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[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of California will celebrate the life and ministry of the Rev. Fran Toy on June 8, which marks the 40th anniversary of her ordination to the priesthood, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, her parish home.  The Episcopal Church’s first Asian American woman priest, Toy died on Dec. 28, 2024, at age 90 after a long battle with liver cancer. “[Toy] was fun and direct and clear and deeply, deeply loving. She was funny, so full of joy and life. And she often referred to herself as the ‘Energizer bunny.’ She never, ever stopped until almost the very end, after she entered hospice,” the Rev. Kathleen Moore, associate rector of St. John’s, told Episcopal News Service. Toy, a cradle Episcopalian, was born in Oakland on Aug. 9, 1934, during the Great Depression. Growing up near Oakland’s Chinatown, she attended the Church of Our Saviour, a Chinese congregation. In 1974, Toy became the church’s first female senior warden. It was at the Church of Our Saviour where she met her future husband, Art Toy. Together they had a son, Glendon, and a daughter, Tamara. Following the footsteps of her mother, a third-generation Californian who was the first woman to open a school in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, Toy began her career as an educator. She taught elementary school for nearly 20 years before graduating from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in 1984. That same year, she was ordained to the diaconate. She was ordained a priest in the San Francisco-based Diocese of California on June 8, 1985, and served as a longtime associate priest at St. John’s. “[Toy] was very instrumental in the forming of Asian ministries as we know them today,” the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica Ministries, told ENS. “She was, at one point, the president of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries council … and she helped set the tone of the ministries for many years.” Lagman, who is of Philippine descent, will read the Gospel during Toy’s service, which falls on Pentecost. California Bishop Austin Rios will celebrate. “Fran was not only the first Asian American woman ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church, but a spiritual giant whose witness and ministry touched so many of our lives,” Rios said in a Dec. 29 statement, one day after Toy died. Becoming The Episcopal Church’s first Asian American woman priest was the beginning of many “firsts” throughout Toy’s lifetime. In 1988, Toy was elected the Diocese of California’s first female deputy to General Convention. “You have to be very strong to be the first person trotting down the path Fran Toy walked, and she accomplished a lot in her lifetime,” Lagman said. “She paved the way for other Asian women leaders in the church.” Toy was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2007 and underwent several major surgeries. When she retired, Toy returned to Oakland and St. John’s. Moore said the upcoming service isn’t Toy’s memorial service or funeral. In 2018, St. John’s held a service of celebration and thanksgiving that Toy considered her memorial service. “Fran felt, in her wonderful way, that it was a shame that those who die never get to hear what they meant to others. So, she planned this beautiful, enormous service at St John’s,” said Moore, who was a seminarian at the time. “The whole thing with a reception and with people offering remembrances in front of her was amazing. And it was a packed house at St John’s, a standing room situation.” Toy was preparing the 40th anniversary service and celebration and had planned to attend in person before she entered hospice, according to Moore. The service will be the traditional Pentecost liturgy, and the church bulletin will include some written remembrances from Toy’s loved ones. A large party will follow the service. “Fran wanted very much to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her ordination, not just for herself, but because it’ll be a marker for the church – the first Asian American woman priest,” Moore said. “But beyond her accomplishments, she was always deeply attuned to every single person in any room. Everyone who knew Fran loved her.” On Dec. 28, 2023, exactly one year before she died, Toy sat with the Rev. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, The Episcopal Church’s historiographer, for an interview for “Anglican and Episcopal History,” a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. In the article, which was published in June 2024, Toy shared her experiences and reflections as a woman of many “firsts.” “There is such joy in doing God’s work,” Toy said. “Each time I preside at the Eucharist, I think about it as the first, the last, the only time ever. For me, that part of the priesthood, being able to preside, is absolutely a joy, a privilege and an honor.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Amidst a global momentum in discussions on decolonization and reparations, African churches are challenging the notion that early Western missionaries were part of the colonial enterprise, while asserting that the continent’s churches were not solely a product of colonialism.

(Ordination of the Rev. Dena Fortuzi as a Deacon in the Moravian Church in Albania) Watchword for the week: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:14 Spirit of the Living God, open our lips and we shall sing of your wonders; open our eyes and we […]

World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm gave a laudatio on His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Munich on 6 June. 

World Council of Churches of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay joined church leaders in condemning in the strongest terms yet another deliberate and unconscionable attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. The attack killed five people, including three journalists.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) had input into the 49th Session of Universal Periodic Review, a process in which UN member states undergo a peer review of their human rights records. 

Adele Halliday, the Anti-Racism and Equity lead at The United Church of Canada, raised questions that served as touchstones for further conversation during an ongoing international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision.”

At the World Council of Churches (WCC) conference in Berlin, where theologians, scholars, and faith leaders gather to reflect on religion’s role in a fragmented world, in May 2025, one of the main keynotes focused on the reframing of the perennial struggles over race, class, and power. 

[Episcopal News Service] An Israeli military attack June 5 on an Anglican hospital in Gaza killed five people, including three journalists, the Diocese of Jerusalem said in a written statement, condemning the violence as an “unprovoked assault against civilians.” The deadly attack is the eighth time Al Ahli Arab Hospital, which is operated by the region’s Anglican province, has been hit by blasts and airstrikes in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas that began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The hospital in Gaza has struggled to remain open to care for patients while under regular threat of aerial bombardment and hindered by shortages of fuel, food and water. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has only escalated in recent months after the breakdown of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Israel responded with resumed military strikes and new restrictions on much-needed humanitarian aid for the densely populated territory’s civilian residents – some of whom have been killed while seeking assistance at the few remaining aid distribution sites. The Trump administration this year has done little to intervene against Israel’s blockade of the territory, and on June 4, the United States vetoed a Security Council measure at the United Nations that would have called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The latest attack on Ahli Hospital so far has generated little attention from Western news outlets, though the Qatar-based Al Jazeera has reported that the cause was an Israeli military drone strike. Two of the journalists killed reportedly were former employees of the Palestine Today TV channel. The Diocese of Jerusalem didn’t say where the Israeli strike hit in the hospital complex or specify any damage to buildings. It said the fatal victims included a Palestinian father who was escorting his son to the hospital’s surgical unit for treatment. Thirty others were injured, including four hospital employees. “The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms, calling upon the Israeli Army to respect the internationally protected sanctity of Ahli Hospital and all other hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip, as their beleaguered doctors, nurses, and medical staff seek to treat those innocents, mostly women and children, who have been severely injured in continued military assaults,” the diocese said. “We further call upon the leaders of the international community to enforce the combatants’ adherence to the Fourth Geneva Convention with respect to its provisions for special protections for hospitals, medical personnel, journalists, and civilians in general.” The Episcopal Church shared the diocese’s statement in a Facebook post, saying: “We in The Episcopal Church stand with Archbishop Hosam Naoum and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem in condemning this attack. We urge the Israeli government to respect international human rights law.” The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike to the German News Agency, saying it occurred in the hospital’s courtyard and that its intended target was an Islamic Jihad terrorist who Israel says had been using the space as a command center. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, however, questioned such claims in a statement he issued expressing solidarity with Naoum. “I condemn yet another callous, reckless attack on the Anglican-run Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza,” Cottrell said. “Despite our repeated requests, the Israeli Government has been unable to prove its claims that Al Ahli Hospital has been used by Hamas. Instead this is part of a relentless and outrageous pattern of attacks on hospitals and health care facilities in Gaza. There is no justification for this under international humanitarian law.” The Anglican hospital also was hit by an Israeli airstrike about two months ago, on April 13, an attack that destroyed a two-story genetic laboratory and severely damaged the pharmacy, the emergency department and nearby buildings, including St. Phillip’s Church. Ahli Hospital and other Gaza hospitals had been struck previously since Hamas’ initial 2023 attack on Israeli communities, when the militant group massacred hundreds and took many others hostage. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that reportedly have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins. “Humanity is failing” the people of Gaza, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger told the BBC. “We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It’s surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of suffering,” Spoljaric said. “More importantly, the fact that we are watching a people entirely stripped of its human dignity. It should really shock our collective conscience.” The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations has encouraged Episcopalians, through its Episcopal Public Policy Network, to contact U.S. officials about the crisis and advocate for peace. On May 30, it also included a prayer for Gaza and the West Bank in its latest weekly prayers. “We grieve for those killed and wounded by the Israeli military at aid distribution sites, and for those desperate for life’s necessities amid fear and violence,” the prayer said. “We pray for the Israeli government to allow critically needed aid to enter Gaza.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Graphic for Trinity Sunday available to download and share on social media in four languages.