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An ecumenical prayer written by Br Matthew of the Taize community is being offered globally to mark the election the new bishop of Rome. 

In a landmark gathering addressing the spiritual dimensions of the ecological crisis, Christian leaders from Eastern and Western traditions convened in Assisi, Italy, to develop a shared liturgical Feast of Creation. The three-day conference from 5-7 May marks a significant step toward establishing what Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm described as "a wonderful expression of the trinitarian essence that unites us as churches" and a powerful spiritual response to the urgent climate challenges facing our planet.

On 13 May, the World Council of Churches, in collaboration with HealthAI, Globethics, and the Christian Medical College of India, will host a webinar, "Already/Not Yet: The Integration of AI and Healthcare—A Critical Dialogue at the Intersection of Technology, Faith, and Healing.”

The convention brought together professionals and practitioners from diverse faith traditions and communication disciplines to explore innovative approaches to religious communication in the digital age.

[Episcopal News Service] Christ Episcopal Church in Toms River, New Jersey, backed by the Diocese of New Jersey and Episcopal Church officials, is preparing to fight the township’s effort to acquire its 11-acre property. “We will do all that we can to ensure that your ministries in this place continue for a long, long time, and that it is the leadership of Christ Church, not the mayor or the township council, who decides how this church property is used,” New Jersey Bishop Sally French told Christ Church members in a May 4 letter to the congregation. The move by the town council and the mayor to buy the land or seize it through eminent domain comes at the same time that the church has an application pending approval for a 17-bed overnight homeless shelter on its property. Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who is behind the land-seizure effort, opposes the shelter, as do some of the church’s neighbors and others. The Rev. Joan Petit Mason, a diocesan staff member and a former Christ Church rector, read the bishop’s letter promising support at the end of the May 4 Eucharist. The Rev. Lisa Hoffman, Christ Church’s rector, who is out of town, reiterated the bishop’s stance. “The church and the diocese are prepared for a long court fight to protect our congregation and property from this egregious land grab,” she told the congregation in a another letter, read by Senior Warden Denise Henry. The reading of the two letters begins at the 1:13:00 mark here. French and Hoffman were scheduled to meet May 5 with lawyers representing Christ Church, the Diocese of New Jersey, and The Episcopal Church to “discuss our options,” the bishop said in her letter. In a statement released to news reporters, French reaffirmed her support for the church. “Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and the people of Christ Church are putting that commandment into action,” French said. The church and the diocese say the property is not for sale, yet the elected town council on April 30, during a raucous and contentious meeting, agreed to begin the process of buying or seizing the church and five other properties to create two new town parks. “As a Christian leader and a resident of New Jersey, I am troubled by the township’s move to block the faithful ministry of Christ Church, and I am saddened that the mayor and township council are prioritizing pickleball courts over responding to hunger and homelessness,” French said. “I ask that Toms River lift the burden these proceedings have placed on our parish and diocese, and I pray that we can move forward in serving our neighbors.” The church faces two different issues with the town. Its overnight shelter plan needs the Zoning Board of Adjustment to approve a classification variance. That vote is due on May 22. Six days later, on May 28, the town council is scheduled to take public comment and make a final decision on the land-seizure ordinance. French said she will attend the latter meeting to speak on behalf of Christ Church and the diocese. She encouraged Episcopalians in a May 3 statement to the diocese also to attend as a show of support. The church had less than 24 hours’ notice that the council would hear the first reading of a resolution to buy or seize the six parcels of land. The notice did not come from the town but rather from a Toms River resident who told a Christ Church member. The member alerted Hoffman. She acknowledged in her May 4 letter that “there are a variety of emotions” running through the congregation. “I would expect that many of you are feeling angry, afraid, uncertain and powerless,” she said. Some members want to take some action, she said. However, Hoffman asked them to “hold steady” until after those meetings so that the church will know where it stands. “This could be a long fight, and there will be plenty of time for community organizing and acts of protest,” Hoffman said. Rodrick, the mayor, has been critical of the presence of people experiencing homelessness in Toms River, accusing Ocean County of exaggerating the homeless issue and “dumping” homeless people into the township. County commissioners deny the accusation. On April 16, they said Rodrick is “actively creating a public emergency” by refusing to collaborate with them to help people experiencing homelessness and by shutting down the town’s winter warming center. He has also criticized rock star Jon Bon Jovi’s pop-up JBJ Soul Kitchen at the downtown library, claiming it attracts people who are homeless. The commissioners said in their letter that Rodrick’s “inflammatory finger-pointing does nothing to help those who are suffering and, worse, it threatens the safety and dignity of our residents.” – The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is a freelance writer who formerly was a senior editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.

United Methodist bishops seek to ease concerns after the denomination’s top court ruled that trustees cannot bar a pastor from officiating at same-sex weddings within church walls.

[Episcopal News Service] The dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, whose six-year partnership has served as a model for diocesan collaboration across The Episcopal Church, voted May 3 to seek separate bishops. The move effectively ends their partnership months after their former shared bishop stepped down to become the church’s presiding bishop. “We want to say clearly: this decision does not erase the many ways God has blessed our shared life,” the two standing committee presidents, the Rev. Luke Fodor of the Diocese of Western New York and the Rev. Stacey Fussell of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, said in a joint statement after the vote. “Over the past six years, we have discovered the strength that comes from walking together, learning from each other, bearing witness together and offering the world a witness of hope and collaboration.” Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, consecrated as Northwestern Pennsylvania’s bishop in 2007, added the role of bishop provisional of Western New York in 2019 under the two dioceses’ partnership agreement, which involved sharing staff and collaborating on ministries while remaining separate entities. Rowe resigned from both dioceses last year to take office Nov. 1 as the denominational leader. Before Rowe’s June 2024 election as presiding bishop, the two dioceses commissioned a study of their partnership to assess its results and help discern next steps. The study found both dioceses had embraced this “experiment for the sake of the Gospel” at a time of denominational decline. The partnership, however, also faced numerous challenges, including cultural differences, lack of clarity over resource allocation and some feelings of “suspicion, mistrust … and yearning for the past.” That report was released at the end of February 2025. On May 3, at a special joint convention of the two dioceses, both voted overwhelmingly against seeking a new bishop together, with 70% of combined delegates opposed. The two standing committee presidents said the dioceses will begin to “realign staff and administrative resources to serve each diocese separately” by July 1. A celebration of the partnership is planned for June 19. “This decision was made carefully and faithfully, with a deep love for the Church and a commitment to what is best for the mission and ministry of each diocese,” Fodor and Fussell said. “We give thanks for every relationship formed, every ministry strengthened and every new possibility glimpsed through our partnership. We will remain one in the Spirit even as we move forward as two dioceses.” Rowe also reacted to the votes, releasing a joint statement with former Western New York Bishop William Franklin, whose retirement in April 2019 helped pave the way for the dioceses to partner and to share Rowe as their bishop. “As founding bishops of the partnership, we give thanks for the past six years of collaborative ministry and all that the people of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York have learned in this experiment for the sake of the gospel,” Rowe and Franklin said. “The risks that the leaders of the partnership took have catalyzed collaboration and conversation across The Episcopal Church, and we will be forever grateful to have served together with them. “May God bless both dioceses as they continue discerning where the Holy Spirit is guiding them next.” The partnership had originated years ago in conversations between Rowe and Franklin about the future of the Erie-based Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania and the Diocese of Western New York, based in the Buffalo area. In April 2017, when Franklin announced his plans to retire, he asked his diocesan standing committee to consider calling Rowe as provisional bishop. When the two bishops presented the idea to a joint clergy conference in September 2017, it initially “played to mixed reviews,” Rowe told Episcopal News Service in a 2018 article about the then-pending partnership. Clergy wondered about hidden agendas. Some wished the plan were more fleshed out. The bishops enlisted their members to help decide what such a partnership might look like. More than 500 people attended eight listening sessions in the two dioceses, and in May 2018, their standing committees unanimously voted to support the idea. That October, the dioceses voted at a jointly held convention to ratify the partnership, and Western New York elected Rowe to become its bishop provisional when Franklin retired in April 2019. “History will judge us as to the right and wrong of the choice,” Rowe said in a brief address before the votes were taken. “God? God will bless us in our faithfulness to the Gospel call – no matter our choice. And that’s all that matters.” A year later, at the partnership’s first joint convention in October 2019, Rowe described the goal as “privileging Gospel impact over our own provincial and territorial needs and wants.” “What we’re doing here is digging deep enough to find out what matters to us most,” Rowe said, “what’s essential to keep for the future, what’s essential to hold more lightly and, most importantly, creating the space for something new to emerge.” The partnership, though never publicly aspiring to a merger, inspired other dioceses that were exploring similar modes of collaboration, include some that have since merged. The diocese of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan voted to share a bishop in 2019, and in 2024, they took the final steps toward uniting as one diocese, the new Diocese of the Great Lakes. The three Episcopal dioceses in Wisconsin also joined as one in 2024 after a three-year process of discernment that involved input from Rowe and his two dioceses. That churchwide trend continues, most actively in the dioceses of Central Pennsylvania and Bethlehem, which are on track to merge and form the new Diocese of the Susquehanna in January 2026. In Indiana, the dioceses of Indianapolis and Northern Indiana also are engaged in ongoing talks of becoming one statewide diocese. The committee leading those talks has recommended scheduling a vote on possible reunification in Lent 2026, and the dioceses remain in dialogue. Unlike […]

In a conversation held on 2 May that drew repeated applause from the large audience at Kirchentag in Hanover, Germany, Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, and Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, reflected together on how churches, with courage and unity, can stand up for justice.

Dallas church hosts first anniversary celebration of United Methodist Church lifting restrictions for LGBTQ participation.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed profound sorrow and concern over an aerial attack on the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) hospital in Old Fangak, South Sudan, on 3 May.