[Diocese of Los Angeles] The congregation of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena, California — among whose members 40 homes were lost in the wildfire that also burned their church and school buildings — gathered Jan. 19 for their first Sunday worship service at nearby St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Eagle Rock, where church leaders have welcomed the Altadena parish to use the sanctuary weekly going forward. The Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, rector of St. Mark’s, greeted the 185 in attendance and gave thanks for community support – including a $100,000 gift from the California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, which made an equal disbursement to each house of worship lost in the area. Robert Ross, at parishioner of St. Mark’s who recently retired as president of the California Endowment, preached with themes of hope and transformation. He praised his colleagues for their work toward “a just and fair and equitable rebuild of Altadena,” and focusing on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for “Beloved Community” as “a North Star for social justice work firmly grounded in our Christian faith.” Ross added that King received inspiration for his concept of “Beloved Community” from philosopher and theologian Josiah Royce, a Californian for whom UCLA’s Royce Hall is named. Royce “explicitly elevated the role of church in community terms,” Ross said, “and advanced the idea of church as community, not just a building for people to pray.” Ross quoted Royce’s view that “a church community has a congruence of feeling, and thought, and will, such as a community of hope, loyalty and truth, unified by a guiding spirit. My life means nothing, either theoretically or practically, unless I’m a member of a community.” At various points in his sermon, Ross drew applause and laughter. The Rev. Michael Micheler, St. Mark’s Christian education director, officiated. It was his first worship service as celebrant since his Jan. 11 ordination. Lisa Sylvester, St. Mark’s music director, led worship music with solos sung by Ayanda Fuzane (“Give me Jesus”) and Daniel Voigt (“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Fire,” a setting of Langston Hughes’s poem). During the worship service, Maria Horner, a parishioner of St. Mark’s, provided outreach updates, surveyed needs among parishioners and rallied volunteers. The Rev. Melissa McCarthy, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ canon to the ordinary, was present, having also attended a morning service at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Pasadena, where four families in the congregation lost homes. Suzanne Edwards-Acton brought greetings on behalf of St. Barnabas in Eagle Rock, also known as “St. Be’s,” and the community center that includes a preschool and serves as a Seeds of Hope food distribution site. Financial contributions to St. Mark’s may be made here. Contributions to the diocesan appeal, which provides grants for affected churches and individuals, including those affected by the Palisades Fire may be made here.
[Episcopal News Service] The sermon’s duration was less than 15 minutes. Its theme – a call for unity grounded in faith at a time of political division – was hardly out of the norm for a post-inauguration service at Washington National Cathedral, which has hosted similar services 10 times before. It was the sermon’s final four minutes that struck a chord. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde issued a final plea directly to President Donald Trump as he sat in the front row, a moment that would generate national headlines and intense reactions, both positive and negative. Her calm plea to the president: “Have mercy.” Later in the day Jan. 21, Trump made clear his distaste for the sermon when asked about it by reporters, saying he “didn’t think it was a good service.” Then early Jan. 22, he amplified his complaints with a social media post that demanded Budde and “her church” apologize. Without using Budde’s name, the president labeled her “a so-called bishop” and a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” whose sermon was “ungracious” and “nasty in tone.” Budde, in her sermon, had asked Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now,” and she specifically held up the fears felt by many LGTBQ+ people and immigrants at the start of Trump’s second term. A day earlier, after his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump had issued a series of executive orders, including several intended to address what he declared was a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. During the campaign Trump had promised to enact mass deportations, and in his social media post about Budde’s sermon, he added, without evidence, that a “large number of illegal migrants” had entered the United States and killed people as part of a “giant crime wave.” Budde’s plea to Trump: ‘Have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared’ Episcopal News Service sought comment from Budde for this story, which will be updated upon receiving a response. The bishop, whose diocese includes the United States’ capital city and part of Maryland, discussed her sermon in an interview with CNN that aired Jan. 21, after Trump’s initial comments but before his demand for an apology. Budde confirmed she was looking directly at Trump while speaking to him from the pulpit. “I was also, frankly, as you do in every sermon, speaking to everyone who was listening, through that one-on-one conversation with the president, reminding us all that the people that are frightened in our country … are our fellow human beings and that they have been portrayed all throughout the political campaign in the harshest of lights,” Budde told CNN. “I wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of their humanity and their place in our wider community.” She later told NPR’s “All Things Considered” that she didn’t see a need to apologize. “I regret that it was something that has caused the kind of response that it has, in the sense that it actually confirmed the very thing that I was speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to outrage and not speak to one another with respect,” she said. “But, no, I won’t apologize for what I said.” However gentle, her sermon set off a firestorm on social media and a flurry of emails to church officials. The ENS story posted to Facebook had generated more than 600 comments as of midday Jan. 22, many of them thanking Budde for upholding Christian values and others strongly criticizing her – some even going as far as calling for her removal. ENS also received more than a dozen emails about the sermon, some supportive, many of them outraged. Some suggested Budde’s message to the president was better delivered in person rather than from the pulpit. Kathleen Kinsolving, who identified herself as the granddaughter of the Rt. Rev. Arthur B. Kinsolving, bishop of Arizona from 1945-1962, shared with ENS a letter she had addressed directly to Budde. “It was extremely inappropriate for you to use the pulpit to lash out at President Trump during today’s service. This is completely unbecoming conduct, especially for a bishop!” Kinsolving wrote. “You should always treat every member of your congregation with the utmost respect, no matter who they are.” Trump, though not a member of the Washington National Cathedral, had attended the cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation with his family and members of his new administration, including Vice President JD Vance. An Episcopal Church spokesperson released a statement Jan. 22, saying that Budde has been a “bishop in good standing” since her consecration in 2011. “She is a valued and trusted pastor to her diocese and colleague to bishops throughout our church. We stand by Bishop Budde and her appeal for the Christian values of mercy and compassion.” Some critics of Budde’s sermon argued it was inappropriate for her to preach directly to Trump – or to any individual member of a worshipping community. ENS posed this scenario to the Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, a professor of homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary, who noted preachers commonly address individuals in other types of services, such as weddings, baptisms and ordinations. A post-inauguration service isn’t just about the president in the same way that an ordination is about the ordinand, Hooke said, though she thought Budde “built the case carefully” to justify the direct plea to the president. The first part of Budde’s sermon was rooted solidly in Scripture, Hooke said, specifically the passage from the Gospel of Matthew about “a wise man who built his house on rock.” “When people are going to preach a sermon that might be controversial in this context, basing it firmly on Scripture is the solid ground, to use that same metaphor,” Hooke said. The preacher’s message may not reach every member of a congregation immediately, but “sometimes a sermon is planting seeds that are going to grow and sprout much later.” Some […]
[Episcopal News Service] The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City is featuring an immersive traveling exhibition on 850 years of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris’ history, using augmented reality. “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition,” is an example of technology being “put to very good use,” the Very Rev. Patrick Malloy, dean of St. John the Divine, told Episcopal News Service. The exhibition will remain in the Chapel of St. James through Jan. 31. “St. John the Divine has always, from its very beginning, seen itself not only as enshrining ancient truth and reality – ancient truth and tradition – but also trying to see the best of contemporary society and to celebrate it,” he said. “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition” combines virtual reality technology from Histovery, a French educational tech company, to showcase illuminated photo panels, 3D models and life-size sculptures of the Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral, including a full-size chimera and other famous grotesques, and its statues of the Twelve Apostles and other biblical figures. Visitors use a touchscreen tablet, called a HistoPad, to scan designated “portals” to view the exhibition, which also features key events in Notre-Dame’s history, including its construction, St. Louis IX of France bringing a venerated relic of the crown of thorns, Napoleon I’s coronation, and restoration work after a structural fire in 2019 burned the cathedral’s roof and flèche, or spire. Visitors can choose from a dozen available languages to experience the exhibition. “This tool really allows you to explore at your own pace. …You could spend hours in the exhibit taking in all the information, or spend an hour finding what you’re most interested in, whether it’s the architecture or the history of the people who have come through Notre-Dame or the people who are responsible for building it,” Laura Bosley, executive director of cathedral programming at St. John the Divine, told ENS. Bosley said more than 2,150 visitors have viewed the Notre-Dame exhibition at St. John the Divine since it debuted in November 2024. Launched in 2021, the international exhibition is running simultaneously in Tokyo, Japan; Melbourne, Australia; and Hong Kong. It was previously at Westminster Abbey in London, England; São Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; New Orleans, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; Dubai, United Arab Emirates and other cities. The most famous of the world’s medieval Gothic cathedrals and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Notre-Dame de Paris, French for “Our Lady of Paris,” is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its archbishop, the Most. Rev. Laurent Ulrich. The cathedral, located in Paris’ 4th arrondissement, also is the setting of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” Construction on the cathedral began in 1163 on the Île de la Cité, an island in the Seine and the first settlement, and was considered finished in 1350. The cathedral rose on the site of two earlier churches. Before those churches, the site held what was believed to be a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter, the god of the sky and thunder. Some of the Roman ruins can still be seen below the cathedral. About 12 million people visit Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in France. The cathedral houses some relics of Christ’s crucifixion, including the crown of thorns and remnants from the True Cross – a wood fragment of the cross and a nail. In December 2024, Notre-Dame reopened for the first time since the fire broke out under the eaves of the cathedral’s roof on April 15, 2019. The incident occurred one day after Palm Sunday, when a separate, unrelated and much smaller fire broke out in an art storage room in St. John the Divine’s basement crypt. Some art, including an icon, a 16th-century chair and some prints, drawings and carvings were destroyed, but overall, the fire at St. John the Divine was much less devastating than Notre-Dame’s. “An American Gothic cathedral and a European Gothic cathedral … there were many, many bits of overlap,” said Malloy, who pointed out that St. John the Divine was built by hand like Notre-Dame, despite having more technologically advanced equipment available when construction began in 1892 in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, a couple of blocks south of Columbia University. It is one of the world’s largest cathedrals, even though construction remains unfinished today. For these reasons, Bosley said that, in a way, St. John the Divine being a host site for “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition” is a mark of solidarity. “That cathedral-to-cathedral connection just makes the most sense … and it’s very popular among both adults and children. The appeal is cross-generational,” she said. “When people walk into the doors of St. John the Divine, their jaws drop because they’re so in awe of the craftsmanship that has built this building, and the way the light dapples off the pillars. Notre-Dame is like that, too. You don’t need to be Episcopalian or Catholic to appreciate these incredible structures.” Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased either online or in person. The $25 fee includes tourist admission to St. John the Divine, which supports building maintenance. –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.
[Church in Wales] An innovative church project, funded by the Church in Wales, has sparked extraordinary growth in youth ministry, engaging more than 160 children across three coastal parishes. Just a year ago, only two children were involved. The Faith Alive project from Bro Dwylan Ministry Area in the Diocese of Bangor combines regular family-friendly worship with hands-on activities for children and young people. A monthly Kids Club meets at the local community center, offering Bible stories, arts and crafts, games and a delicious picnic lunch provided by volunteers. Alongside regular activities, the project runs seasonal events to involve people who may be new to church. Activities include summer rock-pooling sessions exploring God’s creation, led by the Rev. Andy Broadbent, who is also a marine biologist; Halloween celebrations focusing on Christian traditions; and interactive Christmas activities including nativity displays and craft workshops. Funding has also enabled the creation of a welcoming family space at St. Mary and Christ Church in Llanfairfechan, complete with comfortable seating, a Lego table, children’s toys, library and art area. The impact has been significant. Where previously only two children attended, the Ministry Area now regularly engages with over 160 children through its events, with additional hundreds reached through joint community initiatives. Several new families have become regular worship attendees.
[Melbourne Anglican] Muslim, Jewish, Arab and Palestinian people in Australia might be unable to practice their religion freely because of escalating hate crimes and racism across the country, faith and human rights groups say. The groups, including Human Rights Watch, Jewish Council of Australia, Australian National Imams Council and Amnesty International, denounced a recent series of hate crimes in a joint statement and warned that acts of Islamophobia and antisemitism, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism stoked fear in those communities. The groups said the incidents also prevented those communities from practicing their culture and enjoying their human rights. The recent attacks, including the vandalizing of a childcare center and two synagogues in Sydney, come after intensifying hate crimes against Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities. The organizations called on political leaders to stand up against the recent crimes and acts of discrimination, saying this racism included politicians’ denial of the seriousness of Islamophobia and racist language in the media. “Political leaders … should not seek to politicize racist attacks for political gain. Nor should political leaders cause further community division or vilification in their response to attacks. Human rights protections should not devolve into a game of political point scoring,” the groups said. They urged governments at all levels in Australia to support efforts to address antisemitism and Islamophobic acts and racist discrimination The groups also called on them to consult with human rights experts and affected communities, and to ensure that any restrictions on rights were legitimate, necessary and proportionate. In December, religious leaders from across Australia expressed solidarity with the Jewish community and denounced antisemitism after a synagogue in Melbourne’s south-east was firebombed. They urged Australians to reject hatred and violence to keep Australia a safe, flourishing and healthy democracy. Faith bodies, including the Victorian Council of Churches and the Islamic Council of Victoria, said they wanted people to embrace unity instead.
[Episcopal News Service] Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, in her Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation, called on all Americans to strive for a renewed unity based in honesty, humility and respect for human dignity – and she directed her final words to President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row. “Millions have put their trust in you,” Budde said to Trump, who was joined at the Episcopal cathedral’s service by Vice President JD Vance and their spouses. Budde then alluded to Trump’s speech the day before, at his Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump, who survived an assassination attempt during the 2024 presidential campaign, had said he felt “saved by God to make America great again.” “In the name of our God,” Budde continued, “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Some gay, lesbian and transgender Americans fear for their lives, Budde said, and a similar fear looms over hard-working immigrant families in communities across the country. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” Budde said. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples. “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.” Budde’s sermon echoed the concerns stated by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris in their Jan. 21 letter to the church, issued in response to Trump starting his second term with a barrage of executive orders, many of them targeting migrants, refugees and other immigrants. The orders signed by Trump included measures seeking to suspend the federal refugee resettlement program, declare a national emergency at the U.S-Mexico border, block an “invasion” of migrants into the United States, end the right to birthright citizenship that is guaranteed by the Constitution and resume a policy of making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard. Other executive orders were related to the federal work force, the economy, energy policy and the environment, and they included some measures targeting transgender people. The government, under Trump, intends to recognize only two sexes, male and female, and he seeks to end protections for transgender inmates in federal prisons. “We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said in their letter, which focused primarily on immigration policy. UPDATE: As Trump demands apology, Budde explains her call for mercy toward those living in fear Before the inauguration, Trump started his day Jan. 20 by attending a worship service at another Episcopal church, St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square. It sometimes is referred to as “the church of the presidents” because of its location across the street from the White House. Nearly five years ago, in June 2020, Trump drew widespread condemnation for posing with a Bible in front of St. John’s after ordering his security detail and law enforcement officers to forcibly push back protesters who had gathered outside the White House as part of an ongoing anti-racism demonstration a week after the killing of George Floyd. At the time, Budde and other church leaders condemned the use of force against protesters and the photo-op, which they said ran counter to Christian teachings. Budde’s sermon at Washington National Cathedral was not so pointed, though she again sought to underscore universal values shared by most world religions over the politics of hate and division. “We have gathered this morning to pray for unity as a people and a nation,” she said, “not for agreement, political or otherwise, but for the kind of unity that fosters community across diversity and division, a unity that serves the common good. … It is not conformity. It is not victory. It is not polite weariness or passivity born of exhaustion. Unity is not partisan. “Rather, unity is a way of being with one another that encompasses and respects our differences, that teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect, that enables us in our communities and in the halls of power to genuinely care for one another, even when we disagree.” Washington National Cathedral is the seat of The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Plans for the cathedral’s post-inauguration service were announced in October, before Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November to win the presidency for a second time. The service was not open to the public because of security concerns, and the cathedral’s nave was only partially filled with the service’s invitees, who included House Speaker Mike Johnson and some of Trump’s cabinet nominees. It was livestreamed and is available as a video on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith also participated, along with the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan for armed forces and federal ministries. “As we mark the transition of political leadership and begin a new chapter in the story of America, may these sacred texts, songs and petitions from the many faith traditions of our country inspire and challenge us to care for one another and live according to the highest ideals to which God has called us,” Hollerith said in his welcoming remarks. “Thank you for being here, and please know that we are a house of prayer for all people, and you are always welcome.” The service was joined by leaders from a diverse group of faith denominations, […]
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris issued a joint letter to the church on Jan. 21 emphasizing “Christ’s call to welcome the stranger” after President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office, issued a series of executive orders taking aim at migrants, refugees and other immigrants. “We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said. Scripture teaches that “because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world,” the presiding officers said. “This sacred call shapes both our churchwide commitment to stand with migrants and the ministries of congregations across our church who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees in their communities.” They also committed The Episcopal Church to continued advocacy and ministry alongside and on behalf of “the most vulnerable among us.” Trump, only the second U.S. president to lose re-election and return victorious four years later, was inaugurated to his second term at noon Eastern Jan. 20. In the hours after the ceremony, he issued a barrage of executive orders that included measures targeting refugees, migrants, transgender people and federal employees while weakening environmental protections and pardoning the crimes of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to reverse Trump’s 2020 election defeat. Some of the executive orders are expected to face legal challenges, such as Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Others seek to upend federal laws and programs that were established by Congress, raising concerns that he is overstepping his legal authority as president. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is one such initiative. It was established by Congress in 1980, and it created an in-depth process for screening, vetting, welcoming and supporting the resettlement of refugees who are fleeing war, violence and persecution in their home countries. The Episcopal Church has helped facilitate more than 100,000 of those admissions to the United States through Episcopal Migration Ministries and its local affiliates. The law requires the U.S. president each year to set a ceiling, or maximum number of refugees to be admitted. During Trump’s first term, his administration decimated the resettlement program by reducing the ceiling to a historically low 15,000 refugees. President Joe Biden reversed that policy when he took office in 2021, raising the ceiling to 125,000 refugees, though it took several years for EMM and other agencies to rebuild their networks and capacity. As he started his second term, Trump issued an executive order Jan. 20, suspending the program entirely “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” His order claims those interests are not aligned because the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.” Rather than an escalating crisis on the southern border, illegal crossings had fallen to their lowest level in four years during the final months of the Biden administration. Trump’s description of the refugee resettlement program also contrasts sharply with the lived experiences of the refugees themselves, who often have been praised for quickly establishing themselves in their new communities and contributing to those communities both economically and culturally. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, in her Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral, spoke directly to Trump, who was seated in the front row, and asked him to show compassion and mercy for refugees and other immigrants. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” Budde said in the cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples.” The Episcopal Church also has ministered to and spoken out in support of other migrant groups, including asylum-seekers and undocumented minors, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as young children. The church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations regularly advocates for federal action that aligns with hundreds of resolutions adopted by General Convention, and the Episcopal Public Policy Network helps mobilize Episcopalians to engage on the same issues. “As more immigration enforcement policy changes are announced, our churchwide ministries will continue to provide practical pathways to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said in their letter. The letter specifically urges support for Dreamers, opposes mass deportations, advocates humane border management and reaffirms the church’s support for the refugee resettlement program and other programs that have allowed people from other countries to legally live and work in the United States. The presiding officers also invited Episcopalians to join them in “speaking out against anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, including race-based targeting, vigilantism and violence, family division, and detention and deportation without charges or convictions.” “As one church united in the Body of Christ, please pray especially for families who live under the shadow of separation, and for all who seek asylum for protection from persecution. Pray, too, for the people of our congregations and dioceses who work tirelessly to serve immigrants and refugees, and who now face new and heartbreaking challenges to their ministry.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be […]
[Scottish Episcopal Church] The Scottish Episcopal Church has undertaken a new initiative that will offer two scholarships to applicants from the Global South, aimed at building and strengthening relationships within the Anglican Communion. Successful candidates will be active members of an Anglican Church in the Global South – which covers the regions of Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central and South America, Middle East and Pacific – who have been offered a place in a relevant Ph.D. program at a university in Scotland. The Scottish Episcopal Church will offer financial support of up to approximately $18,500 per year to assist with living costs, with the funding designed to complement other grants or awards. The scholarships in Divinity, Theology and Religious Studies have been developed by the church’s Global Partnerships Committee. Each scholarship lasts for up to three years and must be undertaken in Scotland. As well as strengthening ties within the Communion, it is expected that the new program of financial support for students will assist theological research and encourage theological discourse. Successful candidates will also act as ambassadors of their local church and engage with the theological community, including the Scottish Episcopal Institute. As part of their integration into the local Scottish Episcopal Church community, scholars will also be mentored during their studies. “The GPC is delighted to introduce this new scholarship aimed at strengthening our international relationships,” the Rev. Hamilton Inbadas, convener of the Global Partnerships Committee, said. “After reviewing its existing approach, the committee identified a need to reimagine its purpose and function. Engaging in meaningful conversations with global partners and the wider church led to a strategy focusing on relationship building and mutual learning. The development of this scholarship program is part of this approach. “In the past, the church facilitated scholarship schemes that brought individuals from other continents to Scotland to study theology. However, with the growing availability of theological education within their own countries, those programs came to an end. Through this renewed initiative, we aim to rebuild strong connections and foster greater mutual understanding with our partners across the Anglican Communion.” Applications close on March 31, 2025, with recipients notified by May 1, 2025. More information about applying for the scholarships is available here.
[Anglican Communion News Service] The Most Rev. Gilbert Rateloson Rakotondravelo was installed as archbishop and primate of the Province of the Indian Ocean during a Jan. 19 service at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar. Rakotondravelo served as bishop of Fianarantsoa before he was elected archbishop on Dec. 14, 2024. Rakotondravelo said of his new role, “I have a big vision for our church here. We want to unite our three countries – Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar – because we have differences in culture, but we need to work together for the kingdom of God, for evangelism, for mission and in the Anglican Communion.” He succeeds the Rt. Rev. James Wong, who was archbishop from 2017 to 2024. The Province of the Indian Ocean covers three countries – Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. It was founded in 1973, combining two bishoprics. The Anglican mission began in Mauritius in 1810, after the capture of the island from the French. Among those attending the service was the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion. After the service he said, “The Anglican Church in this province has been thriving these past 51 years. It has been very good to be in Madagascar for the second time and to witness firsthand what the church is doing in meeting the needs of the people they serve. I am overjoyed to be present at the enthronement of Archbishop Gilbert. My prayers go with him and his family and the entire province as he takes on the helm.” Reflecting on his ministry as primate, Wong said, “I am thankful for God’s love, thankful for God’s provision and for everything he has bestowed on my ministry and the people around me… especially the people of God here in Madgascar. God has used a lot of my context, my friends and my ministry… together with… the house of bishops we have been able to ease the burdens of many people. “My prayer is that the journey will be continued as the people grow with the word of God and share the word of God. One of the last things I have been able to share and to accomplish is to establish a grassroots theological education commission. … The ministry is to give training to evangelists… to the people in the pews, to enable them to be evangelists … to empower them to be on the field and to shine the light of Jesus Christ. So this is also the vision that the new archbishop has shared in our meeting just after the ceremony of installation – he will continue with this journey so as to enable the church in Mauritius, the Seychelles and in Madagascar to be nearer to the grassroots people.”
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal leaders and Episcopalians are affirming the church’s long-standing public policy positions and emphasizing Jesus’ Gospel message of love for neighbor, while praying for peace and unity as the Unites States prepares for President-elect Donald Trump to take office for the second time on Jan. 20. The church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations has said it remains committed to advocating at the federal level for policies adopted in 650 General Convention and Executive Council resolutions. In addition, church leaders at all levels are affirming the Christian call to “welcome the stranger” as Trump vows to expedite a program of mass deportations. Other Episcopalians are discussing ways to support transgender and nonbinary people who fear increased attacks on their rights and safety. And a day after Trump’s inauguration, the new president and his vice president, J.D. Vance, are expected to attend an interfaith and ecumenical worship service organized by Washington National Cathedral at 11 a.m. Eastern Jan. 21. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde will preach at the Episcopal cathedral’s event, “A Service of Prayer for the Nation.” National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith also will participate, along with the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan for armed forces and federal ministries. The service also will be joined by leaders from a diverse group of faith denominations, including Protestant, Mennonite, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist leaders. Participating musicians will include the United States Marine Chamber Orchestra. The post-inauguration service will be a slight departure from the cathedral’s historical practice: it has hosted 10 official inaugural prayer services for various presidents of both parties. Unlike in the past, however, its Jan. 21 liturgy was not planned in conjunction with the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and rather than focusing on an individual, it is offered for the country at large. The service is not open to the general public because of security concerns but will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. “We have held a service at the cathedral the day after the inauguration since 1933 and the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” Hollerith told ENS in a written statement. “We have a lot of work to do in the years ahead, and as a new administration comes into office, I think it is important that we gather in thanksgiving for our democracy and remind ourselves of God’s command to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.” Plans for the service were announced in October, before Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November to win the presidency. He is only the second president voted out of office to then return to power four years later. President Joe Biden had intended to run for election but instead ended his campaign last year amid age-related doubts about his health and vitality. Also in the nation’s capital, The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations leads a range of nonpartisan advocacy campaigns following positions adopted by the church’s governing bodies. The office’s staff monitors legislation, coordinates with partner agencies and other denominations, develops relationships with lawmakers and encourages Episcopalians’ activism through its Episcopal Public Policy Network, or EPPN. That work is focused on five primary areas: anti-poverty, migration and refugees, climate and environment, racial reconciliation and justice, and human rights and peacebuilding. “Regardless of the makeup of Congress or the administration, we work with members of Congress from all political parties in our advocacy,” Rebecca Blachly, who leads the office as the church’s senior director of public policy and witness, said in a written statement for this story. “We look forward to working with the 119th Congress and the new administration to advance legislation and policy wherever our positions align. Where they do not, we will work to protect the vulnerable in our communities. “We will continue to lift up and join with the voices of all who will be impacted by harmful policy changes and legislation. We will join with others to try to stop or mitigate harm.” Blachly’s office also mobilizes Episcopalians through its action alerts and provides other tools and resources for them to engage with the same issues. Her office also holds weekly network calls at 1 p.m. Eastern Thursdays. “We invite Episcopalians to join the Episcopal Public Policy Network to become a part of a community of advocates taking action to push for policy change in line with our values,” Blachly said. “We will all be more effective if we join our voices together.” – 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] The National Park Service has awarded a $20,250 grant to support adding a historic designation to a Diocese of Georgia church that was founded by Deaconess Anna Alexander, The Episcopal Church’s only Black deaconess. Good Shepherd Episcopal School and Church in Glynn County was one of 20 sites nationwide that received the grants as part of a federal effort to add more properties associated with unrepresented groups to the National Register of Historic Places. The grants will support the survey and nomination of those sites. Alexander is celebrated every year on her feast day, Sept. 24, which was added to The Episcopal Church’s calendar in 2018. She was born in 1865 and spent much of her adult life ministering to poor Black residents of Glynn and McIntosh counties in rural Georgia, particularly through education. She became a deaconess in 1907 in an era before the church allowed women as priests or deacons. Alexander helped establish Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and its parochial school in Pennick, about 15 miles inland from the Atlantic coast and north of Brunswick. She also established and helped run the St. Cyprian’s School at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Georgia. Alexander died in 1947 and is buried at Good Shepherd. The Episcopal Church recognized deaconesses from 1889 until 1970, when General Convention eliminated the order and included women in its canons governing deacons.
[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell released the following statement Jan. 16 on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. “The ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas has been far too long in the making, but it is welcome news for those caught up in this devastating violence. “My prayers are with all the families being reunited over the coming days, and for those who are still held in captivity. My prayers too are with the people of Gaza who have suffered such immense destruction, deprivation and displacement. Now must be the time – again, so long overdue – for unfettered aid to reach the people of Gaza, and for the indispensable role of UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] to be respected and protected by all parties. May this deal be a precursor to a wider, more durable and just settlement in the region: it must not be a false dawn. “Please pray for Archbishop Hosam and our Anglican sisters and brothers in Palestine and Israel, and for all the Christians of the Holy Land as they bear the light of Christ in such dark times. Pray too for the courageous staff of the Anglican Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, and those in their care. Across the West Bank, this war is being felt not just in the daily grievous news from Gaza, but through widespread intensification of the occupation. I pray this deal acts as a catalyst to bring freedom, justice and dignity to the Palestinian people as well as being a small step towards the long term security of both Palestinians and Israelis. “We lift before God the peoples of the Holy Land, and for His justice, mercy and peace to be known by all.” Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
[Diocese of Los Angeles] As San Gabriel Valley Episcopal congregations continue to unite in Eaton fire relief efforts, parishioners of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena, California – where some 30 parish families have lost their homes in addition to their church and school buildings – will begin holding Sunday-morning services on Jan. 19 at nearby St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church in Eagle Rock. The Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, rector of St. Mark’s, has extended the parish’s gratitude to the Rev. Jaime Edwards-Acton, priest-in-charge at St. Barnabas, for the invitation to hold services regularly in the Eagle Rock sanctuary in northeast Los Angeles. St. Barnabas Church – known as “St. Be’s” – conducts its recurrent weekly worship service on Thursday evenings, which readily allows the sanctuary to be regularly available to the St. Mark’s parish community. “There was already an existing kind of kinship between the two churches that began when St. Barnabas was resurrected for its new chapter some five years ago,” Edwards-Acton told The Episcopal News, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ weekly newsletter. Edwards-Acton noted that Suzanne Edwards-Acton suggested the invitation to St. Mark’s. “There seems to be a common creative energy and sense of ministry that the two communities share,” he said. “When Carri and I talked, it felt like a no-brainer. I got the feeling that Carri was confident that her community would feel right at home immediately at St. Barnabas. And that filled my heart,” Edwards-Acton said. “I feel so lucky and blessed that our St. Barnabas community is able to play a role in St. Mark‘s literal rising from the ashes.” Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor added his gratitude for the collaboration and “the Holy Spirit’s leading” that has allowed the Eagle Rock church to say to St. Mark’s, “Come on down; you’ve got a church on Sunday!” Taylor joined St. Mark’s online for a Jan. 12 service via Zoom. His reflections on the service are here. Earlier that day, he attended the 8 a.m. Eucharist at St. Augustine by-the-Sea in Santa Monica, which welcomed parishioners of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades, some 75% of whom have lost homes in the firestorm that claimed parish school buildings and two rectories but left the landmark church standing. Meanwhile, the Rev. Melissa McCarthy, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ canon to the ordinary, joined Sunday worship at the Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, as the parish rallied to support four of its own families whose homes were lost or significantly damaged in the Eaton fire. Marking the annual feast of the Baptism of the Lord, on Jan. 12 this year, the morning liturgy included rites of baptism for a young parishioner, a meaningful sign of faith as the congregation moves forward together, McCarthy said. In northwest Pasadena, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church held services in their historic Fair Oaks Avenue sanctuary, rallying around four parish families that have lost their homes, and launching the ‘DENA online fund for fire relief donations. At All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, with some 80 homes of congregants lost, Sunday services were held Jan. 12, and large-scale distribution of emergency items continued from the parish’s Sweetland Hall. The church campus had sheltered some 180 people overnight on Jan. 7 after the fire broke out. In Sierra Madre, power has been restored at the historic Church of the Ascension, and the congregation is assisting neighbors without electricity. To date, the Eaton fire has burned more than 14,000 acres and is at 45% containment after destroying more than 7,000 structures.
[Diocese of San Joaquin] The Rt. Rev. David C. Rice on Jan. 16 announced plans to retire in spring 2026, prompting the Fresno, California-based Diocese of San Joaquin to begin a bishop search. Rice was elected as San Joaquin’s bishop diocesan in 2017 after serving as provisional bishop starting in 2014. He had previously served as the diocesan bishop in the Diocese of Waiapu in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand. San Joaquin’s new bishop will be the sixth for the diocese since Louis Sanford was elected its first missionary bishop in 1910. The Diocese of San Joaquin has worked hard to heal and rebuild since 2007, when former Bishop John David Schofield led many congregations out of The Episcopal Church. Those who remained have moved out of isolation into re-engagement with the wider church under the leadership of Rice and former provisional bishops, the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb and the Rt. Rev. Chet Talton, according to the announcement. Today, the Diocese of San Joaquin – which spans much of California’s Central Valley and portions of the eastern Sierra Nevada range and Mojave Desert – has 19 active congregations, offering ministries that address the unique needs of their respective communities, including feeding ministries, services for the unhoused and outreach to Latinos and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The diocese also has commissions with lay and ordained members that focus on migrant justice, racial justice and creation care. Rice, who has chaired and served on the Environmental Stewardship and Care of Creation Committee at General Convention, led the effort to migrate nearly all churches in the diocese to renewable solar power. He also fostered unique ministry trips such as a bike tour to raise funds to fight human trafficking, a 200-mile walk to promote advocacy for immigrants and a tour of sites throughout the diocese that relate to climate, migrant and racial justice. Looking ahead, the standing committee has formed a nominating committee with diverse representation to select final candidates for a new bishop. The committee is working closely with the Rev. Brian Nordwick – a consultant from the San Jose, California-based Diocese of El Camino Real – to ensure the election process adheres to best practices and is canonically correct and spiritually faithful. The nominating committee recently posted its diocesan profile online.
[Episcopal News Service] Partners in Housing Transition is a long-running furniture ministry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Of all the furniture and household items that its staff and volunteers put in the hands of deserving families throughout the year, the most important is a place to sleep. The ministry provides new or gently used mattresses and frames, pillows and sheets – all free of charge to more than 200 families a year in Kalamazoo County. “Every family member that is referred to us, we will make sure they have a complete bed,” Executive Director Carla Baublis, one of the ministry’s two paid staff members, told Episcopal News Service. For a ministry that dates back nearly 35 years, that adds up to a lot of beds, including nearly 600 in 2024 alone. Partners in Housing Transition was founded in 1991 by Louise Dunbar, a parishioner at St. Luke’s who was volunteering at the time at an agency that helped homeless and low-income residents obtain federal housing vouchers. “Folks were getting their housing and not a stick of furniture,” Baublis said. So, Dunbar pulled the seats out of her family van, loaded it with donated furniture and began making deliveries around town. She served about 20 families that first year. St. Luke’s soon began letting Dunbar store the growing inventory of donated furniture in the church basement. Then, about 20 years ago, St. Luke’s launched a capital campaign for building upgrades, including additional space in the basement and a freight elevator, allowing the furniture ministry to expand. Today, the ministry’s two part-time employees – Baublis and an assistant – and two regular volunteers typically serve about 230 families a year, with support from the congregation, community donors and grant providers. “Folks are always really happy to give,” the Rev. Randall Warren, St. Luke’s rector, told ENS. “It lets us get furniture to people who need it.” Partners in Housing Transition has its own board of directors but isn’t incorporated as an independent nonprofit. It remains a ministry of St. Luke’s, an example of the congregations’ commitment to what Warren calls “spirituality in action.” The congregation, Warren said, has a long history of “enacting the love of Christ for those in need.” Baublis personally knows the value of ensuring families have restful places to sleep, particularly families with young children. She previously taught elementary school students in metro Atlanta and rural Massachusetts, where she observed up-close the effects of economic disparities on student success rates. “The kids that do the best are the ones that have the most,” she said, and having a comfortable bed is crucial to success in the classroom. “I can’t teach you to read if you can’t stay awake at the reading table.” Baublis began attending St. Luke’s in 2003 and within a few years was volunteering with Partners in Housing Transition. She has served as director since 2020. Baublis now works with 20 social service agencies in Kalamazoo County whose case workers refer clients in need of beds and other furniture. Social media posts and local news reports help to get the word out about the ministry’s need for donations, which come in throughout the year – often from people downsizing their own home or disposing of the furniture of a recently deceased loved one. “We collect furniture that folks no longer want,” Baublis said. Commonly donated items include couches, tables, lamps, dressers, silverware, mixers, toasters and other small appliances. All donated mattresses are zipped in encasements for protection and hygienic safety. Mattresses and furniture must be free of rips, tears, pet stains and smoke smells. The moving crew inspects them and has final say on whether the items are in good enough condition to take back to the church’s storage area. “We’re not a free haul-away service,” Baublis said. Many used mattresses still have plenty of life in them. Baublis commonly cites hotel mattresses when reassuring clients who are hesitant. Would you consider spending a night in a hotel? “Someone has slept on that bed,” she said. The ministry’s inventory got a big boost a few years ago when a local college, Western Michigan University, was rebuilding some of its dormitories and agreed to sell all the old dorm beds for about $20 each rather than send them to the landfill. Baublis estimates she secured at least 400 frames and 600 mattresses from that agreement, keeping the ministry supplied for about 18 months. Baublis lucked into another windfall about a year ago when an Ann Arbor hotel was swapping out its older beds, which otherwise would have been junked. She picked up about 170 mattresses for the cost of transporting them to Kalamazoo, about $3,000. And if she runs out of donated mattresses, she buys them new. Mattress Mart in Kalamazoo allows her to buy its mattresses at cost, or a little more than $115 for a twin and $150 for a full. She orders new $75-100 frames on Amazon, so they are delivered right to St. Luke’s. The metal frames don’t require a box spring. She also rents off-site storage space for items that overflow the church basement. “I don’t want to turn down an offer of furniture,” she said, so if a purchase or donation isn’t immediately needed, it gets put in storage for later. The church pays for the insurance on the ministry’s 14-foot box truck, as well as its electric and phone bills. The St. Luke’s outreach committee also sets aside some money from its fund each year to support the ministry. The rest of the ministry’s cash budget, about $200,000 a year, is funded by grants. The ministry’s staff and volunteers also ensure families feel both cared for and empowered. When a family is referred to Baublis, she gives them a call to schedule an appointment to come to the church and see the inventory of furniture. “We really work hard to make it look like you’re shopping in […]
[Episcopal News Service] This weekend Episcopal dioceses and congregations nationwide will honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a variety of services and special events. While the civil rights leader would have turned 96 on Jan. 15, activities will take place around the official federal holiday commemorating King on the third Monday in January, which this year is Jan. 20, and coincides with Inauguration Day. King was the key leader in the nonviolent equality movement for Black Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Based in part on the impact of the 1963 March on Washington and King’s “I have a dream” speech, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and a year later the Voting Rights Act. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, during a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, to support city sanitation workers who were striking for better pay and working conditions. He is honored in The Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts calendar on April 4. The following is a list of some events hosted by Episcopal churches and dioceses. Check online locally for additional events. All times listed are local. Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, Missouri – Former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach Jan. 18 at a 4 p.m. Evensong service sponsored by the Diocese of West Missouri. The service follows a luncheon to raise money for the Rev. Edward L. Warner Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians of West Missouri. Tickets for the luncheon are $40 each. Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City – On Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. Darren Yau, doctoral candidate in the Religion Department and Program in Political Philosophy at Princeton University, will lead a discussion on how King’s deep Christian faith was inextricably connected to his steadfast commitment to justice and nonviolent resistance. Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. – The Jan. 19 11:15 a.m. service will commemorate King with music and prayers that honor his life and legacy. Guest preacher will be the Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, Washington – At 10:10 a.m. Jan. 19, the cathedral’s forum will take a brief look at the history of nonviolence with a special emphasis on the legacy of Bayard Rustin, an advisor to King and organizer of the March on Washington. An afternoon service begins at 12:30 p.m. to benefit Operation Nightwatch/Donna Jean’s Place Shelter, L’Arche Seattle and Lowell Elementary School. Registration for the afternoon is required. St. Martin’s, New Bedford, Massachusetts – St. Martin’s will host the city of New Bedford’s annual King celebration Jan. 19 from 3 to 4 p.m. St. Peter’s, Hebron, Connecticut – The church’s Sanctuary Performing Arts and the local Coalition on Diversity and Equity is hosting a concert Jan. 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. It will include works of 19th, 20th and 21st century composers and will feature Sawney Freeman, an enslaved person who escaped to Connecticut and began composing music in the early 1800s. His music was discovered after being lost in the archives at Trinity College, Hartford, for more than 200 years. Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California – An interfaith service Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. with the theme “Toward a more just union” will be hosted in partnership with the Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation. A 4 p.m. forum will critique, analyze and question assumptions about King and faith, with California Bishop Austin Rios as one of the panelists. Both events will be livestreamed. Trinity on Capital Square, Columbus, Ohio – The church will open its undercroft Jan. 20 from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. to provide food and shelter to people in need. Because it is a federal holiday, libraries and other social service organizations will be closed, and those on the streets will have limited options to keep warm. St. Bartholomew’s, Nashville, Tennessee – Jan. 20 at 9 a.m., church members will join a march to the Tennessee State campus for the annual MLK Day Convocation beginning at 10 a.m., featuring author and professor Daniel Black as keynote speaker. St. James’, Richmond, Virginia – The church will host a reading of King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” Jan. 20 at 10:30 a.m. St. Luke’s, Bronx, New York City – New York Bishop Matthew Heyd will be the celebrant at the Bronx’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration Jan. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon. The preacher will be the Rev. Victor H. Conrado, canon for congregational vitality and formation. The event is planned by the East Bronx Interparish Council. St. Peter’s, Cambridge, Massachusetts – The city of Cambridge’s annual Martin Luther King Day Commemoration and Remembrance will take place at the church Jan. 20 from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Organized by the Cambridge Peace Commission, the program will include greetings from Mayor E. Denise Simmons, original poetry from Jean Dany Joachim, who was Cambridge’s poet populist from 2009 to 2011, and remarks by the Rev. Jeremy Battle. St. Matthew’s & St. Joseph’s Church, Detroit, Michigan – The church will be the site for the city’s 21st annual Detroit MLK Day Rally and March on Jan. 20 from noon to 3 p.m. A community meal will follow the march. — Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.
[Office of the Archbishop of York] One hundred eighty-four solar panels on the roof of York Minster were switched on for the first time Jan. 9 during a blessing ceremony led by the dean of York, the Very Rev. Dominic Barrington. The discreetly placed panels, installed over the last four months on the south Choir roof, will generate 70,000 kilowatt hours of energy, enough to deliver a third of the Minster’s electricity requirements. This is the fourth solar installation on the Minster estate, which together will generate 120,000 kilowatt hours of energy per year – enough to power 41 average U.K. homes. The solar panel installation is one of many projects underway across the Minster as part of its Neighborhood Plan, which was adopted in 2022 following 32 weeks of public consultation. The plan, which has recently attracted international awards for innovation, is designed to address the challenges of the 21st century, principally responding to the climate emergency and the impacts of climate change on the fragile masterpiece that is York Minster’s 800-year-old building. Alex McCallion, director of works and precinct at York Minster, explained, “Extreme weather, brought about by climate change, is the greatest threat to the fabric of York Minster. These solar panels signify a significant step forward in our decarbonization journey and is a significant project of our Neighborhood Plan. “This project joins our existing solar slates on the York Minster refectory, solar panels at the Heritage Quad, and solar film on the Works and Technology Hub, to help reduce our energy consumption by a third – a huge leap forward toward a net zero future. “The closing statement of COP29 reminded us of the perilous state of our climate when the U.N. Secretary General noted. ‘COP29 comes at the close of a brutal year – a year seared by record temperatures, and scarred by climate disaster, all as emissions continue to rise.’ “Our adopted Neighborhood Plan is delivering ambitious change in our estate as we take bold action to get our buildings to net zero. These renewable energy systems, together with retrofit to insulate our buildings and reduce energy consumption, should be celebrated as a major step forward and show that it if we can do it at York Minster, everyone can and should.”
[Anglican Church of Canada] Mothers’ Union has elected its first worldwide president from Canada – Kathleen Snow, a board member at the international Anglican charity and parish nurse at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is the second president of the charity to come from outside the U.K., following her predecessor, Sheran Harper from Guyana, who has been president for the past six years, Snow told the Anglican Journal. As president, Snow said she will focus on upholding the charity’s long tradition of faith-based social action as an expression of God’s love for the world and on renewing its relevance in countries where its membership has dropped in the 21st century. The nearly 150-year-old charity has proliferated most widely in Africa and Asia in recent decades and is comparatively unknown in countries like Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, she said. She hopes to boost its recognition and appeal in Western countries by speaking to young people’s enthusiasm for social activism. When she joined Mothers’ Union in 1988 at the suggestion of then-dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Rev. John van Nostrand Wright, Snow said she had no aspirations to leadership. She didn’t expect to become the chapter leader a few years later, nor to become the president of the charity’s Canadian region in 2005 or the trustee for the zone covering Canada, the U.S., the West Indies and South America in 2019. “I never, ever anticipated I would be in this role. He is a God of surprises,” she said. Still, Mothers’ Union has been a deep and vital part of her faith since she joined in her twenties, Snow said, turning the love of God from a theoretical idea into a practical experience she could use to serve the world through the charity’s prayer-into-action model of service. “My faith has grown through Mothers’ Union more than anything else,” she said. “Not [as much] through worshiping every Sunday, [but] through the community that we have — this community of faith.” As one example of the charity’s inspiring work in the world, she describes a story from members she met on a recent visit to Formosa, a province in northern Argentina where many Indigenous women work with Mothers’ Union. Snow said two of those women told her about a 2018 incident they witnessed in which armed police faced off against youths with rocks and sticks in a small town in the province. “Something terrible was about to happen,” said Snow, when about 10 Mothers’ Union members stepped between the police and the youths, praying, and managed to defuse the tension. “They stopped what could have been a bloodbath,” she said. “That’s the power of what they do.” During her presidency, Snow said she hopes to reawaken some of that passion for charity and peace in Mothers’ Union’s North American branches. By welcoming young people who may have a faith and an interest in social activism but who may have disengaged from organized religion, she said, the charity may even provide a bridge for them to re-encounter the church, she said. In a letter of congratulation to Snow, Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, called her “a tireless advocate for the welfare of families, women and children” across her decades of service for the Mothers’ Union and a representative of the Anglican Church of Canada to the global Anglican Communion. “Your leadership has not only strengthened the Mothers’ Union within Canada but has also made a profound impact on the global work of the organization,” Germond wrote. “As you step into this new role, I am confident that your years of experience and your understanding of the power of prayer, fellowship, and practical service will guide you in fostering deeper unity and purpose across the worldwide Mothers’ Union network.” Founded in England in 1876, Mothers’ Union has operations on all six inhabited continents, including programs supporting refugees, reconnecting prison inmates with their families, delivering courses in parenting and raising awareness to reduce gender-based violence. The charity is especially active within the Anglican Communion, and members of its worldwide council must be members of the Anglican church or a church in communion with it.
[Anglican Communion News Service] At a meeting of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO), which gathered in Kuala Lumpur in December, the commission issued a communiqué following the publication of the paper “The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion.” The paper is the result of work commissioned at the Anglican Consultative Council in 2023 to explore “structure and decision-making to help address [our] differences in the Anglican Communion.” A draft of the paper was discussed at the primates’ meeting in April 2024 and will be considered at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026. IASCUFO is supported by the Anglican Communion Office and chaired by the Rt. Rev. Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. It is one of the main places where the Anglican Communion does its theological and ecclesiological reflection. Its membership is composed of a diverse group from across the Anglican Communion, incorporating a range of viewpoints from Africa, Asia, South and North America, Europe, and Australia. During the commission’s meeting, members discussed plans to aid the reception of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals around the Anglican Communion. A communiqué summarizing the meeting and its hopes reports that the commission “sensed that the Communion may be moving from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution. We may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees.” The commission’s communiqué goes on to say that “IASCUFO’s entire membership, which includes members of Churches of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), welcomes the GSFA’s commitment to stay within the Anglican Communion. We value its voluntary intensification of fellowship within the Communion as a potential source of renewal and fresh missional energy, the fruits of which may inspire others (see Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, §§8, 56, 68-69). Despite our divisions, the Anglican Communion needs to find ways for the contribution of the GSFA to be more fully recognized and received within its wider life and mission.” Following the meeting, Tomlin said, “We give thanks for the work that we have done together and that we are still engaged in, seeking common ground on ways forward in handling differences within our common life as Anglicans. Our discussions have been an opportunity for learning from one another, as well as wrestling with challenging questions around Anglican identity and unity. It is our heartfelt prayer that the Holy Spirit will use the Nairobi-Cairo proposals to build bridges across our divisions, to strengthen our life in Christ together, in order to serve the mission God has called us to in his world.” The commission meeting was hosted by the Rt. Rev. Steven Abbarow and the Diocese of West Malaysia. Also attending the meeting was the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo. In a recent comment about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, Poggo said, “The Anglican Consultative Council commissioned IASCUFO’s work in 2023. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are the result of international collaboration, representing diverse voices from around the communion. They are offered to strengthen our global Anglican family. I pray that they will be received with prayerful consideration in the months ahead.” Read the news announcement about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals here.
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians across the United States are committing to protecting and supporting immigrants after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated Jan. 20, following a campaign in which Trump amplified […]
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