Skip to main content

Episcopal News Service

Conteúdo sindicalizado
The official news service of the Episcopal Church.
Atualizado: 33 minutos 58 segundos atrás

Priest distributes ashes, Narcan in Alabama homeless camp on Ash Wednesday

qua, 14/02/2024 - 12:16

The Rev. Rose Veal Eby, priest associate at the Church of the Nativity in Huntsville, Alabama, imposes ashes to homeless people every Ash Wednesday. Photo: Courtesy of Rose Veal Eby

[Episcopal News Service] Every Ash Wednesday, the Rev. Rose Veal Eby, priest associate of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Huntsville, Alabama, goes to the homeless camp in the city, known locally as “The Slab,” and the First Stop daytime homeless shelter downtown to distribute ashes to the community and pray with them. This year, Eby, who volunteers at First Stop, will also distribute the drug Narcan along with information on how to use it to revive people suffering from opioid overdoses.

“On Ash Wednesday, we say, ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ It reminds us that this life is not forever, but it also reminds us that we got this chance to be in relationship with God,” Eby told Episcopal News Service. “We’ve got to have a good relationship with ourselves, and substances can keep you from having that relationship.”

In 2021, 106,600 people died from drug overdoses in the United States, a 14% increase from 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one million people have died from drug overdoses since 1999. Worldwide, approximately 600,000 people died from drug use, about 25% of which were attributed to opioid overdoses, according to the World Health Organization. Opioids — such as Percocet, fentanyl and morphine — are a class of prescription drugs used to treat moderate to severe pain, and they come with serious risks and side effects, including addiction and dependence.

Narcan — the nasal spray version of the drug naloxone —has been proven to save many lives because it can quickly reverse an opioid overdose when immediately administered. Still, like drug addiction in general, the use of Narcan is stigmatized, partly due to the persistent myth that having the antidote readily available enables drug use, even though studies have proven otherwise.

“Narcan is a safe drug, and by the way the drug is distributed, there’s really not enough to get an overdose,” the Rev. Robert Serio, deacon at Church of the Nativity, told ENS. Serio is also a retired pulmonologist and sleep physician.

Eby said she and Serio will impose ashes while accompanied by a case worker who specializes in opioid addiction, a community development representative, a peer specialist from the Recovery Organization of Support Specialists and two community resource police officers. They also will distribute the Narcan and information pamphlets on how to use it, as well as prayer cards to remind the unhoused “that we’re thinking about them and they have another resource to turn to.”

Serio said that even though he’ll wear his clerical collar to represent the Church of the Nativity while at the homeless camp and shelter, he’ll primarily be there as a doctor.

“We’re not going out there to evangelize. We’re primarily approaching this from a medical point of view,” Serio said. “But if being there leads the people to being aware of our presence, great.”

In Alabama, an estimated 3,434 people are unhoused on any given night, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Huntsville, the state’s most populous city with almost 222,000 people, the homeless population is estimated to be about 600, though the number is likely higher.

Nationwide, at least 580,000 people are experiencing homelessness. Substance abuse is often a factor in homelessness, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to ending homelessness.

Eby said she recently had to personally administer Narcan and rescue breaths to a homeless woman who had overdosed. The woman survived.

“It’s something that I never want people to have to do, but I want them to be prepared for it,” said Eby, who also distributed Narcan to attendees at the Diocese of Alabama’s convention Feb. 8-10 in Montgomery in case parishes need to use it.

“How is somebody going to get to the point of going to rehab if they die before they get there? Being passionately present and giving people struggling with addiction things that will save their life is what we’re called to do. We’re not supposed to judge.”

Eby said she hopes other congregations will learn about how Narcan can save lives and consider distributing it among their communities.

“I’m a big fan of harm reduction,” she said. “I don’t think you’re encouraging people to use substances as much as you are encouraging them to live.”

Anyone struggling with drug addiction can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free and confidential helpline at any time at 1-800-662-4357, or they can text 435748 for support and resource information. Having health insurance isn’t required.

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

Michigan bishop calls for ‘courage and compassion’ to end gun violence

ter, 13/02/2024 - 16:08

Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry calls for action to end gun violence in a Feb. 13, 2024 video statement, the same day three new gun safety laws took effect in the state and one year after a mass shooting killed three students and injured five others at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Photo: Screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] One year after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others on Feb. 13 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, three new gun safety laws take effect in the state.

“I am so, so sorry that all of the students at Michigan State University and students elsewhere live with this fear and experienced that trauma,” Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry said in a video statement. “I offer my prayers and invite you to join with me in offering prayers to our God that we may have the courage and the compassion to use the gifts God has given us to make differences — to change our world.”

One of the new laws includes requiring universal background checks for gun purchases. The same law also requires that guns be locked in storage. Michigan also established a red flag law — also known as an extreme risk law or temporary transfer law — which gives law enforcement agencies the authority to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who “could be dangerous.” Currently, 21 states have implemented some sort of red flag law.

“I ask you to link your prayers with tangible actions, using the gifts God has given us to make changes in our country so that these senseless tragedies may end,” the bishop said in the video statement.

Perry — a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail gun violence — was instrumental in helping to launch End Gun Violence Michigan, a grassroots group credited with helping the gun safety laws pass. The group is credited with helping two of the anti-gun violence legislation packages pass in Michigan.

One year after a mass shooting killed three students and injured five others at Michigan State University on Feb. 13, 2023, “The Rock,” a boulder on Michigan State’s campus that serves as a community landmark, is painted with a tribute to the deceased: Arielle Anderson, Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner. Photo: Michigan State University/Facebook

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the gun safety measures into law in response to two mass shootings that have occurred in schools since she became governor in 2019, the one at Michigan State and another in 2021 at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, north of Detroit.

At Oxford High School, a student murdered four students and injured seven other people, including a teacher. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 24 years in December 2023. The shooter’s parents have both been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. A week ago, a jury found Jennifer Crumbley guilty on all four counts, one for each of the victims. James Crumbley will be tried in March. 

On average, 1,187 Michiganders die annually from gun violence, according to data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Feb. 13, nationwide 4,778 people have died from gun violence this year, including 44 from mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an American nonprofit that catalogs every gun-related death in the United States. A mass shooting is any shooting in which at least four people are shot. Still, most U.S. gun deaths are suicides.

End Gun Violence Michigan’s website includes fact sheets and resources about the state’s new gun safety laws.

Episcopalians can learn more about the church’s gun safety legislation dating to 1976 here.

Church invites Episcopalians to join 2024 Election Activators cohort, encourage voter engagement

ter, 13/02/2024 - 13:53

Voters fill out ballots at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston, Massachusetts, on Nov. 8, 2022. Photo: Egan Millard/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] Kim Hayes was part of the inaugural 2022 cohort of Episcopal Election Activators, a program launched by The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations to encourage voter engagement during that year’s elections. Hayes, now 71, renewed her commitment to the program again for 2024 because she still feels a “sense of urgency” in this work, especially in a presidential election year.

“It’s just really important for people to get out and vote and take responsibility for [electing] who is representing us,” Hayes, a member of the Diocese of Western North Carolina who lives near Asheville, told Episcopal News Service.

She is one of 55 Episcopalians signed up so far with Episcopal Election Activators, and the Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations is encouraging more to participate. As Election Activators, they receive training in voter registration and other engagement strategies while benefiting from the support of their peers in the network and the office’s staff.

The Episcopal Church does not endorse individual political candidates but rather encourages nonpartisan advocacy and political engagement by Episcopalians as a way of witnessing to Jesus’ gospel message in today’s world. The Office of Government Relations, following public policy positions endorsed by General Convention, regularly meets with federal officeholders to discuss the church’s stances on the issues of the day. It also promotes churchwide engagement through its Episcopal Public Policy Network.

It launched Election Activators two years ago as another way to motivate Episcopalians to participate in the democratic process. Alan Yarborough, the office’s church relations officer, said cohort members like Hayes are already active in encouraging people to vote in their communities.

“It’s critical that Episcopalians not only vote but understand the important role our churches can play in supporting free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power,” Yarborough said in a written statement to ENS. He invited more Episcopalians to sign up online “if you are at all interested in this work, or even already doing election engagement now.”

Emily Hopkins, of the Diocese of California, is another returning member of Episcopal Activators. At age 69, Hopkins, a retired Navy captain, also is active in the League of Women Voters and regularly serves as a poll worker on Election Day.

“I do what I can in a nonpartisan way to strengthen our democracy,” Hopkins told ENS. Much of her work centers on registering people to vote – in elections from U.S. president on down to local offices and ballot measures.

Hopkins lives east of Oakland in Walnut Creek. This year, she plans to spend some of her time with a local social service agency that provides day services for people who are homeless, helping them register to vote if they choose. In 2022, she partnered with St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, inviting parents to register to vote when they came to the church to receive the school uniforms the congregation was giving to families.

“As Episcopalians, I think we’re supposed to be the hands and feet in our community and our daily lives, so this is a way we can make a difference,” Hopkins said. “It empowers people.”

Voters in October 2022 take advantage of early-voting stations set up in the “mural room” at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo: Lauren Reisman

The Episcopal Election Activators program builds on the Office of Government Relations’ growing collection of online resources available to Episcopalians and others interested in election engagement. Its “Vote Faithfully” toolkit specifically highlights a resolution passed by General Convention in 2012 that notes, “the United States has been a vigorous human rights advocate for many years, opposing arbitrary restrictions on the right to vote and insisting on fairly conducted elections for legislative representatives.”

Recent General Convention resolutions have opposed voter suppression efforts and promoted expansion of voter eligibility, as outlined in this resolution passed in July 2022. Another resolution from that year backed changes to the Electoral Count Act of 1887 intended to prevent threats to democracy like the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president.

Like Hopkins, Hayes, a retired marketing professional, emphasized that the church’s engagement is nonpartisan. At the same time, “our church makes some strong statements about justice and things of that nature,” Hayes said, including the issues relevant to voters when they go to the polls.

Hayes senses that one of the biggest challenges in 2024 is combatting the “lethargy” she has noticed among voters, who may be frustrated with politics and elected officials’ inability to get their work done.

“I worry that there will be more people who stay home and just don’t vote at all, which just would be a tragedy,” she said.

This year, she and other Election Activators will be working in their congregations and communities to counteract that lethargy, reminding people of the importance of making their voices heard through their votes.

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

Church of England cathedrals, churches mark Racial Justice Sunday on Feb. 11

ter, 13/02/2024 - 12:27

[Church of England] Racial Justice Sunday was marked in services across England the weekend of Feb. 11.

The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, joined members of the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission and Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns at a special Sung Eucharist in Westminster Abbey.

In Lancashire, the archbishop of York, the Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, commissioned a diocesan racial justice group with the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt. Rev. Philip North. Before this, he preached in St. Peter’s Church in Burnley.

The Rev. Mark Nam, founder of the Teahouse Group of Chinese heritage clergy, and an assistant curate in the Diocese of Bristol, led the Church of England’s online service.

Read the entire article here.

Former Scottish cathedral chorister wins Grammy award

ter, 13/02/2024 - 12:20

[Scottish Episcopal Church] A 20-year-old former chorister at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, Scotland, has won a Grammy Award for his work on a winning track.

Blair Ferguson contributed to the track “Snooze” by American singer-songwriter SZA. The record won the award for Best R&B Song at the ceremony in Los Angeles. Under the name BLK Beats, Ferguson wrote the initial demo for the song, which hit number two on the U.S. Billboard charts in July and reached number 18 in the U.K.

His father, Stephen Ferguson, was in Los Angeles during the awards ceremony and said, “Seeing Blair being awarded his Grammy gives me such a special feeling. I genuinely believe that being a part of the choir and the community at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, has been important to his development. We’re looking forward to dropping into the cathedral when we get back from L.A.”

Read the entire article here.

Province II offers slave trade lament modeled on the Way of the Cross for Lent

seg, 12/02/2024 - 16:30

The Episcopal Church’s Province II on Ash Wednesday will debut a liturgical lament and repentance for the transatlantic slave trade modeled on the Way of the Cross, show here in images from some of those video reflections. Photo: Courtesy of Province II

[Episcopal News Service] On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, the dioceses of Province II will begin the season of Lent by debuting a liturgical lament and repentance for the transatlantic slave trade modeled on the Way of the Cross.

“The slave trade was an act of refusing and failing to love God – the God who the Bible says is love – and to love our neighbor,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in a video introduction. “To lament and to repent is to take that sin seriously – not to beat up on ourselves, but to learn from the past and then to turn and join hands with each other to build a new society and a new world based on the value of love and justice and compassion and goodness.”

In 2017, Curry led a reconciliation pilgrimage to Ghana for bishops and Episcopal Relief & Development’s friends and supporters. The pilgrims visited cities and sites critical to understanding the transatlantic slave trade.

The new repentance and lament is modeled on the Way of the Cross, or Stations of the Cross, in The Book of Occasional Services. Each of the 14 stations will include video reflections, laments and prayers written by members of each of the province’s dioceses: Albany, Central New York, the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, Cuba, Haiti, Long Island, Newark, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rochester, the Virgin Islands, and the Episcopal Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania.

The legacy of slavery continues to this day, Central New York Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, the Province II president, told Episcopal News Service, in persistent racial injustice, the disproportionate number of Black men in prisons and jails, and in human trafficking for labor and sex. The church needs to acknowledge both the history of slavery and its present-day manifestations, she said. “I don’t think we have words for how horrific chattel slavery was, and it’s easy to distance ourselves from the suffering of others.”

The series of laments and prayers will be available on Feb. 14 beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern on the province’s website. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time when Christians prepare for Easter by acts of special devotion, prayers, fasting and repentance. Stations of the Cross is a spiritual practice offered by many Episcopal churches especially during Lent. It is based on the practice of pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem to walk Jesus’ path to the cross. Today it ceremonially marks some of his actions along that path, including picking up his cross, meeting his mother and being stripped of his garments.

The idea for this Lenten offering, Duncan-Probe said, came shortly after she became president of the province and realized that geographically it encompassed “a rather large swath of what has been called the slave trade triangle.” In that transatlantic triangle, manufactured goods from Europe were transported for sale or trade in Africa, and Africans were kidnapped and sent to the Americas, where they were sold into slavery to work on plantations that produced sugar, cotton and other raw materials that were then sold back to Europe.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, 12.5 million Africans were sent as cargo across the Atlantic Ocean, and almost two million of them died in route. More than 4 million of them were sent to Brazil, most of the others went to the Caribbean, and the remaining 400,000 were brought to what today is the United States. By 1860, nearly 4 million men, women and children were enslaved in the United States.

Province II is particularly suited to offer these reflections because it is “multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual,” the Rev. Yamily Bass-Choate, who chaired the task force that helped produce the series, told ENS. It “brings a rich flavor of diversity,” including the five languages that are spoken in the province. Bass-Choate serves as the liaison for global mission for the Diocese of New York.

The first step in dealing with this legacy of pain and suffering is repentance, Duncan-Probe said, and for people of faith, change begins through prayer and liturgy. Using the form of the Way of the Cross will allow participants to “be part of the ongoing journey of Jesus both to the cross and then through resurrection,” she said.

But, she acknowledged, “there are profound, incomprehensible wounds that can never be healed through a liturgy.” This Lenten offering isn’t sufficient for that, she said, “but we have to start somewhere, with a faithful step, and continue.”

Duncan-Probe said she hopes that using these prayers and lamentations to seek God’s forgiveness for “our continued participation in an inhuman system” will be useful to others, too. Neva Rae Fox, provincial coordinator, told ENS that the service can serve “as a Lenten resource for private reflection and congregational discussion and as a teaching tool” for people across The Episcopal Church.

Technological assistance for the series was provided by Rachel Ravellette, communications director of the Diocese of Central New York, and Steve Welch, canon for communications of the Diocese of New Jersey. All but one set of reflections will be pre-recorded, and after Lent, all of them will be combined into one video for future use.

–Melodie Woerman is a freelance writer and former director of communications for the Diocese of Kansas.

Church of England Synod to address biodiversity, safeguarding, racial justice and Prayers of Love and Faith

seg, 12/02/2024 - 14:21

[The Church of England] The General Synod of the Church of England will meet later this month in London to discuss the biodiversity agenda of the church’s overall environment program, racial justice, and Prayers of Love and Faith that ask for God’s blessing for same-sex couples.

General Synod will meet Feb. 23-27, and papers on Synod sessions have recently been published.

A Land and Nature motion will seek to give biodiversity equal consideration with net zero carbon, recognizing the need to respond urgently to the ecological crisis. The motion also addresses land and property owned by the church, at parish, diocese and national level.

Synod will be invited to discuss and endorse the process for engaging with two reports on safeguarding in the church: first, a report on lessons learned by the barrister Sarah Wilkinson, published in December, and second, recommendations from the forthcoming review from Alexis Jay into the Future of Church Safeguarding. The Archbishops’ Council has set up a group to advise it on how to respond to the reviews.

There also will be a report on progress on the work on Living in Love and Faith, resources on teaching and learning about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

Read the entire article here.

Recalling Council of Nicaea can inspire today’s call for unity, WCC head says

seg, 12/02/2024 - 12:56

[World Council of Churches] Commemorating the 1700th anniversary in 2025 of the Council of Nicaea is an inspiration to Christians today to work for the unity of the church, according to the Rev. Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches. At the Council of Nicaea, bishops representing the whole of Christendom gathered together for the first time to discuss the faith and witness of the church.

“Recalling the significance of the Council of Nicaea renews our call for full visible unity, the cornerstone of the ecumenical movement,” Pillay said in a greeting to a Feb. 8 webinar, “From Nicaea, Walking Together to Unity: The Beginning of a New Beginning.”

The WCC’s activities to commemorate Nicaea in 2025 will culminate in the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, to be held near Alexandra, Egypt, in October 2025, Pillay said.

Read the entire article here.

Anglican Church of Canada celebrates 30th anniversary of women’s ordination as bishops

seg, 12/02/2024 - 12:53

[Anglican Church of Canada] This month, the Anglican Church of Canada marks the 30th anniversary of the day it first consecrated a woman as bishop. The Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews was consecrated as bishop on Feb. 12, 1994. She is currently the episcopal administrator of the Anglican Diocese of Moosonee and bishop in residence for St. Matthew’s Anglican Cathedral in Timmins.

Matthews was only the fifth woman to be consecrated as bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris of The Episcopal Church had been the first, in 1989.

In the 30 years since Matthews’ consecration, 21 more women have been elected as bishops in Canada. The Anglican Church of Canada will honor Matthews and celebrate women bishops with an online panel discussion on Feb.26.

Read the entire article here.

Webinar focuses on teaching Episcopal churches to build community partnerships in rural America

sex, 09/02/2024 - 17:12

The Rev. Andrew Terry, the Diocese of Texas’ area missioner, explained how Episcopal churches can build community partnerships in rural America in a Feb. 9 webinar. The webinar was part of The Episcopal Church’s free monthly Festival Thursdays educational series, which serves as a continuation of the churchwide “It’s All About Love” festival held in June 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo: Screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] Seven months after hundreds of Episcopalians participated in “It’s All About Love,” a churchwide festival of learning, fellowship and worship held in Baltimore, Maryland, the church continues to provide learning opportunities through its free monthly Festival Thursdays webinars, held every second Thursday of the month at 3 p.m. Eastern.

The latest webinar, “Revival in Rural America,” took place Feb. 8 via Zoom. About 75 people participated.

“We are defining, discovering, dreaming, designing our way into our church that looks more like the love of Jesus,” said the Rev. Melanie Mullen, director of reconciliation, justice and creation care for The Episcopal Church, who hosted the webinar and moderated the Q&A discussion.

The Rev. Andrew Terry, the Diocese of Texas’ area missioner, presented how lay leaders from 14 congregations used a collaborative approach similar to Asset-Based Community Development to develop a “learning” community that launched four new missional initiatives and three new missional communities in the last two years.

“Area mission vitalizes congregations and their local communities by helping them build relationships and partnerships with their neighbors,” Terry said during the webinar. “Partnerships are organization to organization, like a church partnering with a public school.”

In The Episcopal Church, an area mission is a geographical location designated by a diocese for evangelization, congregational development and ministry development. Area missions sometimes can be established outside the boundaries of a diocese.

One of the partnerships Terry described was the rainbow room at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Navasota, a city with a population of about 8,000 an hour northwest of Houston. In Texas, rainbow rooms serve as statewide emergency resource for children and their families by providing necessities, such as clothing, baby formula, diapers, school supplies, hygiene items, cleaning supplies and nonperishable food. Child Protective Services caseworkers have unrestricted access to St. Paul’s rainbow room, where they can collect new items for children who’ve been removed from their homes. Most rainbow rooms are housed in government buildings and operated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. However, St. Paul’s rainbow room is the only one in Grimes County due to a lack of space in the county’s government buildings. Before St. Paul’s opened its rainbow room, caseworkers had to drive to the nearest rainbow rooms in neighboring Brazos and Washington counties.

“We weren’t starting anything new, on our own. We were listening to partner agencies and responding to what they expressed as a need,” Terry said. “I think what has emerged through this work is the congregation is beginning to think creatively about how they can build on this commitment to children and young people here locally in our area.”

The Diocese of Texas’ mission amplification team developed a five-step process to help congregations reimagine their approaches to serving local communities: Define, Discover, Dream, Design and Deploy. Photo: Screenshot

Terry said the diocese’s mission amplification team helps churches “live fully into the body of Christ by forming individuals into the image of Christ.” It developed a five-step process to help congregations reimagine their approaches to serving local communities:

Define: Acquire a clear picture of the community in question.

Discover: Share your story and observe what the local community needs. Consider issues within a local context.

Dream: Consider what God is calling you to do.

Design: Use your assets and strengths to maximize impact.

Deploy: Act and measure results.

Participants were divided into breakout rooms for a few minutes to practice using some of the processes to descriptively share when they witnessed an Episcopal congregation at its best when connecting with a local community. Listeners took notes and listed the theme of the stories, as well as any keywords or phrases that encapsulated the overall subject matter. When they returned from the breakout rooms, participants shared the keywords and phrases they wrote down and looked for themes across all the stories. “Need,” “service” and “community” were common keywords. Terry then recited 2 Timothy 1:3-7 and asked participants to write down keywords and phrases, as well as to reflect on how that portion of scripture relates to the revival in rural America theme.

“I want you to listen with that theme of reviving a rekindling in a congregation. … Where we found revival happening in rural America — in rural Texas — is where two or three lay leaders, to use Jesus’s phrase, ‘gather around a single spark of possibility,’” Terry said. “The way that we get there is by discerning.”

The webinar concluded with Terry answering questions, and comments from participants. Several people brainstormed how they can best apply the five-step process to address the immediate concerns of their congregations, from providing a grief group to providing transportation in rural communities, to finding ways to help elderly parishioners remain active in their church communities. Terry mentioned as an example that St. Paul’s established a gardeners’ guild for retired parishioners who are master gardeners to teach gardening skills to younger people.

“We’re trying to help congregations discover their unique spiritual charism and, in my opinion, God has placed spiritual gifts into every congregation specifically for their context,” Terry said. “I believe that charism carries over time, carries even over generations. But it doesn’t mean that we do the same activities across generations. The charism remains in continuity, but the practices and activities change with context.”

A recording of the “Revival in Rural America” webinar is available here. The next Festival Thursdays webinar, taking place March 14, will focus on racial reconciliation.

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

North Dakota diocese elects Brian Thom bishop provisional

sex, 09/02/2024 - 17:09

[Diocese of North Dakota] Bishop Brian Thom, who led the Diocese of Idaho until resigning in 2022, has been elected by the Diocese of North Dakota to serve part time as bishop provisional.

A Special Convention for the election of a bishop provisional took place on Jan. 7.  Thom succeeds Bishop Tom Ely, who had served as bishop provisional since January 2021. Ely led the Diocese of Vermont until he resigned in 2019.

Bishop Keith Whitmore, who resigned as the Diocese of Eau Claire’s bishop in 2008 to become assistant bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, served as assisting bishop in North Dakota from 2019 to 2021.

Bishop Michael G. Smith resigned from the Diocese of North Dakota in 2019 and went on to serve as a part-time assistant bishop in the Diocese of Dallas before becoming an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Albany.

Church of England cathedral attendance continued post-pandemic bounce back in 2022

sex, 09/02/2024 - 13:55

[The Church of England] Attendance at Church of England cathedrals continued to bounce back following the pandemic, new statistics for 2022 published on Feb. 8 show.

Figures show that adult usual Sunday attendance rose 60% between 2021 and 2022 for the 42 Church of England mainland cathedrals, to 12,300 adults. A total of 28,200 people, including children, attended services every week, according to Cathedral Statistics 2022.

Over the year there were 584,000 attendances at specially arranged services – not included in average weekly attendance – such as school services. The number of special services stood at 2,100. The total reported attendance at Christmas services stood at 104,000.

However the figures had not yet reached pre-pandemic levels of attendance.

Read the entire article here.

Anglican Communion official meets Pope Francis to discuss the role of women in the church

sex, 09/02/2024 - 13:50

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Rt. Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, the Anglican Communion’s deputy secretary general and bishop for episcopal ministry, attended a meeting with Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals on Feb. 5 at the Vatican in Rome.

Two other women also were invited to address the meeting: Linda Pocher, a Salesian sister and professor at the Pontifical Auxilium; and Giuliva Di Beradino, a consecrated sister and teacher from the Diocese of Verona in Italy.

According to the Vatican Press Office, Pope Francis and the cardinals are continuing to deepen “their reflection, begun last December, on the role of women in the church.” This meeting was part of a series of four seminars, during which they are seeking to listen to diverse voices and issues on the subject.

Wells said, “Many have suggested this was an historic moment. Certainly, I was honored to be invited to describe the Anglican journey in regard to the ordination of women, both in the Church of England and across the [Anglican] Communion. There was deep engagement and some good discussion. And in the aftermath, I am just amazed at the interest from Catholics all around the world. I hope and pray it will serve to enable more women to explore and fulfill the calling God gives to each one of us.”

 

Los Angeles-area Chinese Episcopalians to celebrate Lunar New Year

qui, 08/02/2024 - 16:27

A man and a toddler are silhouetted as they pose for a souvenir photo with a giant dragon lantern decorated near the popular Houhai Lake in Beijing, China, Feb. 8, 2024. The 2024 Lunar New Year — widely celebrated in China, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries with significant Chinese populations — will take place on Feb. 10, which marks the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac. Photo: Andy Wong/AP

[Episcopal News Service] The Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel, California, will host a public Lunar New Year celebration Feb. 11 with a special Eucharist reflecting its congregation’s Chinese heritage.

“[The Lunar New Year celebration] is an opportunity to bring awareness and also an opportunity to connect people to the church with so many new immigrants coming into our communities, especially from mainland China,” the Rev. Thomas Ni, associate for Chinese ministry for the Church of Our Savior, told Episcopal News Service. 

The Lunar New Year is the beginning of the new year based on the lunisolar calendar. It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This year, it falls on Feb. 10, marking the start of the year 4721 on the Chinese calendar. Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in China, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries with significant Chinese populations. In China, the Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival; in South Korea, it’s known as Seollal; in Vietnam, it’s known as Tết.

Family-oriented celebrations last for 15 days and include various traditions, such as giving red envelopes with money to children, serving a whole fish at dinner, cleaning homes in the days leading up to Lunar New Year’s Eve and decorating doorways with red banners bearing auspicious phrases. In China, Lunar New Year celebrations conclude with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. During the festival, people light lanterns and carry them around their neighborhoods as a symbol of driving out darkness and bringing hope in the coming year.

Each new year is named after an animal in an established order following the Chinese zodiac and repeated every 12 years: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Unlike the Western zodiac, the animals of the Chinese zodiac are unaffiliated with constellations, and not all Lunar New Year celebrants observe the Chinese zodiac.

“Your year gives you some attributes, the same as when you look at the horoscope,” the Rev. Pamela Tang, The Episcopal Church’s interim missioner for Asiamerica Ministries and a deacon at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City, told ENS. “You can look at your Chinese zodiac and say, ‘OK, this is who I am, and it explains my strengths and weaknesses.’”

Ni told ENS that teaching and learning about Lunar New Year has been beneficial for both Chinese-speaking and English-speaking congregants. Ni also serves as executive director of the Li Tim-Oi Center, which is housed at the Church of Our Savior. Named for the Rev. Florence Li Tim-Oi, the center has been providing lay leadership training for Chinese ministry since its inception in 2014.

The Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel, California, is home of the Li Tim-Oi Center, which has been providing lay leadership training for Chinese ministry since its inception in 2014. The center is named after the Rev. Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first woman ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion and a native of Hong Kong. Photo: Courtesy of the Church of Our Savior

Li Tim-Oi, a native of Hong Kong, became the first woman ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion on Jan. 25, 1944. The Episcopal Church celebrates her feast day on Jan. 24. This year’s Lunar New Year celebration at Church of Our Savior will honor the 80th anniversary of Li Tim-Oi’s ordination with a panel discussion on women in ministry on Feb. 10 in the church’s sanctuary. Panelists will include the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, The Episcopal Church’s 26th and first female presiding bishop; the Rev. Fennie Chang, vicar of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hacienda Heights, California; the Rev. Melissa McCarthy, canon to the ordinary of the Diocese of Los Angeles; and the Rev. Mary Tororeiy, vicar of St. Paul’s Episcopal and Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran churches in Barstow, California. The Rev. Susan Russell, canon for engagement across difference in the Diocese of Los Angeles and a part-time member of the pastoral and preaching staff at All Saints Church in Pasadena, will serve as the moderator.

“I think the celebration, especially the panel discussion, will deepen understanding about the ordination and ministry of people of color,” Ni told ENS.

The Church of Our Savior will also feature an art exhibit featuring paintings depicting women in the Bible by James He Qi, artist-in-residence at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and distinguished visiting professor at the Art Institute of Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel, California, has a growing Chinese congregation. Currently, the church’s congregation averages between 125 and 150 parishioners for Sunday worship services, at least 50 of whom are of Chinese descent. Worship services are available in both English and Mandarin. Photo: Courtesy of the Church of Our Savior

The Church of Our Savior’s congregation averages between 125 and 150 parishioners for Sunday worship services, at least 50 of whom are of Chinese descent. Worship services are available in both English and Mandarin.

The Church of Our Savior doesn’t host Lunar New Year celebrations every year. Instead, it rotates celebrations with two other Los Angeles-area parishes with Chinese congregations: St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Monterey Park and St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hacienda Heights.

This year’s celebration will include live music featuring Chinese instruments and a traditional lion dance. In a lion dance, performers dress in lion costumes and dance to mimic a lion’s movements. Each costume is controlled by two performers — one performer controls the head’s movements while the other controls the rear end. Volunteers will also walk the parish hall in a large dragon costume during Eucharist in honor of the Year of the Dragon. The altar guild will play a Chinese gong throughout the liturgy. 

“I see celebrating the Lunar New Year as a wonderful, outward and visible sign of the breadth, depth, and hope of our church as we get more multicultural and less homogeneous; that the Holy Spirit is at work in our church; and that there are wonderful things happening that we can embrace and celebrate going forward,” said the Rev. Jeff Thornberg, rector of the Church of Our Savior. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to focus on our unity and our future together.”

A year ago, a mass shooting occurred during a Lunar New Year’s Eve celebration in Monterey Park, killing 11 people and injuring nine others. The shooting occurred down the street from St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, a parish that holds worship services in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. No one affiliated with the Church of Our Savior was directly harmed, but some parishioners knew the victims.

“Last year’s Lunar New Year celebrations were darkened by that event, but this year we’re going to have a wonderful celebration that isn’t darkened by the violence that happened last year,” said Hannah Riley, associate for congregational life for the Church of Our Savior.

Although the perpetrator was Asian and the motive remains unknown, the shooting has exacerbated ongoing fears of violence against Asian Americans, who’ve experienced an uptick in hate crimes, xenophobia and racial discrimination in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

“It’s been a big challenge for the Chinese community,” Ni said. “[At the Church of Our Savior] we try to comfort the people. We give them the love of God and educate the public.”

Ni said that the Li Tim-Oi Center hosted a leadership training class on social justice, racial inequality and community building in response to the increased discrimination against Asian people in recent years. The center also produced eight short videos on those topics that have been distributed among Chinese parishioners in Mandarin through WeChat, a Chinese social media platform. The videos will soon be available in English as well.

Tang also said that sharing cultures helps build understanding among communities, citing the story of St. Brigid of Kildare tending a perpetual flame that was sacred to the community in pre-Christian Ireland.

“We need to incorporate cultures into Christianity because we can embrace people who know who they are,” she said. “It’s in the places where the missionaries embraced the local cultures where Christianity flourished.”

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

Church of England awards $3 million to boost participation of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people

qui, 08/02/2024 - 16:00

[The Church of England] The Church of England has awarded more than $3 million to fund a series of measures aimed at boosting the participation of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people in parish life, from encouraging vocations to the priesthood to grants for improved access to buildings.

Under plans over the next three years, the funds will back projects including lay and ordained vocations events and leadership programs among deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, and guidance to churches on more accessible signage.

The plans will be developed and managed by the Church of England’s Disability and Deaf Ministry Task Groups. The groups include deaf and disabled people, as well as those whose neurodivergence or mental health difficulties mean they experience marginalization and exclusion within the church.

Read the entire article here.

New chapter begins for WCC Faith and Order Commission

qui, 08/02/2024 - 15:54

[World Council of Churches] The newly-appointed World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission met face-to-face for the first time to plan its next eight years of work. Theologians from all continents gathered in Tondano, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, hosted by the Indonesian Communion of Churches.

The Faith and Order Commission is a unique body, bringing together theologians and church leaders from Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions – women and men, lay and ordained – with several places reserved for younger theologians. 

In this its first meeting, the commission considered plans for the 2025 world conference commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The Council of Nicaea shaped the creed that is still used by most Christian churches today, and the Faith and Order conference in 2025 will ask “Where now for visible unity?” 

Read the entire article here.

Central Florida church vandalized with swastikas, other graffiti

qua, 07/02/2024 - 17:37

Vandals scrawled swastikas and other graffiti on the exterior of St. Richard’s Episcopal Church in Winter Park, Florida, on Feb. 6. The graffiti has since been removed. Photo: Alison Harrity

[Episcopal News Service] Police are investigating vandalism at an Episcopal church in the Diocese of Central Florida where swastikas and other inflammatory graffiti were scrawled on the exterior of the church during daylight hours Feb. 6.

The Rev. Alison Harrity, rector of St. Richard’s Episcopal Church in Winter Park, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview that she had left the church for just 1 1/2 hours and discovered the graffiti when she returned around 6 p.m. She found swastikas in black marker defacing a church sign, an information kiosk, a utility door and a statue of St. Francis, which had been turned around. “Hail [sic] Hitler” was written next to one of the symbols.

In other public-facing locations, the vandals wrote “demon” and “kill.” The exterior sign on a women’s restroom door had been altered to read “Woke,” while “Murder” was written on the corresponding sign on the men’s room. Harrity and other church staff members have since removed the graffiti.

The identity and motivation of the vandals is not known, though Harrity suggested it may be “an external example for the inward turmoil” gripping the United States at a time when hate-filled attacks are all too common.

“This is the messaging that’s out in the world, and to bring it to the one place where we really do our damnedest to spread the message of love, passion and inclusion, that made me sad,” Harrity said.

The church has never been vandalized before, she added.

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

Presiding bishop continues to recuperate at home, resumes some light-duty work

qua, 07/02/2024 - 17:20

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry continues to recuperate at home, and for now will keep a modified, light-duty work schedule that excludes travel, according to a Feb. 7 press release from the church’s Office of Public Affairs. 

On Jan. 18, Curry underwent a procedure to address reoccurring subdural hematomas, or brain bleeds. During the procedure, doctors inserted a metal coil intended to prevent blood from pooling in the brain. Curry had been treated twice at a hospital near his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, since early December, when doctors diagnosed a subdural hematoma after he suffered a fall during a visit to the Diocese of Central New York. 

The presiding bishop has authorized the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, vice president of the House of Bishops, to perform some of his ecclesiastical duties, including matters involving the House of Bishops, General Convention, consecrations and Title IV, until he is able to resume his full work schedule, according to the release. 

Curry, at 70, is wrapping up the final year of his nine-year term as presiding bishop.

The church is asked to continue to hold Curry, his family and his medical team in its prayers.

As femicide cases rises, Kenyan religious leaders move to act

qua, 07/02/2024 - 12:38

[World Council of Churches] As cases of femicide rise, religious leaders in Kenya are calling for the protection of women, as they unite to condemn the incidents now sending shockwaves across the East African nation.

Christian and Muslim leaders, ecumenical organizations and partners met in Nairobi on Feb. 5 to discuss the challenge, which the World Health Organization defines as the intentional murder of women because they are women.

Last month alone, 14 women were killed, according to Femicide Count Kenya, an organization that monitors femicide cases in the media. In 2023, at least 152 killings occurred, making this figure the highest in the past five years. In 2022, the organization recorded 58 possible femicide deaths.

Read the entire article here.

Church of England leaders offer prayers of support for King Charles

ter, 06/02/2024 - 16:04

[The Church of England] Following the news shared by Buckingham Palace that King Charles III is being treated for cancer, bishops and churches have shared messages of good wishes and prayer for the health of the king, as well as others who are living with cancer or affected by a cancer diagnosis.

The Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “…praying for the King and his family – for God’s comfort and strength in the weeks and months to come. I wish His Majesty a swift and full recovery.”

During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s “World at One,”  the Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, spoke of the role the King’s faith will play during this time, saying: “I think I felt straight away, his faith will sustain him through this.”

Read the entire article here.