Hitler’s. In our opposition to what was worst in us, we discovered what is best. That is what VE Day was about for my family – and it is what it means to me. Not a mere memorial, but a living legacy. In routing darkness, it gave birth to a new day, full of joy, peace and hope, which still shines on us today. But, 80 years on, this legacy is increasingly under threat. Our government must actively defend international law and the rules-based order – whenever it is broken, whoever breaks it, whether friend or foe. If we don’t, the laws will lose all power to curb humanity’s worst excesses, and we will once again be shrouded in the darkness where only one law matters: Might is Right. VE Day is not simply a day of remembrance. It is a call to action.
[World Council of Churches] Churches in Haiti are communicating with hearts overwhelmed by the growing suffering of their people, according to the Rev. Eliner Cadet, president of the National Coalition of Haitian Pastors. Cadet appealed for Christian solidarity and support, for united prayer for the Haitian people, and for the return of peace, justice and human dignity. Cadet also urged “diplomatic support to encourage serious and coordinated international initiatives to put an end to the violence perpetrated by criminal gangs in Haiti,” as well as “intervention with international organizations: to call on the Dominican authorities, particularly the current president, to respect the fundamental rights of Haitians, even within the framework of a repatriation process.” Read the entire article here.
[Episcopal News Service] May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and some Episcopal dioceses are celebrating the contributions of people of Asian descent in The Episcopal Church and throughout the United States. “The Episcopal Church should celebrate the fact that Asian congregations and members have been around for a long time in The Episcopal Church, and they have contributed to the church,” New York Bishop Suffragan Allen K. Shin, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, grew up in Daegu and immigrated to the United States in 1972, told Episcopal News Service. “We are celebrating the fact that the body of Christ reflects God’s image of diversity of creation,” Shin said. “We human beings are created in the image of God, and that image is very diverse, not just one race.” The heritage month was originally observed beginning in 1979 as a weeklong celebration, based on a resolution signed by President Jimmy Carter. The choice of May originates in the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States in May 1843 and the use of Chinese labor to build the first transcontinental railroad, completed in May 1869. President George H.W. Bush signed a bill in 1990 extending the observance to a full month. Shin will preach May 11 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan in a worship service honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. New York Bishop Matthew Heyd will celebrate. The livestreamed service will feature elements from various Asian cultures. The Columbia University Lion Dance Club will perform a traditional lion dance during the procession. On May 17, the Diocese of Massachusetts will host a special celebration and Eucharist at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. Shin will deliver the keynote speech there as well. The Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica Ministries, and Eunil David Cho, associate professor at Boston University School of Theology and an ordained Presbyterian minister, will share what it means for them to be Asian Americans in the church and in society. “As an Asian American person, being aware of my identity and of my histories, my contexts, my family, my communities and my call all intersect,” Lagman told ENS. “It means that my lens will point me toward what it’s like to be on the margins, but also aware of my own privilege, like my education.” Lagman, who is of Philippine descent, oversees nine ethnic convocations in The Episcopal Church: Arab/Middle East, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and youth and young adults. On May 28, Faith Christian Church of India in Ballwin, Missouri, a missional congregation based in the Diocese of Missouri, will host a gathering for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson will speak. Even though The Episcopal Church is slowly becoming more diverse, as of 2024 just 2% of Episcopalians are of Asian descent, according to the Pew Research Center. Still, Lagman and Shin both expressed the importance of learning about Asian and Pacific Islander history in the United States and in The Episcopal Church. Asian Americans have been members of The Episcopal Church for more than 150 years. The first recorded Chinese-Anglican service in North America took place in 1871 in Virginia City, Nevada, after a Chinese convert named Ah Foo ministered to Chinese miners and railroad workers in Virginia City and Carson City. Three years later, he and Pennsylvania Bishop Ozi William Whitaker – then-missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona – established the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in Carson City, a missionary church for Asian railroad workers. Last month, Shin and Lagman joined fellow Asian American Episcopalians at the annual Asian American Pacific Islander Clergy and Lay Leadership Retreat in Kansas City, Missouri, to share their hopes and desires for The Episcopal Church. The retreat centered around the importance of storytelling, especially now amid federal government entities’ attempts to whitewash U.S. history in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion. Because of the executive orders, the Asian American heritage month is no longer federally recognized, and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders was dissolved after working to connect those communities to federal resources since 1999. Prior to the executive orders, racism and violence against people of Asian descent nationwide had been growing in recent years, in large part because the COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China. Cho, who is Korean American, told ENS that many Asian Americans are “still grieving” and “traumatized by the whole pandemic experience and the mass shooting of Asian women at the spa” in 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. “The whole country went back to the Yellow Peril stereotype … and that continues to be a huge point of suffering and pain,” Cho said. “At the same time, a more social-based activism has emerged, and we’ve been challenged to break the silence and be more open and bolder about raising our voices.” Lagman echoed those sentiments. “When people want to bury or oppress us, it becomes more and more important for us to make our voices heard and to engage our allies to amplify our voices even further,” Lagman said. Shin and Lagman said they hope that Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month observances will be informative and encourage The Episcopal Church to work to recruit and foster clergy and lay leadership. “Even though we represent a small number of Episcopalians, we are still part of The Episcopal Church,” Shin said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.
[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.
[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.
[Episcopal News Service] To say this year has been a busy one for The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations would be an understatement. With President Donald Trump taking office for a second term in January and quickly upending many of the legal, political and diplomatic norms of the nation and its capital city, the Office of Government Relations, following resolutions adopted by General Convention, is using an acronym to help focus its responses to the new administration’s actions: LEAP, or litigation, education, advocacy and prayer. Litigation includes the lawsuit filed by The Episcopal Church and its interfaith partners seeking to protect houses of worship from Trump administration immigration enforcement actions. To educate Episcopalians on other issues that matter to the church, the Office of Government Relations holds updates at 1 p.m. Eastern every Thursday on Zoom and partners with Episcopal Migration Ministries on a separate weekly update at 1 p.m. Eastern Tuesdays focused on immigration. The office’s advocacy in support of the church’s nonpartisan public policy positions combines meetings with elected officials with its churchwide mobilization of Episcopalians through the Episcopal Public Policy Network’s weekly action alerts. Even with such a broad range of engagement, the church can’t respond to every new development out of the White House and Congress. That’s where prayer comes in, said Rebecca Blachly, the church’s chief of public policy and witness. In March, the Office of Government Relations began releasing weekly prayers, usually numbering about a half dozen, focused on various issues of the week that might otherwise have fallen through the cracks. “We still wanted some way to respond” to those issues, Blachly told Episcopal News Service, “and we heard from Episcopalians that they were eager for us to respond.” The prayers are distributed by email every Friday and on social media. Anyone signed up for the Episcopal Public Policy Network’s action alerts also will receive the weekly prayer emails. The May 2 prayers focused on police and policing, Indigenous communities, coalition building and Yemen, as well as a “prayer for discernment in digesting online content.” “Most High God, your Son is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” the latter prayer reads. “In his name, we raise to you our concerns about false, distorted, or fabricated information which is increasingly shared online and through official channels. Help us all to be wise consumers of information, and grant protection and healing to those who have been harmed by untrue posts. Amen.” Blachly and the staff of the Office of Government Relations decide on the prayers’ topics after discussing the top issues of the week, based partly on the feedback that office receives from its weekly webinars and Episcopal Public Policy Network members. The prayers aren’t intended to be a comprehensive series, though each weekly selection has been intentional and “specific enough that it was responding to the contemporary moment,” Blachly said. The office’s intern, Emily DeMarco, has taken the lead in writing the prayers. Often the purpose of the prayers is to “stand in solidarity with those who feel afraid or vulnerable or threatened” by Trump administration policies, particularly as it pursues an anti-immigrant and anti-transgender agenda, Blachly said. The Office of Government Relations, for example, heard a lot of concern from its networks about the National Park Service’s removal of Pauli Murray’s biography from its website. Murray, the first Black woman ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church, is also remembered as a trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ community. The Murray Family Home in Durham, North Carolina, is now a National Historic Landmark. Murray was celebrated in the first weekly prayers distributed by the Office of Government Relations, on March 14. “Holy God, you call each of us by name in the fullness of who You created us to be,” the prayer reads. “We join in the lament of our nonbinary and transgender siblings whose identities are being removed from government documents. We remember Pauli Murray, whom we celebrate with a feast day, and whose biography was deleted from a government website. Amen.” In inaugurating the weekly prayer series, the Office of Government Relations affirmed that the prayers “are not a replacement for action.” Rather, they “offer grounding and allow us space to discern what actions each of us may feel compelled to take.” The office continues to send separate weekly action alerts on the most pressing issues for church advocacy. The April 29 alert urged Episcopalians to contact members of Congress in support of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. The church has long advocated for robust government spending on SNAP as part of the Gospel call to alleviate poverty and hunger. Other recent action alerts have focused on federal investments in the environmental protection and advocating passage of the Religious Workforce Protection Act, which would ease legal residency restrictions on clergy from around the world who are serving congregations in the United States. The weekly prayers, meanwhile, are aligned with Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s vision for his newly created Division of Public Policy, Partnership and Witness, which Blachly leads. Prayer, she said, “is one way that we can offer public witness.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
[Church of England] More than 11,000 people have participated in the consultations for the next archbishop of Canterbury – carried out online, by mail and in person between February and March this year. The public consultation was a unique opportunity to influence the future of leadership within the church, helping to discern the gifts, skills and qualities required in the 106th archbishop of Canterbury to meet the needs of the church today and in the years to come. The themes that emerge through this consultation will sit alongside the “Statement of Needs” produced by the Diocese of Canterbury, as well as other information provided by the national church and Anglican Communion. This information will inform the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission of the needs of the mission of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. Here are some of the consultations at a glance: Secretaries’ consultations – the archbishops’ secretary for appointments and the Prime Minister’s appointments secretary met with over 350 individuals during the consultation period, including representatives of other Christian traditions and non-Christian traditions, parliamentarians, leaders from public life, and those who minister, work and worship across the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. Children and young people consultations – over 1,200 children and young people participated in consultations conducted by the National Society for Education and the appointments secretaries. Online public consultations – the online consultation form received over 9,600 responses. Written public consultations – over 160 pieces of written correspondence (e.g. emails and letters) were received. Read more about the process for selecting the next archbishop of Canterbury here.
[World Council of Churches] In light of the recent escalation of violence following India’s military strikes on Pakistan, World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay urged both nations to exercise restraint and to prioritize peace over further escalation. “We express deep concern for the welfare of the people of both India and Pakistan, and of the wider region, in the intensifying confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations,” said Pillay. On April 22, five armed militants brutally killed 26 civilians near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. “With the current retaliation by India and the response by Pakistan, many more civilians are being killed and injured,” Pillay said. “The pain of loss and the urgency of justice must not lead to further violence or suffering.” Read the entire article here.
[Episcopal News Service] April was a busy month at St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta, Georgia. First, the congregation stepped up its preparations for Holy Week and gathered all week for daily liturgies, culminating April 20 in Easter worship services attended by almost 600 people. Then, less than 24 hours later, a professional film crew arrived. Certain St. James facilities will be featured in an upcoming true crime limited series on Hulu about the notorious Murdaugh family murders. Some of the church’s halls and offices were transformed by the crew to depict the South Carolina law offices of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted of killing his wife and son in 2021. A parishioner at St. James who works as a film location scout recommended the Episcopal church for the shoot, for which the congregation is receiving an undisclosed fee. An initial round of filming took place there in March, and at 5:30 a.m. April 21, the production crew returned for another weeklong shoot, according to Scott Smoot, the congregation’s communications coordinator. He told Episcopal News Service he was particularly impressed how the crew created the illusion of sun on otherwise gray days or before sunrise. “They needed bright sunshine, so they brought their own,” Smoot said. With reflective screens and powerful lights outside the office window, the production ensured enough artificial sun for the actors at work on an interior scene. “It was very convincing.” The Murdaugh murders occurred one state away, in South Carolina, but it is common for such scenes to be shot in Georgia. The state has become a major player in the American film industry thanks largely to state tax incentives and the growth of Atlanta-based studios. Marietta City Manager Bill Bruton told the Marietta Daily Journal that, in addition to the production at St. James, the city was expecting “a couple of other” productions to begin filming nearby in the coming month. In the Hulu series, Patricia Arquette was cast in one of the lead roles, as murder victim Maggie Murdaugh, according to Variety, while Jason Clarke is to portray Alex Murdaugh. It is based partly on the reporting of journalist Mandy Matney, who is also depicted as a character in the series. No public release date has been specified. Marietta is a city of about 60,000 residents located northwest of Atlanta. St. James, part of the Diocese of Atlanta, sits on a property roughly the size of a full city block. Railroad tracks run behind the church, which sometimes required the production to call “cut!” when the sound of trains passing interrupted a scene. The action in most scenes filmed at St. James was unrelated to the church’s more familiar parish functions – and no murders were depicted there – though the filmmakers also shot one funeral scene in a small chapel on the campus that dates to the 1840s. “It was really lots of fun for me to see the place full with actors,” Smoot said. To film the other scenes, the crew took over the church’s vestry conference room, parlor, foyer and hallways, which were crowded all week after Easter with cameras and actors, Smoot said. He and other members of St. James mostly stayed out of the way and watched from a distance. One exception was when the crew needed assistance opening a door to the church archives. That scene included a closeup of an actor’s hand on the doorknob. Church leaders also had to respond to “big excitement” when a stray bird flew into the church, disrupting the filming of one of the office scenes until the winged intruder could be removed. The presence of a film crew hasn’t interfered much with the church’s weekly routines, though the choir chose to cancel one of its rehearsals rather than navigate around all the film equipment and wires. The crew also brought its own furniture and other props, and between shoots, many of those set pieces remain in place. The crew expected to return for at least one more day, likely later this month, to get final footage at St. James. For now, a nameplate on one of the doors says “Murdaugh.” Bookshelves contain law books that never would be found in a church library. A trophy deer head hangs from a wall. Curtains were added to the windows to create the right atmosphere. “A lot of us have gotten used to the way things look now,” Smoot said. The production has offered to leave some of those window treatments behind for the church. It also will repaint and repair walls that were altered for scenes and will relandscape gardens outside the church where film equipment caused some damage. Overall, St. James parishioners have treated the film shoot as a harmless fascination that also has drawn attention to the church in local news stories, and the congregation is receiving financial compensation from the film company. Smoot declined to reveal how much, though he said the proceeds will help St. James pay for an undramatic but necessary church improvement: a new roof. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
[Episcopal News Service] There’s no excuse for food waste at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Gridley, California. Anything that’s not eaten right away or composted can be preserved, which has become an entertaining and tasty activity for the team of parishioners who teach free monthly food preservation classes, mostly using produce from the church’s community garden. “We want to be good stewards of what we’ve been given and share it with others. They, too, can be good stewards,” Kathy Mahannah, St. Timothy’s senior warden, told Episcopal News Service. “We grow the food; we eat. We preserve what we don’t eat right away, and we compost what we don’t eat all of and put it back into the garden. It’s a self-contained, full circle of creation care with no added transportation.” Mahannah is a certified master food preserver, as are her wife, Grace Mahannah, and Brianna Swanson, another instructor. The three started St. Timothy’s “Preserving Food with Friends” program in June 2024. In St. Timothy’s parish hall every first Saturday of the month, except December, they and other volunteers teach an element of food preservation – pickling, different types of canning, fermenting, dehydrating and more – using whatever cultivars, or plant varieties, are appropriate for preserving and in season. “Everything we teach is seasonal. When it’s strawberry season, we’ll teach a strawberry jam class. In June, we’ll have cucumbers, so we’ll make pickles,” Swanson told ENS, adding the classes offer many benefits. “Students can connect with people and with orchards to glean free food, or they can pick up food from the community garden and know how to preserve what they’ve gathered.” Despite its tiny size – averaging about 15 people every Sunday for worship – St. Timothy’s congregation is impacting the community of about 7,000 residents with its food preservation classes. Even though Butte County, California, where Gridley is located, is a significant agricultural area, 14.6% of its residents – higher than the 12.6% statewide average – are experiencing food insecurity, according to the latest data from Feeding America. Food preservation techniques can help alleviate food insecurity by extending the shelf life of food, ensuring year-round access to food and reducing food waste while maintaining nutritional value. The three instructors emphasize food and kitchen hygiene and safety – including knife skills – in all their classes to prevent injury, foodborne illness, spoilage and waste. They explain the science behind why and how much of certain ingredients need to be added to specific recipes, and how to properly process preserved foods. For example, canned tomato products, like salsa, must have a certain amount of bottled lemon or lime juice, or vinegar with sufficient acidity, to kill and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria that cause botulism, which can be fatal. The instructors then lead a hands-on demonstration and answer questions throughout. Students can customize spices and seasonings to taste. “We teach you what to do and why you’re doing it. We teach about pathogens and what can be in your food if you don’t prepare it safely,” Kathy Mahannah said. “We want to make sure that after two hours of learning with us, people will go home with best practices and properly vetted recipes.” All materials are provided, and signup isn’t required. Class sizes average 20 people with some returning students. Children are also welcome to participate, with adult supervision. Students also get to enjoy free samples of whatever they’re learning to make. “When we gave samples of sauerkraut and pickled carrots the last time we taught fermented and pickled vegetables, everyone said, ‘this is the best sauerkraut I’ve ever had, and these are the best carrots I’ve ever had,’” Grace Mahannah said. Kathy and Grace Mahannah also are both master gardeners. Between July 2022 and November 2023, using a grant from the Episcopal Foundation of Northern California, they and other volunteers helped turn St. Timothy’s back lot into a community garden with 20 beds available to rent. Once a week, they host a community composting hub there, and St. Timothy’s recently installed a greenhouse to grow more vegetables year-round. Much of the garden’s produce is used for the food preservation classes. The rest is given away once a month to those in need. Other financial donations are used to purchase canning jars, lids and bands, canning salt and other materials for the preservation classes. Nearby farmers donate additional materials and produce. One individual donated more than a year’s supply of pectin. “From a spiritual standpoint, I love the modeling of generosity in giving everything you know, and people are generous in return,” Grace Mahannah said. “It’s a generosity that we’re able to practice as Christians and also community – just being a good neighbor, being someone who is concerned about the community and whatever we can contribute to it.” The Mahannahs and Swanson said there’s been growing demand for low-sugar recipes. They began incorporating low-sugar options, including blueberry rhubarb jam with sugar-free pectin, in their classes beginning with the May 3 session, which covered fruit jams. Low-sugar recipes will also be offered during the pie filling class later this year. “We’re always looking for new and exciting recipes to try and teach our students,” Swanson said. She hopes to eventually teach a food preservation class to nearby 4-H clubs and Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts troops, who could use those skills to enter food competitions in the Butte County Fair in Gridley or the California State Fair in Sacramento, which is about 58 miles south of Gridley. Those children would be following in the footsteps of certified winners. Swanson, for one, took first and second place last year at the Butte County Fair with her pickles. The food preservation instructors said their favorite preserved foods are dehydrated mango, jams and escabeche – Mexican pickled vegetables. “It’s all delicious and really fun to make,” Grace Mahannah said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can […]
[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Anthony Ball was commissioned director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Italy, during a midday May 6 Eucharist attended by some 50 ecumenical partners and friends in the center’s Chapel of St. Augustine of Canterbury. “Today, in remarkable and historic circumstances, we welcome enthusiastically and liturgically our new director,” said the Rt. Rev. Michael Burrows, chair of the center’s board of governors and bishop of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe in the Church of Ireland, during his sermon. “We can’t, of course, as happened on the last similar occasion, combine this with an encounter between the occupants of the chairs of Peter and Augustine. That must wait.” It’s the first time since 1691, Burrows noted, that the Roman Catholic Church’s papacy and the Church of England’s office of the archbishop of Canterbury are vacant at the same time. The center’s director also serves as the archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See at the Vatican. Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21. An Anglican delegation, including Burrows and Ball, attended Francis’ April 26 funeral. The conclave to elect the next pope begins May 7. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stepped down Jan. 6 under pressure over his handling of a sprawling abuse scandal in the Church of England. The Crown Nominations Commission has started the process of choosing a successor. “We heard much at the papal funeral about the importance of building bridges rather than walls… In a very special way, the director of this center builds and reinforces bridges on behalf of all Anglicans between Canterbury and Rome,” Burrows said. “It’s, of course, particularly challenging to build bridges when the actual supports on both sides of the bridge you’re supposed to be building have been temporarily removed,” he said, again alluding to the top vacancies in both churches. Still, he added, it could be “a perfect and strangely providential moment for a new bridge-building director to begin his endeavor.” As Ball begins his directorship, Burrows said, “all things are being made new. And he’s just the person to make the very best and most exciting use of a genuinely, strangely, fairly blank canvas.” The center’s Board of Governors announced Ball’s appointment as director last November. Ball has served formerly as canon steward and archdeacon of Westminster Abbey, bishop of the Diocese of North Africa in the Province of Alexandria and assistant bishop in the Diocese of Egypt after a previous career as a diplomat. As center director, he succeeds Bishop Ian Ernest, who retired in late January. Founded in 1966 after a meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey, the Anglican Centre serves as the Anglican Communion’s representation in Rome and a space for ecumenical encounters and dialogue. The Anglican Centre has served as home not just for Anglicans, but all Christians, said Roman Catholic Archbishop Flavio Pace, the Vatican’s secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. “This is the house of the Gospel,” he said. “We pray for you … that you can go on building the bridge.” Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe Bishop Mark Edington brought greetings from the Anglican bishops serving throughout Europe and from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe. Then, as a symbol of what unites Anglicans and Episcopalians throughout the communion, he gave Ball a Book of Common Prayer in both English and Italian. “Welcome to your place, my dear brother. We are glad you’re here,” Edington said. Housed in Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in the Eternal City’s historic center, the Anglican Centre hosts weekly Tuesday services – open to visitors, tourists and pilgrims. The center hosts a weekly prayer circle attended by ecumenical partners, and it coordinates joint education, mission and ecumenical projects with the Vatican and other partners. It also offers study courses, access to a larger Christian research library, and introductory access to other local library collections and universities. In brief remarks, Ball thanked those who’d come to the center for the commissioning: “I just wanted to put myself at your service, as I do at our Lord’s service, that we might grow together and seek to do great things together in that pilgrimage … We look forward to the guidance of the Spirit and our mutual discernment of where we’re going to go.” — Lynette Wilson is a reporter and managing editor of Episcopal News Service. She is based in Rome.
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