[Episcopal News Service] This weekend, St. Peter’s Episcopal Parish, a historically Japanese church in Seattle, Washington, will commemorate the 83rd anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order to authorize the incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps – commonly known as Japanese internment camps – during World War II. 2025 also marks 80 years since the camps closed. “So much intergenerational trauma came from my grandparents and my parents, who met and had gotten married in Minidoka [War Relocation Center in Jerome, Idaho], and passed on to my cousins and me,” the Rev. Polly Shigaki, a retired deacon of St. Peter’s, told Episcopal News Service. She will answer people’s questions during the “Weekend of Remembrance: Never Again is Now,” which will take place Feb. 8-9. “Now we’re at a big juncture with the urgency to capture the stories of the few living survivors,” said Shigaki, whose husband was born in Minidoka. A horse veterinarian assisted with his birth because health care was extremely limited in the camps. The Weekend of Remembrance will include historic tours, a luncheon and a livestreamed worship service. Click here to view the livestream from the Diocese of Olympia’s YouTube channel beginning at 10:30 a.m. Pacific. This year will mark 37 years since the U.S. government formally apologized for incarcerating Japanese Americans during World War II, after a decades-long redress movement for restitution for survivors. Most of the people ENS interviewed for this story said they saw “a lot of parallels” between what happened to their relatives immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor and anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment right after the Sept. 11 attacks. They also said they’re seeing the same parallels – fear of the “other” – today with ICE arresting and deporting more than 8,000 migrants since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. “We haven’t learned our lesson yet; we can’t let history repeat itself,” the Rev. Irene Tanabe, rector of All Souls Anglican Episcopal Church in Okinawa, Japan, told ENS. Tanabe’s father and grandparents were incarcerated at Minidoka. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, in response to the Empire of Japan’s Dec. 7, 1741, attack on Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawai’i, and the resulting growing fear and distrust of Japanese Americans compounded by long-standing anti-Asian racism. At that time, about 275,000 people of Japanese descent were living in Hawai’i and the mainland United States. Over the next six months, about 125,000 of them – including 70,000 U.S. citizens – were forcibly moved to “relocation centers” in 10 remote areas in seven mainland states, though they were actually concentration camps. Those living in the Seattle area at the time, like Shigaki and Tanabe’s families, were sent to Minidoka. Proponents of incarceration justified it as a military precaution, guarding against Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese descent who might secretly work to support Japan in the war’s Pacific theater. Defenders of incarceration also argued that it also would protect those detained from racial attacks, though such arguments were undercut by conditions at the concentration camps, which resembled prisons more than safe havens. Very few people were permitted to temporarily leave the camps, such as for conscription into U.S. military service. “We spend so much time talking about how the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor and how we retaliated by dropping the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in schools, but we don’t spend the same amount of time talking about how we retaliated by setting up internment camps for Japanese Americans right here on our own soil,” the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, missioner for The Episcopal Church’s Office of Asiamerica Ministries, told ENS. “[It’s an erasure] I think that’s consistent with how Asian Americans are perceived in our society presently, that we’re invisible. …But history must never be erased.” Even though the “relocation centers” are mostly known as internment camps today, many scholars and the Japanese American Citizens League – the country’s oldest and largest Asian American civil rights group – call them concentration camps to more accurately describe the prison-like conditions. Click here to learn more about the JACL’s Power of Words campaign. The Weekend of Remembrance’s first day will include a gathering at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup to view the Puyallup Remembrance Gallery, which showcases photos, personal stories, and a documentary. Most Japanese Americans then living in the Seattle area spent the first few months of incarceration at the Puyallup Assembly Center, where the Washington State Fairgrounds stands today, before settlement at Minidoka for the remainder of the war. St. Peter’s was formed in 1908 by a group of Japanese Anglicans who gathered in houses until raising enough money to buy property in 1932 and build a church. When the congregation’s families were forcibly removed to concentration camps, the church boarded up and closed on April 26, 1942, and didn’t reopen for more than three years. During that time, St. Peter’s served as a storage site for parishioners’ belongings while they were interned. “Everybody literally got a 4-by-4-foot square space in the church where they could stack their belongings as high as they could,” Jay Shoji – whose grandfather, the Rev. Gennosuke Shoji, was vicar of St. Peter’s at the time and when the church was built – told ENS. “Obviously, 4-foot-by-4-foot is not very big, but you could at least store a few things. …Not everyone came back to Seattle after they were freed, so some items were not claimed.” Click here to read Gennosuke Shoji’s ordination speech from Jan. 15. 1918. Shoji’s grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles were incarcerated at Minidoka. After the war, they temporarily lived at St. Peter’s, which was converted into a hostel to house other parishioners who returned homeless to Seattle. When survivors were released from the concentration camps after the war ended in 1945, restarting their lives was difficult. Many were left homeless because their properties were occupied or sold off, leaving them no choice but to […]
[Episcopal News Service] Several resolutions passed in June 2024 by the 81st General Convention speak to current events in Gaza, where Israeli hostages are being freed as part of a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel and where Palestinians are returning to Gaza communities that were leveled by Israeli bombardment during the 15-month war. The Episcopal Church has long supported Middle East peace efforts and justice for Palestinians, and General Convention’s most recent actions also strongly urged the international community to take responsibility for rebuilding Gaza. Those policy actions, however, didn’t anticipate the proposal introduced this week by U.S. President Donald Trump. On Feb. 4, during a White House visit from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said he favored relocating about 2 million Palestinians elsewhere rather than allowing them to return and remain in the densely populated Gaza Strip. The proposal of a sweeping displacement of Palestinians has drawn comparisons to Israel’s displacement of Palestinians from their homes starting in 1948 during the first Arab-Israeli war that followed the creation of Israel. The inability of many Palestinians to return to their ancestral homes in Israel has been a major roadblock in peace talks for decades. Trump expressed a willingness to aid in rebuilding Gaza but, in an unexpected twist, he suggested it should become a U.S. interventionist project – an idea that was quickly rejected by Palestinians and many of Israel’s Arab neighbors. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.” It remains to be seen exactly what such a plan would look like in execution, if it ever advances beyond the proposal stage. Critics have noted that such a displacement of Palestinians, if it were even possible logistically and diplomatically, would run counter to international laws and agreements. And even some of Trump’s supporters have questioned why a president who campaigned against dispatching troops and money in foreign interventions would now be willing to occupy a disputed territory far from home, potentially requiring a U.S. military presence. Episcopal Peace Fellowship released a statement condemning Trump’s proposal as “unlawful, immoral and completely irresponsible,” echoing similar comments from a United Nations official. “We call upon communities of faith, human rights advocates, and all citizens who cherish peace and justice to join us in condemning this proposal,” Episcopal Peace Fellowship said. “It is imperative that we hold our elected representatives accountable and demand that our governments work diligently to uphold international law, protect the rights of the Palestinian people, and pursue diplomatic solutions that honor the dignity of every person.” Churches for Middle East Peace, of which The Episcopal Church is a member, also issued a statement opposing any attempts to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza. “The Palestinian people have endured 76 years of occupation and dispossession,” Churches for Middle East Peace said. “For the past 15 months, they have faced relentless bombardment and mass killings, yet many have demonstrated the intention to remain in their homeland. … The implementation of such forced expulsion would not bring stability or peace to the region. Instead, such actions would further disenfranchise Palestinians, deepen their suffering, and strengthen ideologies that support armed resistance. The Episcopal Church’s official policies toward the Middle East outline the church’s continuing support for a durable peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinian statehood The church has long supported a two-state solution to the conflict and opposed Israel’s continued control and occupation of Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank. The 81st General Convention passed Resolution D013 affirming this position while emphasizing “our hope for all the people of Israel and Palestine to enjoy freedom, peace, justice, and national self-determination.” Rebuilding Gaza Resolution D013 also addresses the future of Gaza. “Rebuilding Gaza, continuing to build up the economy of the West Bank, and promoting security for both Palestinians and Israelis are the responsibility of the United Nations, Israel, the U.S., Israel’s other allies, and Israel’s Arab neighbors, all of whom should be prepared to join in historic levels of aid and investment,” the resolution says. Another resolution, D009, focused more directly on the need to rebuild Gaza and the United States’ “moral obligation” to Gaza’s people. It calls on the U.S. government “to join with the United Nations, Israel, the European Union, Israel’s other allies, and Israel’s Arab neighbors, all of whom should be prepared to join in historic levels of aid and investment to fund the restoration and rebuilding of Gaza.” It also indicates the need for “the restoration and rebuilding of homes, hospitals, schools, universities, libraries, factories, and farms; basic infrastructure such as roads, seaports and airports, along with water, sewage, and electricity systems.” Sarah Lawton, the Diocese of California deputy who proposed D009, told Episcopal News Service she wrote the resolution in response to reports that the devastation in Gaza “was among the worst the world has witnessed in modern warfare.” She called Trump’s proposal for the territory’s future “twisted and malignant.” “The Episcopal Church’s position has been clear.” Lawton wrote in an email. “We pray for permanent ceasefire and the return of all hostages and unjustly held prisoners. We plead for a negotiated political solution to the conflict, in whatever form the parties can agree, but certainly based on self-determination for both Jewish Israelis and for Palestinians, with human and civil rights for every person, and a chance for the flourishing of all peoples in the land.” Ending Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories Israel first occupied the Palestinian territories as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War, in which Israel defeated neighboring Arab nations and took control of Gaza, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and implemented […]
[Diocese of Alabama] The Rt. Rev. Glenda Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has announced her intention to retire later this year when she turns 72, the mandatory retirement age for Episcopal clergy. Curry made the announcement and called for the election of a new bishop last weekend during the opening session of the 194th Diocesan Convention, held Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Decatur. Addressing more than 400 gathered clergy and lay delegates, she reflected on her tenure and the spirit of reconciliation that has defined her episcopacy. “Six years ago, I read the bishop’s profile as you searched for the 12th bishop of Alabama,” Curry said. “High on your list of priorities was living in the reconciling love of Jesus and being reconciled to each other and Christ in our ministry and common life. God has truly granted us that great gift of reconciliation—marked by mutual respect and deep love. I have found incredible partners in all our parishes, particularly at the cathedral, among our dedicated lay leaders and talented clergy.” In a video message to convention participants, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe described Bishop Curry as a “wise and valued colleague who is concluding her episcopacy with strength and grace.” He also highlighted the Standing Committee’s “innovative plan to ensure a healthy and thriving future for the diocese.” Curry turns 72 on June 20. She has offered to continue serving the diocese until it can elect and consecrate a new bishop based on a timeline this year established by the standing committee. The full announcement can be found here.
[Episcopal News Service] Jayne and Nick Kinney are sometimes a bit late for Sunday services at St. Martin’s by the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota. When they are, fellow parishioners can tell it’s because Nick spent the previous evening in the ring and still sports remnants of the colorful, glittery makeup he wears as his professional wrestler persona, Nick Pride. Pride is a bad guy (a “heel” in wrestling lingo) whose name exemplifies the worst of the seven deadly sins. The Kinneys have been members of St. Martin’s for four years, Nick told Episcopal News Service, after being drawn to a Christmas Eve service they found so compelling that he wondered aloud if the service was always that good. They returned on Christmas Day just to see, “and sure enough, it was that good,” he said. “I thought, I kinda want to make this our church.” They’ve been attending regularly ever since. Their faith also has moved the couple to make a difference in the lives of others in the Minnesota wrestling community, making themselves available to offer a prayer, a friendly word or even a place to sleep. Nick and other local wrestlers are professionals and get paid for their matches, though most need to keep their day jobs. They are booked through some of the 13 local wrestling companies within a four-hour drive of Minneapolis. The goal for many is to get to the pinnacle of pro wrestling, the WWE – formerly the World Wrestling Federation – which launched the careers of the likes of Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena. As in the WWE, which describes what it offers as “sports entertainment,” the physicality in the local circuit is real, but the outcome of matches is determined in advance. Jayne told ENS they don’t consider what they do within the wrestling community a ministry. “We’re just being servants where God puts us, and for us it’s wrestling,” she said. She said the wrestlers they know are “a hodgepodge of people from every walk of life” – people who are getting a master’s degree, battling addiction, having their career funded by a wealthy relative or sleeping in their car. One thing many have in common, she said, is having been burned by a church. And that’s where Nick saw how his faith could make a difference to them. “He quickly became intentional about how he used his time, becoming the person that people could talk to about literally anything,” she said. Sometimes that means listening over a cup of coffee or cat-sitting when someone is on the road. The guest room in their new house became a place where people could stay for a few nights. St. Martin’s rector, the Rev. Jeff Hupf, told ENS he knows the couple “are true believers in the redemptive power of Jesus active in the world, and it just spills out of them,” and that’s what fuels their care for the people in their community. Jayne, who grew up the daughter of a Methodist pastor, said it was an ironic contrast between the wrestler with a name boasting about the deadly sins and the man in the locker room willing to listen to people for hours after a show. “He offers to pray for them if that’s OK, or offers to think about them if being prayed for isn’t something that they’re comfortable with,” she said. She joins in the conversations when that’s helpful. She added, “There have been a couple of guys that we’ve been talking to for years that excitedly told us they started going to church again.” They all text each other about things they heard in Sunday sermons or how they see God working in their lives, she said. Nick’s fascination with wrestling goes back to his childhood, where he found in it “classic stories of good versus evil,” he said. As a young adult, he started to study wrestling and discovered the power of storytelling that takes place. In 2021, Nick decided to give wrestling a try – at 28 he felt it was then or never – and started studying and training with The Academy of Pro Wrestling in St. Paul, Minnesota. They taught him wrestling basics, including what Nick called the most important one – how to fall and not break anything. Wrestlers fall all the time, he said, and it hurts, but they learn how to minimize injuries. But importantly, he also learned how to make it a show. He had studied karate, where moves are compact, so he had some things to unlearn. “In wrestling, you have to make it big, to move in a way that the people sitting in the back row can tell what you are doing. It’s very much like stage acting,” he said. Wrestlers also try to make their actions, which aren’t meant to hurt an opponent, look as believable as possible. “It’s like how a magician doesn’t show where they pull the rabbit out of the hat,” he said. Nick said he always had envisioned himself as a wrestler good guy, known as a “face,” and adopted that persona early on. He thought he was doing well in that role until a local wrestling promoter came up to him after a match. “He said your wrestling is fine, but your character is boring, so we’re going to turn you into a bad guy.” He told Nick to come up with a “fun bad-guy character,” with a long-term potential plan of turning him into a good guy later when the time was right. The bad Nick took off, and eventually, the companies that arrange wrestling events and hire wrestlers for matches only wanted to book him as a heel. “They told me I was much more interesting and marketable as a bad guy,” he said. He now wrestles almost every weekend, and sometimes more than one match a day. When asked about the contradiction of […]
[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of President Donald Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.” Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the U.S.– for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would, if implemented, constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind. “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. Read the entire article here.
[Church in Wales] The Church in Wales is preparing to revisit its stance on same-sex blessings as the time-limited provision introduced in October 2021 nears its expiration in September 2026. In a message to members, the archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev. Andrew John, has called for a period of prayerful discernment and open dialogue as the church explores potential paths forward. Options include allowing the provision to lapse, extending the current blessings, or taking the significant step of introducing a formal service of marriage for same-sex couples. Here is John’s statement: I’m wanting to address you about an issue with which the Church in Wales needs to engage through its Governing Body. The decision taken in October 2021 to provide a service of blessing for same-sex couples was a time limited provision. This will lapse at the end of September 2026 unless some further provision is made, and it is this to which we now need to turn our hearts and minds in prayerful and honest discernment. The bishops of the Church in Wales have agreed that the options open to us ought to engage us afresh and are seeking to bring us together in conversation this spring. The details of these meetings have now been agreed in each archdeaconry. I wish to stress the purpose of these meetings is to listen – respectfully and attentively. We believe there is wisdom in this kind of approach, which allows different voices to be expressed and heard without comment or censure. We don’t expect these voices to be pilloried or applauded. Our task is to hear from each other and to seek, as best we can, the wisdom of God in our conversations. The options open to us might see the provision we made in October 2021 simply lapse and nothing further. There would be no authorized liturgy or facility for blessing couples in same-sex unions. We could, of course, extend this provision and continue with our current practice. It is also open to us to offer a service of marriage for same-sex couples, and this would be a significant step for the church to make. My invitation to you all is to participate. Whatever kinds of reflection these meetings might offer and whatever decision the Governing Body might take, it’s our engaging with each other, with Scripture and tradition in a respectful way to which we must now give ourselves. Please do attend one of the sessions in your locality, and may God give us grace and peace to hear his voice.
[Anglican Communion News Service] In a statement about safeguarding in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), the archbishop of Southern Africa, the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, has called the church to “redouble our efforts to eradicate all forms of abuse in the church and to campaign more vigorously for its abolition in wider society.” His Feb. 4 statement was made in response to the report of a panel of inquiry that investigated the contact of the British serial abuser John Smyth with the ACSA between 2001 and 2018. The Farlam-Ramphele Panel of Inquiry report on Smyth’s abuse was published on Feb. 3. The archbishop’s statement outlined proposals for action that relate to safeguarding in the Anglican Church of South Africa and to Anglican schools. Makgoba appointed the inquiry panel on Nov. 22, 2024, following the Church of England’s Makin Review of 2024, which reported on Smyth perpetrating abuse of young men in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. As Smyth had also spent time in South Africa, the inquiry panel was set up to explore what the Diocese of Cape Town had done to respond to warnings about his conduct and the potential risk he posed. In his statement the archbishop said, “I asked the panelists a very specific question: to examine our failure to respond adequately to a letter of warning received from the Church of England in 2013, and to make recommendations on our safeguarding process.” The inquiry panel said although no cases of abuse in South Africa had been reported to it, “the risk of a repetition of abuse by Smyth in his time in South Africa (2001-2018) was at all times clearly high.” The report refers to several areas for improvement in ACSA’s safeguarding processes. ACSA also published a seven-page summary of the report on its website. In responding to the report, Makgoba emphasized the need to effectively progress safe church processes and campaign about issues of abuse and gender-based violence in society as a whole. His statement also refers to research by the Human Sciences Research Council that reveals that one in every three South African women report experiencing physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. Makgoba’s full statement is available here. The Church of England offered a response to the report from the ACSA Panel of Inquiry; that is available here.
[Religion News Service] A prominent Lutheran leader invoked the story of a martyr while defending work to help the needy after Elon Musk, a billionaire who runs a Trump administration government efficiency task force, described federal funding for Lutheran aid organizations as “illegal” over the weekend. Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country, posted a video debunking comments by Musk and others on Feb. 2. “Despite misinformation and baseless doubt cast today on funding that supports Lutheran organizations across our country, the ELCA remains steadfast in our commitment and work with our many Lutheran partners and expressions of our church,” Eaton said. “The ELCA is also concerned for other faith-based communities and organizations who have similarly come under attack.” Eaton recounted the story of Saint Lawrence, a deacon in Ancient Rome. In the presiding bishop’s retelling, the Roman emperor demanded the Christian church turn over its riches, but Lawrence responded by selling the church’s possessions and giving the money to the poor. When the emperor finally confronted him and demanded the riches, Eaton said, Lawrence pointed to the “hungry, the poor, the naked, the stranger in the land, the most vulnerable.” He then declared: “These are the treasures of the Church.” “He was martyred for that,” Eaton concluded. “Be of good courage, Church, and let us persevere.” The controversy began late Feb. 1, when Michael Flynn, a Catholic and retired Army general who previously served as an adviser to President Donald Trump, published a post on X alongside screenshots of a spreadsheet detailing federal funding dispersed to Lutheran groups in the last two years. The spreadsheet — which also included organizations that were not Lutheran — listed groups such as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (now Global Refuge), one of several organizations that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees; Lutheran colleges such as Pacific Lutheran University; and various local chapters of Lutheran Social Services. Without citing evidence, Flynn accused the groups — who have longstanding funding agreements with the government — of “money laundering,” a federal crime. He also insisted the numbers amounted to “billions” of American taxpayer dollars, a claim not supported by the attached spreadsheet. Musk, who describes himself as a “cultural Christian,” quote-posted Flynn’s claims, saying his so-called Department of Government Efficiency “is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.” Global Refuge was quick to respond to the post, with CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah saying in a statement she “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the false accusations being lodged against our humanitarian work.” “As a faith-based nonprofit, we have proudly served legally admitted refugees and immigrants for more than 85 years,” she said in a statement to Religion News Service. “This includes Afghan Allies who risked their lives to protect U.S. troops, as well as persecuted Christians, all of whom have been extensively vetted and approved by multiple U.S. government agencies before traveling to our country. We also remain committed to caring for legally admitted unaccompanied children forced to flee to the United States.” She added: “Across Democratic and Republican administrations, we have partnered with the U.S. government to ensure vulnerable children are safe from human trafficking and can be safely reunified with their parents or guardian.” Flynn’s post also noted funds granted to Lutheran Social Services of the South, the legal name of a Texas-based group that does work under the name Upbring such as assisting parents who wish to adopt a child. Efforts to reach DOGE — also known as as the U.S. DOGE Service, which is the new name of the U.S. Digital Service — were unsuccessful. The targeting of Global Refuge comes after Trump already all but froze the United States Refugee Admissions Program in one of his first executive orders, shutting down the entry of refugees into the country aside from rare exceptions. Seven of the 10 groups that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees are faith-based, including Global Refuge and Episcopal Migration Ministries. Several of the groups condemned Trump’s executive order at the time and have since vowed to aid refugees in whatever ways they can. In addition, Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, recently accused U.S. Catholic bishops of “resettling illegal immigrants” — a claim made without evidence — in an interview with CBS, as well as accusing prelates who defend the work of only being concerned with their “bottom line.” Over the weekend, the Trump administration also began dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, with Musk saying on X early Feb. 3 that his DOGE team “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” In the past, USAID has partnered with religious groups that do international work, such as Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Relief Services.
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations released an “Immigration Action Toolkit” on Feb. 4 with information, resources and suggestions for engaging on immigration issues in response to the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration. That resource page can be found here. “The Trump administration has made sweeping policy changes on immigration that are already having an impact on millions of people,” the office said in an introduction to the toolkit. “Many of these new policies have been — and will be — challenged by the courts, and we anticipate continued shifts. In our ongoing support of migrants, and those living in our communities who face uncertain futures, obtaining and sharing accurate information is critical.” The toolkit also includes a link to an updated summary of the dozens of immigration-related policies that have been adopted by The Episcopal Church through General Convention resolutions and actions of Executive Council since the 1980s. That summary can be found here. Trump, in the hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration to a second term, issued a barrage of executive orders, many of them aiming to limit both legal and illegal immigration in the United States. Episcopal Migration Ministries has gathered information here on the immigration orders and the church’s response.
[Episcopal News Service] Cristosal, an Episcopal-affiliated organization committed to defending human rights and promoting democratic rule of law in Central America, was forced last week to cut its staff and terminate its humanitarian assistance program in response to the U.S. foreign aid freeze. Cristosal provided protection and reintegration services to 1,600 internally displaced people through its humanitarian aid program. “Essential legal and security assistance for human rights defenders and community leaders facing oppression has been drastically reduced, while Cristosal’s ability to represent thousands seeking justice for grave human rights violations is now at serious risk,” Noah Bullock, the organization’s San Salvador, El Salvador-based executive director, wrote along with Flor de María Salazar, Guatemala country coordinator, and Karen Valladares, Honduras country coordinator, in a Jan. 30 letter to supporters. “These leaders and families partnered with us in courage, trusting we would stand with them—and we refuse to abandon them in their fight for justice and human rights.” Cristosal was founded as a partnership between clergy in El Salvador and the United States in 2000. It has since become an independent nonprofit, with continued Episcopal support, and has expanded operations to Guatemala and Honduras. Over the past two and a half years, its staff has assisted over 7,500 internally displaced people in the Northern Triangle, where violence is driven by organized crime, narco-trafficking, and, increasingly, political instability. “Family networks are the first protection response for Central Americans fleeing violence; most internally displaced people come from poor communities and cannot sustain themselves through prolonged crisis. Without humanitarian assistance [from organizations like Cristosal] victims are forced to choose between the risks of suffering new violence at home or the violence on the migratory routes,” Bullock told Episcopal News Service when asked about the cut’s broader implications. Among the many executive orders signed during his first week in office, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on more than $60 billion in foreign aid to evaluate it against U.S. foreign policy goals. The administration’s cuts have decimated nongovernment and grassroots organizations serving migrants and other vulnerable populations across Latin America. U.S. foreign assistance agencies have recognized Cristosal as a regional leader in the defense of human rights. In 2016, Cristosal received its first federal grant from USAID to assist people forcibly displaced by violence in El Salvador and it then expanded assistance to people in Guatemala and Honduras. Between 2016 and 2024, Cristosal’s staff increased from 30 people to 150. Since Trump’s election in November, Cristosal has laid off 70% of its staff in Central America. “The work of a human rights organization is a partnership between courageous victims seeking justice, defending rights and rebuilding lives and the committed professionals who accompany them, often at great risk to themselves,” Bullock told ENS. “Laying off human rights defenders is uniquely painful because both victims and defenders are left unprotected.” In addition to assisting people who’ve been internally displaced, Cristosal provides legal and accompaniment services to individuals and families whose human rights have been violated by the state, due to the absence of the rule of law imposed by the “state of exception.” In late March 2022, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, suspending citizen’s fundamental rights by giving authorities the power to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of gang activity without due process (the “exception”). On Feb. 4, Bukele reportedly offered to jail convicted criminals deported by the United States. “Cristosal has a register of about 4,000 families who have made human rights violations complaints during the state of exception. We’ve investigated and confirmed at least 350 people have died by torture in prisons,” Bullock said, adding that Cristosal represents some 40 families whose loved ones have been killed in prisons, who have disappeared or, in the context of the militarization of communities, whose daughters have been raped, disappeared or murdered. In the wake of the Trump administration’s cuts, Cristosal continues to receive support from private philanthropic organizations like the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and from Episcopal churches and Episcopalians, to aid victims of violence, to investigate and seek accountability for human rights violations and to combat corruption. “Our priority in this moment is to sustain our legal representation and support of victims seeking justice in cases of corruption, torture, rape and trafficking, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killing, forced disappearances and war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Bullock said. “We will also maintain a team of investigators to continue to document abuses for historic memory and future justice.” To continue this work, Cristosal must sustain its human rights work independent of government grants, which are subject to political will, Bullock, who also serves as an Episcopal Church missionary, told ENS. “The original seed capital to start what is now the largest human rights organization in Central America came from different churches’ mission outreach funds and the personal relationships with church members and those networks within The Episcopal Church,” he said. “That support continues to be an important source of funding for Cristosal. Episcopalians’ unrestricted support allows us to respond quickly to emerging problems and to make sort of bridges between funding gaps from bigger grants.” Click here to learn more about Cristosal and support its work. -Lynette Wilson is a reporter and managing editor of Episcopal News Service.
[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Kevin Laskowski will always have the distinction of being a “Jeopardy!” champion, after winning three times on the quiz show in November, but on Jan. 31 he felt short of adding “tournament champion” to his resume. Laskowski, the priest-in-charge at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, Virginia, appeared in the first round of the popular TV show’s Tournament of Champions. In this episode, Laskowski was playing catch-up from the start, as Mark Fitzpatrick, the eventual winner, built an early lead. By the Final Jeopardy round, Laskowski’s $6,200 was far behind Fitzpatrick’s $16,400 and Allison Gross’ $10,000. None of the contestants guessed the final clue correctly, and Fitzpatrick advanced to the semi-finals easily. This was the second straight year an Episcopal priest appeared in the Tournament of Champions. The church will have to wait another year to see if one of its own will have better luck in the 2026 tournament. Full recaps of the Jan. 31 episode can be found on The Jeopardy! Fan website and The J! Archive.
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church on Feb. 3 released documents related to the two Title IV disciplinary cases against former Florida Bishop John Howard, including details of alleged financial impropriety that had not been revealed publicly until now. Episcopal Church canons require that such documents be made public now that the cases against Howard are proceeding to a disciplinary hearing panel. One of the two cases alleges discrimination against a priest as part of a broader pattern of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination under Howard’s leadership. Those allegations have been thoroughly documented and debated since they first drew public scrutiny in February 2023. The second case is unrelated and centers on three previously unpublicized allegations. Howard is accused of improperly benefiting from a home loan provided by his Jacksonville-based diocese that the diocese eventually forgave. He also is accused of spending money from a bishop’s discretionary account on home improvements. The last allegation in the financial case raises concerns about the transparency and propriety of an arrangement between Howard, an anonymous donor and an independent diocesan foundation to boost the bishop’s salary while also fulfilling corresponding pension obligations in the years before his 2023 retirement at age 72, presumably so he could receive larger pension payments. Howard, in his written responses to these allegations, affirmed many of the underlying facts but denied all wrongdoing. In the financial case, he argued “that each matter was transparent, was approved by lay authorities of the diocese and was properly documented.” As for the allegations of discrimination, Howard acknowledged that his theologically conservative views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage “have not shifted over time,” but he denied discriminating against the complainant. A three-day Title IV hearing is scheduled to start April 30 unless Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in consultation with all parties, reaches an accord with Howard. Such an agreement to resolve the matter would be subject to approval by the church’s Disciplinary Board for Bishops. Rowe issued a brief statement on the matter while announcing that the documents had been released. “Negotiations among the parties are now underway with the hope that we can reach an accord that promotes healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life and reconciliation, in accordance with the values that guide the Title IV process,” Rowe said, quoting partly from the church’s goals expressed in the Title IV canons. The Rev. Sarah Minton, president of the Diocese of Florida Standing Committee, also released a statement in response to the release of the documents. “The members of the Standing Committee received the news of these allegations against Bishop Howard with sorrow and disappointment,” Minton said. “We pray that as our diocese continues to discern the future and face the issues before us, the Title IV process will allow us to realize God’s healing and reconciliation. We pray that we can move forward together focused on our participation in God’s mission and our true identity as the Body of Christ in the world.” Title IV of The Episcopal Church’s canons sets out standards of conduct for all ordained people in the church and provides a process for addressing allegations of misconduct. Most complaints against bishops do not rise to the level of Title IV cases, and when they do, most details typically remain confidential in the initial phases of investigation, until more public disclosure is required at the hearing panel stage. The Howard documents were posted to The Episcopal Church’s website on active Title IV cases against bishops. The website was launched in February 2024 under orders of Rowe’s predecessor, former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, partly in response to growing churchwide concerns over the perception that bishops were not being held to the same standards as other clergy under the church’s Title IV canons, which apply to all clergy. In the statement of alleged offenses in the discrimination case against Howard, the complainant’s name is redacted. Several people have notified church authorities of alleged discrimination by Howard. The allegations of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination by Howard first generated public scrutiny with the February 2023 release of a report by the church’s Court of Review that cast doubt on the integrity of the diocese’s two 2022 elections to determine who would replace him as bishop. The winner in those two elections, the Rev. Charlie Holt, ultimately was blocked during the churchwide consent process from being consecrated as bishop, and the Diocese of Florida remains without a diocesan bishop for now. In November 2023, the Title IV reference panel ordered an investigation into the discrimination allegations, and in June 2024 the case was referred to the Title IV hearing panel. The second Title IV case against Howard was first revealed publicly a year ago on the church’s Title IV website. At that time, the allegations were identified only as “of a financial nature.” That case, too, was referred for an investigation and then to the hearing panel. Howard was consecrated bishop coadjutor in 2003 and became Florida’s bishop diocesan the following year. During his nearly two decades of leadership, Howard “exercised control over material financial matters involving both his personal interests and those of the diocese, which on occasion were adverse,” according to a church attorney’s statement of alleged offenses against Howard. It lists three specific charges. The first is “misuse of discretionary account.” The bishop’s account was intended to “fund such human needs as he deemed pressing and worthy.” In 2019, nearly $18,000 was paid from the account to three contractors making improvements to the HVAC system at Howard’s house. After the Title IV case was initiated, Howard reportedly issued a check to the diocese labeled “reimbursement” for an amount roughly matching the amount of the contractor payments. The second alleged offense is described as “use of foundation to recharacterize gift as assessable compensation.” Sometime before December 2013, “an understanding was reached that a wealthy donor, who insisted on anonymity” would make a large donation to the diocese’s foundation, which is incorporated as an independent […]
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in a sermon Feb. 2 during his ceremonial seating at Washington National Cathedral, spoke out against contemporary political divisions as “not of God” and lifted up immigrants, transgender people, the poor and other marginalized communities as central to the kingdom Jesus envisioned. “We live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to sow division among us, to make us forget who we are and to what kingdom we belong,” Rowe said in his 15-minute sermon. “God did not come among us as a strongman. God came among us as a child.” Invoking the day’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, the presentation of Jesus at the temple, Rowe highlighted how the temple’s elders recognized that this “poor child born in a backwater to peasant parents” would upend the top-down order upheld by the authorities of Jesus’ time and our own. “We’re beset by the powers and principalities of the world that don’t see it the way Jesus does. We’re told by the kings and the rulers of the day that the rich shall be first, that somehow compassion is weakness,” Rowe said, “that differences of race, class, gender identity, human sexuality are all divisions that must somehow separate us, and that we should regard migrants and strangers and those among us that we don’t understand with fear and contempt. “But those divisions are not of God. … In God’s kingdom, immigrants and refugees, transgender people, the poor and the marginalized are not at the edges, fearful and alone. They are at the center of the Gospel story.” Jesus does more than extend the boundaries of acceptance, Rowe continued. “Those who have been considered at the margins are at the center. They are the bearers of the salvation of the world. Their struggles reveal to us the kingdom of God.” Rowe preached less than two weeks after Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral’s post-inauguration prayer service. Budde drew widespread national and international attention and scrutiny when she addressed her closing remarks directly to President Donald Trump, who was sitting in the front row. Like Rowe, Budde centered the concerns of LGBTQ+ Americans and immigrants, asking Trump to “have mercy” as he starts his second term. Budde returned to the cathedral Feb. 2 to preside at the Sunday Eucharist that featured Rowe’s ceremonial seating. Washington National Cathedral is known as the formal seat of The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington. Rowe, who began his nine-year term as the church’s denominational leader on Nov. 1, forwent a large installation service at the National Cathedral, where The Episcopal Church traditionally has celebrated its new presiding bishops. Instead, he began his term with a more intimate investiture in the chapel at the church’s New York headquarters that was livestreamed to a churchwide audience. Though not an installation, the Feb. 2 service was a nod to church custom as the crowd of in-person worshipers joined a large livestream audience for Rowe’s cathedral seating. Before processing into the cathedral, Rowe knocked three times on the Great West Doors with the end of his primatial staff, given to him three months earlier by his predecessor, former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Behind the altar, Budde and the Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, the cathedral’s dean, invited him to take his seat in the Great Choir. “Oh Lord, my God, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, yet you have honored your servant to stand in your house, to speak in your name, to serve at your altar and to serve your people,” Rowe prayed. “To you and to your service I devote myself, body, soul and spirit.” Budde and Hollerith then escorted Rowe to face the worshippers standing in the sanctuary. “Would you greet your new presiding bishop,” Budde exclaimed, and the congregation showered Rowe with applause. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
[Church of England] The Rt. Rev. John Perumbalath, bishop of Liverpool, England, retired on Jan. 30 in advance of a television network’s announcement that they would broadcast allegations of inappropriate behavior toward two women. He stated that the claims, made in 2023, were found to be unsubstantiated. Here is the statement from Perumbalath: Having sought the permission of His Majesty the King, I have today taken the decision to retire from active ministry in the Church of England. Earlier this week, I was approached by Channel 4 News who informed me they would be broadcasting a story containing allegations of inappropriate behavior by me against two different women. Since those allegations were made, I have consistently maintained that I have not done anything wrong and continue to do so. Since the claims were made in 2023, they have been investigated and considered by experts from the National Safeguarding Team and had found them unsubstantiated. The first allegation was also investigated by the police resulting in no further action. Despite this, media reports have treated me as guilty on all charges and treated these allegations as fact. Further it has been erroneously reported that prior to my appointment as Bishop of Liverpool, I had failed the safeguarding assessment process. This is categorically not true. As the Church of England have made clear in their written statements over the past 48 hours responding to these false claims, the National Safeguarding Team found no concerns about my operational safeguarding experience and recommended some development work for me as I took on additional strategic safeguarding responsibilities – which is commonly the case for new diocesan bishops. This rush to judgment and my trial by media (be that social or broadcast) has made my position untenable due to the impact it will have on the Diocese of Liverpool and the wider church whilst we await further reviews and next steps. I do not wish this story to become a distraction for this incredible diocese and its people whom it has been an honor and joy to serve. This is not a resignation occasioned by fault or by any admission of liability. Rather it has become clear that stepping back from my ministry and waiting for the completion of further reviews would mean a long period of uncertainty for the diocese and all those who serve it. I have taken this decision for my own well-being and the best interests of the diocese. The exact date when my role will formally end is not yet determined. There are protocols to observe that I will now be attending to. But I step back from my ministry today. This means I will not be ministering in or leading the diocese with immediate effect. I have informed the Archbishop of York of my decision and I understand he will put in place the necessary arrangements for episcopal oversight of the diocese for the remainder of my time here and during the vacancy. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell made this statement: I acknowledge the decision made by the Rt. Revd. Dr. John Perumbalath to resign from active ministry in the Church of England. I respect his decision and thank him for his ministry. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those who have been affected by this situation. I am committed to ensuring stability during this time of transition and will be putting the necessary arrangements in place to provide episcopal oversight for the diocese. An acting bishop for the Diocese of Liverpool will be announced in the coming days.
[Anglican Communion News Service] The Anglican bishop of Goma has said people are “terrified in their homes” as fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo city continues to escalate. The Rt. Rev. Martin Gordon, who has recently evacuated Goma along with other peacekeepers, has shared “The Goma Call for Peace” urging the international community to act immediately and decisively for peace in eastern DRC. Gordon has described the situation in the city of Goma as having “… no power and many areas no water. The M23 [rebel group] seems to have control of large parts of the city. The Congolese army are resisting in other areas. Civilians are being caught in the crossfire. Bodies are lying in the streets. “Four thousand prisoners have escaped. The Internally Displaced Persons camps have emptied as people flee to the city center, and churches are filling as places of refuge. Hospitals are overwhelmed. The price of basic food has doubled. Most people are terrified in their homes. Many are asking why they are being forgotten. The region is at a turning point and needs the international community to act immediately and decisively.” Gordon, an ordained Church of England priest, has been serving as the bishop for the Diocese of Goma, in the Anglican Church of the Congo (Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo). He became bishop of Goma in 2023, and his family relocated to Goma after serving in the United Kingdom for many years. During his ministry, he has been engaged in peace and reconciliation work with other faith groups and United Nations bodies. In recent days, rebels from the Rwanda-backed M23 have been fighting for control and captured much of the eastern city of Goma. Conflict between the M23 and the country’s army has intensified since the start of the year, with rebels taking control of more territory and Rwandan Defense Forces increasingly involved. On Jan. 28, Gordon issued “The Goma Call for Peace” to the international community, urging for people to pray for Goma and the ongoing peace work on the ground, to see an immediate cessation of fighting and a rapid humanitarian response. Here is the text of the call document: Call from the Bishop of Goma for the international community to act immediately and decisively for peace in eastern DRC. With the escalation of the conflict in eastern DRC following Sunday’s incursion of Rwandan troops into Congolese sovereign territory on the Goma/Rubavu border, and mindful of the subsequent humanitarian and security risks in the region, the international community must act now. In solidarity with those suffering in Goma and across eastern DRC, we call for: 1. The immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities and respect of the existing ceasefire agreement. 2. The protection of the civilian population and an urgent humanitarian response including the restoration of power and water to the city. 3. The withdrawal of those external forces from DRC soil which are in clear violation of DRC’s territorial sovereignty. This includes the M23 and the RDF. 4. A resumption of dialogue in good faith between Kigali and Kinshasa believing that peaceful and diplomatic means are the only way to end the conflict which has already caused untold suffering. 5. The international community to invest every effort and to consider using all possible means to bring peace to eastern DRC. People in the region want only peace. By Jan. 29, there have reportedly been at least 17 foreign peacekeepers killed in Goma. Thousands have been newly displaced in recent days. The fighting is occurring against a backdrop of conflict in the mineral-rich region over the last 30 years. Various armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation. This conflict has already taken over 6 million lives, created 1 million refugees, displaced 6.5 million people and inflicted unimaginable suffering on thousands of women through sexual violence. In supporting Gordon’s call, the Most Rev. Georges Titre, archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Congo, said, “I pray incessantly for our brothers and sisters in Goma who know so well the pain of conflict. With Bishop Martin, I call for the international community to act and I add my support to the Goma Call for Peace. Immediate aid is desperately needed for those suffering most and our cries for peace need finally to be heard and acted upon. We have suffered for far too long. We put our hope in Christ and trust in the swift response of the international community.” The archbishop of Southern Africa, the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba backed the call for peace, saying, “We are at a moment when we can choose to come together in the pursuit of peace or the international community can turn away and allow the suffering of the innocent. I join my brothers and sisters in supporting the Goma Call for Peace.” The secretary general of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo said: “The rising conflict in Goma is causing a growing humanitarian crisis, causing loss of life, violence and trauma. We pray for all those affected by the conflict and for the work of the church and other peacekeeping agencies in the region. May the churches of the Anglican Communion around the world do all that we can to respond and urge our international leaders to work for peace and stability.”
[Episcopal News Service] Church leaders from the Diocese of Los Angeles shared how Episcopalians can best show prayerful solidarity and help people who’ve been impacted by the ongoing wildfires that have killed 29 people and destroyed over 16,000 homes and buildings across 50,000 acres throughout the region. “It’s going to take many years of rebuilding and recovery, and I have no idea what that looks like,” the Rev. Melissa McCarthy, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ canon to the ordinary, told the 90 participants gathered online for a “Prayer and Action” webinar in response to the fires. “The complexities are much more than I could have imagined. …None of this is normal.” The Episcopal Church’s Office of Creation Care in cooperation with the Diocese of Los Angeles organized the Jan. 30 webinar, which was facilitated by the Rev. Melanie Mullen, the church’s director of reconciliation, justice and creation care. The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie, The Episcopal Church’s chief of mission program and a Southern California resident, offered prayers on behalf of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe: “I bring prayers and presence and a commitment to being and standing with Los Angeles, grieving, praying and working and healing.” The official cause of the wildfires hasn’t been determined, but drought-like conditions and hurricane-like Santa Ana winds have exacerbated them over the last month. Climate change also has played a factor in the severity of the wildfires, as burning fossil fuels contributes to hotter temperatures and a dryer atmosphere, according to research from the University of California Los Angeles and the World Weather Attribution, a collaboration of international scientists. As climate change has worsened over the last decade, eco-theology, which critically examines the relationship between religion and nature, has grown among many religions, including Christianity. Examining extreme weather events like the wildfires from an eco-theological perspective is done “by asking what it reveals to us about God, about creation, about the interconnection and interdependence of all created things and of the call of our Christian life and response,” said Payton Hoegh, spiritual communities director for the Center for Spirituality and a postulant in The Episcopal Church. “Through this lens, we can acknowledge the environmental factors … that led us to the unbelievable destruction and loss that we’ve seen,” he said. The wildfires started on Jan. 7. The next day, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and School buildings in Altadena were destroyed. The wildfires also burned down 40 homes belonging to members of St. Mark’s. The congregation is now gathering for Sunday worship services at nearby St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Eagle Rock for the foreseeable future. All Saints Episcopal Church’s Pasadena campus was spared despite being in an evacuation zone, but 72 families have lost their homes, and many others are still displaced and unable to return to their homes, according to the Rev. Susan Russell, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ canon for engagement across difference and a part-time clergyperson at All Saints. The church is serving as a meeting space with free internet for the community. A pro bono legal clinic and grief groups have occupied the space in recent weeks. Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor told participants that atmospheric scientist Katherine Hayhoe predicted the worst-case scenario affecting the region now during a November 2024 webinar hosted by the Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change. She said that a confluence of climate change, wind gusts, drought conditions and a spark of fire would lead to such a tragedy “sooner rather than later,” Taylor said during the webinar. “I take no satisfaction … from observing that experts have anticipated this moment,” he continued. “Now that it’s occurred, I think we have a responsibility … to find out how we can make our Earth safer.” The Earth’s temperature breached 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in 2024. As global temperatures continue to surpass record levels due to human-induced climate change and the El Niño weather pattern, scientists say more extreme weather events like wildfires will occur, including heatwaves, hurricanes, severe rain and increased flooding. Sarah Nolan, All Saints’ director of giving, development and economic justice, noted that Altadena’s Black residents were disproportionately devastated by the Eaton fire, which is 99% contained. Nearly half of Black homes, 48%, were destroyed or sustained major damage, compared to 37% of homes owned by non-Black residents, according to data compiled by UCLA. “A lot of this kind of conversation that we are having as a community is looking at how we can be part of the rebuilding process, part of the support process and making sure that we are continuing to build partnerships with organizations that are doing that work…” Nolan said. “Climate refugees is something we’re seeing not just across global places, but now across our country. …For me, thinking about what it is for our church communities to be climate resilience centers – both as physical spaces but also as networks and connectors – that is something that we are looking into at All Saints and with the diocese as well.” Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development’s senior technical specialist, U.S. disaster and climate risk, stressed the need to “draw a line really firmly” between climate justice and the need for affordable housing. “I’ve heard stories from the folks in L.A. this idea of climate and disaster gentrification in a world with not enough affordable housing in general, but particularly not enough affordable housing in lower risk areas,” Mears said. “Work on affordable housing, wherever we’re doing it, that’s in lower risk areas is work on climate adaptation.” The Diocese of Los Angeles and Episcopal Relief & Development have teamed up to provide cash assistance to anyone who’s been impacted by the wildfires. Donations can be made through both organizations’ websites. McCarthy recommended that everyone should “become a climate activist” to help prevent future extreme weather disasters like the wildfires. “Figure out how you can resist the latest round of executive orders that are going to have a direct impact […]
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s long-standing history of helping refugees resettle in the United States will begin to wind down next month, an early casualty of the new Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in a Jan. 31 letter to church leaders and staff, announced that Episcopal Migration Ministries will begin winding down its core operations by Feb. 14, and 22 EMM employees will be laid off. EMM was one of 10 agencies with federal contracts to resettle refugees on behalf of the State Department, but that work ground to a halt last week when President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program as one of his first acts after taking office Jan. 20. Planning for the end of EMM’s federally funded work, one of the church’s most prominent and respected ministries, was a “painful decision,” Rowe said, but not unexpected, given the change in presidential administrations. By the end of Trump’s first term in January 2021, resettlement agencies said the president had decimated their capacity to welcome individuals and families fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries. The executive order that Trump signed at the start of his second term went even further, all but ending the 45-year-old federal program, and his administration also has ordered a halt in funding to assist refugees who already have resettled in the country. “EMM will retain a small team to manage the wind down of EMM’s federal grant-sponsored programs. They have been selected based on program responsibilities and knowledge, performance, ability to communicate with affiliate and federal partners, and some consideration for seniority,” Rowe said. Departing employees will be offered severance packages. Rowe added that he hopes church-provided outplacement services “will help them find a new way to use the gifts, skills and passion that they have shared with EMM.” “These departing employees have every reason to be angry, frustrated and frightened at this end of the work to which they have devoted their energy in recent years,” Rowe said. “I am also grieving the loss of this refugee resettlement ministry and the end of this season of our ministry. “Please know, however, that an end of federal funding for Episcopal Migration Ministries does not mean an end to The Episcopal Church’s commitment to stand with migrants and with our congregations who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees. As Christians, our faith is shaped by the biblical story of people whom God led into foreign countries to escape oppression, and no change in political fortunes can dissuade us from answering God’s call to welcome the stranger.” The Rev. Sarah Shipman, EMM’s director, issued a statement thanking the agency’s staff “for their commitment to our mission and their dedicated professionalism – both in serving vulnerable refugee communities directly and in mobilizing churches to welcome new neighbors among us.” “While we do not know exactly how this ministry will evolve in our church’s future, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with migrants and with our congregations who serve them,” Shipman said. Trump’s executive order was one of a series of first-day measures by the Trump administration targeting both legal and illegal immigration. The order did not go as far as ending the refugee resettlement program outright, though it suspended those operations indefinitely, “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” Several of the 10 agencies that have been responsible for resettling refugees are affiliated with religious denominations, and like EMM, some have been forced to reconsider their own operations while lamenting the Trump administration’s abrupt policy shift. “Some provisions contained in the executive orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a Jan. 22 statement. Then on Jan. 24, the resettlement agencies reported receiving letters from the Trump administration ordering a halt in federal funding intended to help refugees for their first three months, covering costs such as food and rent, as they begin to establish new lives and contribute to their adopted communities. “It is particularly shameful to leave newly arrived Afghan allies to fend for themselves after the tremendous sacrifices they’ve made in support of American interests,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a written statement. “This is the antithesis of what it means for the United States to keep its promise of protection to the allies of America’s longest war.” EMM’s work was historically rooted in the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief, which began assisting people from Europe fleeing the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, The Episcopal Church partnered with 16 other Protestant denominations to create Church World Service to provide overseas aid and resettlement assistance for displaced people. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, thousands of Southeast Asian refugees were resettled in U.S. communities with The Episcopal Church’s help. The current federal refugee resettlement program was enacted by Congress in 1980, and The Episcopal Church participated from the start, through the Presiding Bishop’s Fund. EMM was established in 1988 as a separate agency to coordinate The Episcopal Church’s resettlement work. The federal program has long had bipartisan support. EMM and the other contracted agencies have provided a range of federally funded services for the first months after the refugees’ arrivals, including English language and cultural orientation classes, employment services, school enrollment, and initial assistance with housing and transportation. Refugees were thoroughly screened and vetted by the federal government in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and they often waited years for their opportunity to start new lives in the United States. Because of Trump’s order, more than 10,000 refugees reportedly […]
[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Chicago has pledged support for immigrants as a “sanctuary diocese” since 2019. Now, with the Trump administration pursuing a new crackdown on immigration, Episcopalians in northern Illinois are living out that spirit of “sanctuary” in ways as diverse as their diocese. Some congregations in the diocese’s namesake city are considering whether to offer physical sanctuary in their buildings to undocumented immigrants under threat of deportation. The Rev. Sandra Castillo, the Diocese of Chicago’s canon for migration ministries, also is working with community leaders to establish a network of volunteers who can respond as immigrant allies where immigration agents are reported to be making arrests. Episcopalians also are mobilizing to help about three hours away from Chicago in rural northwest Illinois. In Galena, a small city that is known as an enclave of arts and tourism, Grace Episcopal Church invited Castillo to lead a “know your rights” training last month for about 50 people, many of them immigrants working in local service industries. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of mass deportations, sent immigration officials to Chicago last week to draw attention to enforcement efforts in the nation’s third-largest city. “It is causing a tremendous amount of anxiety,” Castillo told Episcopal News Service, but Episcopalians across the diocese are eager to support some of their most vulnerable neighbors. “We have the strength we need to protect our immigrant community if we all stand together,” Castillo said. Many Episcopalians across the church are expressing a similar eagerness to respond to the Christian call to “welcome the stranger” while upholding their baptismal vow to respect the dignity of every human being, as federal authorities indicate some immigrants who haven’t been accused of crimes still could be at risk of arrest. On Jan. 28, more than 800 people joined an informational Episcopal Church webinar, during which churchwide leaders discussed the impact and possible responses to Trump administration policies. Several dioceses, like Chicago, already have adopted “sanctuary” policies, while other dioceses and congregations are considering how best to support immigrants in their communities. “The care of migrants is deeply rooted in the biblical mandate to love and serve others, particularly the vulnerable and marginalized,” the Diocese of San Diego said in a Jan. 28 message. The Southern California diocese, which adopted its sanctuary resolution in 2017, provided a summary of information and resources related to the church’s engagement with immigration issues. “The diocese encourages congregations – who are willing – to partner with immigrant rights groups, legal aid providers and national coalitions to defend vulnerable populations,” the message said. “In addition to legal responses, religious communities can mobilize to raise public awareness and lobby for stronger protections.” Other sanctuary dioceses include California, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York and Washington. New York Bishop Matthew Heyd, in an article for the local publication The Spirit, invited all New Yorkers to join The Episcopal Church in responding “with hope, justice and love” to neighbors who feel threatened. “We join with communities of all backgrounds to affirm human dignity as foundational to our shared civic tradition,” Heyd said. “We believe our care reflects God’s unconditional love. As Christians, we are called to build communities of deep belonging, connection and care.” His diocese is organizing a “Call to Courage” interfaith vigil Feb. 12 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York to “bring together people of all faiths to stand in solidarity and support for those seeking sanctuary.” Los Angeles has been a sanctuary diocese since 2016. Its Sacred Resistance network is promoting training on immigrant rights while also offering guidance to other dioceses and congregations interested in offering sanctuary and other assistance to immigrants. “We’re calling this Sacred Resistance 2.0, in the wake of this election, and we’re building it as we fly, re-engaging partnerships and collaborations and building new ones,” the Rev. Susan Russell, the Los Angeles canon for engagement, said in a diocesan article about ways Episcopalians are responding to the new Trump policies. “We’re one week into this new administration, so we’re still building and trying to understand how much of what was threatened is actually going to happen, how much of what is now being promulgated in the media is actually happening and not just a bluster.” On the campaign trail, Trump regularly amplified racist and xenophobic sentiments to present a dark vision of a broken America. He largely placed the blame on immigrants, including by falsely accusing them of fueling a surge in crime. (Violent crime and property crime rates are far below their 1990s highs, and studies have shown that documented and undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.) “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America,” Trump said while campaigning. On Jan. 20, in the hours after his inauguration, Trump proceeded to sign a flurry of executive orders that included measures upending Biden administration policies on both legal and illegal immigration. He declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. He sought to rewrite the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. He suspended the country’s 45-year-old program of refugee resettlement. And his administration ended policies that had protected churches and other “sensitive” areas from immigration raids. The Department of Homeland Security under Trump also said it was stepping up enforcement operations in Chicago and other cities across the country. More than 900 undocumented immigrants a day reportedly have been detained starting Jan. 25, compared to an average of about 300 daily arrests in Biden’s final year. Separately, the administration boasted of a large number of deportations. “In the first week of the Trump Administration, we have fulfilled President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport violent criminals illegally in the country,” Homeland Security announced Jan. 27, saying it had “removed and returned” 7,300 people. By comparison, the Biden administration reported about 270,00 removals in fiscal […]
[Episcopal News Service] Cheryl Mirabella left the Catholic Church when she was a young adult and went on a yearslong “spiritual safari” through different denominations. “I have a very deep spiritual life … but I didn’t really feel like I was getting what I needed through church,” she told Episcopal News Service. Mirabella accidentally tuned in to the Jan. 21 Service of Prayer for the Nation at Washington National Cathedral and listened to Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s plea to President Donald Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now” – specifically LGBTQ+ people and immigrants. “I was so impressed by her kindness and her words, so I immediately went and downloaded her book (“How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith”) on Audible and … listened to the whole book while taking a solo trip down to Arches National Park in Moab,” Mirabella said. “I was so inspired by her and her words and her journey through life.” Then on Sunday, Mirabella went to her local Episcopal parish, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Park City, Utah, to check out the Jan. 26 worship service. “The priest, a woman, got up and her first words were to welcome us … That felt really good,” she said. “What Jesus teaches us is not representative of what a lot of denominations are now.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by ek (@emmakateshaver.art) Many people like Mirabella reported on social media that they attended an Episcopal worship service for the first time because of Budde’s sermon, and they were pleasantly surprised to learn that LGBTQ+ people, women and all immigrants, regardless of status, are not only welcome in The Episcopal Church, but also serve as clergy and lay leaders. “I think people really have a hunger, especially in times like these, to have a story that will help them, give them hope and give them purpose in life. They don’t always hear a Christian message out there that resonates with them,” the Rev. Clare Hickman, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ferndale, Michigan, told ENS. “Having Bishop Budde speaking in a way that’s really talking about God’s kingdom coming in this world – this side of the grave – is powerful.” Five visitors told Hickman they went to St. Luke’s for worship after feeling inspired by Budde’s sermon five days earlier. Since her sermon went viral, Budde has made countless television appearances, including CNN and The View. She’s also done interviews with The New Yorker, The Nation, The Guardian, Glamour and other news outlets. Her image has appeared in works of art and on a cookie made by Hive Bakery in Flower Mound, Texas, which sold out every day. She also was mentioned in a folk song. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jesse Welles (@wellesmusic) Non-Episcopalians are also just learning about some of Budde’s past actions, like in 2020 when she criticized Trump for posing with a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square – one block from the White House – 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. In 2018, Budde safely interred the remains of Matthew Shepard – a young gay man who in 1998 was beaten and tortured to death – at Washington National Cathedral. Shepard’s parents held onto his ashes for 20 years out of fear of his grave being vandalized. News of Budde helping Shepard’s parents has been circulating among LGBTQ+ communities, organizations and news outlets. At Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge, New Jersey, about half a dozen people who either were new to the congregation or who don’t come regularly were in church, the rector, the Rev. Diana Wilcox, told ENS. The church has an average Sunday attendance of about 40, so that many new people not only was unusually high but really stood out, she said. After the service, she always asks visitors what brought them to the church that day. “One couple said they had lived in Bloomfield for a while and decided to find an Episcopal church to attend this Sunday” in response to Budde’s sermon, she said. During coffee hour after the service, people were lingering longer than usual and were talking about the sermon. “There was a buzz in the air,” Wilcox said. She suspects that additional people who are newly curious about The Episcopal Church were watching the livestreams of their service and those of other churches. They may translate into additional new visitors in coming weeks, she said. When Rebekah Gleaves Sanderlin was a little girl growing up in Tennessee, her Southern Baptist preacher told the congregation that God calls people to the ministry, “and if you hear the voice, you’ll know.” When she told her grandmother that she thinks God’s calling her to the ministry, she was told that only men could serve as pastors. In elementary school, Sanderlin was sent to the principal’s office and then home from her conservative Church of Christ school one day because she prayed in front of boys before lunch. Her teacher accused her of “trying to spiritually lead boys.” “Looking back now, oh my God, those were horrible things to say to a small child,” Sanderlin told ENS. As an adult, Sanderlin searched for her spiritual home while frequently moving due to her husband serving in the Army. But when Trump won the 2016 election while she was living in the Florida Panhandle, a very religiously and politically conservative region, she no longer felt comfortable in church. When Sanderlin saw a clip of Budde’s plea to Trump, she decided to visit her local Episcopal parish, St. Aidan’s Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. “Just hearing Budde say the most basic tenets of Christianity, […]
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will be ceremonially seated at Washington National Cathedral on Feb. 2 during the cathedral’s main Sunday Eucharist, at which Rowe also will preach. The 11:15 a.m. Eastern service will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. The liturgy for the service is contained in the church’s Book of Occasional Services (page 355 here). Washington Bishop Mariann Budde will preside. During the service, Rowe will formally enter the cathedral through its Great West Doors and take his seat in the Great Choir, according to a cathedral announcement. Rowe was elected by the House of Bishops and confirmed by the House of Deputies as The Episcopal Church’s 28th presiding bishop in June 2024 at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. He took office Nov. 1, and the church celebrated the start of his nine-year term the next day with a Nov. 2 investiture at the Episcopal Church Center in New York that was livestreamed to a large churchwide audience. Washington National Cathedral, located in the United States’ capital city, is known as the formal seat of both the presiding bishop and the bishop of Washington. While Rowe chose a more intimate setting for his investiture, the Feb. 2 seating ceremony acknowledges the cathedral’s place of importance in the life of the wider church, particularly where the church’s mission overlaps with issues in the public sphere. The presiding bishop has a range of responsibilities, as outlined by The Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons. Those include presiding over the House of Bishops, chairing Executive Council, visiting every Episcopal diocese, participating in the ordination and consecration of bishops, receiving and responding to disciplinary complaints against bishops, making appointments to the church’s interim bodies, and “developing policies and strategies for the church and speaking for the church on the policies, strategies and programs of General Convention.” One of Rowe’s first priorities after taking office has been to study churchwide structures and staffing and develop a realignment plan that is intended to greater assist dioceses and congregations. Rowe has said he expects to announce the initial details of that realignment when Executive Council meets next, Feb. 17-19 in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.
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