Skip to main content

Feed aggregator

Church of England awards more than $10 million to help churches spread the Christian faith

Episcopal News Service - sex, 22/03/2024 - 12:30

[The Church of England] The Church of England has awarded more than $10 million for projects to help churches spread the Christian faith, including parish renewal programs, as well as children’s and youth work in rural and urban areas.

Grants have been approved for mission from the north of England to the Kent coast, much of it in low income areas, covering parish revitalization programs, “hubs” for children’s and youth work, church planting, and the expansion of a model of family church that has grown “exponentially” after it was set up in 2020.

The awards, to the dioceses of Canterbury, Durham, Hereford and Southwark, have been made by the Church of England’s Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board.

Read the entire article here.

Archbishop Hosam Naoum speaks on conflict in the Holy Land

Episcopal News Service - sex, 22/03/2024 - 12:25

[Anglican Communion News Service] The primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Rev. Hosam Naoum, has spoken with bishops of the Anglican Communion about the humanitarian crisis in the Holy Land. The update took place online March 18 in a new series of online meetings of bishops run by the Anglican Communion Office entitled “Bishops in Conversation.”

Since the attacks by Hamas and retaliation from Israel, the humanitarian situation in the Holy Land is desperate. Naoum was the main speaker in the meeting, which focused on sharing how the Diocese of Jerusalem is responding and how bishops around the world can help their churches to pray and support the situation.

The meeting, the first in the series of “Bishops in Conversation,” will offer online meetings for bishops on relevant topics for our times. From exploring current affairs to sharing theological input, from discussing experiences of church life and ministry to studying the Bible and praying for one another – the series will provide a space for bishops in leading, listening and learning together. The hope is that bishops will support one another in their ministry and build friendships cross-provincially.

During the meeting, Naoum urged his fellow bishops to keep on speaking out for peace and reconciliation, and to hold together in their prayers both Palestinians and Israelis “so that they cannot be divided even in our prayers.”

Questions and answers, led by the Rt. Rev. Danald Jute, bishop of the Diocese of Kuching in Southeast Asia, and the Rt. Rev. Guli Francis-Dehqani, bishop of Chelmsford, England and formerly Iran, ranged from the personal pressures of leading in a time of crisis to the practical ways in which others around the world can support.

The Diocese of Jerusalem is playing a vital role in working for peace and responding to humanitarian needs in the region. In October 2023, Naoum and other patriarchs and heads of the churches in Jerusalem were joined by the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, who conducted a pastoral visit to Jerusalem. In November 2023, Naoum addressed the Synod of the Church of England and wider world, on livestream, saying, “Here in the Holy Land we need the language of peace and reconciliation more than ever.”

The Rt. Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, bishop for episcopal ministry in the Anglican Communion and deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, said, “At the Anglican Communion Office, we work to strengthen and support the life of the Anglican Communion. The role of bishops is vital in leading and serving the mission of churches around the world. Through the continuing journey of the Lambeth Conference and other opportunities for connection, we want to provide a space where bishops can meet as peers and share matters of mutual concern – at both global and local levels – offering one another friendship and fellowship.” 

More information about the situation in the Holy Land and how people can offer support is available here.

Episcopal Service Corps offers young adults an opportunity to serve others, explore their faith

Episcopal News Service - sex, 22/03/2024 - 12:06

These young adults were 2021-2022 participants in the Jubilee Year program in Los Angeles, one of eight programs of the Episcopal Service Corps in which participants spend a year living in community and working for justice through community building, local collaboration, prayer and action. Photo: ESC website

[Episcopal News Service] For more than 40 years, young adults across The Episcopal Church have been engaged in a variety of grassroots, yearlong service projects that include living in intentional communities, serving their neighborhoods, sharing in faith formation and discerning vocational direction.

Known as the Episcopal Service Corps, these programs have been part of The Episcopal Church’s Department of Faith Formation since 2018.

This year 38 young people between the ages of 21 and 32 are serving in one of eight ESC programs, where they are living in community and working to “transform for justice through community building, local collaboration, prayer and action.” While these efforts are coordinated through the Department of Faith Formation, the programs operate independently in both urban and rural locations.

The year of service isn’t an internship but rather an opportunity for young people to participate in programs that help them hone their professional skills, work with mentors to engage in discernment about their future and explore their own spirituality. Each volunteer receives housing and insurance coverage, as well as stipends for food, living expenses and transportation.

All eight programs currently are accepting applications for the 2024-2025 program year, with a deadline of May 31. An online discernment quiz helps those applying to identify which programs might be right for them.

Episcopal News Service recently asked two people currently serving in Episcopal Service Corps programs to talk about their experience – Charles Mullis in the Johnson Service Corps in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina; and Olivia Bergeron in On Sacred Ground in Cody, Wyoming.

Their answers are edited for length and clarity.

ENS: How did you discover the Episcopal Service Corps, and why did you apply to be a member?

Charles Mullis is participating in the Johnson Service Corps in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. Photo: Submitted

Mullins: My job search in my senior year of college was scattered. I was familiar with the Episcopal Service Corps since my sister participated in a program the prior year. And with so many of my peers taking remote jobs, I figured that doing something so unabashedly in-person would set me apart in the long run.

Bergeron: I was a senior in college, returning to the retreat center where I first attended Happening (a weekend spiritual retreat for youth) and felt like I was definitely too burned-out from online school to go directly to medical school. A deacon told me about the Episcopal Service Corps. It sounded way too perfect to be true, but I decided I would find a way to make it happen.

ENS: What part of your service do you find most rewarding and most frustrating?

Mullins: Half my work at Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, North Carolina, is in the Development Department, creating materials to celebrate the work Habitat has done over 40 years of history, and the other half is in the Homeowner Services Department, trying to re-engage a community that does not have the highest opinion of Habitat. For the first few months, the split in my role was genuinely confusing, and it felt like I wasn’t getting anything done. For the Development work, I was organizing old photos and newspaper clippings, and for Homeowner Services, we were doing research and taking inventory of everything we knew about the community. But then I saw a finished video made from the photos I pulled, and that motivated me not only on more history work, but on community engagement work as well.

Olivia Bergeron is participating in On Sacred Ground in Cody, Wyoming. Photo: Instagram

Bergeron: The most rewarding part is the work I’ve gotten to do with kids. I helped out with Rite 13 at church, taught puberty education classes for girls last year, and facilitate Art and Info classes on environmental topics this year. It warms my heart to see these kids and their families around town and to know that I’ve made a difference for them. As for the most frustrating part, it is difficult to be away from home and my family.

ENS: How would you say you’ve grown spiritually, or deepened your faith, by participating in the Service Corps?

Mullins: I’ve learned not to even try to answer this question. There are a number of congregations that support Johnson Service Corps, and we spent the first three months of the program visiting each for a Sunday Eucharist service. It was interesting to observe the similarities and differences between them. After that, I spent another month or two discerning which church I would attend regularly, and in the end the church I felt most at home in was not at all the one I expected it to be.

Bergeron: To be fully honest, when my program director had us praying together every day after work this year, I started hating the experience the same way I had back when we had to pray the whole rosary before each class for a month in Catholic school.

ENS: What have you learned about human relationships and conflict resolution from communal living?

Mullins: First, give yourself plenty of grace to make mistakes. Second, don’t forget about trust in relationships. The pedantry of conflict resolution is necessary sometimes, and it’s never a bad idea to communicate clearly with others. But remember that the end goal is to build relationships in which both parties know something about each other and accept each other for who they are. And third, it is sometimes OK to avoid conflict! If you’re satisfied with most of your relationships, then be grateful.

Bergeron: No answer provided.

ENS: What do you plan to do next, and has your year of service helped with that decision in some way?

Mullins: I am in the process of applying for jobs for next year. Right now, I am most interested in teaching jobs, which I never even considered last year. I didn’t foresee how much I would miss being in a classroom now that I haven’t been in one for a year, so I figure it would be good to try being at the front of one.

Bergeron: I realized last year that healthcare wasn’t the ideal environment for me, so I hope to continue at my placement site this year.

ENS: What piece of advice would you give someone thinking about applying for the Episcopal Service Corps?

Mullins: First, never feel obligated to do a year of service because it’s morally good or right. You will do so much good just by being yourself and doing what you love doing. If you don’t know what it means to “be yourself,” try to distill your interests into a definitive list, and see if there’s a way you can explore just one of those interests deeply, and there may be opportunities to do that within the Episcopal Service Corps.

Bergeron: Sign up and do it. It’s nine months of guaranteed resources to keep you alive doing good in the world, and it’s an adventure.

—Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

Diocese of New Jersey confronting ‘disarray’ in past financial accounting, bishop says

Episcopal News Service - qui, 21/03/2024 - 15:39

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of New Jersey has embarked on a thorough evaluation of its finances, accounting protocols and record-keeping after Bishop Sally French recently revealed a “complex” situation that has “made our diocese vulnerable and must be addressed promptly.”

French, who was consecrated as bishop in June 2023, shared a broad range of concerns about the diocese’s past handling of its finances in a Feb. 27 letter and again in her speech March 9 at the diocese’s annual convention. She assured the diocese in her letter that there was “no indication of any financial malfeasance or fraud,” and she urged patience as diocesan leaders determine the full scope of the matter.

“As many of you know, we have some disarray,” French said in her convention speech, which cited uncompleted, overdue audits going back to 2019. “We have not been accurate in our record-keeping, our deposits or our disbursements to congregations, and more. I want to emphasize that while we need to restore clarity, there is no sense of any malfeasance. It is simply that we have failed to keep our financial house in order.

She also alluded to “some changes in staffing” as the diocese works “to re-establish best practices and strengthen our financial and administrative well-being.”

Previously, in her letter to the diocese, French specified that Phyllis Jones, who had served as canon to the ordinary for finance and administration and as acting chief financial officer, was stepping down. The diocese plans to retain an accounting firm to help sort out the diocese’s finances, French said in the letter.

French also said she was grateful for the leadership of her predecessor, Bishop Chip Stokes, who had begun working to resolve these issues at the end of his tenure. French said she found no indication that Stokes bears responsibility for the diocese’s current financial situation, and “some of the more serious challenges only became known in the past week.”

The diocese has not detailed those challenges in public, and when asked by Episcopal News Service to clarify, French responded by email and referred to the descriptions in her letter and her convention speech.

“As the bishop of New Jersey, my first priority is the people and the congregations of our diocese, and I want to ensure that they hear from me directly as we address the financial priorities I have outlined,” she told ENS. “We will be issuing periodic updates to the diocese as more information is available.”

Until then, her letter summarizes in general terms the extent of the issues facing the diocese:

  • “We have not maintained appropriate financial and administrative controls,” French wrote.
  • “We know that we have not made substantial progress toward completing overdue diocesan audits.”
  • The diocese has not “maintained canonical protocols and financial controls regarding disbursements from diocesan trust funds.”
  • It has not “provided updated and accurate information to the Trustees of Church Property.”
  • “We also face errors in our financial recordkeeping.”
  • French also noted that “many of our congregations have not regularly been receiving payments due to them from the proceeds of mortgage held by the diocese.”

At the convention, French added that there was no reason for congregations to be concerned about investments in the diocese’s investment trust. “Those funds are separately administered and secure, and our protocols for fund disbursements and withdrawals are carefully and faithfully administered.”

French closed her discussion of the matter at the convention by upholding the principle of transparency in diocesan finances and governance.

“You deserve to know about the financial realities of the Diocese of New Jersey and how we are responding to those realities, and how I am responding as your bishop,” she said. “Clear, timely and appropriate access to relevant information is critical for a healthy and well-functioning system. I believe the changes now underway represent a significant step towards healthy and transparent governance.”

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

Episcopal-affiliated Texas Water Mission continues long-term support for safe drinking water, hygiene education projects in Honduras

Episcopal News Service - qui, 21/03/2024 - 11:04

Since Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in 1998, Diocese of West Texas-affiliated Texas Water Mission has been helping Hondurans access safe drinking water by funding well drilling projects and providing classes on health, sanitation and water hygiene. Photo: Linda Stone

[Episcopal News Service] Honduras Bishop Lloyd Allen was a dean and a priest in Tegucigalpa, the capital, in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch killed at least 7,000 people in the country. In response to the hurricane, which also triggered deadly landslides, Allen and his diocesan colleagues spent several months tending to 23 shelters around the city and providing hot meals for survivors.

“The devastation was such that people didn’t really know what was going to happen and where their next meal was coming from,” Allen told Episcopal News Service. “And the water situation is still a problem because of the lack of resources and a lack of education.”

Hurricane Mitch left 75% of Hondurans without access to potable water, and Honduras is still dealing with unrepaired infrastructure damage more than 25 years later. As a result, waterborne diseases, including cholera, are still rampant throughout the country, especially in rural areas.

After Hurricane Mitch, members of nonprofit organizations and religious institutions visited Honduras to assess what they could do to help, including Episcopalians sponsored by the San Antonio-based Diocese of West Texas. An initial mission trip and additional follow-up visits led to a partnership with the Diocese of Honduras and the development of the Honduras Water Ministry.

With financial support from Episcopal Relief & Development and Living Water International, the ministry purchased a drilling rig and other tools to dig wells in underserved villages. The first three wells were drilled in 2003, and in 2005 the Honduras Water Ministry became the Texas Water Mission, a ministry of the Diocese of West Texas.

Nearly 100 wells have been drilled since 2003, including 30 that are still operational, according to Linda Stone, executive director of Texas Water Mission. It’s now an independent agency but still has an office at the Diocese of West Texas’s Bishop Jones Center in San Antonio and receives diocesan support. Honduras is divided into 18 jurisdictions, called departments, and most of the wells have been drilled in the country’s southeast El Paraíso department. Allen said Texas Water Mission notifies the Diocese of Honduras whenever volunteers, interns or board members plan to visit, or when a new well drilling project has been established.

“Water is the source of life, and so many people don’t have access to safe drinking water,” Stone told ENS. “It’s shocking how many people, children, die of waterborne diseases every year, and how many people have to walk in excess of a mile every day to get their water. It’s huge.”

About 1.4 million people – some 400,000 children under age 5 – die from waterborne diseases annually, according to a 2023 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

In Honduras, a rapidly growing population, a lack of basic health care and climate change have slowed down progress. In 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota contaminated most water resources in the country’s northwest Santa Bárbara department. Climate scientists attributed the two hurricanes’ volatility to climate change.

“Global warming has had a major effect here because the rivers are drying and whatever water that is running is polluted,” Allen said. “Therefore, we need to not only knock on the doors of the Diocese of West Texas but any other organization who wants to come in and help us, because this is a major undertaking.”

Today, all drilling and maintenance work is completed locally, with Texas Water Mission providing support to its Honduran partners and staying in touch through regular communication via WhatsApp.

Stone is Texas Water Mission’s only staff person; the organization is run by board members, volunteers and interns. The board members meet at least four times a year to evaluate and approve projects, strategize fundraising and distribute funds. Each well costs between $20,000 and $30,000 to install.

When a new well is drilled, local women trained by Texas Water Mission volunteers teach a weeklong class on health, sanitation and water hygiene for the community. Roxana Menes, a native Spanish speaker who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, has helped facilitate class discussions in person since she started volunteering in 2014. While the classes are in session, Texas Water Mission runs a childcare center so that women in the villages can participate.

“Keeping the water safe helps save a lot of people, and it also helps children not be sick all the time,” Stone said. “Not being sick all the time allows the children to go to school, and it allows their mothers to be able to do something out of the house and earn money.”

Allen said he was pleasantly surprised to learn about Texas Water Mission’s water hygiene education component. As someone with a background in pedagogy, education is important to Allen, who is regularly involved with finding scholarships for students to attend any of the seven grade schools operated by the Diocese of Honduras.

“As an educator, I think that education can change the world. Yes, we can feed the people and give them clean water, but all that means nothing if we don’t provide the sanitary education component,” he said.  

Texas Water Mission has also assisted with home filter distribution, rainwater harvesting, collecting water testing kits, spring conservation and other methods to provide access to safe drinking water in the villages. The organization also has a partnership with the Honduran Coffee Alliance and the San Antonio-based Volunteer Coffee micro roaster to sell coffee, with proceeds supporting Texas Water Mission’s projects in Honduras.

For Menes, helping Hondurans access potable water is “active Christian practice.”

“We need to say prayers for one another and for people who are struggling to get water,” she told ENS. “Those people need prayers, but they need more than that. They also need action.”

Outside of Honduras, Texas Water Mission has also worked with the Charleston, South Carolina-based Water Mission nonprofit to install a solar-powered rainwater catchment system at St. Benoit Episcopal Church and School in Mombin Crochu, Haiti. In 2019, Texas Water Mission began collaborating with the three Episcopal churches in Navajoland to address the region’s ongoing fight for water access.

“In the United States, with the exception of some communities, we don’t think about water scarcity,” Menes said. “Having access to clean water is not shared by most of humankind.”

Allen said he’s grateful for organizations like Texas Water Mission responding to the needs of his fellow Hondurans.

“The Texas Water Mission team is doing a great job, and my heart goes out to them for responding to the needs of my fellow brothers and sisters,” he said. “They’re complying with the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.”

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

Archbishop of Canterbury issues statement on imminent famine risk in Gaza

Episcopal News Service - qui, 21/03/2024 - 10:40

[Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury] On March 21, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, issued a statement that warned that if nothing changes, famine across Gaza is imminent.

Children already are dying of starvation and dehydration, he said, saying that these situations “are not the result of some unexpected natural disaster; they are human-made.” Noting current new efforts to get aid into Gaza, he said, “Parachuting aid or building temporary harbors is unlikely to meet the urgent and monumental humanitarian needs of Gaza’s starving population.”

Welby said the only effective solution “is an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and sustained humanitarian access for the provision of essential supplies and services to those in need.”

Read the entire statement here.

‘Zacchaeus Tax’ panel brings faith-based lens to tax justice, gender justice

Episcopal News Service - qui, 21/03/2024 - 10:30

[World Council of Churches] A panel discussion, “Zacchaeus Tax: Transforming the Global Economic System and Advancing Gender Justice,” on March 19 explored the intersections between tax justice and gender justice and why this is a matter of faith.

The event was held parallel to the 68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

The panel explored how proposals for global and national wealth and taxes, as well as reparations—as called for in the ecumenical Zacchaeus Tax (ZacTax) campaign — can help build a more just and sustainable planet, including for women and girls. The ZacTax Campaign, part of the New International Financial and Economic Architecture advocacy platform, is named for Zacchaeus, a tax collector mentioned in the New Testament.

Read the entire article here.

Scottish Episcopal Church General Synod names Dee Bird new secretary general

Episcopal News Service - qua, 20/03/2024 - 11:38

[Scottish Episcopal Church] The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church will welcome a new secretary general when Dee Bird takes up the position this summer.

Bird joins the General Synod Office from Edinburgh Napier Students’ Association where she has been chief executive officer since 2020. She is the first female secretary general of the GSO since the position was established in 1983. The secretary general is effectively the chief executive officer of the General Synod Office, which supports the General Synod in its work on mission and growth of the Scottish Episcopal Church and governance of key parts of its structures.

Originally a native of New Jersey, Bird came to Scotland in 1997, gaining first a master’s and then a doctorate in literature, theology and the arts at the University of Glasgow. She also holds a Master of Divinity from what is now Palmer Seminary in Philadelphia. She is an active member of St Mark’s Scottish Episcopal Church in Portobello, Edinburgh, where she is Vestry Treasurer.

Read the entire article here.

Safe Church Commission will be the focus of next Lambeth Call discussions

Episcopal News Service - qua, 20/03/2024 - 11:24

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Lambeth Call on Safe Church will be the next theme in the “Add Your Voice to the Call” discussion series being delivered by the Anglican Communion Office. It is part of Phase 3 of the Lambeth Conference, which is exploring each of the Lambeth Calls, inviting churches to take them forward in their settings.

The Lambeth Calls were discussed by the bishops of the Lambeth Conference in 2022. They relate to themes in church and world affairs, including Mission and Evangelism, Discipleship, the Environment and Sustainable Development, Safe Church, Anglican Identity, Christian Unity, Inter-Faith Relations, Peace and Reconciliation, Science and Faith and Human Dignity. So far, the Lambeth Calls on Discipleship, Environment and Sustainable Development and Anglican Identity have featured in the Phase 3 series.

The Lambeth Call on Safe Church is scheduled for April and will be explored with a webinar on April 17 and 18 hosted by the Anglican Communion Office and featuring members of the Safe Church Commission. The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, said, “Safe Church is about how churches embed safeguarding processes that uphold the safety of all people in our church settings. The Lambeth Call on Safe Church was shared by the bishops at the Lambeth Conference. The Anglican Communion also has a Safe Church Commission that is working to share guidelines on safeguarding practices. I hope that many people will join the webinars in April, to learn more about the important work of the Safe Church Commission and the resources they have developed.”

The Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission was created at the request of the Anglican Consultative Council at its 16th plenary meeting (ACC-16), held in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2016. The establishment of the commission was a development of the work of the Safe Church Network, an officially authorized international voluntary group of lawyers, campaigners and clergy who worked to bring about change in the way the Churches of the Anglican Communion undertake safeguarding.

At the 17th plenary meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-17) held in Hong Kong in 2019, the council approved new “guidelines to enhance the safety of all persons – especially children, young people and vulnerable adults – within the provinces of the Anglican Communion.” Since then, the commission has acted as an advisory body to help member mhurches to effectively implement the guidelines through the development of resources, training and liaison with provincial representatives.

Chair of the Safe Church Commission, Garth Blake, said, “Along with resources that the Safe Church Commission is producing, I am hoping that the Call and its focus in April to June this year and particularly the webinar will help energize church leaders to take or continue the first steps that they are taking to make their churches safe.”

The Lambeth Call on Safe Church affirms the importance of churches in the Anglican Communion being safe places for everyone. The webinar will include members of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission and special guests. It will focus on the following: The Lambeth Call on Safe Church; the work of the Safe Church Commission; why building a safe church matters; how to safeguard people in our churches and respond to safeguarding concerns; safe church resources.

The webinar is open to all. It is for bishops and spouses who attended the Lambeth Conference in 2022 and wider church groups and individuals that want to take the Lambeth Call forward in their setting.

Saint Augustine’s University moving classes online for semester, as alumni call on board to resign

Episcopal News Service - qua, 20/03/2024 - 10:12

Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, is one of two remaining historically Black colleges with Episcopal roots. Photo: Saint Augustine’s University

[Episcopal News Service] Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, will move its classes online for the rest of the semester starting April 1, as it fights to maintain its accreditation and remain open as one of two remaining historically Black colleges with Episcopal roots.

After local media reports about the switch to remote learning, the university’s interim president, Marcus Burgess, released a statement confirming the plan without giving a clear explanation for the reason. “While we strive to maintain the quality of education, it is also our utmost responsibility to ensure the safety, well-being, and dignity of the SAU community, especially our students,” Burgess said. Some students will remain on campus through the May 4 graduation ceremonies.

The university also is pushing back against pressure from alumni groups for its entire Board of Trustees to resign over concerns that it has failed to ensure the institution’s continued financial solvency.

“The board remains focused on preserving SAU’s accreditation and stabilizing the university’s finances under its new leadership,” the board said in a statement released March 20 in response to the alumni groups’ demands for a new board. “The university’s accreditation and financial stability are critical to its ability to continue as a premier HBCU in North Carolina. Our focus remains on fulfilling Saint Augustine’s University’s mission and supporting students, faculty, staff, and alumni.”

The latest developments follow news last month that Saint Augustine’s accrediting agency had rejected a university appeal, putting it on the brink of losing accreditation and potentially threatening its continued viability as an institution of higher education.

Its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, first ruled in December that Saint Augustine’s had failed to meet six of the agency’s requirements and standards, including those relating to the university’s governing board, its financial resources and financial documents. After losing its appeal of that decision, Saint Augustine’s board has vowed to pursue arbitration with SACSCOC and ultimately a court battle if necessary to remain accredited.

Regarding the plan to move classes online, sources at the university told WRAL-TV that students had been asked to move out by April 3 and to prepare for remote learning. Burgess said the decision was made after holding forums this week with students, faculty and staff.

“We will remain in communication with all students and their families during this transition and handle all special conditions related to out-of-state students and additional inquiries related to housing, student accounts, and technology on a case-by-case basis,” Burgess said.

The six alumni organizations are describing their campaign for change with the shorthand SAVESAU.

“We believe and evidence shows the SAU Board of Trustees has breached its fiduciary duty to the university,” John Larkins, a 1966 graduate, told local media. “The FY21 audit also states that the board’s overall governance and oversight of the university were severely absent. … Alumni have expressed major concerns about the board’s governance of SAU for the past five years.”

Saint Augustine’s and the much smaller Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, are the two remaining historically Black institutions with Episcopal roots. The pair of colleges have received several million dollars from The Episcopal Church in recent years while also accepting the church’s guidance on administrative and fundraising matters.

Saint Augustine’s history dates to 1867, when it was established by Episcopalians in the Diocese of North Carolina. Though still rooted in the Episcopal tradition, it now operates as an independent institution. Its enrollment in fall 2021 was 1,261 students, according to the latest data compiled and released by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Under federal guidelines, colleges and universities seek accreditation by an approved governmental or non-governmental agency like SACSCOC to ensure they meet “acceptable levels of quality,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Accreditation, for example, is a minimum standard typically verified by managers when assessing graduates for potential employment. An academic institution that fails to retain accreditation also could be disqualified from federal grants and student aid programs, potentially jeopardizing the school’s ability to remain open.

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

Tensions flare publicly between former Absalom Jones Center director, Atlanta bishop

Episcopal News Service - ter, 19/03/2024 - 16:51

Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright speaks Oct. 11, 2017, at the opening celebration of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing. He is joined for the ribbon cutting by Catherine Meeks, the center’s founding executive director, and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Photo: Diocese of Atlanta

[Episcopal News Service] Catherine Meeks, known churchwide as a leading figure in The Episcopal Church’s racial reconciliation efforts, revealed last week that she had filed a disciplinary complaint against Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright, whose diocese worked with Meeks to launch the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing in 2017.

Meeks’ complaint, filed in December 2023 under the church’s Title IV clergy disciplinary canons, accused Wright of “ageism, ableism, microaggressions and abuse of power,” she said in a March 13 email to her newsletter subscribers. Her complaint was “dismissed and characterized basically as a personality conflict,” Meeks said.

By detailing her allegations in public, Meeks has drawn churchwide attention to what appears to have been long-simmering tensions within the Diocese of Atlanta between two of The Episcopal Church’s most prominent Black leaders. Meeks, as the Absalom Jones Center’s founding executive director, is a much-sought trainer and speaker in dioceses across the church on dismantling racism. Wright, as the first Black bishop of Atlanta, has led the Georgia diocese since 2012. He also has served a past term as board chair of General Theological Seminary in New York, and since 2020 has hosted a popular podcast on faith and life.

Meeks’ letter and a written response from Wright suggest their conflict was partly rooted in differing understandings of the Absalom Jones Center’s function – as a diocesan ministry or rather a ministry belonging to the wider church. Its homepage indicates it is both. Based on the letters, the conflict seemed to come to a head last year after Meeks announced her plans to retire. Meeks described sharp disagreements with Wright over the proposed salary of Meeks’ successor and over her push to establish the center as an independent nonprofit.

Wright’s March 16 statement was sent from the Absalom Jones Center’s email account and posted on the diocese’s website. In it, he said he remains “truly grateful” for Meeks’ work as the center’s founding executive director. He clarified that he and Meeks had been informed Feb. 22 by the church’s Title IV Reference Panel that the panel was dismissing Meeks’ complaint with “no action … other than appropriate pastoral response.”

“This rupture in a formerly very generative partnership and the subsequent events sadden me deeply,” Wright wrote. “I remain committed to building on the good work Dr. Meeks and our colleagues began at the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing.”

Meeks was 70 in 2017 when she and the diocese founded the Absalom Jones Center. Now 78, she accuses Wright of openly doubting her leadership from the start because of her age. She also alleges he undercut the center’s process of recruiting someone to replace her when she retired at the end of last year, and he has failed to maintain the center’s robust programming after she retired. Meeks added that Wright has said “things about me that were unprofessional and hurtful” to the center’s staff, board and search committee.

Her descriptions contrasted sharply with the celebratory tone struck in early January by Meeks’ many admirers when they, including Wright, showered her with praise upon her retirement. Meeks now suggests Wright’s own words belied a hidden antagonism.

“I cannot imagine why someone would offer what appeared to be enthusiastic public accolades for me and then would be so disparaging in private,” Meeks wrote. “It will be a long while before I recover from the last six months of my work which should have been a time of celebration and preparing for the next chapter for myself and the center. I became quite ill as a result of the toxicity and stress from it.”

The center has operated without a director since Meeks retired, though Wright said in his written statement that the diocese was close to selecting an interim executive director and continues to serve the church’s racial reconciliation efforts.

ENS reached out to Wright and his staff by phone and email seeking additional comment for this story. Easton Davis, Wright’s canon for communications and digital evangelism, responded by email and highlighted several diocesan online posts and videos demonstrating the center’s continued activities this year.

Davis also pointed to a 40-minute documentary about the history of the Absalom Jones Center that was produced by the diocese and released in December. It opens with a 2014 speech by Wright about the diocese’s commitment to racial reconciliation work.

Meeks, when reached by phone, confirmed details about the center’s nearly seven-year operation but declined to elaborate on her allegations against Wright. “I’m just trying to tell the truth and move on down the road,” she told ENS.

Meeks’ Title IV complaint against Wright has coincided with renewed churchwide scrutiny of those Episcopal canons over concerns that bishops are not held to the same standards of behavior and accountability as other clergy. Under Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s direction, the church launched a new public webpage on Feb. 22 aimed at improving the process’ transparency while including chronological information on six cases pending against bishops. Each of those six cases had already become public in various ways. The Title IV page does not mention Meeks complaint against Wright, which never advanced to a hearing and was not widely known until Meeks revealed it last week.

Complaints against bishops typically are received by an intake officer, who is assigned by the presiding bishop. Since August 2023, Curry has assigned that role to the Rev. Barbara Kempf, who filled a newly created position on Curry’s staff. Canons require the intake office to refer the matter to the three-member Reference Panel when the allegations, if true, would constitute a canonical violation of “clear or weighty importance.” The panel’s three members are the presiding bishop, the intake officer and chair of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops, currently Bishop Chilton Knudsen.

The Reference Panel can choose from a range of follow-up options, from closing a case with no discipline to referring it to a hearing panel, which then conducts proceedings similar to a trial. An “appropriate pastoral response” is one possible recommendation when no other action is taken, as was in the case in Meeks’ complaint against Wright.

Absalom Jones Center becomes key church institution in reconciliation efforts

The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing is named for Absalom Jones, the first Black Episcopal priest, whose feast day is celebrated every Feb. 13. The Diocese of Atlanta and churchwide leaders, including Curry, attended an opening celebration for the center in October 2017, at a time when the church appeared to be gaining momentum in realizing its long-stated goals of confronting its past complicity with white supremacy and fostering greater understanding and healing across all races.

The Episcopal Church first formalized its support for the Absalom Jones Center in a 2017 memorandum of understanding with the Diocese of Atlanta. That document, which acknowledges the leadership of both Wright and Meeks, affirmed that the Absalom Jones Center would be “a part of the Diocese of Atlanta and under the direction of the bishop of Atlanta. The Diocese of Atlanta shall have complete discretion as to the details of the operation of the Center, including decisions as to personnel, materials and expenses.”

The Episcopal Church has formally supported the Diocese of Atlanta and the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center since 2017 through a memorandum of understanding that has gone through several updates in recent years.

The Episcopal Church also has committed a total of $200,000 to the center through that initial agreement and subsequent annual updates. A proposed update for 2024 is being finalized and would include an additional $40,000 of support, according to the church’s Office of Public Affairs.

Curry, the church’s first Black presiding bishop, embraced racial reconciliation as one of the church’s top three priorities, along with evangelism and creation care, when his nine-year term began in 2015. In 2017, his staff launched Becoming Beloved Community, which now is the church’s cornerstone framework for engaging dioceses and congregations with the work of reconciliation. The Absalom Jones Center is listed as a resource in its summary document.

Meeks, a retired professor of African American studies, already was well known in the church for her anti-racism work as chair of the Diocese of Atlanta’s Commission on Dismantling Racism. Starting in 2016, she also led the diocese in a series of pilgrimages to historic sites of racist violence to honor the 600 or so people documented to have died from lynching in Georgia.

“Racism is a spiritual issue, and it needs to be dealt with in that way,” Meeks told Episcopal News Service in 2016 for a story about the commission’s trainings. “Dismantling racism is part of spiritual formation, the same as going to church every Sunday.”

To support that work, the Absalom Jones Center was established as “a new resource for the worldwide Episcopal Church” in a diocesan-owned building surrounded by four historically Black colleges in an area of the city known as Atlanta University Center. It’s stated mission was to “provide parishes and dioceses around the world with the support to address racism head-on through racial reconciliation and healing.”

“The creation of the center aligns with The Episcopal Church and our diocese’s commitment to reach across the borders and boundaries that divide the human family of God,” the Diocese of Atlanta said in an online post announcing the center’s creation.

As executive director, Meeks has been the unmistakable face and voice of the center, whether promoting its services in a booth at the exhibit hall of the 79th General Convention in 2018 or traveling from diocese to diocese leading workshops and trainings. In September 2023, for example, as Meeks was preparing to retire, she was welcomed warmly in Minnesota as headliner of that diocese’s weekend of anti-racism events.

“She is a tremendous person. I have immense respect for her,” Joe McDaniel told ENS. McDaniel, a member of the church’s Executive Council from the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, first got to know Meeks in 2017 when she helped McDaniel and a co-chair establish Central Gulf Coast’s Commission on Racial Justice and Reconciliation.

“She is just a loved figure throughout the church,” McDaniel said. “I hate to see what has happened to her and the center.”

Increasing strain in relationship between Wright and Meeks

Behind the scenes, Meeks’ relationship with Wright was deteriorating, according to the letter she released last week, sent under the heading of her new venture, Turquoise & Lavender.

The Absalom Jones Center was “never simply ‘a ministry of the Diocese of Atlanta,'” Meeks wrote. She recounted the center’s many successes but said Wright’s attempts at “dismantling the center” began from her earliest days as its leader.

After the center opened, Meeks said she invited Wright to visit her in her office, and “before even taking a seat, he asked if I had found someone to replace me, a younger person?” Without a younger leader, the center already was at risk of failing, he told her, according to Meeks description of the encounter.

In early 2023, as she began to focus on her pending retirement, she discussed the center’s leadership transition with Wright and the Rev. Matthew Heyd, chair of the center’s advisory board at the time. Heyd, who had joined the board in 2022, was preparing in spring 2023 to become bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of New York.

In July 2023, the center launched a formal search for a new executive director, but Meeks said in her letter the search “was halted in a very strange manner over disagreements about the salary for the new executive director.” In the center’s posting on the ENS jobs page, the position’s salary range was listed as “$115,000-$125,000 plus full benefits,” before that post was removed from the listings.

Meeks told ENS that as an employee of the Diocese of Atlanta, she was collecting an annual salary of $75,000 when she retired. Her total compensation approached $100,000, which did not include health insurance because she was already on Medicare. Meeks declined to say more about the internal disagreements over the position’s future compensation, except that she though the salary needed to be more than $75,000.

“You couldn’t live off of that in Atlanta,” Meeks said.

After additional conversations with Wright, “the bishop halted the entire transition process on the grounds that he did not know what we were doing,” Meeks wrote in her letter. She added that Heyd resigned as board chair in the middle of these discussions “because the process was not moving forward in a productive manner.”

It is unclear when Heyd resigned, as it was not widely publicized. Heyd was ordained a bishop in May 2023 and installed as bishop diocesan of New York in February 2024. When contacted by ENS to confirm Meeks’ claims, he declined to comment on the reasons for his resignation but offered encouragement for Meeks and the center.

“I’m honored to be Catherine Meeks’ friend and I’m grateful for the time that I spent on the Absalom Jones Center board. I’m hopeful for the center’s future,” Heyd said in a written statement provided by the Diocese of New York.

 

Wright, in his written response to Meeks’ letter, said the diocese began a process in January 2023 “to determine next steps” after Meeks stated her plan to retire at the end of the year. He said he chose to pause the search for a new leader because “it became clear that the center would benefit from additional clarification around its organizational structure, financial sustainability and the scope of the executive director’s role.”

“Indeed, we are moving forward on a number of fronts and have great hopes for the future,” Wright continued. Since Meeks’ retirement, the center has appointed a head trainer for dismantling racism, launched a campaign to recruit new trainers and reduced its facilities costs. The center’s website also shows that it has maintained a full schedule of dismantling racism training classes through the end of this year.

“In addition to an expanded number of dismantling racism trainings, we are also exploring a new program partnership with the Fearless Dialogues organization, and working with the center’s staff to offer programming for both college students at nearby campuses and the wider community.

“We are actively in conversation with an interim executive director candidate. Our work begun years ago continues to bless God’s people,” Wright wrote.

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

Episcopal delegates engage in a wide variety of activities in New York during UNCSW

Episcopal News Service - ter, 19/03/2024 - 16:20

Some of the Episcopal delegates to the 68th meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, along with people who are assisting them, gather in front of this year’s UNCSW logo in the United Nations headquarters in New York. Photo: Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] The 10 women selected to represent Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at the 68th meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women have been busy in a wide variety of activities since the annual event began on March 11.

Most of them have spent time in sessions and side events in New York, as they engaged with the meeting’s priority theme, “accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.”

The Commission on the Status of Women is the largest event hosted by the U.N. in New York, and it is one of the largest gatherings of women globally.

Last week, during an opening-day coffee, Episcopal delegates welcomed the delegation from the Anglican Communion, led by Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion permanent representative to the United Nations. Together the delegations hosted a Eucharist that day at the Chapel of Christ the Lord in the Episcopal Church Center.

One delegate, the Rev. Lilo Rivera from the Diocese of Long Island, was able to attend the opening session at the U.N. headquarters that included remarks by Secretary General António Guterres. He told the assembled delegates and guests, “Our world is going through turbulent times, and women and girls are being hit hardest in conflict zones around the globe. Women and girls are suffering most from wars waged by men.”

The breadth of the delegation’s work is highlighted in information provided to Episcopal News Service by Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the United Nations, and posts to The Episcopal Church and the United Nations Facebook page.

Every day, Episcopal delegates spend time observing official UNCSW meetings in person and online, as well as advocating for the priorities outlined in the presiding bishop’s statement to the UNCSW, which he submitted in October as part of the formal process for nongovernmental organizations.

The delegation also has been gathering for daily worship in the Church Center for the United Nations with Ecumenical Women at the U.N.

On March 13, some of the delegates joined in a pilgrimage of lament for Gaza, as they and others wore black as they circled the block in front of U.N. headquarters 25 times to recall the 25-mile length of the Gaza Strip. They also took part in the weekly “Thursdays in Black” campaign of the World Council of Churches, wearing black to highlight the problem of gender-based violence.

Along with others, delegates gathered on March 15 to watch a webinar, “The Africa Six: Pioneering Anglican Episcopal Women Leaders Transforming Poverty in Africa,” that was cosponsored by the Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church. It featured six Anglican women bishops serving in Africa: Bishop Filemona Teta of Bom Pasteur, Angola; Bishop Vicentia Kgabe of Lesotho, Southern Africa; Bishop Dalcy Dlamini of Eswatini, Southern Africa; Bishop Elizabeth Awut of Rumbek, South Sudan; Bishop Rose Okeno of Butere, Kenya; and Bishop Emily Onyango of Bondo, Kenya.

The delegation also has met with government officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, Guatemala, Cuba and Brazil to share the presiding bishop’s proprieties and learn more about those nations’ needs and.

After returning home to Los Angeles after being in New York for the first week of the gathering, delegate Faith LeMasters said in a blog post  that her time there had been “nothing short of a roller coaster” as she learned more about the extent of suffering experienced by women and girls around the world.

She had learned the most about gender equity intersecting with environmentalism and women in agriculture, she said. “I had no idea that, on a global scale, so many women worked as farmers and relied on the agricultural industry for stability and income,” she said. “On the same hand, I didn’t realize that climate change impacted women at a much greater rate than men.”

Long an advocate for women and girls facing exploitation in the garment industry, LeMasters said that after learning that up to 80% of people displaced by climate change are women, she will “shift some of my work toward advocating for initiatives to combat climate change.”

Along with Main, assisting the delegates are former Episcopal UNCSW delegates the Rev. Annalise Castro Pasalo and Coromoto Jimenez de Salazar.

The UNSCW ends on March 22, and the delegation will have an online wrap-up meeting on March 25.

–Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

World Council of Churches general secretary to visit Lebanon

Episcopal News Service - ter, 19/03/2024 - 13:22

[World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay will visit Lebanon March 19-22 to commemorate the 50th jubilee of the Middle East Council of Churches and meet with all WCC member churches from Lebanon and Syria.

Besides visiting the WCC constituency in the region, Pillay aims to express appreciation for the Middle East Council of Churches’ dedication to promoting unity among its member churches and sister ecumenical organizations.

He will meet, pray and accompany the Armenian Apostolic Church (Holy See of Cilicia), Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, and Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East.

Read the entire article here.

Anglican Communion secretary general makes solidarity visit to Sudan

Episcopal News Service - ter, 19/03/2024 - 13:18

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, has made a solidarity visit to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, hosted by the Most Rev. Ezekiel Kondo, Sudan’s primate. Poggo met with faith leaders, and also visited church and community groups. The visit took place almost one year since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan, and it marks the first visit of a non-Sudanese, senior-level Anglican clergy since war erupted.

The conflict in Sudan is causing a huge humanitarian crisis, with more than 10,000 killed. 5.6 million people have been displaced and are fleeing to areas in Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Cholera is rife. The destruction of property, including churches and places of worship, continues through ongoing warfare. Many mediation efforts in the region are failing to make progress.

Throughout his solidarity visit, Poggo reinforced calls for peace and solidarity statements that have been made by church alliances around the world.

On March 17, Poggo preached at a service at Christ Church Cathedral in Port Sudan, which was attended by Kondo, Port Sudan Bishop Abdu Elnur Kodi and the wider church community.

During his sermon, Poggo said, I have come to encourage you and to tell you that Sudan is not forgotten by the Anglican Communion.” He added, “We pray for you often, that peace comes to Sudan.”

Port Sudan is the only diocese that hasn’t been directly affected by the conflict and is supporting many people in the region as a result. It was a lifeline for people first displaced in May and October last year, supplying water and support to those in need.

On the evening of March 18, Poggo was invited to speak at an Iftar as part of an interfaith meeting during Ramadan. It gathered government officials, ecumenical and inter-faith leaders. Those present included the Catholic archbishop of the Archdiocese of Khartoum, the Most Rev. Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria; the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endorsements; and a representative of the Governor of the Red Sea State.

Read the entire article here.

‘Healing in the Heartland’ speakers offer differing views on the church’s political engagement

Episcopal News Service - seg, 18/03/2024 - 16:40

A panel discussion during the Diocese of Missouri’s “Healing in the Heartland” event March 16 included (seated, from left) the Rev. John “Jack” Danforth, the Rev. Traci Blackmon, the Rev. Naomi Tutu and the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson, at the podium, was the moderator. Photo: Screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri hosted a “Healing in the Heartland” event on March 16 designed to help bridge the divide in American society in a polarized election year, but it ended with its four speakers disagreeing on if and how the church should be engaged with politics.

The event featured remarks from three Episcopal priests and one United Church of Christ pastor:

  • The Rev. Naomi Tutu, priest associate at All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia and a daughter of the late Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu;
  • The Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, interim president of the Episcopal Divinity School, canon theologian at Washington National Cathedral and theologian in residence at Trinity Church Wall Street.
  • The Rev. John C. “Jack” Danforth, former U.S. senator from Missouri, current partner in a St. Louis law firm, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and envoy to Sudan;
  • The Rev. Traci Blackmon, formerly the denominational lead for justice and local church ministries in the UCC and now a public theologian and author.

In individual remarks and other questions to the four as a panel, they described how they approach social justice and other potentially polarizing issues. But when asked how they would respond to the call to keep politics out of the pulpit, there was some disagreement.

Brown Douglas, Blackmon and Tutu – all Black women – described how their faith calls them to be engaged in working for justice and their understanding that Jesus didn’t stand outside the political systems of his day. Jesus wasn’t killed for praying too much, Brown Douglas said, but because he had become an enemy of the political and ecclesiastical structures.

Being a person of faith is political but not partisan, Blackmon said. “Politics is how we live our lives,” she said. “I am called to be political. I am not called to be partisan.” But, she added, “I do not think the pulpit should be used to tell people who to vote for.” Tutu noted that when people from the margins of society speak about issues from the pulpit, it’s labeled as political. When the preacher is a privileged person, it’s not.

Danforth, a white man, said that during his 26 years as an elected official, he always tried to do his best and do more good than harm. But in the end, “Politics isn’t the realm of the ultimate. It isn’t the kingdom of God. It’s just politics,” he said, adding, “Do not confuse politics and religion.”

Tutu said she never would have expected Danforth or other elected officials to be God’s representatives, but she does expect people in power “to do good for God’s people.” And when they fail, “I’m not gonna let you off the hook,” she said.

Because laws dictate where children like her could go to school, what water fountain they could drink from and where her family could buy a house, Blackmon said, “I don’t have the luxury of [politics] being a separate system.”

There is a difference between attacking people and attacking bad and unjust laws and policies, Brown Douglas said. And to know whether laws and policies are actually serving the people who are hurting the most, “when the least of these say, ‘Oh, that feels like justice,’ then we are at least on the way to justice,” she said.

Before the opening Eucharist, and printed in the service bulletin, was an acknowledgement that the diocese encompasses the traditional ancestral lands of the Osage Nation, the Illiniwek/Peoria Tribe, the O-Gah-Pah (Quapaw) Tribe, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and other First Peoples.

It also noted that Lewis and Clark used enslaved and Indigenous people as they explored what would become the state of Missouri, and that it became a state through the Missouri Comprise of 1820, which allowed it to enter the Union as pro-slavery. It also was the home of the enslaved Dred Scott, noted for the 1857 Supreme Court ruling that because he was Black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue for his freedom.

Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson and the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and creation care, presided at the Eucharist, and Tutu was the preacher. Ministries around the diocese also had tables where they could share information with event participants.

–Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan vote to combine as Diocese of the Great Lakes

Episcopal News Service - seg, 18/03/2024 - 16:39

Clergy and lay leaders in the dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan attend a special joint convention March 16 to vote for juncture, moving toward a possible merger of the dioceses by the end of the year. Photo: Ryan Prins/Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan

[Episcopal News Service] The dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan voted on March 16 to pursue juncture, a canonical process that would merge the two dioceses and build on a partnership over four years involving ministry collaboration and some shared leadership, including a bishop.

The planned juncture, which now heads for final approval in June by the 81st General Convention, also aims to set the two dioceses on a new path together following tumultuous leadership transitions involving bishop disciplinary cases spanning nearly their entire time as partner dioceses.

At the weekend’s special joint convention, held at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Grand Blanc, the votes in the two dioceses were overwhelmingly in favor of the juncture – 85% yes in the Diocese of Eastern Michigan and 82% in favor in the Diocese of Western Michigan.

The canonical process of “juncture” applies when two dioceses have not previously been a single diocese together. If the juncture is approved by bishops and deputies when they gather for General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, the first convention of the newly created Diocese of the Great Lakes would be scheduled for October in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Its business is expected to include the adoption of a new constitution and canons and elections to leadership bodies.

Eastern Michigan, based in Saginaw, and Western Michigan, based in Grand Rapids, are two of four Episcopal dioceses in the state. The Diocese of Michigan includes Detroit and the southeastern region of the state, while the Diocese of Northern Michigan encompasses the state’s more remote and sparsely populated Upper Peninsula.

Western Michigan was founded in 1874 after separating from the Diocese of Michigan, while Eastern Michigan separated from the Diocese of Michigan in 1995. Eastern Michigan has not had a diocesan bishop since 2017, when the Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley resigned to join the presiding bishop’s staff as head of the Office of Pastoral Development.

In October 2019, the two dioceses voted at their conventions to establish a formal partnership that included sharing Western Michigan Bishop Whayne Hougland Jr., who was elected bishop provisional of Eastern Michigan. Hougland, however, was suspended for one year in June 2020 after admitting to an extramarital affair. A year later, the two dioceses announced they had chosen not to welcome him back as their bishop.

Instead, they sought a new bishop provisional and elected the Rt. Rev. Prince Singh to that role in October 2021. Singh, formerly bishop of New York’s Diocese of Rochester, began serving the two Michigan dioceses in February 2022 but resigned in September 2023 to face allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife and two adult sons under the church’s Title IV disciplinary canons for clergy.

Retired Bishop Skip Adams agreed in November 2023 to serve Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan in the interim as an assisting bishop as the dioceses work toward juncture.

WCC urges UN Human Rights Council to address obstetric injury

Episcopal News Service - seg, 18/03/2024 - 14:17

[World Council of Churches] The World Council of Churches, in a statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council, urged addressing the often-hidden condition of obstetric fistula, which violates the rights of thousands of women and girls in the world’s poorest countries. 

The condition of obstetric fistula is a preventable physical injury which occurs after a prolonged or obstructed labor without access to adequate health care. “It can result in urinary and often fecal incontinence, infection, physical impairment, disability, societal rejection, breakdown of marriage and a loss of livelihoods,” the statement said. 

Pregnant women in conflict zones are at particular risk, as they can’t access normal maternity services, including emergency caesarean sections, and often go into labor malnourished, weak and dealing with high levels of trauma.

Read the entire article here.

Slate of 28th presiding bishop nominees to be released April 2, starting petition process

Episcopal News Service - seg, 18/03/2024 - 12:36

[Episcopal News Service] The slate of nominees for The Episcopal Church’s 28th presiding bishop is scheduled to be announced April 2. From this list and any petition nominations,  bishops will elect and deputies will confirm a new churchwide leader when they gather in June for the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop selects the nominees. The committee’s member bishops, clergy and lay leaders were elected by the church to develop a nominating process and produce a slate of at least three bishops. On March 18, the church’s Office of Public Affairs issued a news release with the committee’s latest timeline, including the process by which any bishop or deputy to the 81st General Convention may petition to add a name to the committee’s slate after it is released. Those additional nominations must be made April 3-15 with the consent of the bishop being nominated by petition.

In addition to electing a new presiding bishop to succeed outgoing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, General Convention also will consider proposed canonical changes that would affect future presiding bishop transitions.

General Convention, the triennial churchwide gathering, splits its authority between the House of Bishops and House of Deputies, and each house has a distinct role in the selection of a new presiding bishop for a nine-year term. In Louisville, after the nominating committee formally presents the nominees on June 25, the House of Bishops will gather in a closed session June 26 to elect one of them. The House of Deputies then will vote to confirm or not confirm the result of that presiding bishop election.

The 28th presiding bishop is scheduled to take office on Nov. 1, and an installation is scheduled for Nov. 2 at Washington National Cathedral, the traditional seat of the presiding bishop.

The presiding bishop has a range of responsibilities, as outlined by The Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons. Those include presiding over the House of Bishops, chairing Executive Council, visiting every Episcopal diocese, participating in the ordination and consecration of bishops, receiving and responding to disciplinary complaints against bishops, making appointments to the church’s interim bodies, and “developing policies and strategies for the church and speaking for the church on the policies, strategies and programs of General Convention.”

There are few canonical requirements for presiding bishop candidates. They must be members of the House of Bishops and cannot yet have reached the church’s mandatory retirement age of 72. Nothing prohibits the election of a presiding bishop who would turn 72 in the middle of the nine-year term, though historically nominees have been able to complete the full nine years.

The church’s Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons has proposed Resolution A063 for consideration by the 81st General Convention recommending changes to clarify the timeline of future presiding bishop successions. Under the proposal, a new presiding bishop would take over for the outgoing presiding bishop 91 days, or 13 weeks, after the adjournment of the electing convention. Existing canons give fixed dates for the nine-year term, beginning on Nov. 1. The commission also recommends allowing a presiding bishop to remain in office beyond nine years if the electing convention has been postponed. In such a scenario, the church’s mandatory clergy retirement age of 72 would not apply, under the proposed changes.

Church leaders identified the need for those changes after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a one-year postponement of the 80th General Convention to 2022. Although that postponement didn’t coincide with or affect the end of Curry’s term, the commission’s proposal is intended to alleviate any future uncertainty.

“There is no provision in the existing canon for the presiding bishop to continue in office if there is a delay in the electing convention,” Christopher Hayes, the standing commission’s chair, told Episcopal News Service.

By contrast, the existing canons mark the end of the House of Deputies president’s term at the adjournment of the meeting when a successor is elected. That is why the previous president, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, was able to serve an additional year, until the House of Deputies met in 2022 and elected Julia Ayala Harris as her successor.

“Our hope, as always, is that the legislation will serve its purpose for the indefinite future, no matter who is in office,” Hayes said.

The canonical changes, if approved by the 81st General Convention, would take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

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

Poll: Most Americans say religion’s influence is waning, and half think that’s bad

Episcopal News Service - seg, 18/03/2024 - 11:27

In a new poll conducted by Pew Research, most American adults have a positive view of religion’s role in public life but believe its influence is waning. Photo: RNS

[Religion News Service] As the U.S. continues to debate the fusion of faith and politics, a sweeping new survey reports that most American adults have a positive view of religion’s role in public life but believe its influence is waning.

The development appears to unsettle at least half of the country, with growing concern among an array of religious Americans that their beliefs are in conflict with mainstream American culture.

That’s according to a new survey unveiled on March 14 by Pew Research, which was conducted in February and seeks to tease out attitudes regarding the influence of religion on American society.

“We see signs of sort of a growing disconnect between people’s own religious beliefs and their perceptions about the broader culture,” Greg Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center, told Religion News Service in an interview.

He pointed to findings such as 80% of U.S. adults saying religion’s role in American life is shrinking — as high as it’s ever been in Pew surveys — and 49% of U.S. adults say religion losing that influence is a bad thing.

What’s more, he noted that 48% of U.S. adults say there’s “a great deal” of or “some” conflict between their religious beliefs and mainstream American culture, an increase from 42% in 2020. The number of Americans who see themselves as a minority group because of their religious beliefs has increased as well, rising from 24% in 2020 to 29% this year.

The spike in Americans who see themselves as a religious minority, while small, appears across several faith groups: white evangelical Protestants rose from 32% to 37%, white non-evangelical Protestants from 11% to 16%, white Catholics from 13% to 23%, Hispanic Catholics from 17% to 26% and Jewish Americans from 78% to 83%. Religiously unaffiliated Americans who see themselves as a minority because of their religious beliefs also rose from 21% to 25%.

“We’re seeing an uptick in the share of Americans who think of themselves as a minority because of their religious beliefs,” Smith said.

Researchers also homed in on Christian nationalism, an ideology that often insists the U.S. is given special status by God and usually features support for enshrining a specific kind of Christianity into U.S. law. But while the movement has garnered prominent supporters and vocal critics — as well as backing from political figures such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — Pew found views on the subject were virtually unchanged from when they asked Americans about the topic in recent years.

“One thing that jumped out at me, given the amount of attention that’s been paid to Christian nationalism in the media and the level of conversation about it, is that the survey finds no change over the last year and half or so in the share of the public who says they’ve heard anything about it,” Smith said.

About 45% of those polled said they had heard of Christian nationalism or read about it, with 54% saying they had never heard of the ideology — the same percentages as in September 2022. Overall, 25% had an unfavorable view of Christian nationalism, whereas only 5% had a favorable view and 6% had neither a favorable nor unfavorable view.

Researchers also pressed respondents on fusions of religion and politics, revealing a spectrum of views. A majority (55%) said the U.S. government should enforce the separation of church and state, whereas 16% said the government should stop enforcing it and another 28% saying neither or had no opinion. Meanwhile, only 13% said the U.S. government should declare Christianity the nation’s official religion, compared to 39% who believed the U.S. should not declare Christianity the state religion or promote Christian moral values. A plurality (44%) sided with a third option: the U.S. should not declare Christianity its official faith, but it should still promote Christian values.

When asked whether the Bible should have influence over U.S. laws, respondents were evenly split: 49% said the Bible should have “a great deal” of or “some” influence, while 51% said it should have “not much” or “no influence.”

But things looked different when Pew asked an additional question of those who supported a Bible-based legal structure: If the Bible and the will of the people come into conflict, which should prevail? Not quite two-thirds of that group — or 28% of Americans overall — said the Bible, but more than a third of the group (or 19% of the U.S. overall) said the will of the people should win out.

Here again, opinions have remained largely static, with researchers noting the numbers “have remained virtually unchanged over the past four years.”

Respondents were also asked whether they believed the Bible currently has influence over U.S. laws, with a majority (57%) agreeing it has at least some. But there were notable differences among religious groups: White evangelicals (48%) and Black Protestants (40%) were the least likely to say the Bible has at least some influence on U.S. law, compared to slight majorities of white non-evangelical Protestants (56%) and both white and Hispanic Catholics (52% for both). The religiously unaffiliated (70%), Jewish Americans (73%), atheists (86%) and agnostics (83%) were the most likely to agree that the Bible is a significant factor in the U.S. legal system.

The survey polled 12,693 U.S. adults from Feb. 13-25.

Diocese of Massachusetts announces slate of four nominees for next bishop

Episcopal News Service - sex, 15/03/2024 - 15:04

[Episcopal News Service] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Massachusetts, after receiving the recommendations of the Bishop Nominating Committee, has approved a preliminary slate of four nominees for election as the 17th bishop diocesan of the Diocese of Massachusetts. They are:

  • The Rev. Brendan J. Barnicle, rector, St. Francis of Assisi Church, Wilsonville, Oregon.
  • The Rev. Jean Baptiste Ntagengwa, canon for immigration and multicultural ministries, Diocese of Massachusetts.
  • The Very Rev. Gideon L. K. Pollach, rector, St. John’s Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
  • The Rev. Julia E. Whitworth, rector, Trinity Church, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Additional information about each of the nominees is on the diocese’s bishop search website.

A seven-day petition period begins on March 15, during which anyone who meets the canonical requirements may petition to be added to the slate of nominees. The deadline to submit nomination materials is March 22.

An electing convention is scheduled for May 18 at Trinity Church in Boston, and the bishop-elect will be consecrated, pending a successful churchwide consent process, on Oct. 19.

The new bishop diocesan will succeed the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, who has led the diocese since 2014. Gates said in May 2023 that he plans to retire at the end of 2024.