Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Sandye Wilson, interim dean of the Cathedral of All Saints in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, died on April 15. An announcement of her death was made by the cathedral on its Facebook page on April 16. Wilson, who was also vice chair of the Church Pension Fund board of trustees, announced on March 19 via Facebook that after two surgeries, she had been diagnosed with stage 3 serous endometrial cancer and would undergo about six months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. On April 4, she posted that she had completed her first round of chemotherapy. Serous endometrial cancer occurs in about 10% of all cases of endometrial cancer but represents 40% of deaths. “Sandye will be remembered for her unwavering service and commitment to The Episcopal Church. She was a dedicated member of The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees and held many roles over the past decade, most recently as a Vice Chair of the Board. We will dearly miss her leadership, witness, intelligence, passion, humor, and friendship,” Mary Kate Wold, CEO AND president of The Church Pension Fund, said in a statement. Wilson was elected to the fund’s board at the 78th General Convention in 2015 and was reelected to a second term in 2022. In addition to serving as a vice chair, she served as a member of the Benefits Policy Committee, the Compensation, Diversity, and Workplace Values Committee and the Executive Committee. Wilson’s ministry in The Episcopal Church spanned more than 40 years. Ordained as a priest in 1980, she served congregations in the dioceses of Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Newark and New Jersey. She also served as chief operating officer of Saint Augustine’s University, a private historically Black university in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of two HBCUs still associated with The Episcopal Church. She was a longtime deputy to General Convention, a member of Executive Council and former president of the Union of Black Episcopalians. Tributes to Wilson quickly appeared across social media. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson on Facebook described Wilson as someone “whose indelible mark on countless lives will long be cherished.” He added, “She has been a guiding light, a faithful friend, a dedicated companion and a catalyst for good trouble to so many in this church and beyond. She now rests with the ancestors and saints in the realms of eternal light.” Notice of her death also was shared by the Union of Black Episcopalians, who called Wilson a “UBE pioneer.” The Rev. Susan Russell, canon for engagement across difference for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, California, posted, “If you Google ‘force of nature,’ Sandye Wilson’s photo would rise to the top.” Russell said that like others she was grieving Wilson’s death “while giving thanks for her bright light and powerful witness to a church she loved too much not to challenge it to be better than it was willing to settle to be.” No announcement has yet been made regarding funeral arrangements.

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Lisa Hackney-James knows her problem is a good one to have. It’s a printing dilemma: How many bulletins will be enough for Easter this Sunday at St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois? Like most Episcopal congregations, attendance at St. James surges on Easter, when the holy day draws many people who don’t worship regularly on other Sundays. The same goes for Christmas, another holy day central to the Christian faith. “The last thing we want to do is have them show up and say we’re out of bulletins,” Hackney-James, St. James’ dean, told Episcopal News Service. For clergy and lay leaders planning Holy Week services, it’s tempting to “pull out all the stops” and impress visitors with grand liturgies and rousing sermons, the Rev. Robert Picken said, but as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York, “the thing I’ve learned is to be consistent all year around.” “I think visitors, in particular on Christmas and Easter, should sort of see what your parish is and get a sense of that,” Picken told ENS. Congregations across The Episcopal Church are busy this week preparing to welcome regular worshippers, friends, relatives and new visitors to their Holy Week services, culminating Sunday on Easter, which falls this year on April 20. And although The Episcopal Church and most other mainline Protestant denominations are experiencing long-term declines in Sunday attendance, the Easter surge is still a reliable phenomenon in Episcopal pews, with churchwide numbers more than doubling that day, according to parochial report data. Average Sunday attendance, one of the most closely tracked and debated metrics in the church’s parochial reports, totaled a combined 386,000 for all Episcopal congregations in 2023, continuing a rebound from the church’s pandemic lows. That same year, according to the latest available data, churchwide Easter attendance totaled 921,000. Christmas services were somewhat higher, with 976,000 worshipers. Easter historically was the only single day tracked by the church’s parochial reports, which all congregations and dioceses are required to file annually. The parochial reports first began collecting data on Christmas attendance in 2022. Easter attendance has declined by about 33% in the past decade, down from nearly 1.4 million in 2014. The Easter decline, however, is slightly less proportionally than the 36% drop in year-round attendance, from a weekly average of 600,000 in 2014 to 366,000 in 2023. And some congregations, like St. James in Chicago, say they are expecting an increase in Easter attendance this year, as more long-time members have resumed in-person worship routines that had been disrupted by the pandemic and new worshipers are seeking spiritual solace and community at a time of social and political upheaval. “This is a year where we I would say we’re back in full force,” Hackney-James, the Chicago dean, said. The cathedral logged average Sunday attendance of 355 in 2024, eclipsing its pre-pandemic levels, she said. Interest in the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services has continued to grow this year. The cathedral offers an Easter Vigil service Saturday night, and three Easter services on Sunday. Those services topped 1,000 worshipers last year, and the congregation is printing extra bulletins this year in anticipation of up to 1,200 people. “My sense is that more people are coming to church seeking peace and centering,” the dean said. “Folks are feeling unsettled in general, because of our broader context, and are coming seeking a sense of connection to God and one another and a sense of grounding in something that is deeper than the current circumstances.” She specifically cited escalating tensions related to American politics. The Rev. Amanda Gerken-Nelson said she senses a similar yearning for spiritual connections among the newer worshipers attending services in Yarmouth, Maine, where she is rector of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. In addition to the current political climate, she wonders if renewed interest in church attendance also is related to what has been described as a loneliness epidemic in the United States. “When I get together with the ecumenical clergy, all of us are experiencing growth in some way,” Gerken-Nelson said. Average attendance now ranges from 75 to 85 at St. Bartholomew’s single Sunday service. Last Easter, congregational leaders were surprised when the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection drew about 180 worshippers. “We weren’t prepared for the crowd that came,” Gerken-Nelson said. “Our ushers were setting up folding chairs, to the point that I got nervous that they would be blocking some egresses.” Last Christmas, turnout reached about 250, and for this Easter, the church is planning for up to 200 worshippers. Gerken-Nelson also insisted that those visitors who may only come once or twice a year are just as welcome as those who worship every Sunday. “There is an aspect of our faith that recognizes that it is a practice, that faith is deepened with practice,” she said. “And I think that also, as a church, it does no good to demean the faithful practices of people who may only come on Christmas or Easter.” Picken, the rector in Rochester, said Easter can be an opportunity to share the Gospel’s uplifting message – hope over despair – to people who might not always be in the pews to hear it on other Sundays. “Especially in this time, it’s important to convey the sense of new life, the sense of hope and the sense of joy, in a world where we’re not really seeing that,” he said. Picken also underscored that planning the Easter celebration is a collaborative effort, not just the work of the priest. “A lot of attention gets paid to the ‘busyness’ of clergy,” he said. “I think sometimes that overshadows the hard work of the lay staff and the many volunteer parishioners, especially our altar guild and musicians who put in a lot of time during Holy Week.” In addition to Easter, Episcopal clergy, church staff and volunteers are planning for expanded schedules of Holy Week […]

[Anglican Communion News Service] This Easter, the Anglican Communion is one of 12 Christian World Communions to issue a letter marking a joint celebration of Easter 2025 and the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. ‘You are witnesses of these things.’ Luke 24:48 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, Alleluia! Christ is risen! As representatives of 12 Christian World Communions, present in every nation on earth, we are moved and grateful to speak with one voice and one heart about our Lord’s resurrection, which we have witnessed and profess together. Together, from East and West, North and South, in this year of our Lord 2025, we have been given by God the great gift of a shared date of Easter. Devout Christians have prayed for generations that this may be possible. Though we have not yet achieved agreement on the date of Easter in perpetuity, we have no doubt that the Lord calls us to agreement, and unified witness, so that the world may believe (John 17:21). As a further summons, God in his mercy has enabled us this year to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its Creed. We are humbled and amazed that we can, on this Easter, profess together the fact that: On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. In the light of these gifts, we call upon the Holy Spirit to move our Communions to live and walk together, in obedience to the call of Jesus’ that all his disciples may be one. We hope to hear his ‘words’ anew, just as when he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and ‘opened their minds to understand the scriptures,’ namely, that the Messiah must suffer and rise, ‘and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations’ (Luke 24:44-47). At this time of great political instability in the world, when so many live with fear, suffering, persecution, famine, and other forms of instability and vulnerability, we would seek together to be ‘witnesses of these things’ of God, accomplished by our Lord and Saviour (24:48). For this purpose, we pray over and over again with eager expectation and hope that we may all be one, ‘clothed with power from on high’ (24:49). May the Lord grant us his Spirit of cooperation and obedience, forgive us our sins, and use us as his instruments of reconciliation and healing in the world. And may God bathe our hearts and minds in the cleansing light of his resurrection from the dead. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! List of Signatories The Very Revd Fr Hrant Tahanian Ecumenical Officer Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia The Right Revd Anthony Poggo Secretary General Anglican Communion The Revd Elijah Brown General Secretary & CEO Baptist World Alliance Tina Bruner General Secretary and Executive Director Christian Church and Churches of Christ Bishop Maximos of Melitene Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain Ecumenical Patriarchate The Revd Christoph Amstad Schuler Ecumenical Officer International Old Catholic Bishop’s Conference/Old Catholic Church The Revd Anne Burghardt General Secretary Lutheran World Federation The Revd Jørgen Bøytler Unity Board Administrator Moravian Church Worldwide Unity Board The Revd César García General Secretary Mennonite World Conference The Revd David Wells Vice-Chair Pentecostal World Fellowship Commissioner Jane Paone Secretary for International Ecumenical Relations The Salvation Army The Revd Reynaldo Ferreira Leão Neto General Secretary World Methodist Council

[Faith & Leadership] On any given Friday or Saturday, when many churches might be empty, a steady stream of visitors heads to Holy Family Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. Despite the bell tower and steel cross above the entry, guests may not initially realize they are in a house of worship. “Some people still enter and don’t know it’s a church,” said Chap Edmonson, Holy Family’s ministry operations director. That’s because these visitors are looking for art, and they’ve come to the right place as they enter the Lanecia A. Rouse Gallery. Inside, an attendant offers a guest book and materials about the current show. To the left, a bright, airy space is carefully curated with art. Narrow windows illuminate the gallery’s white walls and polished concrete floors. The nave rests just behind the welcome desk — and, as Edmonson explained — sometimes visitors, only after poking their heads through and seeing the waiting pews, ask if they are in a church. “It happens all the time,” he said, smiling. “And it’s really cool.” Edmonson encourages them to tour the building, since the artwork does not end with the gallery. Nine large abstract paintings by Rouse, the gallery’s namesake and the church’s artist-in-residence, grace the sanctuary, back hall and offices. The paintings were commissioned by the vicar, the Rev. Jacob Breeze, before there were walls for hanging them, when the congregation was just being planted and members met in living rooms to shape a vision. The goal was to create “a church for people without a church.” Read the full story here.

[Episcopal News Service] Between September and June, the Rev. Kimberlee Auletta and the Rev. Sarah Kooperkamp, co-rectors of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Brooklyn, New York, begin most Sundays channeling their inner Fred Rogers and Shari Lewis with a puppet show that’s also a toddler-oriented worship service. On Wednesdays, they lead a mixed-age after-school Christian education program. These youth-oriented ministries have helped transform the parish into a growing church home for families in the borough’s Windsor Terrace neighborhood. “We understand that most kids in a lot of places – not just in New York City – are not coming to church every weekend because of sports and art classes and other activities, and many parents lament that their children don’t have time for Sunday school. But we realized that maybe we’re not supposed to compete with sports,” Auletta told Episcopal News Service. “Maybe, instead, we can offer church at another time to meet these youth where they are and give families what they need to provide a really deep spiritual and religious foundation for our youth.” Auletta and Kooperkamp launched the after-school program during the 2022-23 school year for students in kindergarten through seventh grade. Eleven students are participating this year. Unlike the drop-in Sunday school program, which takes place during the 10 a.m. worship service and includes eighth graders, the after-school program is a yearlong commitment that requires a small fee. Every Wednesday at 2:35 p.m., Kooperkamp walks five minutes from Holy Apostles to the elementary and middle schools to pick up the students. On their way back to church, the students run around a playground for a few minutes to let out some energy; screen-free learning begins once they get to church. “The kids are so excited and happy to be together, and I really enjoy meeting them right after school and hearing them talk about their day,” Kooperkamp said. “It’s really sweet that they’re learning and growing together.” The after-school curriculum includes Bible study, prayer, Christian ethics, church history and theology. Students learn through art projects, self-reflection, discussion and theater. They’re also encouraged to ask questions. They don’t use computers, phones or tablets while in the after-school program. Last year, during the unit on saints, students created a March Madness-like bracket to vote for the “patron saint of the after-school program.” The unanimous winner was St. Frances Perkins, a workers’ rights advocate and devout Episcopalian who served as secretary of labor in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s cabinet from 1933 to 1945. Perkins was the first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet and remains the longest-serving Secretary of Labor in U.S. history. She was added to The Episcopal Church’s calendar of lesser feasts and fasts in 2022; her feast day is May 13. “The students’ basis of argument was that Frances Perkins had worked to end child labor, and if it weren’t for her, they wouldn’t be at church after school, but would instead be working in factories,” Kooperkamp said. “This project is an example of how these kids can really learn interactively and not stick to standard Q&A and test taking.”  The curriculum is designed to be a three-year cycle for students, though Auletta and Kooperkamp are discussing potential opportunities for older students who complete the cycle, such as leadership roles. While Kooperkamp works with the students, Auletta and a volunteer member of Holy Apostles cook a community meal for up to 36 people who sign up ahead of time. When the after-school program ends at 5:15, most students and their families stay for dinner, which is served at 5:30 in the undercroft. Children eat free and adults pay $10, which covers the cost of ingredients. Evening prayer takes place after dinner. “People really need to be with each other, and weekly dinner and prayer is a way to do that,” Auletta said. “And it’s multi-generational. We have a wonderful parishioner who’s 81 years old who comes to Wednesday dinners and sits with the kids, and they love her.” Toddlers are also part of Holy Apostles’ family-oriented ministries. Every Sunday except the fifth Sunday of the month throughout the school year, the church offers This Little Light at 8:30 a.m., a 30-minute interactive worship service that teaches the core elements of Episcopal liturgy, the Gospel and the Eucharist through singing and storytelling. The music and prayers are the same as a traditional worship service, which helps the toddlers easily transition to the “big kid” service. During the puppet show portion of This Little Light, Auletta stands behind a puppet castelet and plays a sock puppet named Perpetua who asks Kooperkamp questions about faith and Jesus. Kooperkamp tells Perpetua, “It’s OK; don’t be afraid. Here’s the good news,” before sharing a story about Jesus. “We just need a trolley for the puppet show,” Auletta said. Even though This Little Light’s programming focuses on children up to age 6, the co-rectors said they hope the lessons resonate with all ages. They also said that feedback from parents has been positive, and their children repeat what they learn at home. One family reported that their daughter breaks bread every night at dinner and says, “This is my body.” “This is not just child’s worship; it’s really family worship and a way to think about what it means to live together as a family and as a community,” Kooperkamp said. The co-rectors both said adapting their ministries to serve families with busy schedules has been “a lot of work,” but over the years, it’s helped grow the congregation and the families spiritually. “We can engage families, people of all ages. People who go to church want spiritual growth, whether they are 3 years old or they’re over 50 years old,” Auletta said. “We’re trying to be very intentional with what we are presenting and offering to folks of all ages.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Scottish Episcopal Church] On April 11, staff from the General Synod Office of the Scottish Episcopal Church called at the offices of The Turing Trust to make a donation of information technology (IT) equipment that will help empower disadvantaged communities in Africa, Asia and the United Kingdom. In honor of the altruistic spirit of Alan Turing, the highly influential mathematician and computer scientist, the trust refurbishes IT equipment, installs a range of educational software, and equips schools across the world. Turing is widely regarded as the father of modern computing, and he saw IT as a tool for solving immense challenges. He also had a passion for helping others – he funded one member of his foster family to work in Africa and sponsored a Jewish refugee’s schooling during World War II. In the last 15 years, the trust has enabled access to computers for over 252,000 students across Africa, Asia and the U.K. Its website says, “With your help and a great deal of hard work, we believe that one day every child will be able to enjoy the transformative power of technology that Alan envisioned.” A recent review of IT equipment at the General Synod Office led to items being upgraded, and the “old”’ equipment was handed over to the trust at its offices in Loanhead near Edinburgh by Patricia Krus, chief operating officer, and Ross Hunter, IT support assistant. Paul Rayner of the trust’s donations team said, “Thanks to your donation, 216 students will be able to learn vital IT skills. Beyond this, the environmental impact from your donation will offset three tons of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of planting eight trees. The embodied energy savings created are also enough to power one U.K. home for an entire year!” More information about the work of The Turing Trust can be found here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, addressed reparatory justice and institutional accountability regarding the historic financial ties of the Church of England and the slave trade at a special April 14 gathering in New York. As part of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the event was hosted by representatives from the Anglican Communion and Kenya, with high-level panel participation from Barbados, Jamaica and Ghana. The gathering focused on reparatory justice and institutional accountability regarding the Church of England. Opening the event, June Soomer, chair of the permanent forum and member of the St. Lucia Reparations Committee, underscored the urgent need for institutions to make commitments towards reparatory justice. Cottrell, followed with his address, beginning with a Ghanaian proverb: “Until the lion has told his story, the hunter will always be the hero.” He acknowledged the church’s historic complicity in the horrors of the slave trade and emphasized the moral and spiritual imperative of truth-telling, accountability and healing. “The church is committed to creating a space for truth-telling, reflection and accountability,” he said. “Inspired and motivated by the vision of a new humanity that God gives us in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge the moral responsibility we carry in the present for the failings of the past, particularly in light of the wealth handed down through generations. Our hope is that the work we are doing—to repair, to heal and to pursue justice – demonstrates how Christian faith can bring about real change in the world. As we pursue an ongoing, living process of listening, learning and acting, we also hope it encourages others to reflect on their own histories and responsibilities.” In 2019, the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church of England’s historic endowment, began a comprehensive investigation into the church’s financial and institutional links to slavery. The findings were sobering – investments in the South Sea Company, profits derived from the slave trade, and disturbing artifacts like “slave Bibles” with scriptures deliberately stripped of themes of liberation. In response, the church committed £100 million – $132 million toward a long-term impact investment fund, a grant program and a research initiative, governed by an independent oversight group. This effort, chaired by the Rt. Rev. Rosemarie Mallett, bishop of Croydon, includes descendant communities, historians and representatives of populations still affected by the legacy of slavery. At the U.N .event, Mallett also contributed to the panel discussion, featuring David Comissiong, Barbados’ ambassador to the Caribbean community and deputy chair of the National Task Force on Reparations; Ambassador Brian Wallace, permanent representative of Jamaica to the U.N.; Ambassador Harold Agyeman, permanent representative of Ghana; and Ambassador Yabesh Monari, deputy permanent representative of Kenya. “The dialogue at the U.N. represents a new phase of engagement and commitment from the Church of England,” said Mallett, “one rooted in the hope that – even after deep historical failure – reconciliation and justice are still possible.” While public apologies had already been issued by both the archbishop of Canterbury and the Church Commissioners, church leaders acknowledge that apology alone is not enough. The church is now engaged in a long-term journey of what it describes as “penitence, partnership and purpose.” Speaking about the Church of England’s connection to African chattel and reparation, the archbishop of York said, “I, we in the Church of England, have been humbled by the truth” regarding the investigation into the historic endowment fund that was linked to the legacy of slavery. He confirmed that the investigation “discovered other horrifying things along the way. Unanswered letters. A so-called ‘slave Bible’ with all mentions of liberation and the whole Book of Exodus missing. We discovered details of the mundane and bureaucratic normalization of evil, when it is enacted on such a scale, and for so many years. And how we, the hunters, were deaf to the cries of the oppressed.” “Jesus famously said that the truth will set you free,” Cottrell observed. “There is an irony here. The scriptures and traditions of the church that were twisted to legitimize enslavement, and also, when they could be read in full, provided narratives of liberation and resistance which gave enslaved people hope.” Cottrell stated his understanding of hopes of the Church of England in engaging with accountability and reparation where possible. “Because we exploited and bought and sold our own sisters and brothers, we, too, need to be liberated from our failings. We need to do this by being honest and penitent about what happened and then determined to build a better world. We want to work purposefully and collaboratively with others, such as our friends and colleagues from Kenya and Barbados, with whom we share the sponsorship of this event. And Jamaica and Ghana. And sisters and brothers across the world.” “We don’t have the answers,” he said, “but we believe we are, at last, asking the right questions. […] We know that we have much to learn. “I am here as a leader in the church that was involved in a most shameful, scandalous abuse and oppression of fellow human beings. It is deeply uncomfortable, because slavery still exists in our world today. […] But sisters and brothers, it is also deeply hopeful, because the scriptures and the example of Christ and those narratives of liberation that inspired enslaved people, inspire me and give us hope for our world and hope that we can do better.” Cottrell then observed that many other institutions, organizations, governments and individuals also may have profited from the “evil trade” and invited them to investigate as the Church the England has done. He then closed the address saying, “It is in that spirit that I come to you today, believing that a better future is possible, believing that the truth can set us free. Believing that it is possible to find reconciliation even after deep, dark failure.” To close this time of reflection, attendees will gather in prayer at the Ark […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, who served as bishop of Wyoming from 1997–2010, died on April 13. He was 77. Caldwell, a 1978 graduate of General Theological Seminary, was rector of St. George’s Church, in Bismarck, North Dakota, when he was elected bishop. Shortly after he became bishop, Caldwell was asked to preside at the funeral at St. Mark’s in Casper, Wyoming, of a young man who had served as an acolyte in the diocese and was active in its campus ministry – Matthew Shepard. Shepard was tortured and murdered near Laramie in 1998 in a hate crime because he was gay. At an event that took place during the 2009 General Convention, Caldwell spoke in favor of “full inclusion for the LGBT community” in the life of The Episcopal Church, noting the impact Shepard’s funeral had on him. After he retired, he served as the interim dean of St. Mark’s Cathedral, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York and as bishop provisional of the Diocese of Lexington. His wife, the Rev. Brenda Caldwell, died in 2023. He is survived by daughters Kela and Morgan and granddaughter Lydia. Final details of his funeral, which is expected to take place at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis, are pending.

[Episcopal News Service] Anglicans and other global faith leaders have condemned Israeli airstrikes over the weekend that struck an Anglican hospital in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza, destroying or damaging several of the hospital’s departments. Al Ahli Arab Hospital, a ministry of the Diocese of Jerusalem, had been struck several times previously by blasts in the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas since Hamas attacked Israeli communities and massacred hundreds on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel responded to that Hamas attack with an intense and prolonged aerial bombardment and ground invasion of the densely populated territory – strikes that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins. The latest blasts at Ahli Hospital involved two airstrikes early April 13, according to the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, AFEDJ. The attack destroyed a two-story genetic laboratory and severely damaged the pharmacy, the emergency department and nearby buildings, including St. Phillip’s Church. The hospital has been described in international news reports as the last fully functioning hospital in northern Gaza. No casualties were reported from the blasts at the hospital, though the diocese reported that during the evacuation of the hospital, a child died while suffering from a previous head injury. “The Diocese of Jerusalem condemns in the strongest terms today’s missile attacks on the Ahli Arab Hospital,” the diocese said in a written statement, adding that it was “appalled at the bombing of the hospital now for the fifth time since the beginning of the war in 2023 – and this time on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week.” “We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions. We pray and call for the end of this horrific war and the suffering of so many.” Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell released a statement lamenting the “unimaginable suffering” endured by the Palestinians who have been forced to seek treatment at Ahli Hospital. “For the only Christian hospital in Gaza to be attacked on Palm Sunday is especially appalling,” Cottrell said. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem also condemned the attack. “Sorrow grips us this Palm Sunday: A refuge of healing is struck in the land of the heavenly physician of souls and bodies,” the Patriarchate said. Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in January, which included the release of some of the hostages taken by Hamas during its initial attack on Israel. That ceasefire, however, fell apart in March, and Israel resumed airstrikes. U.S. officials have since been working with Arab leaders to restart ceasefire talks to again halt hostilities. Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe released a statement after the attack, asking for prayers for the hospital staff and their patients. “No matter how we understand the causes of violence in the Holy Land, we can surely agree that we must support our fellow Anglicans in alleviating the devastating humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Gaza,” Rowe said. Rowe also encouraged Episcopalians to give generously to the Good Friday Offering, the church’s annual collection in support of the Diocese of Jerusalem and the other dioceses that make up the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Gifts can be made online or in congregations’ collection plates on April 18. Episcopalians also can write to their representatives in Congress, asking them to support a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian aid for Gaza and a just and sustained peace in the Holy Land, Rowe said. He shared resources provided by the church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations. – 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] A federal judge has refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration that was requested by The Episcopal Church and a coalition of interfaith plaintiffs in their lawsuit seeking to block immigration enforcement actions at houses of worship. Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., issued her decision April 11, a week after hearing arguments by attorneys for the religious groups and the Trump administration. The Episcopal Church was joined by 26 other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including Protestant and Jewish groups, in warning that changes in immigration policy were sowing fear in the communities they serve. The nonpartisan Georgetown University Law Center, in arguing the case on behalf of the religious groups, specifically objected to policy changes under President Donald Trump that ended past protections against immigration enforcement actions at houses of worship and other “sensitive locations,” such as schools and hospitals. Friedrich concluded that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that the new administration was actively targeting immigrants for detention and possible deportation at houses of worship. She also expressed skepticism that any decreased participation in worship services or ministries was related directly to the end of U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement’s “sensitive locations” protections. “Evidence suggests that congregants are staying home to avoid encountering ICE in their own neighborhoods, not because churches or synagogues are locations of elevated risk,” she wrote in her decision. The plaintiffs now are considering their next steps in the case. “We are currently reviewing the decision and are assessing our options,” Kelsi Corkran, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said in a written statement. “We remain gravely concerned about the impacts of this policy and are committed to protecting foundational rights enshrined in the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” During his campaign, Trump had vowed to oversee mass deportations of millions of people living in the United States without permanent legal residency status. He began pursuing policies to follow through on that promise in the hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration to a second term, with a series of executive orders related to immigration. The next day, Homeland Security ended Biden administration policies that had identified certain sensitive areas as protected from immigration enforcement actions. The Episcopal Church is one of 12 denominations that have signed onto the lawsuit, which also includes the Disciples of Christ, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian and AME Zion churches. Other plaintiffs include regional denominational bodies and other religious associations. The plaintiffs’ 80-page complaint, filed Feb. 11, includes short summaries of ways they say the government’s policies have burdened the faith organizations’ practice of their religions.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Anglican and Lutheran church leaders from around the world gathered in Amman, Jordan, for the first full meeting of the Anglican–Lutheran International Commission for Unity and Mission. Under the theme “Our baptismal unity,” participants reflected on their shared identity in Christ, built deeper relationships, and committed to a variety of catechetical, evangelical and missiological projects during the March 29–April 2 meeting.. ALICUM was established in 2018 by the Lutheran World Federation Council and the Anglican Communion’s Standing Committee as a new commission, built on the foundation of decades of agreements between Anglicans and Lutherans. In several parts of the world, Anglican and Lutheran churches are in relationships of full communion. Like the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, ALICUM pairs Anglican and Lutheran bishops and leaders with one another from various countries around the world in order to pursues shared teaching, evangelization and mission. This inaugural gathering of the full commission brought together ALICUM pairs from Cameroon, Colombia, the Holy Land, Malaysia, Tanzania, the United States and the Porvoo Communion (which included representatives from Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Germany). While the members from Canada and Hong Kong were unable to attend in person, they remain involved in the work. During the five-day summit, commission members worshipped together and engaged in theological discussions on baptismal ecclesiology and existing communion agreements. The members also undertook a pilgrimage to key biblical sites, including the Jordan River, where they renewed their baptismal vows; Mount Nebo, traditionally regarded as the place of Moses’ death; and the ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land in Madaba. Commission members shared stories of collaboration in theological education, evangelism and discipleship, public theology, youth work, and care for marginalized communities. These stories, and associated plans, demonstrated the creativity and energy of Anglican-Lutheran collaboration around the world. The commission also addressed practical challenges of teaching and sharing the faith in circumstances that range from decline and secularization to rapid growth and persecution. Members were amazed and grateful to hear stories of multiplying churches in contexts where Christians are minorities and lack material resources. The commission also explored how various agreements of full communion relate to one another and may be adopted more formally by churches in the Global South. The commission’s reflections on baptism raised questions about the place of confirmation and the Eucharist in the initiation and formation of Christians. The summit concluded with a commissioning service at the Evangelical Lutheran Good Shepherd Church in Amman. Participants expressed deep gratitude for the hospitality of their Jordanian Christian hosts and pledged to stand in solidarity with churches in the Holy Land. The Rev. Dirk Lange, the Lutheran World Federation assistant general secretary for ecumenical relations and the co-secretary of ALICUM, said the meeting “proved to be extremely rich, as the church leaders spent time bonding over shared worship and pilgrimage. New initiatives and joint projects were discussed, exploring ways of implementing the many ecumenical consensus statements and full communion agreements already reached by Anglicans and Lutherans.” Christopher Wells, director of unity, faith and order at the Anglican Communion Office said, “Lutheran and Anglican commitments to bear witness together to the one faith and one Lord serve as a summons for the whole church to give ourselves over to one another fully. We pray that all the Christian World Communions may catch fire in the power of the Spirit to profess the one faith and to share the Good News more surely with the waiting world.” The ALICUM steering committee will mentor the pairs of church leaders as they put their projects into action over the next three years. The entire commission will meet annually online and plans to hold a second in-person summit in 2028. The full communique from the meeting, along with a list of participants and outcomes, is available here.

[Anglican Church of Canada] The Rev. James Spencer has been building with Lego since he was eight years old. Today, that lifelong hobby is getting his parish, St. Mary’s Anglican Church with buildings in Clarenville and Burgoyne’s Cove, Newfoundland, Canada, noticed online – and forming the heart of a new ministry to local children.  Over the last year, Spencer has been building a pair of Lego models of the Clarenville and Burgoyne’s Cove church buildings—built at the scale of one Lego “stud” (the basic unit of Lego blocks, demarcated by one of the nubs that let the bricks interlock) to one foot.  “I started collecting all the bricks I’d need and I did some measurements in the churches and worked out everything and started building,” he says. “It’s taken a year and a fair number of Lego orders to get all the pieces I needed, but I think it came out more or less as I was hoping it would.” His creations measure around one foot by two feet in width, he says, and replicate everything from the churches’ accessibility ramps to their stained-glass windows, with minifigure parishioners in the pews. He started the models as a way to say thank you to the two churches in the parish for the warm welcome their congregants had given him in his first year of ministry. And when they were finished, the reaction was bigger than he could have expected.   “I wanted to do it as something that they could have in their church they would enjoy. And it’s talked about everywhere. I rarely run into someone who doesn’t mention it to me. It’s spread all over Facebook,” he says. “And it’s getting attention to the church that, well, the church is enjoying because you know how it is these days – sometimes the church kind of gets lost in the background.”  Spencer is also reaching out to make the church a presence in people’s lives through a new Lego outreach ministry at the church. Organizers have been building up a collection of bricks donated by parishioners and community members until they had critical mass to start the program, which involves local children coming by the church to build for fun and the occasional challenge project. There’s no overtly religious element, says Spencer, who also runs a Dungeons and Dragons game for some kids at the local middle school. But it doesn’t have to be overtly religious to be a valuable form of outreach.  “I’m a big believer that the church needs to connect with our young people without necessarily always throwing Scripture at them,” he says. “I’ve got a group of kids at the Dungeons and Dragons event, at the Lego who, later on in their life, no matter what they hear people [saying] about the church, any negative things, they’ll look back and say ‘Yeah, I remember people from my church. Reverend James would come and play Dungeons and Dragons with me. He seemed like a nice guy.’”  If the church starts by being a positive presence in their young lives, he believes, that will pay off in the form of better relations in the long run. He currently has about a dozen kids coming to the Lego ministry, which began in late March, and a rotating group of eight or nine players in his Dungeons and Dragons game.  In the meantime, building models of the parish’s churches has become a way of drawing attention from outside the bigger versions’ walls.   “The Anglican church has spent an awful long time stuck in our buildings, dreaming of the days when people came to the buildings out of, well, basically out of expectation and tradition. And those days are over. We need to be out in the community. I’d rather people see my church everywhere else and just sometimes in our building.”

[Episcopal News Service] The American flag still has a place at Calvary Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Missouri, but under new guidance from the bishop, that place is no longer near the church’s altar. Calvary is located near the Mississippi River in the northeastern Missouri community of Louisiana, population 3,200. Last month, during a Sunday service, the small congregation ceremoniously moved its American flag from the front next to the altar to the back of the nave, where it now is posted beside a columbarium, partly in honor of veterans who are interred there. “People felt like it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it, and it was done with no disrespect,” the Rev. Deb Goldfeder, deacon-in-charge at Calvary, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson had issued his guidance on flag display days earlier in a message to his St. Louis-based diocese on March 19. In it he lamented the pernicious rise in the United States of Christian nationalism, a politicized distortion of Christianity that was most prominently on display in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters. The House of Bishop’s Theology Committee released a report in October on “The Crisis of Christian Nationalism,” urging all Episcopalians to do their part in countering such movements. Johnson referenced that report in announcing his guidance to Diocese of Missouri congregations to remove American flags from their altars. “Rooted in a conflation of faith and national identity, this ideological movement distorts the Gospel of Jesus, misusing Christianity to justify division, exclusion, inequality, racism and supremacy,” Johnson said. “This ideology further demands that laws, culture and public policies be based on a distorted interpretation of the Gospel that elevates power and control over love. These ideologies are in direct contradiction with our faith.” Johnson acknowledged that the flag can be “a symbol of national unity which honors the hard-fought freedoms won by brave women and men who willingly sacrificed for its purpose and the cause of peace.” At the same time, to conflate the flag with the cross – the Christian symbol of hope in Jesus’ resurrection – “intentionally blurs the division between our faith in a loving, liberating and life-giving God and national pride.” His guidance directs clergy and congregations “to contextualize the flag by properly placing it outside the altar area and next to rolls of honor, books of remembrance, or service memorials to those who served.” The House of Bishops’ report on Christian nationalism does not specifically advise moving American flags from altars, though it offers a range of other suggestions for responding to the crisis. “This challenge is not new or particular to this day and age,” the report says. “In the early church, gentiles had to renounce their allegiance and their participation in the Roman army when they became Christians. Each generation must explore and renew its understanding of life in Christ in its moment in history.” The full 128-page report, in English and Spanish, is available for purchase from Church Publishing. Former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry had asked the House of Bishops Theology Committee to study the issue in 2022, and Curry wrote a foreword for the published report. Christian nationalism “threatens our country’s soul,” Curry said in the foreword. “It is because we love God and it is because we love our country that we want to respond in ways that are healthy, holy, and true.” The report is one of the latest examples of The Episcopal Church’s ongoing response to the increasing threat of Christian nationalism. The church’s Executive Council, meeting in January 2021, less than three weeks after the Jan. 6 riot, passed a resolution committing the church to “deradicalization” efforts. The measure asked the church’s Office of Government Relations and Office for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Relations “to develop a plan for The Episcopal Church’s holistic response to Christian nationalism and violent white supremacy.” Curry, participating in a webinar on the topic later that month, called Christian nationalism “absolutely a threat to a pluralistic, democratic society, and something that needs to be wrestled with in order to move forward and not repeat the events of Jan. 6.” He and other leaders have continued to speak out on the issue in the ensuing years. The 81st General Convention adopted a resolution in June 2024 urging Episcopalians to educate and equip themselves for action in response to “the urgent, troubling, and deeply rooted issue of religious nationalism, the intersection of religious extremism and nationalist ideologies, both domestically and globally.” And last month, at the latest meeting of the House of Bishops, Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright spoke forcefully against Christian nationalism as “demonic.” “Christian nationalism is not an imperfect or evolving rendering of Jesus’ life and teachings, neither should it be characterized as simply a difference of theological or political interpretation or emphasis. Christian nationalism is a deceitful rendering of Jesus’ teaching for the purpose of manipulation and the increase of mammon,” Wright said, according to his notes provided to ENS. “This is not a fringe movement as the data shows. This is a deeply embedded, well-funded, strategic, compellingly argued appeal.” Johnson’s emphasis on flag placement in his Diocese of Missouri congregations raises what may be a sensitive issue at congregations across The Episcopal Church where American flags can sometimes be found posted on altars, either separately or alongside Episcopal Church flags. Spokane Bishop Gretchen Rehberg, in a personal reflection included in the “Crisis of Christian Nationalism” report, offered her own perspectives on this question. “A simple example of our perhaps inadvertent complicity in Christian nationalism is having a U.S. flag in our churches,” Rehberg said. “I have been clear that I do not believe that flags belong in churches, but I have not forbidden them. The diocese will also need to be willing to accept increased losses in our membership when those who are […]

[Episcopal News Service] On Palm Sunday, April 13, All Saints Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois, will lead a procession through the Ravenswood neighborhood after its 11 a.m. Central worship service to bring attention to migrants who’ve been arrested and are being illegally detained in El Salvador and Louisiana. Many have disappeared from the U.S. detainee tracking system. The Rev. Courtney Reid, associate rector of All Saints, told Episcopal News Service that the post-worship procession is in line with the message of Palm Sunday, when the Galileans greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna,” a word originating from Hebrew meaning “save us.” “Regardless if there are reasons that someone should be deported for a crime they’ve committed, treating people as if they aren’t human is absolutely antithetical to the Gospel, and yet that is what our government is doing, and our political leaders aren’t standing against it,” Reid said. Last month – under the Alien Enemies Act, a law not invoked since World War II – the United States sent 238 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, under a “renewable” one-year agreement with the Salvadoran government. The Trump administration alleges the detained migrants have ties to the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua. However, many of the migrants’ families and lawyers insist they have no gang ties. Documents show that about 90% of the incarcerated migrants had no U.S. criminal record. Moving the migrants to a prison in another country without due process has also sparked outcry from relatives, lawyers and immigration advocates. The prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses since it opened in 2023. CECOT allegedly denies inmates communication with family and lawyers, and inmates are permitted just 30 minutes a day to leave their cell, according to Human Rights Watch, an international nongovernmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The inmates also supposedly sleep on metal beds in overcrowded, windowless cells. “It’s such a breach of humanity; the level of dehumanization is obscene and immoral,” Reid said. Many immigrants who are legally in the United States with visas or green cards have also been arrested and have been deported or face deportation, including Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, and Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian lawful permanent U.S. resident. Both are being detained in Louisiana. “When the image of God – a human being – is being violated, Christians must say something about that if we truly believe in the dignity of every human being,” the Rev. Suzanne Wille, rector of All Saints, told ENS. “Christians cannot be silent about what’s going on in our world.” During the post-worship procession, parishioners will carry signs protesting the migrants’ imprisonment. Some banners will include photos of Öztürk and Khalil, as well as Neri Jose Alvarado Borges and Andry Hernandez Romero. Alvarado Borges was sent to CECOT because the U.S. government alleges that his many tattoos are proof that he’s affiliated with Tren de Aragua. Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist, was sent to CECOT while his asylum case was pending, also for his tattoos allegedly representing Tren de Aragua affiliation. The other banners will include photos of anonymous women who, according to The New York Times, are at risk of dying from the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze, and photos of anonymous CECOT prisoners being pushed down and frog-marched in their cells. “None of these people can reach their lawyers or loved ones,” Wille said. “It’s like our government is trying to make them disappear and wipe them from our consciousness.” On April 5, Reid and a group of parishioners gathered at Daley Plaza with more than 30,000 other people for Chicago’s “Hands Off” protest. “Hands Off” is an ongoing series of demonstrations held so far in every U.S. state and some European cities to protest the Trump administration’s policies and billionaire Elon Musk’s involvement in significantly downsizing the federal government. Coming off the same “energy” from “Hands Off,” Reid said, the plan for the Palm Sunday processional is to publicly walk outside of residential spaces to ensure that as many people as possible read the signs protesting migrant imprisonment. Jacob Farmer, a parishioner at All Saints who participated in “Hands Off,” told ENS he plans to participate in the Palm Sunday procession with the same goals for justice in mind. “I believe that it’s important as community members and as Christians to show up and demonstrate that we care about what’s going on, and that we do not agree with the current administration’s actions,” he said in a text message. Wille said the mistreatment of migrants reminds her of when she was in seminary 20 years ago, when the dean asked, “Where were the Christians?” when it was brought to widespread public attention in 2004 that the U.S. Army and CIA were torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq during the Iraq War. “That question has haunted me for 20 years,” Wille said. “Where were the Christians speaking out against Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay then, and where are the Christians today now that we’re sending migrants to Guantánamo Bay as well as El Salvador and Louisiana? There’s power in speaking up.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of San Diego in southern California and several nonprofit and ecumenical partners have opened a shelter for migrant women and children in Tijuana, Mexico, just across the U.S.-Mexico border. The first residents are expected to move in on April 15, and staff and volunteers from both sides of the border are ready to serve them. The diocese partnered with Via International, the Vida Joven Foundation, the Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Anglican Diocese of Western Mexico to establish Comunidad de Luz – Spanish for “Community of Light.” Licensed by the Mexican government, the shelter will house up to 150 women and children fleeing violence, poverty, and political and economic instability. “God understands the plight of the migrants and the refugees and those who are fleeing from danger and those who need to find a way to start a new life. God is most deeply concerned about the poorest and most vulnerable of our society, and that is where our church needs to be,” San Diego Bishop Susan Brown Snook told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview. “We need to be following Jesus, who said that whatever you do to the least of my siblings, you are doing to me. …We are ministering to Jesus himself and, metaphorically, to Jesus’s mother, Mary.” In addition to basic necessities like food, clothing and hygiene products, Comunidad de Luz will provide job training, mental health services, nutrition and health education, language classes, child care, academic resources, transportation and spiritual care. Social workers will also be available on site. The Rev. Tony Hernandez, a priest in the Anglican Church of Mexico, will offer regular prayer services and pastoral care at the shelter. Comunidad de Luz also has outdoor space that includes a play area; it will eventually include a vegetable garden that will be a part of the nutrition and children’s education programs. No time limit has been established for residents to stay at Comunidad de Luz, but Snook said she and others involved with the shelter estimate they would stay for up to a year. In that time, the women will “hopefully” have completed job training and have established a network as they search for housing and employment in Tijuana. Child residents will be enrolled in a nearby public school, with the shelter covering the cost of uniforms and school supplies, Snook said.  Robert Vivar, the Diocese of San Diego’s immigration missioner, told ENS the shelter aims to create self-sustainable programs for the residents so that they can live “a quality life” after leaving. “We want to create a space where vulnerable migrant women and children have an opportunity to live a dignified life,” he said. The goal is “to help prepare them so that at a certain point, they can reintegrate back into their community.” Work on Comunidad de Luz began in 2023, shortly after Vivar started working for the diocese. Vivar preached about migration challenges at Christ Episcopal Church in Coronado, the church home of Tony Ralphs. His wife, a Mexican citizen, owns the fenced 13-acre property in Tijuana where the shelter now sits. The Ralphses were already operating a six-story orphanage, retreat center and chapel on the compound but had another two-story building that wasn’t being used. After hearing Vivar preach, Tony Ralphs offered to license the empty building for a new migrant shelter. The building received significant upgrades and additions, including an apartment for its resident coordinator, bathrooms, showers, a larger water heater and more. The first floor includes a large commercial kitchen, a dining room, a laundry room and a meeting space for group therapy and other needs. The second floor has three large dormitory-style rooms with bunk beds provided by the Mexican government. An apartment and office space for the shelter’s resident coordinator, Monse Melendez, were also added to the building. Comunidad de Luz is licensed to serve only women and children because of its shared property with the orphanage, according to Snook. Elisa Sabatini is director of Via International, a San Diego-based nonprofit that promotes sustainable, asset-based community development across Latin America, the United States and Sri Lanka. She told ENS that the shelter will “probably cost” $100,000 a year to remain fully operational. “We have the resources for the operational aspects like bedding, lodging and meals, but I think the more ambitious part of the shelter will be the training of staff and volunteers, the education programs, and the health and psychological services,” Sabatini said. “We’ll need to keep raising money to be sure that we’re solid with everything we’re trying to offer.” Via International will run adult programming within Comunidad de Luz, including career development and trauma-informed psychological care. The nonprofit will also organize mission service trips to the shelter through its Via GO Travel program. Aida Renee Amador Aleman, a migrant coordinator for Via International since 2017, will serve as director of Comunidad de Luz. Snook said a $300,000 startup grant from a private foundation helped to kickstart the shelter. She said she thinks that money will last about a year and a half, but “we’re recognizing that we can’t just sit back and say we’ve got this money and we’re going to be fine.” Fundraising for future sustainment has already begun; almost $25,000 was raised during the Christmas 2024 season. “So much is required to start a program like this, from the legal side to the financial and fundraising side, to pulling together the partners who are passionate about this work,” Snook said. Snook and Sabatini are board members of the shelter along with Janet Marseilles, a board member of the Vida Joven Foundation. The San Marcos, California-based nonprofit provides funding and services to orphaned and migrant children in the Mexican state of Baja California. Vida Joven has committed financial support to Comunidad de Luz’s programs for children. Clergy, Tijuana officials, community activists and others who’ve been addressing the humanitarian crisis […]

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has joined other interfaith denominational leaders in signing a “friend of the court” brief opposing government funding of religious charter schools in a case that will be heard this month by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case centers on a Roman Catholic school in Oklahoma that was approved by a state board in 2023 to become what was said to be the nation’s first religious charter school. Opponents, however, have argued that the Constitution prohibits such schools from receiving public funds because it would effectively endorse a specific religion. The school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, promotes itself as providing “an authentically Catholic education, forming students to be engaged, productive and conscientious members of their community.” After it was approved as a state-funded charter school, however, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, sued to block the funding. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the school, which is now appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court will hear the case on April 30. Rowe was joined in filing the Supreme Court brief opposing the charter school funding by a coalition of Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups. The brief argues that using funds to support a religious school runs counter to historical norms in the United States and violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from enacting laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” “If St. Isidore is functionally a public school, as the Oklahoma Supreme Court held, then it is flatly unconstitutional for the state to fund its religious mission,” the interfaith leaders say in their brief. “The Episcopal Church has consistently supported religious freedom for all in a variety of contexts,” the brief says in summarizing Rowe’s reason for signing. “In 1994, the church urged state legislatures considering ‘moment of silence’ statues for public schools to ‘assure constitutional balance’ in their treatment of the issue by ‘carefully considering the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause as well as its Establishment Clause.’” Due to timing constraints, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris was unable to join the brief before it was filed, according to a church spokesperson, though she issued a statement in support of the action. “As a church, we have a responsibility to speak with moral clarity in the face of the rising tide of Christian nationalism and its dangerous ties to white supremacy,” Ayala Harris said. “Public funding of religious charter schools is not a neutral act – it erodes both public education and the constitutional safeguards that protect true religious liberty.” Ayala Harris also spoke as a resident of Oklahoma and alluded to the role Christian nationalism played in inspiring the Oklahoma City bombing 30 years ago. “I am deeply aware of what’s at stake when government entangles itself with sectarian interests,” she said. “It threatens our democracy, our schools, and our shared future.”

[Sydney Anglicans] “The magnitude of this crisis is overwhelming,” said the Most Rev. Stephen Than, archbishop of the Church of the Province of Myanmar, describing the aftermath of a powerful earthquake that struck six regions across Myanmar in late March. The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter near Mandalay, was also felt in Thailand. It was the strongest quake to hit Myanmar in more than 100 years. “Many lives have been lost, and countless buildings have collapsed. The crisis has led to a severe shortage of rescue workers, essential supplies and medical personnel,” Than wrote in an appeal to Australian Anglicans. “Two dioceses of the Church of the Province of Myanmar – the Diocese of Mandalay and the Diocese of Taungoo – have suffered extensive damage.” With the death toll exceeding 4,500, Than explained that the Church of the Province of Myanmar has mobilized a Disaster Management Committee, which is struggling to meet the overwhelming demand for relief and rehabilitation. “Additionally, our churches have become places of refuge for non-Christian earthquake victims seeking shelter and humanitarian assistance,” the archbishop said. Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has commended an appeal launched by the Anglican Relief and Development Fund Australia. According to the Fund, the most urgent needs are food, water, and temporary shelter. “The Mandalay Mothers Union is initially organizing 1,000 lunch boxes per day for those affected by the earthquake. Both the Mandalay and Taungoo dioceses are mobilizing volunteers to distribute food, water, medicine, temporary shelter, mosquito nets and torches (flashlights) in the first instance,” the Fund said.

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Peter Doddema is used to having some flood water in his basement. Living just 100 feet from the Kentucky River in Frankfort, Kentucky’s state capital, the rector of the city’s Ascension Episcopal Church told Episcopal News Service that occasionally having water in the home’s lower garage level is not a big problem. The area’s special drywall is water-repellent, he said, “so you hose it all down, bleach it out and you carry on.” When he heard on Saturday, April 5 that the river was rising after 8 inches of rain, Doddema and a friend who was staying with him and his wife Nicole moved items from the basement to the main floor. “Usually, it floods to about 2 feet, so anything that was below that, we moved upstairs,” he said. But the water kept coming in, as the predication of how high the water might go kept changing. That night, the three people and two dogs in the house watched from the second story as the water kept rising into the first floor living area. By 3 a.m. on April 6, when a neighbor’s 500-gallon propane tank broke loose and started spewing gas into the floodwater entering the house, he knew they had to leave. Launching his canoe out the front door, Doddema ferried clothes and other needed items – and the dogs – to higher ground a few blocks away. “I was worried that the dogs weren’t going to handle the boat ride well, but they did,” he said. “I’ve got a little Boston terrier and a big American bully. I pulled the terrier into the canoe, and then the bully hopped in, and everybody sat still.” After that, a neighbor with a motorboat took the three people to where their dogs were, and another friend picked them all up. They stayed in a short-term rental for two nights before moving to a hotel. Long-term, a friend has offered to park his large camper on the home’s lawn, so they can stay there while assessing the damage and making plans for repairs. Doddema estimates about 16 feet of water was in the home when they fled. He didn’t have to worry about Sunday morning worship, as the city had asked downtown churches like Ascension to cancel services. The area is just a few blocks from the river, he said, and officials wanted to keep traffic to a minimum. The church remained untouched, thanks to a flood wall that surrounds downtown – although Doddema said floodwaters were within 2 feet of the top of the wall. He has since learned that the home of parishioners also had flood water into its first floor. The area where they live, he said, doesn’t usually flood. Richelle Thompson, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Lexington, told ENS that Bishop Mark Van Koevering has reached out to churches in the diocese to assess their situation. “Thankfully, we haven’t heard of any significant damage with this most recent flooding,” she said. She added that the bishop is aware that for many of the communities hit by recent heavy rains, “this is the third or more time for flooding and clean-up. The fatigue is a real concern, and we’re working to offer support for these communities and individuals.” In mid-February the state saw large-scale flooding that killed 21 people. A flood in southeastern Kentucky in August 2022 resulted in 45 deaths. That area also saw significant flooding in February 2021. The most recent rain also has created heavy flooding along the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, with the mayor predicting it will be one of the city’s worst floods when the river crests near 4 feet on April 9. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Kentucky is especially prone to flooding because coal strip mining created thinner soil that can’t absorb rain and snow, especially as storms become larger because of climate change. South-central Indiana, just across the river from Louisville, also saw flooding over the weekend of April 5-6. — Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

[Episcopal Church in Alabama] The Episcopal Church in Alabama, in partnership with The Scottsboro Boys Museum, held an inaugural racial healing pilgrimage April 5 in Scottsboro, Alabama, to honor and remember the infamous Scottsboro Boys trial. Observed just one day shy of the 94th anniversary of the April 6, 1931, trial, the pilgrimage honored the nine African American teenagers known as the Scottsboro Boys, who were falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train. Over 55 Episcopalians from across the state gathered at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Scottsboro, where the Rev. Polly H. Robb – the rector and visionary behind this inaugural pilgrimage – led participants through a full itinerary. The day began with Morning Prayer, followed by a procession to three historically significant sites, each tied to the Scottsboro Boys case. At each stop, pilgrims engaged in scripture readings – including selections from the Psalms – and offered prayers and collects from the Book of Common Prayer, creating a sacred rhythm of reflection, healing, and remembrance. The pilgrimage’s first stop was the old jail’s original site, where the boys spent the night of March 25, 1931. “This ground has a sacred connection to the story. Although these African Americans spent only a night on March 25, 1931, they are forever known as the Scottsboro Boys,” said Tom Reidy, executive director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum. He added, “This is a site of an incident that I think we need to keep talking about. This is because if we forget our past, if we forget about these difficult times, we forget our heroes.” Addressing pilgrims at the Scottsboro Boys Memorial Mural, artist Don Howard, who the Scottsboro City Council commissioned for the mural, offered his reflections. “I thought that there was something peculiar, because it galvanized the community of Black people when it happened and the world as the biggest story [on racial injustice] at that time,” Howard said. “For a city to embrace the past so they can look forward to the future – especially for a relatively small town in the state of Alabama – I felt it was tremendous, and for them to actively seek out an artist who was a person of color was even a bigger thing.” The third stop of the pilgrimage was the Jackson County Courthouse, where Presiding Circuit Judge John H. Graham shared a message of hope and accountability. “I don’t have much philosophy to share with you or any cure to the problems of the world we face and seem to have always faced other, than to say those of us in the court system, I fully believe, try every day to do better than we did yesterday, to do better tomorrow than we did today – to obey, to follow, to observe the rule of law, and the belief and decree that we have as [U.S.] Americans that we will pursue life, liberty, and happiness,” he said. Reflecting on those who intervened to prevent the boys’ lynching, he said, “I think there is a lesson to be learned, and I’ll just tell you for myself – I don’t speak on behalf of anyone – I speak for myself: It’s not going to happen again on my watch if I can possibly stop it.” The day concluded with a brief homily at the Scottsboro Boys Museum, housed in the historic Joyce Chapel, from Alabama Bishop Assisting Brian Prior. Drawing a powerful theological connection, Prior paralleled the day’s journey with the Good Friday pilgrimage many Episcopalians observe during Holy Week. “One of the pilgrimages I look forward to is Good Friday – it is a sacred time where people walk the walk of Jesus,” he said. “This suggests to you a walk like the one we just had, a walk that made it clear about the injustices that happened to Jesus. The walk that we just experienced makes it clear the injustice that happened to the Scottsboro Boys.” He encouraged pilgrims to continue sharing the story. “The injustice at the time of Jesus that we only know about because there are those – and ancestors and a great cloud of witnesses – who had told the story over and over again, who would not let the story go away. Friends, your witness today continues to do that for the Scottsboro Boys. I am grateful for those who share this day, grateful for those who have told the stories so we can continue to live in that place and those stories will not go away, and the stories will continue to grow.” Prior also called the group to remember that pilgrimage is not an end but a beginning. “Even if you walk alone,” he said, “no pilgrimage is ever truly solitary. We do this work in the community. We do it to respect the dignity of every human being. We do it to move closer to where God is calling us – to a world where love, grace, and justice are not aspirations, but reality.” Many participants expressed excitement about how moving and educational the experience had been. For Kana Goldsmith, executive director of Sawyerville – a ministry deeply rooted in racial reconciliation – the day held personal significance. “My work at Sawyerville deals with working with children in the same age group as the Scottsboro Boys, and that makes this very emotional for me,” she said. “Today’s learnings drive me even more to ensure that everyone who comes through Sawyerville knows their rights as U.S. citizens and has the opportunity to succeed. I also believe it’s right for white Southerners to uplift and strengthen every Black man and woman in their community.” This pilgrimage forms part of the Diocese of Alabama’s growing commitment to racial healing and pilgrimage ministry, led by Breanna Carter. It joins a constellation of sacred spaces across the state that hold a deep connection to the Civil Rights movement. Chief among them is the annual Jonathan Daniels and the […]