Latest News

Elaine McArdle

:

Inside the prison, the growing fellowship offers belonging, transformation, and spiritual community.

A New Horizon Europe project brought together 13 partners from nine countries to explore how shared holy places can strengthen social cohesion, intercultural understanding, and sustainable peace-building across Europe.

As the global climate crisis accelerates faster than collective response and new conflicts slice attention, African church leaders are highlighting the need to increase action, as the emergency hurts their congregations.

Dr. Ramon Tallaj is chairman of the board and founder of SOMOS Community Care. “SOMOS,” which means “we are” in Spanish, is a physician-led network of 2,600 healthcare providers serving over 850,000 Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in New York City’s immigrant communities. Tallaj reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the family doctor, and how faith has played a large role in his life and work.

World Council of Churches (WCC) member church, the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, and ecumenical organizations in Colombia are mobilizing in solidarity with communities affected by a powerful earthquake that struck the western and central parts of the country on 10 August.

The following is a joint statement from United Church of Christ General Minister and President/CEO, the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, and the Open and Affirming Coalition Board Chair, the Rev. Kevin E. Tindell on the untimely passing of the Rev.…

The post A joint UCC-ONA statement on the passing of Rev. Derek Terry appeared first on United Church of Christ.

[Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania] The Rev. Jenifer Chatfield, rector of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino, California, was elected the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania on Aug. 8 during a special electing convention held at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie, where the diocese is based. Chatfield was elected on the third ballot with 24 clergy and 31 lay votes, with a majority of 18 and 31, respectively, required for election. Pending churchwide consent, she will be ordained and consecrated as bishop diocesan on Dec. 12 at the Cathedral of St. Paul. “Today, after prayerful work and holy discernment, we give thanks for the election of the Rev. Dr. Jenifer Chatfield and her willingness to serve as the ninth bishop diocesan of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania,” said the Rev. Martha Ishman, president of the diocesan Standing Committee. “[Chatfield] is grounded in her relationship to God and is eager to explore with us what it means to be the church in this place and at this time.” Chatfield has served at St. Edmund’s since 2019. She previously served as priest-in-charge of St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church in Huntington Beach, California, and as interim rector of St. James’ in-the-City Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. She has a doctor of ministry degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and a master of divinity from Yale Divinity School. The other nominees were: The Very Rev. Molly Payne-Hardin, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Watertown, New York. The Rev. Stacey Fussell, rector of Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Chatfield will succeed Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, who resigned as Northwestern Pennsylvania’s bishop in 2024 after he was elected and confirmed as primate of The Episcopal Church. As bishop diocesan of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Rowe also served as bishop provisional of Western New York. In 2025, the two dioceses decided to part ways rather than maintain their six-year partnership. The Diocese of Western New York, after a pause in the process, plans to release its bishop slate in March 2027.  In an Aug. 9 Facebook post, the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania called for prayers for Chatfield, St. Edmund’s congregation and the diocese. “May God continue to guide and bless this new chapter in the life of our diocese.”

Right now, there are no policies in place to prevent federal immigration enforcement agents from deliberately targeting spaces that represent key pillars of civic, religious, and community life. The threat of immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” – such as houses of worship, schools, hospitals, courthouses, food pantries, and places where people receive essential services – is preventing refugees and immigrants ...

Read More

The post Urge Your Members of Congress to Pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act appeared first on CWS.

The United Methodist Church in the Philippines and church partners have provided food, supplies and spiritual care to more than 700 families following deadly quake.

[Episcopal News Service] St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, aims to serve its 2,000+-member congregation by offering various ministries and programs throughout the year. For parishioners who want a worship environment that’s in between “high church” traditions and “low church” modernity, or who prefer to sleep in on Sunday mornings, the Episcopal cathedral offers “The Wilderness,” an evening Eucharist that since its founding in the early 2000s has based worship on season-specific prayers and blends old and new liturgy. The service’s name comes from the cathedral’s original name, St. John’s Church in the Wilderness. When the parish was being established in the 1860s, Colorado was still a territory, and the closest Episcopal church was over 700 miles east, in neighboring Kansas. It’s also a reference to Isaiah 40:3: “A voice cries out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” Maria Dameron initially began attending “The Wilderness” in 2013 so she could spend the morning and afternoon running errands and helping her children prepare for the new school week. That way, she could go to church with a clear mind, ready to engage with the worship. “I would really just be doing a checklist in my head – getting laundry done, grocery shopping list – instead of being fully present during morning worship services,” Dameron told Episcopal News Service. “I’m definitely a night person.” What was meant to be a service of convenience became much more for Dameron: a worship experience that continues to bring “sheer delight” to her life every week. Today, 13 years later, she’s co-chair of the Wilderness Guild, a group of parishioners who help prepare the service’s liturgy and plan and prepare the prayer stations. “I would describe ‘The Wilderness’ as approachable. There’s something for everybody,” Dameron said. “The Wilderness” is organized so attendees can explore different prayer exercises using all five senses. Interactive, colorful prayer stations, which are set up throughout the nave and touch on the week’s Gospel reading, are one method. One recent prayer station, for example, included an easel holding an icon of St. John the Baptist, wafers and wooden honey tasting spoons. The honey samples and imagery depicted Mark 1:6 describing St. John the Baptist’s survival in the wilderness: “John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” The stations are swapped out weekly and never repeated, but images and other items are repurposed into new stations over time, according to Dameron. After delivering the sermon, the preacher – usually one of the cathedral’s priests – tells parishioners, “It is our tradition at ‘The Wilderness’ to wander this space. Take your prayer requests and let them be known to God as you experience the cathedral.” The parishioners then visit the prayer stations, pray at the altar, sit in the bishop’s chair, approach a priest for a blessing, light a prayer candle in front of a saint’s icon or whatever they feel is needed at the time before reconvening for Communion. Meanwhile, incense burns and “clouds” the dimmed space. Being encouraged to informally wander and pray in a way that feels most appropriate “really speaks to people,” according to the Rev. Paul Keene, the cathedral’s canon for parish life. “I think the reason that people are so receptive to ‘The Wilderness’ is because it has more space for contemplation and contemplative prayer than a typical worship service does,” Keene told ENS. “We still use the Book of Common Prayer and use a lot of the expansive language prayers. ‘The Wilderness’ has a little bit of a different flavor, but it’s still very much Episcopal-rooted.” Keene was installed as the cathedral’s canon for parish life in September 2025 during an evening wilderness service. Instead of an organ or solo piano for music, a designated band called the Wilderness Musicians performs at every service using a mix of classic hymns and contemporary worship music. Throughout the year, they’ll perform hymns that have been transposed into different genres, like jazz, though they’ll perform the traditional versions during Lent and Advent. Sometimes they perform original music. China Kent, the Wilderness Musicians’ lead singer and leader of the indie folk and Americana band “Alright Alright,” curates most of the music. For her, exposing parishioners to different musicians during wilderness services is part of the unique experience. “There are a bunch of really, really amazing songwriters that no one’s heard of who are wonderfully spiritually attuned, and their words add a freshness to the services,” Kent told ENS. “I always change up the worship music because I think it’s so important to understand what’s happening right now in different genres of music and to bring their perspectives into the church. I’m not saying that the church should strive to be relevant, but the church should definitely have its finger on the pulse of culture.” Recently featured artists include Spencer LeJoy, Flamy Grant and Rachel Reese. When the Episcopal Parish Network, then known as the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, held its annual conference in Denver in 2016, many participants attended a wilderness service. “The diocese will host the 2027 conference, and St. John’s will host worship again. What’s really been interesting, talking with the EPN planning committee, is so many people say they still fondly remember going to a wilderness service over 10 years ago,” Keene said. “I’m not surprised because everything that makes ‘The Wilderness’ distinct has been a source of spiritual healing for so many people.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].