Episcopal News Service

Panama Bishop Julio Murray blesses a group of young adult children of clergy who are no longer active in church after they participated in an April 10 panel discussion addressing how churches can effectively reach out to younger people and serve them. The panel discussion was a highlight of the 2024 International Black Clergy Conference, which took place April 8-11 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Sandye Wilson

[Episcopal News Service] To attract and retain young parishioners, Episcopal churches need to fully live up to the saying, “all are welcome,” Kayla Byrd said during an April 10 panel discussion at the 2024 International Black Clergy Conference. “What actions are you and your congregation taking when it comes to going out into the community to bring up young adults and being genuinely inclusive?”

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘hey, we want young people to come to our church and be a part of our ministry.’ But the ministry or the worship might not speak to young people to the extent that we feel passionate when we go to church,” Kayla Byrd told Episcopal News Service in an April 11 interview. “At my dad’s church, I knew that I could ask questions. However, other churches aren’t necessarily like that, but instead have a butts-in-pews mentality and don’t preach with energy and passion. I want to leave church every week knowing that I’m getting the right message and feeling energized and ready to go do my own evangelism.”

The Rev. Ronald C. Byrd, the church’s missioner for African Descent Ministries, whose office organized the conference, is also Kayla Byrd’s father. 

Some 160 Episcopal and Anglican bishops, priests, deacons and guests from across the African diaspora attended the triennial International Black Clergy Conference April 8-11 in Baltimore, Maryland. 

During the conference, which took place at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards, participants discussed conditions affecting Afro-Anglican ministry and witness, including the closure of historically Black churches and gentrification. The discussions reflected this year’s theme, “Unshakeable Faith in Troubled Times,” which reflects II Corinthians 5-7: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

“Having unshakable faith means that we need to hold on and embrace the beauty of these folks who were African who helped to shape and carve out Christianity as we know it,” the Rev. Michael Battle, founder of the PeaceBattle Institute and theologian-in-community at Trinity Church Boston in Massachusetts, told ENS. “But we never would know these African theologians unless we lift the veil … and those of African descent always need to figure out how to be more than the sum of our parts, which to me is the image of God.”

The PeaceBattle Institute offers consulting services on peacemaking and forgiveness. As theologian-in-community, Battle advises church leaders on how to advocate theologically for social justice around culture and race.

During an April 9 discussion on “theological framework,” Battle listed some African theologians who made significant contributions to contemporary Christianity but who remain relatively obscure in modern theological discussions: St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Pachomius the Great. These three theologians are considered monasticism contemporaries today.

“The goal with the International Black Clergy Conference is to meet with those we’ve known before and meet new clergy we’ve never met before,” the Rev. Jemonde Taylor, rector of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, a historically Black parish in Raleigh, North Carolina, told ENS. “Hopefully, those bonds of affection will continue to grow long after the conference.”

Taylor helped lead a discussion on climate change and environmental justice on April 9.  

“We must ask God and be with God to continue moving our steps forward as we continue to dream of a new Episcopal Church in the 21st century,” the Rev. Ronald C. Byrd told ENS. “We must continue to be able to provide spiritual needs and to always remind people that we can trust in a loving and capable God.”

The Rev. Ronald C. Byrd said he was particularly excited about the April 10 panel discussion of young adult children of clergy who are no longer active in church addressing how churches can effectively reach out to younger people and serve them.

A group of young adult children of clergy who are no longer active in church participated in an April 10 panel discussion addressing how churches can effectively reach out to younger people and serve them. The panel discussion was a highlight of the 2024 International Black Clergy Conference, which took place April 8-11 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Sandye Wilson

Kayla Byrd told the panel attendees that churches can attract and retain younger congregants by being intentional about serving them by preaching from the Bible, rather than about the Bible. This means fully living up to the saying “all are welcome” and making conscientious efforts to support everyone within the communities they build.

“Don’t be afraid to be real and draw analogies of current issues and correlations with the Bible and showing how the Bible is relevant now,” she said. “You say you are inclusive and serve the LGBTQ+ community, but do you state your pronouns when you’re having a conversation or when you send an email? And do you respect other people’s pronouns? These actions are a small way of saying, ‘I hear you. I understand you. I see you.’”

Kayla Byrd said the last time she went to a church and felt the “energy and genuine effort to build a welcoming community” was during an Easter worship service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brighton, Michigan, when Missouri Bishop Deon K. Johnson was rector.

Johnson, who was elected bishop of Missouri in November 2019, celebrated the Eucharist during the conference’s evening worship service after the April 10 panel discussion. Vermont Bishop Shannon MacVean Brown preached. The day before, Chicago Bishop Paula Clark celebrated the Eucharist and Arkansas Bishop John T.W. Harmon preached during evening worship.

Daily worship services included liturgies from across the African diaspora, including Ethiopia, Botswana, the West Indies and other countries and regions. One of the Eucharist services was bilingual in French and English as an homage to Haiti. Musicians from St. Ambrose performed a variety of music genres reflecting the African diaspora’s diversity, including African American spirituals, jazz and reggae.

The Rev. Ronald C. Byrd said the liturgies and music were “carefully thought out and planned” for the International Black Clergy Conference.

“It’s our music, and in some ways it’s much different from a white, colonized Episcopal Church,” he said. “This is what lifts us up. This is what gives us energy. This is the way in which we praise and worship God, and we make a joyful noise in praise of the almighty one and his son, Jesus Christ.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service based in northern Indiana. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Melissa Toedtman meets Baby Motka, a stray kitten she agreed to adopt, for the first time in the Community of the Transfiguration convent in Cincinnati, Ohio. The kitten was found in Oklahoma and was brought to Ohio by members of a Facebook group of clergy with cats. Toedtman is the community’s pianist. Photo: Sister Diana Doncaster

[Episcopal News Service] Sister Diana Doncaster of the Community of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal religious order for women in Cincinnati, Ohio, was one link in a chain of people who helped an abandoned kitten in Oklahoma find a home with a local pianist, Melissa Toedtman, who plays for the convent’s worship services.

Sister Diana, who also is a priest, told Episcopal News Service that on March 22, she and other members of the Facebook group “Clergy with Cats,” a private group with some 3,000 members, were alerted by Jeannie McMahan of Okemah, Oklahoma, to a stray kitten that had been found by her neighbor. McMahon, who already had her hands full with her own cats, couldn’t take her in, so she posted the kitten’s photo and asked if someone could offer it a home.

The group, Sister Diana said, is an interfaith, ecumenical and international mix of ordained people. “It’s an amazing group of mutual support, caring, laughter and, of course, cats,” she said.

Motka (top), who belongs to Sister Diana, meets Baby Motka in the convent after the kitten arrived in Cincinnati. Photo: Sister Diana Doncaster

Because group members often share photos of their own cats, McMahan thought this kitten looked like one of Sister Diana’s cats and gave her the same name, Motka, which means “Gift of God” in Russian. Sister Diana’s Motka is a Siberian Forest Cat – hence the Russian name – and has a long, thick coat of black, brown and cream fur. This makes her very fluffy, a trait her kitten namesake shares.

As luck, or perhaps providence, would have it, Toedtman, the pianist, mentioned after the Palm Sunday service that she was thinking of getting a kitten after the unexpected death of her beloved dog. “So I whipped out my phone, showed her the photo of Baby Motka, and it was love at first sight,” Sister Diana said.

To get the kitten from Oklahoma to southern Ohio, the Facebook group jumped into collective action. Fifty-nine donors contributed to a rescue and travel fund, which paid for Baby Motka’s initial shots and microchip, as well as travel expenses for her helpers. Three people each took a leg of the journey as a “kitten train,” driving through parts of five states before arriving in Cincinnati on April 6.

Since Toedtman was away on a long-planned trip, Baby Motka joined the much larger Motka in the convent until she could be united with her new owner – or as Sister Diana suggested, her new servant – on April 10.

For Sister Diana, the story of this kitten’s rescue and new home is “about God pouring out grace in unexpected ways.” She noted that this effort wasn’t a carefully planned church event but rather sprang from “one kitten, one Facebook group, some loving and generous people who were moved to help, and a woman who needs a kitten in her life.”

It shows, she said, “that God does amazing things through small opportunities.”

—Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay, on behalf of WCC member churches, said that the organization cannot reconcile the Decree of the XXV World Russian People’s Council describing the conflict in Ukraine as a “Holy War.” 

On March 27,  the decree of the XXV World Russian People’s Council, “The Present and Future of the Russian World,” was approved. The chair of the council was the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

The decree, which is addressed to the legislative and executive authorities of Russia, has raised grave concerns among WCC member churches. Pillay said, “Among other concerns arising from the recent decree, the World Council of Churches cannot reconcile the statement that ‘the special military operation [in Ukraine] is a Holy War’ with what we have heard directly from Patriarch Kirill himself, nor with relevant WCC governing body policy pronouncements, nor indeed with the biblical calling for Christians to be peacemakers in the midst of conflict.”

Read the entire article here.

General Theological Seminary, located in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, regularly welcomes outside groups to use its facilities for events, including Chapel of the Good Shepherd. Photo: General Theological Seminary

[Episcopal News Service] The seven Episcopal bishops who serve the dioceses of New York and Long Island are publicly opposing the potential long-term lease of General Theological Seminary’s property and facilities to a nonprofit choral music school that has ties to Christian conservatives.

The School of Sacred Music, which describes itself on its website as “grounded in the Roman Catholic tradition,” has been using part of the seminary as its base since late 2023 through a short-term rental agreement. “We engage and inspire students and professional church musicians, members of the clergy, congregations, faith communities, and all interested members of the public,” the website says. The school’s vespers are now scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

In November, the General Theological Seminary, The Episcopal Church’s oldest seminary, announced negotiations with the school, then unnamed as the nonprofit, for a long-term agreement to lease and renovate the buildings on its close, or campus, in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. Such an agreement, it said, would aid the seminary’s efforts to address ongoing budget shortfalls and deferred property maintenance while it focuses on growing its hybrid Master of Divinity program. Since 2022, the seminary has been governed through an affiliation agreement with Virginia Theological Seminary.

In late March, citing The Episcopal Church’s generation-long struggle toward full inclusion, the bishops released a written statement opposing the seminary’s negotiations with what they disclosed as the School of Sacred Music. “We are concerned by the lack of full acceptance of the LGBTQ stance of its founders and the lack of transparency in its funding,” the bishops said on March 22. “We recognize the difficult financial situation of VTS/GTS with the General Seminary campus. We are also making difficult decisions about the future use of sacred spaces. It’s important to make decisions that align with our mission and values. Human dignity is not negotiable.”

The statement was signed by Bishop Matthew Heyd, Bishop Suffragan Allen Shin and Assistant Bishop Mary Glasspool of the Diocese of New York, and by Bishop Lawrence Provenzano, Assistant Bishop Geralyn Wolf, Assisting Bishop Daniel Allotey and Assisting Bishop William Franklin of the Diocese of Long Island. Both dioceses sponsor students at VTS/GTS and expressed support for continued program partnerships.

When asked to elaborate on their concerns, a Diocese of New York spokesman told Episcopal News Service that the bishops would be offering no further comment at this time. Long Island, copied on the request, also declined further comment.

The only contact information listed on the school’s website is an email address for Thomas Wilson, identified as president and master of chapel music. ENS sent him an email but has not received a response.

The Very Rev. Ian Markham, dean of Virginia Theological Seminary and president of General Theological Seminary, provided a written statement to ENS that disputed the bishops’ description of the School of Sacred Music and the seminary’s lease negotiations.

“GTS is committed to inclusivity and ensuring the close remains a welcoming space to LGBTQIA+ persons,” Markham said. “The School of Sacred Music is also committed to a spirit of ecumenism and inclusion of all people. Even so, safeguards to ensure LGBTQIA+ inclusivity will be included in any agreement.” He added that the seminary has “conducted extensive due diligence on the funding sources” of the school and is satisfied by its transparency.

After ENS asked about those funding sources, a spokeswoman for the seminary responded that the School of Sacred Music is a subsidiary of a nonprofit known as the Ithuriel Fund, with more than $75 million in assets. The major donor, though not the only donor, is Colin Moran, an investment fund manager who also serves as chairman and president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life.

The institute is known for publishing First Things, a magazine and website that serves the institute’s stated mission, to “advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.” Though the Episcopal bishops did not specify what they found concerning, some of the articles published by First Things under Moran’s leadership express particularly conservative views toward human sexuality.

In one recent article, for example, the headline asks, “Can Christians Attend Gay Weddings?” The author, Carl Trueman, offers his answer: No.

Markham, the Virginia Theological Seminary dean since 2007, has written at least three scholarly pieces on religious topics for First Things dating back to 1992, none of them related to sexuality. The most recent was in 2014. In response to an ENS inquiry about Markham’s connection to the publication, the seminary spokeswoman confirmed that Markham was a visiting scholar with the Institute on Religion and Public Life in the early 1990s, before Moran became the institute’s president. Markham, a Christian ethicist and biblical scholar, has also written many books.

Markham said through the spokeswoman that he did not know of Moran or the School of Sacred Music until June 2023, when he was introduced to the school by Christopher Wells, the former publisher of The Living Church. The School of Sacred Music soon began using part of the close through its short-term rental agreement.

The General Theological Seminary is The Episcopal Church’s oldest seminary, founded in 1817. Photo: General Seminary.

Under the longer-term lease agreement that the seminary is pursuing, the School of Sacred Music “would restore the exteriors of all the GTS-owned buildings on the close, including the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, cover the expenses of the close and pay GTS an annual rent,” according to the November news release. “The arrangement would create income for GTS, enabling it to support and potentially expand its programs.”

As seminaries across The Episcopal Church have struggled to adjust to the needs of a denomination in long-term membership decline, General Theological Seminary has faced a particularly dire financial outlook in recent years. In its 2023 fiscal year, it had $7 million in expenses compared with income of $4.3 million.

In an update released the day of the bishops’ statement, Markham underscored the “significant revenue and cashflow challenges” facing the seminary. “The seminary has no funding source for any emergency capital expenditure, or deferred maintenance, which is estimated to be tens of millions of dollars.”

Markham also noted that the seminary board gave unanimous backing in November to enter negotiations with the school, and it again backed those negotiations in February.

Those negotiations are ongoing, the seminary told ENS this week. A variety of rental and lease options of different durations are under consideration, but the seminary declined to say more until the two sides are closer to an agreement.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Christ Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is partnering with three local nonprofit organizations that address access to affordable housing, domestic and sexual assault violence, and affordable child care access.

To support these partners — the Portsmouth Housing Authority, HAVEN and Little Blessings Child Care Center — Christ Church plans to overhaul its 3.5-acre property. This includes building about 50 affordable apartment rentals, renovating facilities for Little Blessings, which is already housed at Christ Church, and renovating the former church rectory to accommodate worship services. The church’s property would also become the new headquarters for HAVEN, the state’s largest nonprofit dedicated to reducing domestic and sexual violence, according to an April 10 press release from the Diocese of New Hampshire.

 “This is what happens when faithful people dare to pray for a vision of God’s purposes,” New Hampshire Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld said in the press release.

New Hampshire Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld, right, stands in front of Christ Episcopal Church in Portsmouth with HAVEN executive director Kathy Beebe, center, and Portsmouth Housing Authority executive director Craig Welch, left. Photo: Kathleen Soldati

Christ Church’s congregation is small but active, but maintaining the church’s building “has become a burden,” according to the press release. With these partnerships, the building would remain intact, and worship services would move to the revamped rectory. 

In New Hampshire, 23% of renter households have incomes below the state’s poverty guideline. In the state’s Seacoast, where Portsmouth is located, the housing crisis is attributed to an increasing demand for affordable housing while rental prices continue to escalate. Nearly 100,000 of New Hampshire’s residents live in poverty.

The Portsmouth Housing Authority has been developing and managing affordable housing for more than 70 years.

“This is an important opportunity to begin making a dent in building more rental options for the vital workers in our community who can no longer afford to live in Portsmouth,” Craig Welch, Portsmouth Housing Authority’s executive, said in the press release. “The PHA is so touched by the parishioners at Christ Church who are committed to their mission to serve people in our community by taking real action.”

HAVEN offers domestic and sexual violence support and prevention education services.

“[Partnering with Christ Church] will allow us to expand our client services, counseling, educational outreach, and provide program and office space in a centralized location,” Kathy Beebe, HAVEN’s executive director said in the press release.

HAVEN and 11 other independent crisis centers are part of the statewide New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Assault umbrella organization. In 2021, those centers collectively served 12,334 people affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking, according to the coalition.

In 2022, the median family income in New Hampshire was $119,983, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. The federal government considers affordable child care to cost no more than 7% of a family’s income. This means that households with children that earned the median income in 2022 would have spent 24% of their income on child care.

“A renovated or new space will strengthen our ability to continue providing quality services, especially in these challenging times for the early education industry,” Diana St. Jean, director of Little Blessings Child Care Center, said in the press release. “This is a tremendous opportunity that we are very grateful to be a part of, and we look forward to our partnership with the diocese, Portsmouth Housing Authority, and HAVEN as the project develops and comes to fruition.”

Christ Church and its partners will present a draft plan to the Portsmouth Planning Board by the end of April. 

“This will be a bold project that will further God’s love and care in this community,” Hirschfeld said in the press release. “I’m grateful to all involved for their courageous collaboration.”

Christ Church was founded in July 1883. When the original building burned down 80 years later, a local benefactor donated the land where the church was rebuilt and stands today. 

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service based in northern Indiana. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

The Rev. James Richardson, bottom right, a deputy from the Diocese of Northern California, answers a question from the Rev. Melissa Adzima of Colorado, bottom left, a member of the House of Deputies Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee, during a hearing on April 10. Watching on the Zoom screen are the chair of the deputies’ committee, the Ven. Stannard Baker of Vermont, upper left, and  the Rev. Cynthia Black of Newark, upper right, a committee member who served as timekeeper.

[Episcopal News Service] The General Convention legislative committees on Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music on April 10 held their first hearing, where bishops and deputies heard testimony on three resolutions, including one dealing with the language in Canon I.17.7 requiring that a person be baptized before receiving Communion.

That canon says, “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.”

Resolution D002, which was proposed by the diocesan convention of Northern California, calls for the church’s main liturgical body to consider language that keeps the requirement but frames it in a more positive light, which could mean changing “no unbaptized person shall be eligible” to “all baptized persons are eligible.”

The General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church. Every three years it meets as a bicameral legislature dividing its authority between the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops and composed of members from each diocese. Legislative committees include parallel committees of deputies and of bishops, which, though distinct, typically meet and deliberate together. If members vote to recommend it, Resolution D002 will be considered by the 81st General Convention when it meets in Louisville, Kentucky, June 23-28.

The Rev. James Richardson, a Northern California member of the House of Deputies, told the committee that D002 is not a repeat of one his diocese proposed in 2022 – C028 – that asked the convention to repeal Canon I.17.7. That resolution was rejected by the House of Bishops so was not considered by the House of Deputies.

The proposal this year, Richardson said, is different in that it asks the church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to look at Canon I.17.7 and decide two things: if the requirement for baptism before receiving Communion even belongs in the canons and, if it does, to consider proposing a “positive pastoral statement” there; and to create “a generous pastoral and invitational rubric” about baptism to be added to the Book of Common Prayer’s Communion rites.

He said in proposing this resolution, Northern California’s convention wanted to meet a “spirit of hospitality” around this issue while “respecting baptism as the gateway to the Holy Eucharist.”

Another Northern California deputy, the Rev. Robin Denney, assured the committee Resolution D002 “is not open Communion, nor does it propose open Communion, but rather invites the church to a deeper conversation.”

She said she hopes the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music could use language that maintains baptism as the “normative entry point” to Communion while offering a more positive phrasing. Rather than beginning with the word “no,” she suggested the language might be changed to a more positive, “All baptized persons are eligible to receive Holy Communion in this church.”

Four people who spoke against the resolution said they did so because they want to be certain baptism before receiving Communion remains the norm across The Episcopal Church. Joshua Maria Garcia noted that many of his 26,000 followers on TikTok are, like him, young converts to Christianity and sometimes to The Episcopal Church. While these young people overwhelmingly are liberal about social issues, he said they retain a sense of liturgical conservatism.

Shruti Kulkarni, a student at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, said that before she became a Christian and was baptized, she attended churches where she nonetheless was invited to receive Communion. While she could have refused, she said she received “to be polite” but felt that no matter what the priest had said, the sacrament “was not meant for me.”

Nathan Brown, a deputy from the Diocese of Washington, said he had found nothing in “either sacred tradition or in reason” favoring a change to the practice of baptism before Communion. Kevin Miller, a deputy from the Diocese of Massachusetts, said changing this practice would “fly in the face of almost 2,000 years of church tradition.”

Resolutions to clarify or change the church’s position around baptism before Communion also were considered by General Convention in 2006 and 2012.

The committees will again consider and hear testimony on Resolution D002 at a future online hearing.

—Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

[Diocese of Los Angeles] “Se Habla English” is a new model of ministry that offers a fresh approach to traditional Latino outreach by providing second-, third- and fourth-generation Latinos, or “Later Generation Latinos,” worship in English yet within their familiar cultural context, the Rev. Carlos Ruvalcaba told a recent New Camino gathering at St. Paul’s Commons in Los Angeles.

Later Generation Latinos represent two-thirds of the overall Latino population in Southern and Central California, yet Latino ministry has traditionally been focused on the newly arrived, primarily Spanish-speakers, said Ruvalcaba, chair of the diocesan Program Group on Latino/Hispanic ministries, which hosted the March 22 – 23 gathering.

“Latino ministry is not static; one of the strengths of The Episcopal Church has been to allow each person or group to worship in their own language,” but a downside has been separation and inability to connect with one another, he said. “One role for the church today is to risk intercultural exchange, to risk reaching out across difference, to risk learning a little of another language – but even more, to risk having one’s heart be open to another cultural context.”

Read the full story here.

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay sent a pastoral letter to Haitian brothers and sisters whose lives are lived in a land with hatred, violence and suffering. 

“Although we might be physically distant, we are close to you in heart, in the spiritual sense,” wrote Pillay. “We all are children of God. We belong to one family, as Jesus Christ himself said.”

Pillay added his hope that before long, love, joy, peace and justice may abound.

Read the full letter here.

[Episcopal News Service] A series of resolutions seeking to ensure Episcopalians with diverse theological beliefs have a place in the church received strong support from some of those testifying April 10 at a legislative hearing that covered a broad range of canonical and constitutional proposals.

More than 60 people attended the Zoom hearing held by the 81st General Convention’s Constitution & Canons committees on 22 proposed resolutions. The full list of resolutions can be found here. Parallel bishops’ and deputies’ committees, though distinct, typically meet and deliberate together. This hearing was moderated by William Powel of the Diocese of Ohio, chair of the House of Deputies Committee on Constitution & Canons.

Three of the resolutions discussed at the hearing, A091, A092 and A093, had been submitted by the Task Force on Communion Across Difference, which was first created in 2018 and renewed in 2022 in response to lingering theological disagreements related to the authorization of marriage rites for use by same-sex couples.

“The Holy Spirit was at work in our open and gracious conversations,” said the Rev. Mark Michael, a theologically conservative priest and member of the task force from the Diocese of Washington. Michael, rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac, Maryland, also serves as editor-in-chief of The Living Church.

One of the proposals, Resolution A092, would address what the task force said has been “the perception, and often the reality, of discrimination within the discernment and employment processes of The Episcopal Church” when a prospective employee’s beliefs on marriage differ from those held by the bishop or diocese. The resolution would add language to the canons that “no person shall be denied access to the discernment process or to any process for the employment, licensing, calling, or deployment for any ministry, lay or ordained” because of their views on marriage.

Michael noted that he is part of a conservative minority within his own diocese. “Clergy like me are concerned about the weaponization of Title IV against us,” Michael said, referring to the church’s disciplinary canons. He did not indicate he personally felt targeted in that way, though he was encouraged that the proposals send “a strong message to clergy like me, that there will be room for us to joyfully serve this church we love.”

The Rev. Kelli Joyce testifies April 10 in favor of resolutions proposed by the Task Force on Communion Across Difference, of which she was a member.

Another task force member, the Rev. Kelli Joyce, is a priest from the Diocese of Arizona who is pursuing a doctorate in theology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She also spoke in favor of the resolutions, saying the task force’s work was “of personal importance to my wife and me.”

While preaching at congregations in the Diocese of Tennessee, Joyce said she has been asked by some churchgoers whether she will stay in central Tennessee after she graduates. She responds that she’s uncertain whether parish roles would be available to her in what is known as one of the church’s more conservative dioceses. Tennessee Bishop John Bauerschmidt also served on the task force and has endorsed its proposals.

“It’s true,” Joyce said, “that the mandate of our task force involved doing work to ensure there remains a place in the church for people who are conservative on the question of same-sex marriage. But this resolution is also about protections for people like me.”

Another proposal, Resolution A091, aims to further define use of the Book of Common Prayer, as it was authorized in 1979, as an accepted statement of the doctrine of the church, protecting clergy who use the older marriage rites from allegations they are violating their ordination vows. A third measure, Resolution A093, would add language from a 2018 compromise resolution to the church’s marriage canon.

If the Constitution and Canons committees recommend the proposed resolutions, they will advance for consideration by the full House of Bishops and House of Deputies when they convene June 23-28 at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

The following are some of the other resolutions discussed at the committees’ hearing:

Several people testified in favor of A072, which would finalize a constitutional change first endorsed by General Convention in 2022. It would define the church’s prayer book as “those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention,” allowing more flexibility to expand the prayer book’s liturgies. Constitutional changes like this must be approved at two successive meetings of General Convention.

The Rev. Ruth Meyers, a liturgy professor at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and longtime churchwide leader in prayer book revision, testified that that this resolution would not change the church’s continued use of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. “What will change is our concept of a prayer book, freeing it from the binding of a printed book,” she said.

Resolution A051 aims to broaden the church’s collection and dissemination of data to assist church leaders at all levels in planning for the church’s future. The explanatory text says the church is “woefully behind our sister denominations in the collection, study, and use of data for decision making.”

“We need to be able to adapt, but we need to know what we’re adapting to,” said the Rev. Rowan Larson, a member of the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church, which proposed the resolution.

Leaders of the church’s Court of Review spoke in favor of the five resolutions it is proposing. Some would clarify canonical language while others would change how the Court of Review conducts its investigations. Resolution A103, for example, would enable the court to retain an investigator to assist it when it is called on to respond to objections to bishop elections.

“These reviews are an incredible amount of work,” testified Laura Russell, a lay deputy from the Diocese of Newark who serves as president of the Court of Review. The same resolution would increase the time allotted for the Court of Review’s work from 45 days to 60 days after receiving a case.

Resolution A104 also proposed by the Court of Review would limit the time for Title IV disciplinary proceedings involving clergy to 15 months, to help ensure timely resolutions of those cases.

And members of the Task Force on the State of Membership in The Episcopal Church spoke in favor of Resolution A108. The resolution would make several changes to the canon that defines lay membership in the church, including to create the new category of “associate member.” That would be someone “who is active in the life of this church through worship, giving, and program participation, but whose official membership remains elsewhere.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Anglicans pack Maple Leaf Gardens for the opening service of the 1963 Toronto Anglican Congress. Photo: Anglican Church of Canada Archives

[Anglican Communion News Service] A conference marking the historic 1963 Toronto Anglican Congress is taking place April 12-13 at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Toronto, Canada. It will be a significant international conference, marking a key moment in the history of the growth of Anglicanism worldwide.

“MRI at 60” will examine the history and influence of the 1963 Toronto Anglican Congress and its manifesto, “Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence (MRI) in the Body of Christ.”

Anglicans from around the world will discuss the Congress that brought to Toronto more than 1,000 bishops, clergy and laity from almost every diocese of the Anglican Communion and 17,000 worshippers to its thanksgiving service. The conference also will discuss the Congress’s background and implementation of the MRI principles.

The MRI Declaration ended with a powerful call to action. It stated, “We are aware that such a program as we propose, if it is seen in its true size and accepted, will mean the death of much that is familiar about our churches now. It will mean radical change in our priorities – even leading us to share with others at least as much as we spend on ourselves. It means the death of old isolations and inherited attitudes. It means a willingness to forgo many desirable things, in every church. In substance, what we are really asking is the rebirth of the Anglican Communion, which means the death of many old things, but – infinitely more – the birth of entirely new relationships. We regard this as the essential task before the churches of the Anglican Communion now.”

The Rev. Mark Chapman from Oxford University will give the keynote address, “A Tale of Two Anglican Congresses: London 1908 and Toronto 1963.” Twenty-one papers will be presented by speakers from around the Anglican Communion, including Canada, the United States, Australia, Kenya, Malawi, England, the Philippines and South Africa as part of panel presentations. Chapman also will give a a free public lecture, “On Consulting the Faithful: An Anglican understanding of the laity,” on April 12.

The Rt. Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, will preach at the April 15 thanksgiving service at St. James Cathedral, and the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, will preside.

Wells said, “The 1963 Congress marks a turning point in the journey of Anglicanism. Its conception of ‘mutual responsibility and independence’ has shaped the Anglican family such that it aptly describes our relationships around the communion, recognizing both autonomy and interdependence. On the one hand we are united in witness and mission; at the same time we acknowledge and celebrate our diversity. These things are not opposites. Radical as it was at the time, the 1963 Congress recognized the importance of lay leadership and the gift of indigenous voices – features contributing to establishing the Anglican Consultative Council in 1968. I am honored to preach at the thanksgiving service. I look forward to celebrating what was a seminal event in the history of the Anglican Communion.”

The Rev. Stephen Spencer, adviser for theological education and Lambeth Conference implementation at the Anglican Communion, also will be giving a paper at the conference. He said, “In a world that seems to be increasingly violent and intolerant, it will be very helpful to reflect on how we can be mutually responsible and interdependent as churches of the Anglican Communion. We have so much to learn from each other and so much encouragement that we can give each other, if only we stop judging each other and start listening to one other. I am looking forward to the conference as an opportunity to do this.”

The conference is sponsored by the Canadian Church Historical Society, the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Foundation of Canada.

It also can be attended online.

The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, will retire in September 2024.

[Anglican Church of Canada] The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, announced April 9 that she will step down from her role on Sept. 15, 2024.

The canons of the Anglican Church of Canada require primates to retire upon reaching their 70th birthday. Nicholls will reach mandatory retirement age in October.

Nicholls was elected as the 14th primate of the Anglican Church of Canada on July 13, 2019. She was the first woman to hold the office in Canada and only the second in the Anglican Communion, following the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was the primate of The Episcopal Church from 2006-2015.

Prior to her election, she served as bishop of Huron (2016-2019) and area bishop of Trent-Durham in the Diocese of Toronto (2008-2016). She was also Coordinator for Dialogue for Ethics, Interfaith Relations and Congregational Development at the Anglican Church of Canada’s national office. She spent almost 20 years as a parish priest in the Diocese of Toronto.

“The greatest joy has been to share in the relationship between God and God’s people through pastoral care, preaching, teaching and sacramental ministries and advocate for justice and compassion for all,” Nicholls wrote in her retirement announcement. “To see God at work bringing healing and hope in the midst of the sorrows, pain and joy of daily life for individuals, families, communities and our wider world is a privilege that cannot be measured.”

During her time as primate, Nicholls guided the church through a number of significant shifts and challenges. When the pandemic brought restrictions on in-person gatherings and travel, she invited Anglicans into her living room through video conferencing and webcasting, to pray, sing and worship.

Once travel opened up, the primate met with Anglicans across the country and around the world. One of her most significant visits was in 2022 with the archbishop of Canterbury to the Diocese of Saskatchewan, the Province of Rupert’s Land and the James Smith Reserve for a time of listening to residential school survivors.

A key part of Nicholls’ mandate was advancing the ongoing work of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Anglicans. She also highlighted anti-racism as an important focus for the Council of General Synod, encouraging Anglicans to live into the baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human being.

She oversaw the Strategic Planning Working Group, which was responsible for drawing up the Anglican Church of Canada’s new strategic plan. The five transformational commitments that came out of that process already are guiding planning, priority-setting, resource allocation and collaboration with provinces and dioceses in the 2023-25 biennium.

In addition to her work in building pastoral relations with dioceses and parishes, Nicholls represented the Anglican Church of Canada in ecumenical and international work. She has worked closely with Bishop Susan Johnson, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Anglican Church’s full communion partner, as well as the Churches Beyond Borders, The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Her work in the Anglican Communion included serving on the Primates’ Standing Committee and the Anglican Consultative Council, as well as participation in the Lambeth Conference. On the international ecumenical stage, she has been a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission since 2011.

“It has been a privilege to work with the Primate,” says the Ven. Alan Perry, the General Secretary, at the Church’s national office. “In addition to her keen insight and her love for and breadth of knowledge of the church, she has brought care, compassion and joy in the Gospel to her various roles. Staff will miss her singing voice as much as her preaching voice in our regular chapel gatherings. I will miss a friend and mentor who has constantly supported me and encouraged me to grow.”

Until a new primate is elected by General Synod in 2025, the Most Rev. Anne Germond, who is metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario and the senior Provincial Metropolitan by virtue of having the longest current term of office, will serve as acting primate.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Russellville, Arkansas, hosted primitive camping spaces on its large property for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. Russellville was located on the eclipse’s path of totality. Photo: All Saints’ Episcopal Church/Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians who witnessed the April 8 total solar eclipse’s totality shared their experiences on social media.

“I get it now. Darkness at 3:06 in the afternoon was simply surreal and unforgettable. And today is the Feast of the Annunciation, transferred,” Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows wrote on Facebook. “The metaphors of light coming into the darkness are so much more.”

Baskerville-Burrows also shared photos of the eclipse over the Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, where Christ Church Cathedral is located.

Indianapolis was one of several cities on the 2024 total solar eclipse’s path of totality. The eclipse also passed Dallas, Texas; Hugo, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Carbondale, Illinois; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Lancaster, New Hampshire; Houlton, Maine; and others. Altogether, 12 states were on the path of totality.

“The skies parted over The Episcopal Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle at just the right time and our group was afforded perfect viewing of this incredible event!” wrote the Rev. Christopher Blake Thomas, the Dallas church’s rector. “God really is wonder-filled!”

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, briefly blocking the sun and casting a shadow over the Earth. This week’s crossed over North America, entering through Mexico’s Pacific coast near Mazatlán and exited through Canada’s Newfoundland along the Atlantic coast.

“We had an amazing time celebrating the vast expanse of interstellar space with Christ Churchers and guests from out of town,” says a post on Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock’s Facebook page.

The next total solar eclipse will occur on Aug. 12, 2026. The path of totality will cross over Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Portugal and Russia.

Depending on the total solar eclipse’s location, the sun’s light may be partially or completely blocked. Totality, or the maximum phase of a total solar eclipse, is when the moon completely covers the sun, leaving a thin, shimmering corona around the lunar limb, or the edge of the moon’s visible surface. During totality, the sky darkens, and the air temperature suddenly drops. Depending on several astronomical factors and location, totality can last between a few seconds and 7½ minutes. This year, totality lasted between 3½ and 4½ minutes. In Indianapolis, it lasted about 3 minutes and 50 seconds. Total solar eclipses occur every one to three years but are usually only visible from the middle of an ocean or one of Earth’s poles.

All along the April 8 eclipse’s path of totality, Episcopal churches and camps hosted watch parties and offered camping opportunities for some of the millions of people who traveled to witness the natural phenomenon. In Russellville, Arkansas, northwest of Little Rock, All Saints’ Episcopal Church offered primitive camping spaces on its large property with walking access to festivities in the city’s downtown area. “Eclipse chasers,” or umbraphiles, who stayed at All Saints’ came from Germany, Nebraska, Colorado and elsewhere.

“It’s been a worthwhile experience for the church to be present during the eclipse and welcoming travelers,” the Rev. Mercedes Clements, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, told Episcopal News Service before the eclipse. “It’s definitely stepping outside of what we would normally do.”

The eclipse also served as an educational opportunity for some host churches and camps. At Waycross Camp in Morgantown, Indiana, a former astronomy professor gave a presentation on what happens during a total solar eclipse while participants waited for totality to begin.

“Thank you all who came out to see the eclipse on our lawn! We had a great time sharing food, music, fellowship and getting to know our neighbors,” says a post on the Church of the Nativity in Indianapolis’ Facebook page.

Visitors also participated in eclipse-related science experiments while at Church of the Nativity.

While a total solar eclipse is mostly celebrated by people along its path of totality, it’s viewed as a negative omen in some cultures, including Navajo and other Indigenous communities. On Facebook, the Episcopal Church in Navajoland explained a total solar eclipse’s meaning in Navajo culture:

“The Navajo term for a solar eclipse, Jóhonaa’éí Daaztsą́, holds profound spiritual significance. It symbolizes the Sun’s death and is an occasion for prayer and introspection. 

“During the eclipse, the moon (Tł’é’honaa’éí) will obstruct the Sun (Jo’honaa’éí). Following Diné’s teachings, one must not look at the eclipse or its shadow and should refrain from going outdoors. One must respect the eclipse by focusing inward through stillness, meditation, and homebound prayer and not partaking of food, water, or sleep during the eclipse period.

“Respect is the ultimate teaching. Respect the Sun in its time of dying, which is believed to be happening in our culture, much like you would respect an elder passing away. When the Sun returns, it’s considered a joyous occasion, a new birth, and a recognized time to make resolutions. But be joyous when the Sun returns. Return to life, renewal.”

The next total solar eclipse to cross the contiguous United States will occur on Aug. 23, 2044. On Aug. 12, 2045, another total solar eclipse will cross over the United States’ Pacific and Atlantic coasts, entering through northern California, crossing through several Caribbean islands and exiting through northern Brazil.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service based in northern Indiana. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay has held productive talks with the Most Rev. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, and Anglican Communion leaders.

Pillay engaged in constructive discussions during his visit to the archbishop’s residence in London on April 8. The dialogue continued at the offices of the Anglican Communion on April 9 on pertinent global issues and avenues for enhanced collaboration between the WCC and the Anglican Communion. 

Among the topics Pillay and Welby discussed were the upcoming Anglican primates meeting to be held in Rome in May, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, as well as the ecumenical events surrounding the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.

Read the entire article here.

About 160 Episcopal and Anglican bishops, priests and deacons from across the African diaspora are gathered April 8-11, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland, to discuss the conditions affecting Afro-Anglican ministry and witness at the triennial International Black Clergy Conference. Photo: Sandye Wilson

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal and Anglican bishops, priests and deacons from across the African diaspora are gathered in Baltimore, Maryland, to discuss the conditions affecting Afro-Anglican ministry and witness at the triennial International Black Clergy Conference.

The Episcopal Church’s African Descent Ministries organized the April 8-11 conference, which is taking place at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards. Some 160 people are attending. This year’s theme is “Unshakeable Faith in Troubled Times,” which reflects on II Corinthians 5-7: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

The Rev. Ronald C. Byrd, the church’s missioner for African Descent Ministries, told Episcopal News Service that this year’s theme was selected because “our churches of African descent are in crisis.”

“We’re seeing our churches close. We don’t have enough priests to prepare, and we have gentrification going on all over the country, and of course in the church,” he said. “We’re trying to find how we can be church to those that God has called us to. We must be strong in our faith because it’s been tested, and it will continue to be tested. But if we’re going to continue to have a presence and a voice and a footprint in The Episcopal Church, we must walk by faith, not by sight.”

The conference informally kicked off on April 8 with an NCAA championship watch party. On April 9, the conference’s first full day began with participants gathering and listening to guest speakers address topics ranging from transition ministry to church statistics. Specifically, the church statistics presentation addressed demographic data compiled from parochial reports, Church Pension Group, and current clergy placement and openings tracked by the church’s transition ministries.

The Rev. Jemonde Taylor, rector of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, a historically Black parish in Raleigh, North Carolina, serves on the conference’s design and worship teams. April 9, in the afternoon, he and Panama Bishop Julio Murray were scheduled to lead a discussion on climate and environmental racism from global and local contexts. They planned to address the outcomes of COP28, the United Nations’ annual climate change conference that took place in late 2023, and what work the church needs to do to continue to address and respond to the global climate crisis. From a grassroots perspective, Taylor planned to discuss St. Ambrose’s work toward eradicating environmental racism in the community as it relates to the heat island effect and flooding, as well as air and noise pollution.

“The hope is that we will come out of this conference with deeper bonds of affection and also toolkits that will help us minister in the new reality,” Taylor told ENS. “I’m looking forward to gathering with people around the world who share common African ancestry to pray together, worship together, to share stories, to laugh together, to really build community and relationships.”

The April 9 itinerary also included a discussion on “theological framework” by the Rev. Michael Battle, founder of the PeaceBattle Institute and theologian-in-community at Trinity Church Boston. The Rev. Guy Hewitt, racial justice director for the Church of England, and the Rev. Steve Greene, minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Lucan, Ontario, Canada, planned to provide information and answer questions about the Anglican Communion in the United Kingdom and Canada. The Rev. Kim Coleman, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia, and president of the Union of Black Episcopalians was to provide an update of UBE’s work.

The Rev. Ronald C. Byrd, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for African Descent Ministries, speaks at the triennial International Black Clergy Conference on April 9, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Sandye Wilson

“When planning the International Black Clergy Conference, our goal was to make sure that we brought in a number of international high caliber speakers representing The Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion, and I think we’ve achieved that,” Byrd said.

On April 10, additional guest speakers are scheduled to offer presentations on healing from internalized oppression, health, retirement and other benefits offered by the Church Pension Group, and church planting and redevelopment. The Very Rev. Shelley-Ann Tenia, dean and rector of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is set to serve as the morning keynote speaker. A group of young adult children of clergy who are no longer active in church are scheduled to participate in a panel discussion addressing how churches can effectively reach out to younger people and serve them. Byrd’s daughter, Kayla Byrd, is one of the panelists.

“If we’re going to continue to be a church, we have to look for ways in which we build church community, the ways in which we build faithful Christians,” Byrd said. “If we don’t focus on the youth and young adults, then guess what? We won’t be here much longer.”

After the evening Eucharist on April 9 and 10, clergy organizers will offer participants the opportunity to participate in closed open mic sessions to share any concerns with their colleagues and ask questions. Byrd said the space provided will be “safe” and “sacred.”

Organizers have also planned worship services that will include liturgy from across the African diaspora, including Ethiopia, Botswana, the West Indies and other countries and regions. Musicians from St. Ambrose will perform a variety of music genres reflecting the African diaspora’s diversity, including African American spirituals, jazz and reggae.

“The worship is really steeped in Blackness,” Taylor said. “Wherever people of African descent have been dispersed around the world, much of what we will experience worship-wise will touch on that diversity.”

The conference will conclude April 11 with keynote speeches from former Central Pennsylvania Bishop Nathan Baxter and the Rev. Donald Henry Kortright Davis, a theology professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Byrd plans to provide the closing remarks.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service based in northern Indiana. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] The denominational health insurance plans that cover Episcopal clergy and lay employees have a number of structural inequities built into their costs, an unintended consequences of the wide range of benefit options, the age of enrollees and state and regional differences in health care costs that have been found to be particularly burdensome for some Indigenous church employees.

Those are some of the key findings of the Task Force to Advise the Church on Denominational Health Plan, as outlined in the 20-page Blue Book report it submitted for consideration by the 81st General Convention when it convenes June 23-28 in Louisville, Kentucky. The task force proposes three resolutions to improve equity in health coverage. Its report also includes a detailed and independent actuarial review of the health plans, which are managed on behalf of The Episcopal Church by the Church Pension Group.

At the root of the challenges to health equity are policies adopted by past General Conventions that limit the Church Pension Group’s ability to adjust insurance rates based on regional variations in health care costs. As a result, church employees in lower-income regions often pay higher rates than their local peers, while those in higher-income regions often pay less.

“Among the most acute pressures faced by the domestic dioceses, congregations, and faith communities of The Episcopal Church is the precipitously rising cost of securing quality health insurance benefits for lay and clergy employees,” the task force said in its report. It noted that some past actions of General Convention “have unintentionally raised costs.”

The most alarming example cited by the task force involved clergy and lay employees of The Episcopal Church in Navajoland, an area mission serving Navajo communities in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Until this year, those church employees had effectively opted out of the denominational health plan because of the cost and were relying instead on the federal Indian Health Service.

“Our failure to provide the same benefits to our Indigenous employees as we do to others is an injustice that violates our church’s commitment to Becoming a Beloved Community and must be corrected,” the task force said in its report.

The situation in Navajoland went unnoticed until leaders testified about their situation last year at the task force’s open hearing, and members of the task force appealed for emergency relief to Executive Council, which approved $150,000 to cover Navajoland’s health insurance premiums for 2024. The task force’s proposals to the 81st General Convention aim to ensure that coverage will continue.

The task force has proposed Resolution A101 to help address this. It would urge CPG “to adopt methods to provide equitable churchwide pricing of plans offered by the Episcopal Church Medical Trust” and to take additional factors into consideration, such as “the relative ability of each covered community to pay for needed benefits” and “the prevailing cost of comparable coverage within the area covered.”

The resolution specifically seeks relief for Navajoland employees and those in the three Episcopal dioceses with significant Indigenous ministries that receive churchwide support: Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“We want to be sure that those four dioceses, which are supported by the budget of the church, are taken into special account,” San Diego Bishop Susan Brown Snook, vice chair of the task force, told Episcopal News Service. She underscored that Navajoland is a particularly concerning case. “The grant that The Episcopal Church has been providing for years, for decades, has not be adequate to cover health care costs for its employees.”

In its Blue Book report, the task force presented the example of Navajoland within the broader context of what it found to be “unintended subsidization” of some church employees’ health insurance by the payments for other plan members’ insurance.

In addition to the geographical differences, the task force raised concerns that some of the church’s most expensive health insurance plans – the “platinum” and zero-deductible plans – cost CPG more to maintain than it collects in employer- and-employee-paid premiums for those plans. In other words, employees who opt for less coverage are collectively paying more than their coverage is worth, while employees with the best coverage are getting even more than what they and their employers pay for.

The solution proposed by the task force, in Resolution A100, would ask CPG to make the funds “self-sufficient and self-funding at each offered benefit level to the extent possible and appropriate.” It also encourages CPG to offer coverage options that are comparable to those offered by other Protestant denominations. The task force found that The Episcopal Church offers more generous top plans than those other denominations.

The task force took a different approach in considering the third factor behind the “unintended subsidization” – the age of enrollees. The report acknowledges it is not unusual across the health insurance industry for older participants to use insurance more than younger participants.

“Try as we might, there is no action the General Convention can take to reverse the realities of the passage of time, and the reality that older individuals will always have higher claim costs,” the task force wrote, adding that it “expressly does not recommend further adjustments to rating mechanisms to remove functional subsidy … by age.”

Instead, the task force, in Resolution A102, proposes asking CPG to further educate the church about the availability of the Medicare Small Employer Exemption for some congregations. That option, a potential alternative to the denominational health plan, would allow some employees aged 65 and older to enroll in Medicare while working for churches with fewer than 20 employees.

The three resolutions have been assigned to the 81st General Convention’s Agencies & Boards committees, which will hold their first meeting at 3 p.m. Eastern April 12 on Zoom. The parallel bishops’ and deputies’ committees have not yet scheduled a hearing on the resolutions.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[The Scottish Episcopal Church] Representatives from The Scottish Episcopal Church, alongside ecumenical partners the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church, recently arrived in Jamaica to begin a pilgrimage during this Easter season.

The intention of the ecumenical pilgrimage is to learn about the legacies of slavery and the part of churches in it.

A key aspect of the trip will be meeting with the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and the Church in the Province of the West Indies. This will include time spent with the the Most Rev. Howard Gregory, archbishop of the Province of the West Indies.

The primus, the Most Rev. Mark Strange, is one of the pilgrims, alongside the moderators of the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church, the Rt. Rev. Sally Foster-Fulton and the Rev. Tessa Henry-Robinson, and other representatives of the three churches and Christian Aid.

Read the entire article here.

The Rev. Bernie Lindley sorts bread for the food ministry at St. Timothy’s, Brookings, Oregon. That ministry can continue unrestricted after a court ruling found in favor of the church and the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon and against actions by the city to limit it. Photo: Courtesy Bernie Lindley

[Episcopal News Service] A U.S. District Court judge issued a summary judgment in favor of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings, Oregon, and the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon and against the city, which had adopted an ordinance to restrict the number of days to two that the church could serve free meals to its community.

The church and its staff “were ecstatic,” when they received the news, the Rev. Bernie Lindley, St. Timothy’s vicar, told Episcopal News Service.

Brookings is located along the Pacific coast about 10 miles north of the California border. The church serves meals four days a week, and in March that totaled 1,170 meals, for an average of 73 meals per day.

The lawsuit filed in 2022 alleged that when the city adopted the 2021 ordinance, it violated the church’s rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, as well as the right to free expression of religion guaranteed under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Oral arguments were heard on the case on Feb. 15.

On March 27, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke issued a summary judgment in favor of the church, Lindley, who was also named as a plaintiff, and the diocese, a ruling that decided the case without a full trial.

Clarke found that the city of Brookings had violated the church’s rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act by adopting an ordinance that allowed “benevolent meal services” to be provided no more than two days a week. Because the ordinance violated a statute, the judge did not have to rule on the constitutional issues raised.

Lindley said the judge’s final words in his ruling “were especially important because they were so favorable.” Clarke wrote in part, “The City of Brookings is very fortunate to have Reverend Lindley and the entire congregation of St. Timothy’s as compassionate, caring, and committed members of the community.” He went on to add, “The homeless are not ‘vagrants,’ but are citizens in need. This is a time for collaboration, not ill-conceived ordinances that restrict care and resources for vulnerable people in our communities.”

Western Oregon Bishop Diana Akiyama, in email comments to ENS, said she was “delighted to have received the federal judge’s decision.” The court, she said, “demonstrated compassion and concern for those in our communities who are hungry and houseless. This is cause for great joy in the church as we continue to care for the ‘least of these’ in our community.”

St. Timothy’s, however, still faces some legal issues. The church and diocese are appealing through state administrative action other restrictions the city of Brookings has tried to place on what it calls the church’s social services, but which Lindley said are “what we call ministries.”

The church provides a variety of resources to people who are often unhoused and have a history of being abused. Lindley said some of them don’t know how to function in many situations because they never were taught how. He noted that, for instance, when someone wants to get a driver’s license, a member of the church’s volunteer team goes with them to help them navigate the process.

St. Timothy’s community response is critical, Lindley said, because there are basically no other services for people in town. While the number of unhoused people has risen in recent years and in 2023 across Oregon was up 8.5 percent from 2022, there is no shelter for them other than one that only operates during three winter months.

In Brookings there is no domestic violence shelter, no public health or mental health services and no transitional housing. The closest behavioral health services are 200 miles away. No one other than St. Timothy’s provides free meals.

Through the church’s Brookings CORE Response team, St. Timothy’s provides showers, a clothing closet, a community garden, a variety of vaccinations and tests including for COVID-19, a place where about 100 people get their mail, and space where people can just get a cup of coffee and talk to others.

The church’s legal advocacy includes the services of on-staff attorney, who Lindley said spends a lot of time helping people get minor convictions expunged so they have better access to housing and jobs. Helping people navigate services under disability insurance is another big task.

Team members also make sure that people are simply treated well when they go to the emergency room or seek medical care. “You’ve got to walk with people,” Lindley said.

Because so many of the people St. Timothy’s sees have suffered abuse or neglect, being their champion is crucial, he said. “Whatever their causes, whatever their needs are, we take an honest assessment, and we walk them through the process.”

Lindley grew up in Brookings and has been a member of St. Timothy’s since he was a child. He was ordained in the park next to the church in 2008 and has served as its vicar ever since. In the winter, he continues his family business fishing for Dungeness crab.

When asked why the city seems so reluctant to help those in need, Lindley said, “There is a lot of civic pride when it comes to our natural beauty, and people shouldn’t be suffering in paradise.” Along with denial, some people just blame others for their own misfortune.

But instead of blaming struggling people, Lindley hopes his fellow citizens would see homelessness, abuse and poverty as society’s failings, not those of the people themselves. And if society has failed them, “It’s my responsibility as a member of society to lift you back up again.”

—Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay extended condolences to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and those who lost loved ones and invited prayer and support for the people of Taiwan in the wake of the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan on April 3.

The quake, which was centered just off the coast of Hualien, is the largest to hit Taiwan in 25 years. At least 10 people are dead and about 1,000 others injured. 

“It also pains me to learn about the damages caused by the earthquake to the Yushan Theological Seminary,” said Pillay. The seminary belongs to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.

Read the entire article here.

[Diocese of Massachusetts] The Diocese of Massachusetts and friends and colleagues across The Episcopal Church are remembering and celebrating the life and witness of the Rev. Edward W. Rodman, who died peacefully, according to his family, on April 2, at home in Framingham, Mass. He was 81.

Ed Rodman was known churchwide as a strategist, advocate and activist for social and racial justice, and as an educator and mentor across generations in The Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Edward W. Rodman, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, 2014. Photo: Diocese of Massachusetts

He was ordained a deacon in 1967 and a priest in 1968, and after initial service at St. Paul’s in New Haven, Conn., he returned to the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1971, where he went on to become canon missioner. He served over several decades under five Massachusetts bishops. After leaving the diocesan staff, he was the John Seeley Stone Professor of Pastoral Theology and Urban Ministry at Episcopal Divinity School until retiring in 2009, teaching homiletics and urban ministry and mentoring the first group of remote learners.

He was a longtime member of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, a founding member of the Union of Black Episcopalians and The Consultation, a former urban hearings coordinator for the Urban Bishops Coalition and the coordinator of the Episcopal Urban Caucus. While still in high school in Portsmouth, Va., he worked with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) as field secretary and organized the only high school-based sit-in movement in the U.S. At Hampton Institute he became a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). (Read more in the Episcopal Church Archives “The Church Awakens” Leadership Gallery here.)

“Canon Ed Rodman leaves an extraordinary legacy in this diocese and in the wider church,” Massachusetts Bishop Alan M. Gates said. “Fierce in his commitment to racial and economic justice, he was also fiercely loyal to his friends and companions. Lay and clergy leaders alike have been mentored, supported, challenged, chastened and finally made stronger by this remarkable man.”

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Gladys Rodman, and daughters Claire, of Manhattan, Alice, of Millbury, Mass., and Sarah, of Los Angeles, and his nephew, Michael Rodman, and niece, Karen Rodman, both of Indianapolis.

At this time, the family would appreciate privacy in their grief. In lieu of calls and visits, condolence messages are welcome and should be mailed to the Edward W. Rodman Family, c/o The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02111.

A memorial service is being planned for May 25 at 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. Memorial donations may be designated to World Central Kitchen and Heifer International.

[Episcopal News Service] A task force of church leaders on both sides of the theological debate over marriage equality has proposed a series of canonical changes intended to affirm a place in the church for Episcopalians of all beliefs – including those who believe marriage is intended solely for a man and woman.

The Task Force on Communion Across Difference has asked the 81st General Convention to consider five resolutions, each at least partly in response to an earlier measure passed in 2018 that ensured marriage rites would be available to same-sex couples in all Episcopal dioceses where same-sex marriage is legal under civil law.

One new proposal this year, under consideration by the Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music committees, is Resolution A090, which would explicitly permit the continued use of the version of the Book of Common Prayer that was first authorized in 1979. Its marriage liturgy specifies a male-female couple.

The three resolutions that propose canonical changes were assigned to General Convention’s Constitution and Canons committees of bishops and deputies, which have scheduled an open hearing for noon Eastern April 10 on Zoom. Anyone interested in testifying or observing the hearing is asked to sign up in advance.

One of those three, Resolution A091, aims to further define use of the 1979 prayer book as an accepted statement of the doctrine of the church. The task force explained that A091 would protect “members of the clergy who believe that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman” from allegations they are violating their ordination vows by using older marriage rites.

If recommended by the committees, the task force’s resolutions then would advance for consideration at the 81st General Convention when it convenes June 23-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 79th General Convention first created a Task Force on Communion Across Difference at its 2018 meeting to help bridge the theological divide between progressive church leaders and more conservative bishops and other clergy, who now are in the minority across The Episcopal Church. In 2022, the 80th General Convention passed a resolution renewing the task force. One of its stated goals has been to affirm “the indispensable place that the minority who hold to this church’s historic teaching on marriage have in our common life, whose witness the Church needs.”

General Convention specified that half of the task force’s members must hold the belief that marriage is a “covenant between a man and a woman,” citing the language from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and the other half of the task force should hold that marriage is a “covenant between two people.”

Tennessee Bishop John Bauerschmidt, known as one of the church’s more conservative bishops on the issue, and Central New York Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, who previously assisted an LGBTQ+-inclusive congregation in the more conservative Diocese of Albany, co-chaired the task force.

“I’m grateful for the good work done by the task force in the shortened period between General Conventions in 2022 and 2024,” Bauerschmidt told Episcopal News Service by email in response to an inquiry for this story. “Members represented the broad theological diversity present in The Episcopal Church. We were grateful to have this opportunity to serve the church.”

Duncan-Probe, in a phone interview with ENS, described the work of the task force as filed with grace and “people really seeking to understand each other.”

“It’s always hard work to come together when there’s difference of beliefs and opinions and life experience,” Duncan-Probe said. “There was a quite a bit of learning … learning to recognize that while there are differences of opinion and beliefs, at the heart of this is the dignity of every human being.”

The task force concluded its work with a 16-page Blue Book report to the 81st General Convention. It can be found here. Bauerschmidt said its five proposed resolutions “are attempts to ensure that The Episcopal Church remains the ‘big tent’ community that it has always been. In the face of our differences, we need to make room for each other.”

One of the other canonical changes, proposed by Resolution A092, would address what the task force said has been “the perception, and often the reality, of discrimination within the discernment and employment processes of The Episcopal Church” when a prospective employee’s beliefs on marriage differ from those held by the bishop or diocese.

The resolution would add language to Canon III.1 stating “no person shall be denied access to the discernment process or to any process for the employment, licensing, calling, or deployment for any ministry, lay or ordained, in this Church because of their conscientiously-held theological belief that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, or that marriage is a covenant between two people.”

The task force summarized its discussions on this issue in its Blue Book report. “In dioceses where there is little to no internal disagreement regarding same-gender marriage, this may not be an issue of major concern,” the task force wrote. “However, the problem can be quite acute for parishes who affirm a theology of marriage that is not the same as that of their diocese or its bishop.”

A separate resolution, A093, would add the compromise language from General Convention’s 2018 Resolution B012 supporting same-sex marriage to the church’s marriage canon. The addition would specify that bishops who believe marriage is solely intended for a man and a woman “shall invite, as necessary, another bishop of this Church to provide pastoral support to the couple, the Member of the Clergy involved and the congregation or other community of faith.”

The fifth proposed resolution, A094, calls for the creation of a third Task Force on Communion Across Difference to continue this work for the next triennium. It is assigned to the Governance and Structure committees.

“Building ‘communion across difference’ implies that there’s going to be disagreement and difference,” Duncan-Probe said, but the task force members developed “mutual respect” for each other. They also grew to appreciate the difference between respecting someone’s theological belief on marriage and affirming a person’s right to be who they are, regardless of their sexuality.

“There was a recognition that what we’re seeking is to recognize God’s work in each of us,” she said.

Same-sex blessings and marriage rites have been among the most hotly contested issues at the past several meeting of General Convention. This year, no major new changes to marriage liturgies have been proposed, though the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has asked that the trial-use marriage rites for same-sex couples be added to the Book of Common Prayer. A hearing has not yet been scheduled on that resolution, A116.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.