Episcopal News Service

[Anglican Journal (Anglican Church of Canada)] The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has yet to decide on an exact retirement date, Council of General Synod (CoGS) heard Nov. 24.

“Given the decision at General Synod regarding the primacy, I’m sure there’s curiosity about the next steps,” Nicholls said in her opening remarks at the first meeting of the 2023-2025 CoGS. “I am discerning the exact date of my retirement. However, I can say that it will be before Oct. 1, 2024.”

At last summer’s General Synod, the church’s legislative body voted down a resolution that would have allowed any sitting primate to finish out their term if their 70th birthday fell less than one year before the next General Synod. As a result, Nicholls will be required to retire by her next birthday in October 2024, more than half a year before General Synod 2025.

When she discerns her retirement date, she told CoGS, she will write to the senior metropolitan, currently the Most Rev. Anne Germond of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, who will consult with the other metropolitans, the prolocutor, deputy prolocutor and others to determine which metropolitan will serve as acting primate from then until the next General Synod.

Read the entire article here.

[Diocese of Rochester] The Very Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer was elected. Feb. 24 to be the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in western New York. She serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois, and as dean of the Chicago North Deanery.

The Very Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer was elected the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in Western New York on Feb. 24, 2024. Photo: Diocese of Rochester

“I say yes with joy. It will be an honor and privilege,” Wagner Sherer said in an address to the diocese moments after being elected. “I am excited that we are going to learn much more about each other and listen to God’s call to hopeful mission and ministry. I know two things right now. We begin with mutual love. Love that will be expressed in joy. We are going to have a lot of fun together, and we’re confident in that deep and abiding joy, given to us by our creator to share with the world. Thank you. It’s an honor.”

Wagner Sherer was chosen during a special electing convention by clergy and lay leaders representing each diocese’s congregation. She was elected on the fifth ballot with 58% of the clerical votes and 56% of lay votes. A majority of both clergy and lay votes on the same ballot was needed for election. She will be the diocese’s first female bishop. 

“We are excited to welcome the Very Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer as the ninth bishop of Rochester. Her experience in the Diocese of Chicago as rector and regional dean, her leadership and pastoral skills, and her commitment to healing and justice will be embraced by the people of our diocese as we strive to respond to God’s call,” said Elizabeth Salamone, president of the diocesan standing committee, the senior governing body that oversaw the election process.

The other two candidates were: 

• The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, Washington; and
• The Rev. Lauren R. Holder, canon for community and education of Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Georgia.

Retired Maine Bishop Stephen T. Lane has served as provisional bishop since former Bishop Prince Singh resigned in 2022 to become the provisional bishop for the dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Singh resigned on Sept. 8, 2023, the day after he was restricted in his ordained ministry amid a Title IV disciplinary investigation. 

The Diocese of Rochester includes about 6,500 parishioners in 41 congregations. Pending canonical consent, she will be consecrated on July 13 and seated in September.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Anglicans are represented at the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA 6) taking place Feb. 26 to March 1 in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEA discusses the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The United Nations Environment Assembly is the only forum in which the world’s countries discuss the environmental crisis as a whole.

The Anglican Communion is represented by the the Rev. Rachel Mash, environmental coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; Nicholas Pande from the Anglican Alliance; and the Rev. Dennis Nthenge, chaplain to Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

During the assembly, Mash will be co-chairing the civil society response to a cluster of five resolutions dealing with the “Root causes of Climate Change, Biodiversity loss and Pollution.”

This cluster of resolutions deals with the circular economy — how we move away from excessive consumerism and throw-away mentalities to a sustainable economy that prioritizes what can be reused and recycled. There are also resolutions in the cluster on socially responsible mining, behavior change and responding to the environmental impacts of conflict.

Civil society is well represented in a structure known as the “Major Groups and Stakeholders,” which has representatives of almost 1,000 accredited organizations from a wide range of groups. Speaking at the UNEA6 Major Groups meeting ahead of discussions this week, Mash represented voices from around the Anglican Communion on resolutions that will be discussed.

Including words from the Most Rev. Don Tamihere, Pihopa o Aotearoa, leader of the Maori Anglican Church, she said, “The climate crisis is the product of an inherited Western mindset, including globalization, capitalism and individualism, one that was nurtured by empire and colonialism. The response therefore needs to be underpinned by other ways of thinking and of being, especially that of indigenous ways in which the environment and humanity are interconnected as part of creation. Therein lies the path to true justice and peace for our planet. These resolutions give us a new way of being — from a throw-away economic system to a circular economy that recognizes the value of the environment and our interconnectedness.”

Inspired by words from the Most Rev. Chris Harper, national Indigenous Anglican archbishop and presiding elder of Sacred Circle in Canada, she said, “Human behavior shapes the environment, so we need a shift of consciousness. The throw-away economy is only possible because it is based on an exploitation of human rights of workers and abuse of the environment that does not consider the true costs of environmental and social externalities… We must rethink our relationship to the multiple interconnected components of the natural environment, and leave succeeding generations with a healthy, clean planet that can meet their needs.”

Anglican youth from Kenya’s Green Anglicans movement and the Young Theologians for Climate Change group are also taking part in this gathering. They will be guided by the Rev. Dennis Nthenge, who a key member of the Green Anglicans movement, previous UNEA representative and a champion of the health and wellbeing of people who collect, sort and recycle waste – another key discussion topic at UNEA.

Agnes Lam from the Anglican Communion youth joined online from Hong Kong.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network, in partnership with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, hosted a virtual interfaith vigil for peace Feb. 23, 2024, to observe the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion was an escalation of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war that started in 2014. Photo: Screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Public Policy Network, in partnership with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, hosted a virtual interfaith vigil for peace to observe the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“In a world increasingly at war … we lament the loss of human life and suffering,” said the Rev. Margaret Rose, ecumenical and interreligious deputy to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, during the late afternoon Feb. 23 interfaith vigil. Rose moderated the vigil, which was livestreamed on EPPN’s Facebook page.

The vigil featured interfaith leaders, including the Rt. Rev. Mark Edington, bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Speakers also included representatives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, the United Church of Christ, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Pax Christi International and Religions for Peace USA.

“We remember [ the Ukrainian asylum-seekers], especially those who live among us here in Europe who have fled from the war that has torn up their homes, their lives and their country as we gather in prayer,” Edington said.

Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion was an escalation of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war that started in 2014. At least 45,000 Russian soldiers and 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the invasion. Russia has leveled cities and towns across the Ukraine. Over 6 million Ukrainians have since fled and have settled in neighboring countries or outside Europe, according to data compiled weekly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Nearly half a million Ukrainians have settled in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In June 2022, the 80th General Convention voted to adopt Resolution B008, titled “A Call for the Cessation of Conflict in Ukraine,” which condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for an immediate ceasefire.

U.S. President Joe Biden is advocating for a $60 billion security package for Ukraine, but the measure currently lacks support from Republican members of Congress. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Feb. 25 that “millions will be killed” if U.S. lawmakers don’t approve Biden’s aid request.

“I pray that the dignity of human life will guide our political discourse regarding the Ukraine crisis and that through the relentless pursuit of dialogue we will end the madness of war and instead choose to bring the conflict to a peace resolution,” said Danny Hall, director of public affairs for the Sokka-Gakkai International-USA, a community-based Buddhist peace organization.

Amelia Kegan, associate general secretary, policy and advocacy of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, said, “Help us be your hands and feet in this creative peacemaking … God, there are moments when it is hard to contribute more than healings of despair, yet we know that it is in those broken and darkest of places that you are most at work.”

Tarunjit Singh Butalia, executive director of Religions for Peace USA, said, “I hope that we will not meet again next year, and by then the suffering of the people of Ukraine will be resolved, and peace will come back to the people of Ukraine.”

-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] On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Prof. Jerry Pillay lamented the destruction of so many lives and called for an immediate end to the conflict.

“The Christian commitment to the sanctity and preservation of lives is fundamental,” Pillay said. “Accordingly, we reaffirm our position that war is incompatible with God’s very nature and will for humanity and against our core Christian and ecumenical principles.”

Pillay also called for an immediate end to the conflict. 

Read the entire article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (IALC) met in Seoul, Korea, Feb. 19-23. IALC is the official network for liturgy in the Anglican Communion, reporting to the Anglican Consultative Council, bringing together liturgists and worship leaders from around the communion to consult, study and pray together, and to offer resources to the churches. Consultations are held at least every three years. The Seoul meeting has shared a communiqué.

Forty-two members were present from 17 churches of the communion. This was the first in-person meeting of the IALC since 2019, having met online during the pandemic.

The consultation was hosted by the Anglican Church of Korea and the Cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas in Seoul. The Most Rev. Kyong-Ho Peter Lee, bishop of Seoul and primate of Korea, welcomed the consultation and presided at a celebration of the Eucharist during the week.

The consultation in Seoul heard reports from different churches about the ways in which changing contexts impact the worshipping life of churches. Their joint communiqué covers several themes, including the impact of the global Covid pandemic and resources available for liturgical work, the growth of material now being provided through web-based access, and the ways churches are approaching the translation of liturgical materials.

The communiqué also comments on the importance of renewal of the Eucharist in the churches of the communion and considers the significant cultural, social and technological changes that have happened in the past 30 years. It says, “Throughout the communion there have been significant changes in the way we gather and understand worship, and worship leaders and churches need support in managing the diverse challenges that all face.”

The communiqué quotes work undertaken by the 5th IALC in 1995 which said, “In the future, Anglican unity would find its liturgical expression not so much in uniform texts as in a common approach to eucharistic celebration and a structure which will ensure a balance of word prayer and sacrament.” The 2024 communiqué notes, “That future is now here.”

Following this consultation, further work will be undertaken by a steering committee to consider how to promote the work across the communion. Each consultation appoints a steering committee that coordinates liturgical thinking between those meetings.

The Rev. Neil Vigers, program executive for unity, faith and order at the Anglican Communion and secretary to IALC said, “It was a delight to meet together as Anglican brothers and sisters here in Seoul. We had a wonderful welcome from the Diocese of Seoul, and they supported us in our work together. It has been a richly blessed week.”

Forty-four people joined the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan’s Feb. 16-18 pilgrimage to Alabama. Photo: Todd Nissan

[Diocese of Michigan] The Episcopal Diocese of Michigan conducted a civil rights pilgrimage to Alabama Feb. 16-19 that brought a diverse group of church members and others to four key sites, including the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery.

The trip was part of the diocese’s work to build greater racial understanding among its 76 worshipping communities and more than 14,000 baptized members.

“This is a foundation for a movement of how we embody Christ’s great commandment of love your neighbor as yourself,” said Bishop Bonnie A. Perry, adding, “I think we can be a model for how we have grace-filled, uncomfortable conversations.”

The trip began with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of a 1963 bombing that killed four girls and injured more than a dozen others. The group then traveled to Montgomery for visits to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, both part of the Equal Justice Initiative.

The pilgrimage meant something different for each of the 44 people on the sobering journey.

For the Rev. Dean Aponte-Safe, who was raised on a dairy farm in small-town Minnesota, the trip was a first step toward understanding police brutality and racial bias. The two issues became unforgettable after the murder of George Floyd just a few hours from where Aponte-Safe served as pastor for two small, rural churches.

“I have an opportunity to see parts of our history in ways that I’ve only read about,” said Aponte-Safe, who is now interim pastor of The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Ann Arbor. “It’s a continuing process of learning — and re-learning.”

For Juanita Woods, the trip meant returning to her roots in Jackson, Mississippi, the city she left in 1955 at age 9 when her family moved north. “When they do some of the Black History Month programs, I can’t watch them, because I lived them,” said Woods, a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Detroit. “I drank from a separate fountain. I walked past the white school.”

From its opening depiction of a harrowing ocean voyage, to lynching as a tool of terror and the modern reality of mass incarceration, a tour of the Legacy Museum is a wrenching and powerful framing of history from the perspective of those brought to the U.S. against their will.  “Slavery in America did not end. It evolved,” says a sign in the museum, which opened in 2018.

Pondering the day that awaited her at the Legacy Museum, Woods was introspective. “Part of me is saying it’s going to be hard to relive — to see that. The other part is, I want to see how much it will impact my thinking,” she said.

The trip was put together by the Rev. Sister Veronica Dunbar. She heads the Spirituality and Race Mission the diocese launched in January 2022 to break down the barriers of race, geography and class and promote healing through a spiritual lens. Dunbar felt the pilgrimage was an important undertaking now because of increasing hostility and “resurgence of rhetoric denying the dignity and histories of people of color and indigenous people.”

Dunbar sees the pilgrimage as part of the spiritual journey of healing. “You cannot heal wounds that you have not named,” she said. “If we do not face squarely the harms done and the harms endured, we will not be whole as human beings, or as the body of Christ.  A pilgrimage such as this is just one way that we recognize and name those hurts that keep the body from being whole and a source of healing in the world.”

At the end of the third day, trip members received the Eucharist with Dunbar and Perry at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery. As people sat with eyes closed in the late-afternoon quiet of a small chapel, Dunbar asked if anyone wanted to express what they were feeling.

After a few moments, the responses started to come forth.

“Heartbroken.”

“Lord, have mercy.”

“How long, Lord?”

“Hopelessness is the enemy of justice.”

[Episcopal News Service] The Church of England began the latest meeting of its General Synod on Feb. 23 with an opening presidential address from Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

General Synod runs from Feb. 23-27, and the topics up for discussion include the latest updates in the ongoing debate over Living in Love and Faith, the church’s initiative in response to calls for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church.

The following is the text of Welby’s speech, as released by the Church of England:

In September 2023, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General the United Nations declared the world is coming off its hinges. How should we the followers of Jesus Christ respond?

Walter Brueggemann commented on the Psalms that the Psalms have the abrasive effect of dismantling the old systems that hide the well off from the dangerous realities of life. The ordinal never uses the word suffering.

The Psalms speak constantly of suffering as a dangerous theological reality, and we are curiously blind to it. Church of England Bishops at consecration commit to all sorts of things, some probable, some improbable, but they don’t commit to suffer. By contrast, the Chaldean Church tells its Bishops that they will be the first to suffer. Cyprian writes endlessly of suffering, especially referring to the confessors and martyrs, ascribing to them influence in advising or rebuking the Bishop. And he had a high view of Bishops.

One of the great treasures of the communities of St. Anselm at Lambeth, is that altogether we say the Psalms on the prayer book monthly cycle. So every month we’re reminded of how many enemies we have and what we want it to happen to them. Psalm 56 talks about our internal life in suffering when we face enemies, and enemies are mentioned 71 times in the Psalms. And in Psalm 56, David is in a place of immense trouble, it refers to him being at Gath, which was in Philistia, very close to where Gaza is. Suffering as part of God’s people’s experience comes from the normal challenges of life. From those who will be wrongly perceive as enemies externally, and also from those we wrongly perceive as enemies internally.

And to add to what the Secretary General of the United Nations said, as Lord Cameron said recently, when he looks around at the world today as Foreign Secretary, all the lights are flashing red. We live in a world of suffering. And unlike in the past, it is a world where we are aware of the suffering.

In Europe, the Ukrainian Russian war is frozen. We will discuss it later in this group of sessions. And the suffering of the people in Ukraine has increased, not least because it has been replaced as the principal concern by the havoc and horror of the Levant and all that is going on in that area. The House of Bishops commented on this last Friday week.

But there is much more.

Let us briefly turn our minds to the forgotten horrors, those whose very existence is scarcely mentioned. In Myanmar civil war has raged for several years, and millions have been driven from their homes. In the DRC, more than 5 million have now died in war or because of war since 1995. In Sudan, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, whom I saw on Wednesday, the intolerable suffering of the people would constitute the worst refugee crisis on Earth, were it not for the crises in all the surrounding countries.

Between them, they create one great region of shifting internally displaced people and refugees, harried, hunted, women violated, children traumatised, driven from place to place. And the world does not watch. The world turns its head away.

And in saying that, in this world, we have also forgotten so many other areas. Displacement in northeast India, in the South Pacific, in the Philippines. We forget the tensions in Korea with a nuclear armed power. In Pakistan again, nuclear armed, in Nigeria, in massacres in Mozambique, where Anglicans work in an interfaith manner, alongside the UN mediation Support Unit to find ways of undermining the popular appeal of ISIS. And in the Philippines, where low-level insurgency still happens in various places.

And I’ve not even spoken as yet of the vast numbers of people on the southern borders of the United States, or of the 75% of refugees who stay in the usually exceptionally poor countries on the immediate borders of their own. Those countries of refuge themselves staggeringly poor, struggling, bearing the lion’s share of people movement.

Pope Francis a few months ago described what is already happening as a third world war. Right or wrong, he is describing a state of global uncertainty and great change. Like all such periods, minorities are blamed for uncertainties, conspiracies are assumed where there is uncontrollability and leaders are criticised where the future is hard to see. Amidst it all, there is intense, terrible, indescribable personal suffering, and neither is it confined to abroad. Communities in this country, as so many people in this chamber know well, suffer from poverty and lack of resource, broken families, mental illness, abuse. It is the nature of life to suffer, not worse than ever before, but a reality of suffering.

Suffering is normal. The Psalms say so, the news tell us so, experience reveals itself. Yet in our comfortable country, for many, not for all, our expectations of suffering are low. Job’s comments in the language of the King James Version, man is born to suffering as the sparks fly upwards, is replaced by an expectation that in every situation, there is some way to put it right. And a febrile angst becomes normal.

It is very tempting to say that in such a time as this, we should put aside the issues within the church, but that would be a very serious mistake. In 1939, George Bell wrote an article on the behaviour of the church in a time of war. ‘What should the church do in a time of war?’ it was entitled. His simple conclusion was that the right strategy, a word he did not use, is to be even more the church. We must be even more the church with all our challenges and difficulties and as we work through them. What that looks like is seen in many cases, but I’m going to take Psalm 56, if you have access to that, do look it up. Remembering that Psalm 56 is the song of someone surrounded by danger and without human hope of rescue.

We are to recognise reality and continue to seek to live in holy obedience. I am convinced that is the aim of all the different groups in the differing discussions that we have, already had in many Synods, and will have in this. The church suffers and has enemies, people suffer and have enemies. Enemies are part of life.

But behind enmity isn’t mere human difference. Other malign forces, more malign, are at work. As Paul tells us in Ephesians six, our struggle isn’t against flesh and blood, we need to remember that, but against the principalities and powers. Suffering and enmity have prolonged and profound impacts on each one of us.

We have to start by recognising those impacts. The fear and suffering that come from division, make us look at other people as our enemies and we have to resist that illusion in faithful and honest community. Causes of fear, which leads to a sense of enmity are well disguised as uncertainty, unpredictability and uncontrollability of life and like barnacles on the hull of a ship, they attach themselves to make us see other people as our enemies, and that is the devil’s work.

Enemies make us afraid. Fear makes us suffer. Someone the Archbishop of York and I met recently from outside the church said that while they were working on a project for the church, they grew to fear opening their emails, because of the bitterness and abuse they were subject to. At Lambeth, the brilliant member of staff who deals with the endless correspondence that comes in, is worn down by the expressions of hatred, normally coming from within the church.

In both the Old Testament and New Testament we’re encouraged not to fear, but the psalmist with honesty says ‘when I am afraid’. Fear corrodes, it causes neurological degeneration of hormones and chemicals that make us ill.

Second, suffering and enemies are relentless. The Psalm says, all day long enemies oppress me. We all have people who never seem to give up, situations that are never resolved, anxieties that torment. If they can’t get us one way, they seem to have time to try again, endlessly. The principalities and powers work intelligently through our minds and emotions, twisting what is said and done, to find a reason to accuse from within and without. They accuse us ceaselessly and without mercy. Spurgeon, commenting on this Psalm said, a wolf can always find in a lambs discourse, a reason to eat him.

We get blamed for provoking the accusations, not just the justifiable criticism, that’s fine, but the accusations that are pulled on us. That’s not my view alone, but it’s a view of two people experienced in dispute and conflict, who have observed the General Synod. Each group, or person, or supporter of a cause, can too easily be made to feel guilty for being so tasty, so provocative, when they are a lamb.

We are human and that is why we fail. But we are all also mysteriously but assuredly, being transformed into the likeness of Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. And so we must cooperate with that, we should not seek to use ambiguity of meaning by others to our advantage. See verses five and six.

But we need to assume the best and the most generous, rather than the worst. Suffering and enemies are faced best in communities that trust across divides, rather than in self protecting, and reinforcing huddles, because the very act of trusting across the divides builds our resilience and our ability to see the best in others. It is a trial though, to do that. And we as God’s people, as the Church of England, must deal well with the issues that faces us internally, if we are able to minister effectively externally to our nation and world.

At the end of April, we will have a meeting of primates of the Anglican Communion in Rome. There we will look at what the communion could do to remain in a variable geometry of unity, but also an unvarying commitment of love in Christ. Those two expressions vary in geometry of unity and unvarying commitment of love in Christ offer us all a way forward in holy obedience to God.

They are not perfect states, but they are steps along the journey. I wonder if we are able to imagine the same in the Church of England. Honesty, transparency, love in agreement, persistence in good change, all point unbelievers to Christ, whose spirit calls us to shine as light.

And third, enemies and suffering drive us to God if we are wise in honest protest, passionate lament and proper assurance. Verse eight of the Psalm, tears are stored up. But the Psalmist asks God, you’ve stored up my tears in a bottle but do you ever check on them? Do ever make sure that you remember them?

Together, we must pray truthfully and with lament and protest, which like the word suffering are rare in our liturgies. God knows. We must not leave God out of our discussions, neither instrumentalise that false view of God that puts God in our pocket to do what we want. So God sees our suffering, our enemies, our fears, and nothing, not even our fears, are lost.

Fourth, God is our refuge. God is our refuge, not our politics and our organisations. They are realities of any structured life, of any institution, they’re not evils, but God is our refuge, they never will be. Verses one, two, three, four and nine.

The Psalmist, amidst this desperation, gives thanks. We are never beyond the strength and the recall of God. David escaped from Gath, not because of himself, but because of God’s faithfulness. The Lord does not abandon His church today, however it wanders, for he searches and finds it and carries it back.

The Psalmist of Psalm 56 is also the Psalmist of the shepherd Psalm, 23. We can fail but God cannot. Amidst the turmoil of the world, the fears of even greater conflicts, perhaps overwhelming continents, the hard choices we have to make, God is always at work among us today and every day. There is no fear, I have no fear, we must not fear for the future of the church. Suffering is normal, but God is faithful and we are called to be His faithful people.

And today the church remembers Polycarp as he was martyred in 155 he had the option of denying his faith. ‘Eighty and six years I have served him and he has done me no wrong’. How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour? I bless You, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ.

Brueggemann’s words about reality, call us back to the need to be living as people certainly who are different from the world, but live genuinely in the world. Not in self referential groups that reinterpret the world for their own benefit, and that takes depth of listening, and above all, trust in the good purposes of God for God’s Church, shown in history and to be completed in time.

God is greater than our fears, than our enemies and in our failures. God is unbreakably faithful to covenant and promise. When that is our comfort and peace, then in this world, at this time, off its hinges, we can in all our troubles, be truly the church we should be, truly God’s Church in God’s world.

[World Council of Churches] The Joint Working Group between representatives of the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church met online on Feb. 21 for its first executive meeting.

The primary objectives of the meeting were to facilitate a deeper understanding among participants through personal introductions, as well as sharing insights into their respective work and ministries. Continuing participants reflected on the recent history of the Joint Working Group.

Decisions were made regarding the date, venue and draft agenda of the first plenary session, which will take place at Bossey, Switzerland, Sept. 2-6.

Read the entire article here.

[Office of the Archbishop of York] The archbishop of York, the Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, has written a new book, “P is for Pilgrim: The Christian Faith — A Journey from A to Z.”

He said the book “aims to be a resource for Christians of all ages, providing an introduction to the basic words, ideas and concepts that you will encounter as you journey in faith and become part of the church… a set of reference points for anyone who wants to understand the Christian faith.”

In it Cottrell explores and explains nearly 80 key Christian terms, ideas, concepts, people, events and occasions.

The book is illustrated with original lino prints by Jack Seymour.

Read the entire article here.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, left, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore participate in the “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics” program at the Washington National Cathedral, Feb. 21, 2024. Photo: Video screenshot from RNS

[Religion News Service — Washington, D.C.] Sitting under the imposing columns of Washington National Cathedral, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox turned to longtime political strategist Donna Brazile and shared his change of heart about her.

“I grew up as a Republican; I grew up watching you on TV, as a Democrat, and there were so many times that I thought: I would love to just argue with her,” he said during a Feb. 21forum on civility attended by more than 750 people.

“And I finally get up here on stage and I finally get to meet you and I just — I love you and I’m so impressed by you.”

The two were among the speakers at a forum at the cathedral called “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics.” The event, timed to the start of an already contentious election season, was held in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary, along with the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and Deseret Magazine, two institutions affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“As we head deeper into this election year, I can think of few topics more important than
civility and the need for civil discourse in order for our democracy to thrive,” cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith said as the forum began.

He said the cathedral’s programming focus this year on promoting humility, compassion, love and forgiveness should “remind people that even our worst enemies, political or otherwise, are the beloved children of God and should be treated as such.”

Cox is chair of the National Governors Association and, since last year, has spearheaded a “Disagree Better” initiative that includes “interventions,” such as encouraging governors to publish an op-ed with a politician of a different party or colleges hosting a debate on campus that demonstrates ways to handle conflict in a healthy manner.

Cox and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore interviewed each other about their participation in the project and noted their efforts to seek bipartisan solutions in their states despite their party being able to pass legislation without the votes of the minority party.

“I believe in the idea that we don’t have to come all to the same conclusion but everyone just wants to be heard, everyone wants to feel like they were part of a larger process,” said Moore, a Democrat who is the grandson and great-grandson of ministers.

“You can’t claim to love the country if you hate half of the people in it.”

Cox, a member of the LDS church, said his interest in starting the initiative lay in a desire to model behavior that would aim to foster depolarization as he watched a deepening of political divides over the last dozen years.

“Politics was becoming religion for many people and then politics infiltrated their religion, and you started to see that more and more, and I just hated that that’s how we were seeing each other,” he said.

The conversation between Cox and Moore at the cathedral was followed by a panel discussion, facilitated by the Utah governor. Participants included political and legal panelists, such as Brazile, who spoke of the bipartisan work that went into establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, as well as in sending aid to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

“The missing ingredient in American politics right now is trust,” added Brazile, a Catholic who said she is “praying for everybody.” “Trust in one another, trust in our institutions, and the belief that we can still get through this.”

Cox asked the panel about approaches to civility, including by faith-based organizations.

“If we don’t encourage and teach and preach and pray and speak about the strength of institutions that can be gathering places for us, then we leave this generation and ourselves with nothing but the contempt and the hate,” said Ruth Okediji, a law professor at Harvard Law School and co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

She said there need to be alternatives to the “idols” of hate that can lead to clicks and followers on social media.

“There’s a place and a way of living that does not require you to debase yourself or your neighbor. These institutions are important, vitally important, because they give us hope.”

In a later discussion, between Joshua DuBois, a Pentecostal minister who became executive director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Barack Obama’s presidency, and Peter Wehner, a Trinity Forum fellow and former speechwriter for three Republican administrations, the two agreed that civility does not mean people should keep silent so as not to offend their listeners.

“We’ve got to find that sweet spot where you can still speak lovingly but prophetically when you see something that you just know in your gut is wrong,” said DuBois of preachers and other people of faith, citing the example of King’s critique of white moderates in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

“I think we need an active, a lived civility that is not quiet, that doesn’t take a back seat but leans into the healing of this country.”

Wehner, a Protestant who identifies as a former evangelical and a “politically homeless” conservative, added that civility includes listening and refusing to speak in dehumanizing ways.

“I think that the confusion that there is with civility is that it is synonymous with lack of conviction, that it’s devoid of principles and it’s always backing down — I really don’t think that that is what civility means,” he said. “But you can’t give up on justice at the altar of civility and you certainly can’t, as a person of religious faith, do that.”

On Friday, during the National Governors Association’s winter meeting in Washington, Cox is set to continue his efforts toward civility.

He is scheduled to host a discussion with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett on “How to Disagree Agreeably.”

The House of Bishops poses for a photo at its March 2022 meeting at Camp Allen, near Navasota, Texas. After some bishops joined other church leaders in calling for greater scrutiny and transparency in disciplinary cases involving bishops, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and his designates have authorized the release of chronologies in six such active cases. Photo: Frank Logue

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church, on Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s direction, updated its website to launch a series of informational resources Feb. 22 intended to increase the transparency of pending disciplinary cases involving bishops while also making it easier for the public to file complaints and navigate the church’s inquiry process.

The new webpage on episcopalchurch.org includes chronologies for six active cases involving bishops under the church’s Title IV disciplinary canons — including two newly revealed cases against retired Florida Bishop John Howard. The webpage also shares statistical information on all complaints against bishops received in the past six months, data that will be updated at least once a year. And a blue “report misconduct” button was added to the top-right corner of all pages on the church’s website linking to the new Title IV page.

Until now, details about Title IV cases have mostly remained confidential unless they are referred to a hearing panel, the equivalent of a trial. Church canons require the release of information in hearing panel cases, though most cases are resolved without a hearing. Curry, as presiding bishop, has broad discretion under the canons to make some information public if he deems it “pastorally appropriate” to do so. Curry and, in some cases, bishops he has designated to act on his behalf are now exercising that discretion to release timelines and status updates in select cases when the “matter becomes public.” Church leaders are continuing to protect the identities of complainants and withhold other details about the allegations.

“Experience over the past several years with Title IV matters involving bishops has given rise to calls for more transparency in the process,” Curry said in a letter introducing the new online resources.

“Given the current atmosphere, I have chosen to exercise my canonical discretion to adopt a general protocol for transparency in Title IV matters involving bishops … while also appropriately protecting privacy,” he added.

The Title IV canons apply to all clergy ordained in The Episcopal Church. Their application to bishops has drawn renewed scrutiny, especially since House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris revealed publicly in August 2023 that she had been the complainant in a harassment case that ended in no punishment for the bishop.

Several other cases involving bishops made public last year prompted some church leaders, including fellow bishops, to call for an examination of the church’s disciplinary canons to ensure bishops are held to the same standards as other clergy and to consider possible canonical reforms. Curry and Ayala Harris both urged the Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons to study the issue and possibly propose resolutions for consideration this June when the 81st General Convention convenes in Louisville, Kentucky.

The newly released chronologies for six specific Title IV cases involving bishops include some information that already had been released by the church’s Office of Public Affairs, and much of the rest of the information was already publicly known through other sources, as reported by Episcopal News Service.

The release, however, confirms publicly for the first time that Howard is the focus of two Title IV investigations, one alleging discrimination and the other for financial matters. The new information also identifies a second case pending against former Rochester Bishop Prince Singh, in addition to the previously known domestic abuse complaint filed by his family.

The chronologies also include a brief timeline of the Singh family’s Title IV case against Curry and Bishop Todd Ousley, who leads the Office of Pastoral Development. Singh’s ex-wife and two adult sons allege Curry and Ousley did not properly or promptly respond to their allegations against Singh. That Title IV case appears to remain in an initial phase.

In the past, the bishop in charge of the Office of Pastoral Development had been assigned by the presiding bishop to serve as intake officer for complaints involving bishops. Last year, Curry chose to reassign that function to a newly created position on his staff. On Aug. 1, the Rev. Barbara Kempf took over as “the primary contact for receiving allegations of misconduct by bishops,” according to a news release announcing her hire.

Since then, Kempf has received information on 34 potential Title IV matters, according to the newly released statistical information, which does not specify how many individual bishops were named. Of those matters, Kempf concluded that seven did not rise to the level of a canonical offense or were not of “clear or weighty importance” to pursue further.

Of the remaining 27 matters, 18 are in the initial inquiry stage, and Kempf has referred the other nine to the Reference Panel, the body that decides next steps on allegations of canonical offenses. Of those nine, the Reference Panel resolved one with a pastoral action, five were sent to an investigation and three are awaiting referral.

Ousley, though no longer serving as intake officer, told the House of Bishops in a September 2023 session that he previously fielded about 40-50 complaints a year, with individual bishops sometimes being the focus of multiple complaints. After initial review, about 95% of those complaints did not rise to the level of Title IV matters, he said. That might mean that the complainant was not alleging any canonical violation, or the matter amounted to something like a communication breakdown between the complainant and the bishop that could be resolved with a pastoral conversation.

In the newly launched Title IV resources, five of the six active cases listed have advanced to formal investigations. The Reference Panel typically requests those investigations and relies on their findings to choose from a range of follow-up options, from closing a case with no discipline to referring it to a hearing panel.

The cases included on the church’s newly launched Title IV webpage are displayed in one of three categories: current cases, hearing panel cases and past cases. Under “current cases,” the bishops facing Title IV complaints are Curry, Ousley, Singh, Howard and Wyoming Bishop Paul-Gordon Chandler.

Two cases involving Bishop Prince Singh

When Singh’s family members went public with their allegations in June 2023, Singh was serving as bishop provisional of the dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Curry recused himself from the case, designating his Title IV role to the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, a former bishop of East Carolina and former dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

In September 2023, Daniel restricted Singh’s ordained ministry while the Title IV case was pending. Singh resigned as bishop provisional a day later.

The newly released chronologies, which don’t include the names of those involved, indicate that the Reference Panel referred the Singh matter for a possible accord on Oct. 18. Two weeks later, the Reference Panel referred it for an investigation instead. Since then, the family has called for an independent investigation into the handling of their case.

Much less is known about the second case involving Singh. The chronology says only that it involves alleged “improper behavior” in the Diocese of Rochester, in New York.

Singh was consecrated in 2008 as bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. Documents obtained by Episcopal News Service from his tenure in Rochester indicate that he was beloved by many in that diocese but that he also fueled tensions with others who objected to his management style. In July 2021, Singh informed the Rochester Standing Committee that he intended to resign.

The online chronology indicates the second case was initiated soon after the one involving his family. The last listed activity was Oct. 10, when it too was referred for an investigation.

Two cases involving Bishop John Howard

In the Diocese of Florida, some clergy and lay leaders have accused Howard of a pattern and practice of discriminating against LGBTQ+ clergy and those who opposed his stated views against same-sex marriage. Howard reached the mandatory clergy retirement age of 72 on Sept. 8 and resigned at the end of October.

The chronology of the first Title IV case against him indicates Kempf first officially received information about those allegations in July 2023 as she was preparing to take on the role of intake officer for bishops. On Oct. 19, she forwarded an intake report to the Reference Panel, which referred the case to an investigation on Nov. 9.

The second case against Howard is described only as “of a financial nature.” It was initiated on Aug. 11 and referred for an investigation on the same day as the discrimination case.

“The standing committee is aware of the complaints against Bishop Howard,” the Diocese of Florida said Feb. 22 in a written statement to ENS after the church launched the new webpage. “The diocese will fully cooperate with the Title IV process. We have been assured it will be fair and pastoral to both the complainants and to Bishop Howard. We ask everyone to keep the complainants and Bishop Howard in your prayers.”

Bishop Paul-Gordon Chandler on administrative leave

The case against Chandler was revealed in October when the church’s Office of Public Affairs issued a news release saying he had been placed on administrative leave. The release provided no information about the nature of the allegations against Chandler – identified in the new chronology only as “allegations of misconduct” – though a letter to the diocese from the chair of its standing committee cited “an alleged indiscretion with a member of our diocesan team.”

The restriction on Chandler’s ministry was enacted by Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves, vice president of the House of Bishops, on behalf of Curry, who was recovering from surgery. The online chronology also says that the Reference Panel referred the case for an investigation on Oct. 19. No other updates were given.

Case involving Curry and Ousley

The chronology of the Singh family’s complaint against Curry and Ousley begins on Dec. 28, when the family addressed a letter to bishops outlining their allegations, recounting their interactions with the presiding bishop and Ousley and saying they have no faith that a bishop or other clergy member could impartially investigate their complaint.

Curry recused himself from the case. Gray-Reeves initially served as Curry’s designate, but in a Jan. 10 letter to bishops, she announced she too was recusing herself. Since then, the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, retired Southern Virginia bishop, has taken her place in the matter.

Kempf also recused herself as intake officer for this case, and that role has been designated to the Rev. Mary Sulerud, interim rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, according to the church’s Office of Public Affairs.

Information on the Title IV allegations was provided to Sulerud on Jan. 18, according to the online chronology. There are no further updates since then.

Case against Bishop William Love rounds out new online chronologies

On the new Title IV webpage, the “hearing panel” category is empty, indicating no active cases facing a hearing.

There is one case listed under “past cases,” the one involving former Episcopal Bishop William Love. He led the Diocese of Albany until a hearing panel in October 2020 found he had violated church law by prohibiting clergy from using the same-sex marriage rite approved for churchwide use by General Convention in 2018. Love has since left The Episcopal Church.

The website does not include a chronology of Ayala Harris’ Title IV complaint. In July 2022, she alleged retired Oklahoma Bishop Ed Konieczny “physically overpowered her” in an incident at the 80th General Convention. Konieczny denied any misconduct, and Ayala Harris’ case was closed in July 2023 with a “pastoral response” and no further action.

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

[The Church of England] The Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice has released the fourth of its biannual racial justice reports.

Mandated to drive “significant cultural and structural change on issues of racial justice within the Church of England,” the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice, headed by Lord Paul Boateng, is charged with monitoring, holding to account and supporting the implementation of the 47 recommendations of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce which were laid out in the taskforce’s comprehensive 2021 report, From Lament to Action.

Boateng highlights two main areas of concern: the absence of data, and where data does exist, a reluctance to share it; and within the national church institutions and diocesan authorities, he comments on the “secrecy and opaqueness” of their practices and processes.

Read the entire article here.

[Anglican Church of Canada] The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, on Feb. 22 issued a statement reflecting on the upcoming second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

Nicholls said, “Feb. 24 will mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the start of the war. In the past 24 months, the Ukrainian people have faced the destruction of their cities and towns, and they have mounted spirited resistance. Many have had to flee Ukraine to find safety in neighboring countries and around the world, including Canada.”

She went on to say, “We long for an end to all wars. We long for ‘swords to be turned into ploughshares’ and for a willingness to seek peace for the safety and security of all people. In the midst of our longing, we pray fervently for an end to war, joining our voice with voices around the world.”

Read the entire article here.

Al Ahli Hospital, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, is providing medical care to patients as well as shelter for family members within their compound. Photo: Courtesy of the Diocese of Jerusalem

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering and Episcopal Relief & Development have announced new funding for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and its Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The funds come alongside the long-standing support of the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem.

“We are extremely grateful for the ministry of the United Thank Offering, as it has supported our service to Christ here in the Holy Land for many years — particularly since Oct. 7,” Archbishop Hosam Naoum, the Anglican leader of the Diocese of Jerusalem, said in a press release.

“The staff and volunteers of our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza have worked around the clock to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of patients brought through its gates each week,” Naoum said. “Please continue to pray and advocate on behalf of all those who suffer throughout the Holy Land, even as we seek a just and lasting peace in the very land where our Lord Jesus Christ took up his cross for our sake.”

The additional aid comes after months of deteriorating conditions in Gaza and at the hospital, the only one known to be operating in northern Gaza. Emergency medical workers have described patients crying out in pain and for water, as medical and life-sustaining resources are scarce.

On Feb. 19, the United Thank Offering, a ministry of The Episcopal Church, announced it would send $187,000 to the Diocese of Jerusalem, part of the Anglican province in the Middle East, to help meet immediate needs through its matching grant challenge.

The UTO board set a $100,000 challenge grant goal, its highest goal ever.

“We knew many people wanted to do something to help Israel and Palestine but didn’t know what to do,” Sherri Dietrich, board president, said in the press release. “We are very happy to have received many donations from new donors, as well as offerings from faithful United Thank Offering participants.”

In addition, the upcoming Good Friday Offering marks the 102nd year people across The Episcopal Church will be invited to make special contributions to support Christians in the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The province’s Diocese of Jerusalem extends from Gaza to Syria and includes the West Bank, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. It is home to about 7,000 Anglicans worshiping in 28 congregations.

The American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, a nonprofit organization and the Diocese of Jerusalem’s main fundraising arm, continues to raise funds for the schools and health care institutions of the diocese, including Al Ahli.

“What I’ve heard over and over again from people all across the north of Gaza is that [Al Ahli] is the one hospital that really ends up asking no questions. No matter who shows up, they take care of them,” Southeast Florida Assisting Bishop Greg Rickel, chair of AFEDJ’s Trustees, told Episcopal News Service.

The hospital has continued to serve people “through the incomprehensible amount of hardship they’re experiencing and major setbacks,” Diana Branton, AFEDJ’s communications director, told ENS.

As the conflict escalates, the hospital is currently seeing 300 new patients daily and has an 80-bed capacity, according to a Feb. 21 update posted to the AFEDJ’s website.

“The facility is stretched well beyond its intended capacity, requiring the utilization of every available space within the building to meet the escalating demand for medical care. This includes repurposing spaces such as the on-site library, pharmacy, and chapel. Ahli Hospital has increased their surgical capacity from two to four operating theaters and is now performing an astonishing 18-22 surgeries per day since the complete shuttering of major nearby hospitals,” according to the update.

Al Ahli Hospital has functioned in some capacity for all but two days since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked people inside Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking more than 200 hostages and provoked an immediate assault from Israel. The hospital complex was hit twice. On Oct. 14, the top two floors of the hospital’s Diagnostic Cancer Treatment Center were badly damaged by rocket fire, and on Oct. 17, a bomb fell in the courtyard around which the hospital’s buildings are located, reportedly killing hundreds of people who had sought refuge there.

The war between Israel and Hamas now has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, and injured more than 69,000 more, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. In addition, at least half of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

In December, Israeli forces detained medical personnel, holding at least one doctor in custody for 45 days in what he described as brutal conditions that compelled him and others to wish for death. Also, late last year, World Health Organization staff described Al Ahli Hospital as in a state of “utter chaos and a humanitarian disaster zone.”

“Patients were crying out in pain, but they were also crying out for us to give them water,” said WHO Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Sean Casey, describing the scene at Al Ahli Arab hospital, where medical staff were struggling to cope with “no food, no fuel, no water.”

“It looks more like a hospice now than a hospital. But a hospice implies a level of care that the doctors and nurses are unable to provide,” he said. “It’s pretty unbearable to see somebody with casts on multiple limbs, external fixator on multiple limbs, without drinking water and almost no IV fluids available.”

Conditions fluctuate constantly. Access to medicine and other supplies is sporadic, but because banks are open in northern Gaza the hospital can receive money to buy supplies when they become available, Branton said. In recent weeks, donations have provided some much-needed medical supplies, including antibiotics to treat the surge in infectious diseases caused by crowded Gaza shelters and the lack of clean water. And, in addition to serving patients, Al Ahli is housing patient families and those of hospital staff, as well as others who are sheltering there.

“The archbishop has said to me that his biggest concern is for staff and patients and keeping them as safe as possible,” said Rickel, who has led many pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

On Feb. 15,  Episcopal Relief & Development, whose mission is to be the church’s compassionate response to human suffering in the world, announced it is expanding its support for health care and educational institutions of the Diocese of Jerusalem.

“We’ve been sending aid directly to Al Ahli Hospital since October,” Gillian McCallion, vice president of marketing and communications, told ENS. “Their desire is to serve and heal and reach everybody who needs it, and they are really a remarkable partner.”

And while that aid will continue, McCallion said additional support will help expand mental health services at Al Ahli, as well as at two diocesan health care facilities located in the West Bank – St. Luke’s Hospital in Nablus and Penmen Clinic in Jenin.

–Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

[World Council of Churches] Israeli president Isaac Herzog formally received World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay on Feb. 20  to discuss the current situation in Israel and Palestine, and the war in Gaza.

In a very frank, fair and cordial conversation, the two leaders agreed on the importance of working toward a ceasefire and the role of religions in helping to create a world in which peace, security and safety exist for all people and for creation, a world that God desires and wills for us. 

Pillay expressed his concern about the loss of over 27,000 lives in Gaza, most of them women and children, reiterated the WCC position that violence and wars are not the way to seek solutions, and stressed the need for dialogue to end the war and to create a better future for all people in Israel and Palestine. 

Read the entire article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Anglican Communion will be represented at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi meeting Feb. 24 – March 1 to discuss the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The UNEA is the only forum in which the world’s countries discuss the environmental crisis as a whole.

The Anglican delegation at the assembly include the Rev. Rachel Mash, coordinator of the Anglican Communion Environment Network from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; Nicholas Pande from the Anglican Alliance; and the Rev. Denis Nthenge, chaplain to the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

During the assembly, Mash will be cochairing discussions about how civil society can work to find a coherent position on the root causes of the environmental crisis. This is important work to ensure clarity is given in government negotiations about what churches are hearing from those most impacted by the crisis – including indigenous peoples and those with the smallest financial resources.

Her interventions will focus particularly on how we move away from excessive consumerism and throw-away mentalities to a sustainable economy that prioritizes what can be reused and recycled. It will call on governments to act on issues of waste management and socially-responsible mining.

Mining has a major impact on many Anglican communities. While it can contribute to job creation, strengthening local economies and reducing poverty, it also can become linked to infringement on indigenous rights, exacerbate conflict and child labor, and irreparably damage the environment. The delegation will draw attention to how the Anglican Communion is in dialogue with mining companies to achieve better environmental practice, through church ethical investment work and local community engagement.

Pande, environmental lead for the Anglican Communion’s U.N. team, will attend the assembly to speak with governments and other faiths groups, looking for opportunities to advance global and local responses to protecting biodiversity and limiting the increase in global warming. He also will refer to the Anglican Communion’s “Communion Forest” (a global initiative encouraging reforestation and tree planting around the world) as a powerful response from Anglicans to the environmental crisis.

Nthenge will coordinate a youth presence at the civil society gathering that starts the assembly, mostly including representatives of the Green Anglicans movement in Kenya.

At the last UNEA, the world’s governments made a landmark agreement to manage plastic, which can determine how much plastic our countries produce and what plastic we use and throw away everyday. A similar agreement could be made on waste management – a major issue for many Anglican communities living amidst the waste, with the greatest impact on the most vulnerable in our societies.

Looking ahead to the discussions, Mash said, “Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are some of the biggest long-term threats we face to human flourishing. The Church is called to care for God’s creation and stand in solidarity with those suffering. Representing Anglicans at this U.N. Environment Assembly is a vital way to share the experience of indigenous people in these discussions.  Powerful change can be made when we work together with others to contribute to a more just world.”

The Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White, center, was ordained and consecrated as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio on Feb. 17. Bishops pictured from left include Ohio Bishop Anne B. Jolly, now former Southern Ohio Bishop Provisional George Wayne Smith, Southern Ohio Assisting Bishop Wendell N. Gibbs, Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows and former Chicago Bishop Jeffrey D. Lee. Photo: Graham Stokes

[Diocese of Southern Ohio] The Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White was ordained and consecrated as the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio on Feb. 17 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. White, the first woman to serve as Southern Ohio’s diocesan bishop, leads more than 15,000 Episcopalians in 71 congregations across the southern half of Ohio.

“People of Southern Ohio, the one who you have called to be your bishop is faithful because in her bones, she knows that Jesus—the one who animates her life—is faithful. You have not only chosen one who wants to be with you, you’ve called someone who knows how to show up, be with, and who will be with you in the heat of the day at mile 20 of a marathon and beyond,” Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows said during the consecration sermon. “Kristin will lead you with conviction, clarity, grace and strength. She will listen robustly and lead you in this very complicated and challenging time in history.”

White served as canon to the ordinary for congregational development and leadership in Diocese of Indianapolis before her election to the episcopacy.

Bishop Wendell N. Gibbs, former bishop of Michigan who now serves as an assisting bishop in Southern Ohio, was the chief consecrating bishop. Baskerville-Burrows and Michigan Bishop Bonnie A. Perry, Ohio Bishop Anne B. Jolly and former Chicago Bishop Jeffrey D. Lee served as co-consecrators, along with Bishop Suzanne Darcy Dillahunt of the Southern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and Bishop George Wayne Smith, who served as bishop provisional in Southern Ohio from August 2021 until White’s ordination and consecration.

The bulletin for the service and the worship space were decorated with artwork created by Cincinnati artist Lyric Morris-Latchaw, a member of Church of the Advent, Cincinnati. The hand-sculpted and painted pieces were inspired by stained glass preserved from St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, the diocese’s original cathedral. Four choirs sang during the service, including a massed diocesan choir, Coro Latinoamericano from Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis, Raise Choir of Columbus, and the Canterbury Choir of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Columbus. A brass ensemble was provided by Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati.

Lay leaders bearing banners of diocesan congregations began the first of five processions, which included kite bearers, vergers, ecumenical and interfaith representatives, the bishop-elect’s family, and more than a hundred clergy from across The Episcopal Church. More than 20 bishops from around the church attended the service.

Kenny Ramos of Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador in Cincinnati read from Isaiah in Spanish, and Mari Fetz, daughter of the Rev. R. Derrick Fetz of the Northern Miami Valley Episcopal Cluster, read the same lesson in English. Jennifer Phelps, transition minister in the Diocese of Indianapolis, read from 1 Thessalonians. The Rev. Stephen Applegate, a priest of the diocese who is currently interim rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio, was the liturgist for the service, which nearly 1000 people attended in person.

In a letter included in the service bulletin, White wrote, “To you who have come from across the wide expanse of our diverse and beautiful diocese: you have made this day possible. I experienced God’s call to serve as Bishop of Southern Ohio as, again and again, you expressed the hope for a bishop who would be with you. Through the months that followed, I grew to trust, in the words of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, that the One who calls us is faithful. I am honored to be here with you now. Thank you, people of Southern Ohio, for calling me as your bishop. Thank you, all of you who are here, for being the Body of Christ gathered in this time and place.”

On Feb. 18, White was formally seated at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati. A video of Bishop White’s ordination and consecration is available on the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s YouTube channel. A video of the seating is available on Christ Church Cathedral’s YouTube channel.

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay led a delegation that met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on Feb. 19, and he urged an end to the “seemingly endless cycle of violence and suffering.”

Pillay noted the unique role and mandate of the WCC in listening to and amplifying the voices and testimonies of member churches and partners in the Holy Land, and he affirmed the WCC’s ongoing commitment to work for just peace for all people.

Abbas briefed the delegation on the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territory and in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem – and stressed the immediate urgency for a ceasefire.

The delegation also met with the leadership of the Palestinian Presidential Committee on Church Affairs in Ramallah to discuss the role of Christians in the region and the importance to keep the status quo with Jerusalem as the city of three religions.

Read the entire article here.

[Church of England] More than $320,000 was distributed by the Church of England last year to support conservation projects in parishes, including work to preserve wall paintings, baptismal fonts, stained glass windows and rood screens.

A total of about $321,876 has been awarded for 123 projects in 34 dioceses – with the number of grants up 20% on the year before – to help churches maintain and preserve significant cultural and historical items, including paintings, doors, chairs, clocks and organs.

The grants, from donated funds, including major funder, the Pilgrim Trust, were distributed by the Church of England’s national Cathedrals and Church Buildings team, alongside ongoing advice and guidance.

Read the entire article here.