Episcopal News Service

[World Council of Churches] Three United Nations conventions were born at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and in 2026 all three hold their Conference of the Parties (COP). After the desertification COP17 in August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the biodiversity COP17 opened Oct. 19 in Yerevan, Armenia. From Mongolia to Armenia, the World Council of Churches brings the same case: the crises of land, biodiversity and climate are bound together, and none can be solved without the communities who live with them. “In Ulaanbaatar, we said that land will not be restored without the communities who hold it. Indigenous peoples are rights holders, and young people are partners, not guests. The biodiversity framework will move from promises to action only if their voices shape it,” said Athena Peralta, director of the World Council of Churches’ Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development. COP17 is the first global review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the plan adopted in 2022 with 23 targets for 2030. The ecumenical delegation has 20 members from 16 countries. They are traveling with the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation and Anglican Communion. The Armenian Apostolic Church’s Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is hosting the World Council of Churches’ delegation. Read the full article here.

[Anglican Taonga] The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has committed to developing a strategic response to artificial intelligence, which will consider the impact of AI technologies on physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects of human life. “Many people are writing and researching on the current impact of AI from environmental and social perspectives, but I think there’s a space for us to approach it through the dual lenses of theology and the three-tikanga church,” Dunedin Bishop Anne van Gend said. The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has a unique three-person primacy, reflecting the three Tikangas, or cultural streams (Pākehā, Māori and Polynesia), within the church. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] The United Nations is four days into its biennial Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, The Episcopal Church’s eco-region networks coordinator and former bishop of Kansas, is there representing Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe. Bascom is in Yerevan, Armenia, Oct. 19-30 for the 17th U.N. biodiversity conference, or COP17, as part of a five-person Anglican delegation. While in Yerevan, the delegation is acknowledging Indigenous wisdom as they advocate for protecting oceans, for just finance for at-risk communities and for a cleaner agricultural system. “I come to COP17 ready to share some innovative practices and positive impacts reported from our networks,” Bascom told Anglican Communion News Service. “Above all, I travel to Armenia to learn.” This is The Episcopal Church’s second time participating in the U.N. biodiversity conference. In 2024, Bascom was part of the church’s three-person delegation as an observer organization. That conference, which was held in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, concluded with no clear agreement on key topics. Negotiations later continued in Rome, Italy. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are attending COP17. The United States is not an official voting party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, but representatives from Native American tribal nations and other groups are participating. The U.S. Council for International Business also sent a multisectoral business group to present private-sector solutions to biodiversity issues. The biodiversity conference is different from the U.N.’s annual climate change conference, which will take place in November in Antalya, Turkey. Bascom will also represent The Episcopal Church and participate in the climate change conference as part of the Anglican Communion delegation. The biodiversity conference focuses on protecting and preserving all life on earth, including animals, plants and microorganisms. The climate change conference, on the other hand, focuses on limiting the rise of Earth’s surface temperature to reduce the frequency of extreme weather events, including hurricanes, wildfires, severe rain events, increased flooding and heatwaves. Climate change is among several factors leading to the rapid decline of Earth’s biodiversity. Overfishing, poaching and habitat loss when land is taken for agriculture are other factors, which have left more than 1 million animals on the brink of extinction. Human population growth is a central factor because of the increased need for infrastructure and converting natural habitats for agriculture, which have significantly reduced space for wildlife to thrive. Under this year’s theme, “Taking Action for Nature,” the conference is assessing progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted in 2022 by 196 countries. The framework lists 23 targets to be met by 2030 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. One of those targets, called the 30×30 target, is to ensure that 30% of land and water are conserved by 2030. At The Episcopal Church’s 81st General Convention in 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky, the House of Bishops and House of Deputies passed D029, “Commit to the 30×30 Initiative for Biodiversity,” which directs all Episcopal institutions to adopt, support and promote the 30×30 target. As of 2024, 8.4% of marine and coastal areas were protected or conserved, compared with 17.6% of land and inland waters, according to the Protected Planet Report 2024, the first official review of global progress towards implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The conference is also addressing issues related to climate change, agriculture and health. The Anglican delegation is focusing on four priorities at COP17: Share generational wisdom to secure nature and communities; ensure that governments’ finances are channeled towards those who need it most; call on governments to restore and protect the oceans as one of the “Lungs of the Earth”; and show that balancing food security and sustainability is possible. Built around relationship, restoration and resilience, the Anglican Communion’s “Lungs of the Earth” initiative describes how Anglicans can be involved in working to restore and protect three vital ecosystems: forests, oceans and frozen landscapes. This includes participation in reforestation initiatives like the Communion Forest, and also amplifies environmental and advocacy work from Anglican provinces around the world and celebrates the work of Anglican environmental activists, including Green Anglicans and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network. While in Yerevan, Bascom said she hopes to gain ideas in strengthening The Episcopal Church’s 12 eco-region networks, which address region-specific biodiversity and climate issues. “From our own Anglican delegation members and the many scientists, faith groups and government actors, I hope to glean best practices and spiritual insights that will empower efforts in our Episcopal eco-region networks.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Anglo-Roman Catholic International Commission held a virtual plenary meeting concluding the second phase of its latest work, which began in 2019. The commission is the principal theological dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. It brings together theologians and church leaders to deepen their shared understanding of Christian faith, with the goal of restoring full, visible unity. During the meeting, commission members approved the final draft of the agreed upon statement for this phase of their work, called “While They Were Talking and Discussing: Learning to Do Moral Discernment in Communion.” Read the full article here.

[Religion News Service] Growing numbers of people in Britain are defining themselves as Christian nationalists, according to a new survey — but the majority of them are not churchgoing Christians.   The report, “Beyond Christian Nationalism — Measuring Attitudes to Christianity and Britishness Today,” published by the reputable think tank Theos, surveyed 1,765 people. It shows that more than 10% of those surveyed identify as Christian nationalists.   The movement is relatively new in Britain but has caused concern, including among bishops who have tried to disassociate the established Church of England from it following large demonstrations and some well-known far-right, anti-migrant activists saying that they have become Christians. According to the Theos study, about 11% of those surveyed — more than 1 in 10 Britons — have views that resemble those of Christian nationalists. These people embody an ideology that merges national identity with their idea of Christianity and believe that it should be central to British culture and given prominence over other faiths and secular views.   The 11%, termed “identity integrationists” by the study, had a strong identification with Christianity, yet just 13% reported attending church weekly, only slightly above the 11% average for church attendance across the whole survey. There was much more enthusiasm from them, however, for the Bible — just under half of them expressed an interest in it — and just under a third said they prayed every week.   This group showed hostility to Islam and were disinclined to follow church doctrine on welcoming the stranger: Only 19% agreed that Christianity requires supporting asylum seekers. The report shows that their Christianity is cultural rather than doctrinal and that they are “deeply, indeed viscerally, culturally Christian.”  They are overwhelmingly white, and although not poor, they tend not to be highly skilled and more likely to live in rural areas.   Another group, termed “belief integrationists,” holds stronger religious beliefs in the nationalism-Christianity equation and are considerably less hostile to immigration. Almost half (48%) agreed that Christian values require welcoming and supporting asylum seekers. These “belief integrationists” made up 13% of those surveyed. Among this group, 31% attend church every week, 46% pray weekly and 62% expressed an interest in the Bible. They are more likely to be younger, male, poorer, urban and non-white, with conservative moral values and traditional ideas about masculinity.   Despite being less hostile to asylum seekers, the report says that “a remarkable two-thirds of this group hold to the Great Replacement Theory (of white people being replaced by immigrants).”  Nick Spencer, a senior fellow at Theos and one of the report’s authors, said: “Until now there has been little research done in Britain on whether Christian nationalists go to church. This shows that the keenest nationalists don’t go to church very often.  “When we asked these people about the white population being deliberately replaced, it’s off the scale among Christian nationalists.”   In the past two years, demonstrations put on by the Unite the Kingdom organization have drawn thousands of people, with wooden crosses and the English flag (called the flag of St. George, with a red cross on a white background) being carried by the large crowds. Tommy Robinson, one of Britain’s most well-known anti-Islam, anti-migrant activists, spoke at a Christmas concert last season after he converted to Christianity in prison. Robinson told concertgoers, “Something great is happening. I’ve seen it at each one of our Unite the Kingdom events as I saw the cross start being prevalent.” Bishops in the Church of England have warned about the co-opting of Christian symbols and rhetoric to support anti-migrant views. In July a working group of the Church of England’s bishops urged its General Synod to focus on national unity. The group, led by the Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, urged Christians to model a healthy sense of patriotism and reclaim symbols like the St. George’s flag as a sign of unity rather than division. The flag has traditionally been strongly associated with the Church of England as it flies from its churches’ towers.   The Theos report has been welcomed as one of the first major studies delving into Christian nationalism in Britain. John Heathershaw, professor of international relations at the University of Exeter and research associate at the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, said that until now there has been little robust research into the topic. “The survey is useful because Christian nationalism is not a coherent ideology, and not a social and political movement but a cluster of attitudes,” he said.   Heathershaw called “belief integrationists” the most interesting group identified by the survey. In a recent Substack, he wrote:   “My guess is that many of them are charismatic evangelicals, the largest growing group in the UK and across much of the world. Forgive the caricature, but one typical belief integrationist may be a Nigerian Pentecostal man in his 30s or 40s. While they may be a small minority nationally, they are an increasingly significant part of the Christian faith. Although 54% of this group say they are proud that Britain “is predominantly white” (p.118), they are by far the least white group of all five identified by Theos. Of course, racialized views are not exclusively held by the racial majority.”  The most worrying aspect found by the survey, Heathershaw told RNS, is the sizable number of people who believe that there is a concerted effort to replace Britain’s population with another group.   “It shows right across the survey that 37% of people support the Great Replacement Theory. That is remarkable and troubling,” he said. The report also highlights how divided Britain is over the role of Christianity. Sizable numbers of people want it to have no public role — despite the nation having an established church, with 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the Parliament’s second chamber, the House of Lords. About half the population wants to keep Christianity out of politics, with 34% of those surveyed saying […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Easton, which includes congregations in eastern Maryland, mostly on the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore, announced Oct. 21 that the standing committee had nominated Delaware Bishop Kevin Brown to serve Easton as bishop provisional during its leadership transition. An election with Brown as the sole nominee is scheduled for the Easton Diocesan Convnention on Feb. 26 and 27 in Cambridge, Maryland. The standing committee expects to provide additional details soon. Brown has served as bishop of the neighboring Diocese of Delaware since 2017. He will continue to serve as Delaware’s bishop diocesan if elected bishop provisional of Easton. “The Diocese of Easton is in a season of transition and discernment, considering what its future may hold and how best to move forward,” Brown said in a letter to his diocese that was shared by the Easton standing committee. “During this time, its leaders are asking for stability, pastoral care and episcopal leadership that will allow them to continue their ministry while thoughtfully discerning their next steps.” Easton has been without a bishop diocesan for about a year, after former Easton Bishop Santosh Marray stepped down at the end of October 2025 to take three months of vacation and sabbatical and then retiring at the beginning of February 2026. During the transition, the standing committee formed a steering committee to work with the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, a trained conflict mediator, to plan listening gatherings across the diocese to support reconciliation and healing. In July 2023, Marray was the subject of a disciplinary complaint alleging inappropriate behavior, according to information posted in May 2024 to The Episcopal Church’s website. Few details have been released publicly about the allegations, other than that “multiple complainants” made allegations of “inappropriate public statements and behavior” by Marray. A separate complaint was filed in February 2024 by a single complainant alleging “inappropriate public statements and misrepresentations.” Under the church’s Title IV disciplinary canons, a reference panel issued determinations in January 2025 concluding both matters with pastoral responses. No other information was provided about the cases’ resolution. The Diocese of Easton also has said previously it would consider engaging with other dioceses as it navigates its leadership transition, to “determine whether our participation in God’s mission could be strengthened by collaborating or partnering with another nearby diocese.” Brown, in his letter to the Diocese of Delaware, said he remained committed to leading his home diocese. “At the same time, I believe there are moments when we are called to look beyond our own borders and consider how we might serve the wider church,” he said. “Easton is our neighbor and our sister diocese. When our neighbors need help, we have an opportunity to respond with generosity, compassion, and faith. “I believe this is one of those moments. … I ask that you keep the people of Easton, our own diocesan community, and me in your prayers as we move forward.” The Diocese of Easton separated from the Baltimore-based Diocese of Maryland in 1868. Today, the Diocese of Maryland, at 26,000 members, is nearly four times as large as the Diocese of Easton, with fewer than 7,000 members, according to the church’s most recently released diocesan totals from 2023. The Diocese of Washington, with about 31,000 members, also includes some congregations in Maryland just north and south of the U.S. capital. Delaware reported just under 7,000 members. The Diocese of Easton engaged in a previous period of discernment a decade ago. At that time, it considered partnering with another diocese but decided to remain independent. It elected Marray as its bishop in 2016. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

[Episcopal News Service] A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church and 26 ecumenical and interfaith partners in a lawsuit contesting the Trump administration’s removal of “sensitive locations” protections for houses of worship in immigration enforcement. The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled, 2-1, that a lower court judge erred in finding that the faith-based plaintiffs lacked standing to file their lawsuit. The plaintiffs have argued that the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement actions have driven some worshippers to stay home. The lower court judge ruled in April 2025 that The Episcopal Church and other plaintiffs had not sufficiently demonstrated an imminent threat. The Court of Appeals reversed that decision, sending the case back to the U.S. District Court to rule on the merits of the plaintiff’s arguments. “Plaintiffs’ members likely face imminent harm from increased enforcement at their houses of worship,” the Court of Appeals opinion says. “That harm is traceable to the new enforcement policy.” Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris issued a joint statement Oct. 20 after the appellate court ruling was handed down. “As faith leaders who have borne witness to the harm of ICE enforcement on our congregations — and the impact of immigration in one of our families — we give thanks to God for today’s milestone in our multifaith effort to protect religious freedom,” the presiding officers said. “In The Episcopal Church, we cannot truly be ourselves when some cannot freely worship with us. Civic engagement is an important way Christians can demonstrate love for our neighbors, and with this litigation, we are challenging unjust policies that fall short of respecting the dignity of all people.” The interfaith group of religious denominations and organizations sued the Department of Homeland Security in February 2025 after the Trump administration rescinded a policy that had protected houses of worship, schools and hospitals. Since then, the Trump administration has escalated its campaign of immigrant detentions and deportations to include aggressive enforcement operations in targeted cities across the country. The deployment of Immigrations and Custom Enforcement officers, as well as Customs and Border Protection agents, has rattled communities, sparked protests and sometimes resulted in violent and deadly confrontations with both immigrants and U.S. citizens. There have not been widespread reports of raids inside houses of worship, though in cities with a large federal presence, some churches have been joining efforts to assist immigrant families who are afraid to leave their homes to go to work or school or even to get groceries. One Episcopal church in Minnesota also was on a list of houses of worship where Homeland Security was reported to have spied on activists holding meetings there. The Episcopal Church is one of 12 denominations that have signed onto the federal lawsuit, which also includes the Disciples of Christ, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian and AME Zion churches. Other plaintiffs include regional denominational bodies and other religious associations. The plaintiffs, represented by the nonpartisan Georgetown University Law Center, have argued the Trump administration is violating religious freedom protections in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

[Anglican Journal] Nov. 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women as priests in the Anglican Church of Canada. Dioceses and parishes across Canada are holding events to commemorate the occasion, ranging from themed Sunday Eucharist services to a two-day event in Victoria. Ontario Archbishop Anne Germond formerly served as acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the second female primate after Archbishop Linda Nicholls. Germond calls women’s ordination a “significant historic event for our church” and says women’s leadership gifts, though present before 1976, have flourished and enriched the church since that milestone. She said parents have approached her on parish visits to say their daughters were inspired by seeing her in a leadership role. Ordained in 2002, Germond said she has been welcomed both at the parish level and in the national church. Still, she said, there are challenges women in ordained ministry face, including the balance between family expectations and a career in the church. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s Office of Indigenous Ministries and the faith-based nonprofit Soul Shop Movement held the first “train the trainers” program at Calvary Episcopal Cathedral in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, teaching future trainers how to teach suicide prevention workshops for Indigenous communities. The early October five-day training, which was funded by a United Thank Offering grant, stems from the successful pilot training at the annual Winter Talk conference for Indigenous Episcopalians in February in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Most of the 10 future trainers were Indigenous, representing tribes and groups throughout the continental United States and Hawai‘i. “Everyone who was there talked about how meaningful this training was, and they all shared how their lives have been touched by suicide in some way, which is such a big problem in Indian country,” the Rev. Shaneequa Brokenleg, the church’s staff officer for racial reconciliation and interim missioner for Indigenous ministry and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Nation), told Episcopal News Service. In the United States, Indigenous people die by suicide at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Indigenous youth ages 8 to 24. Systemic injustices, attempts by the U.S. government and big businesses to seize sacred Indigenous lands for natural resource extraction, the intergenerational trauma caused by the legacy of Indigenous boarding schools and colonialism, and the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous people, especially women and girls, are major drivers in the Indigenous communities’ high suicide rates. These issues are increasingly being recognized as acts of literal and cultural genocide. James White, a member of the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska Ho-Chunk and junior warden at St. Paul’s Indian Mission Episcopal Church in Sioux City, Iowa, told ENS that he registered for the Oct. 5-9 training because suicide is a personal issue for him, and learning about different resources can help people “try and save a life.” “When I was 17, my best friend died by suicide, and later, in my 20s, I was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Through that time, I had seen suicide, and I myself had suicidal thoughts,” White said. “Now in my sobriety, I feel my call from God to help people, and becoming a trainer for Soul Shop is just another way to answer my call.” Soul Shop offers in-person suicide prevention workshops nationwide led by trained professionals in partnership with organizations like the Episcopal Parish Network and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The program also offers specialized training for Black and Hispanic churches, youth leaders and more. For the training, Soul Shop used a new curriculum designed specifically for Indigenous communities in collaboration with Indigenous Ministries and Indigenous leaders representing multiple tribes, including several members of The Episcopal Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Commission on Native Schools. Like other curricula, the Indigenous curriculum addresses what Soul Shop calls the “seven Cs,” or causes, for suicidal desperation: Sickness, stuck, shunning, systemic situations, stress and shame. The program also gives an overview of suicidal desperation in Scripture, such as Job 7:13-15 and Acts 16:23-34. “The core messaging reminded me so much of The Episcopal Church in general, which is a really good thing,” Ui Stark, a Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) lay leader at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Waianae, Oahu, Hawai‘i, told ENS. “What I like about being Episcopalian in particular is that I can go to a church service in the Midwest, in the South, in Hawai‘i, and the bones of it are the same, but every congregation is unique. Soul Shop is the same in that the bones of the message are the same and the principles are the same. That’s why I loved this training.” The Indigenous curriculum incorporates various Indigenous imagery and symbolism, which vary by tribe and region. One metaphor that spoke to everyone was “life-giving, living water.” “Looking at suicidal desperation as different things ‘taking water away,’ it might be trauma; it might be job loss; it might be anything, but it’s taking away the water that you need to survive. That’s something everyone could relate to,” Brokenleg said. “There’s not one Indigenous symbol for everybody, but water as being life-giving is a symbol we can all believe.” Like every other Soul Shop workshop, the Indigenous “train the trainers” program had experienced “lifeguards” who observed trainees throughout the training and checked with anyone showing signs of distress. “There were some tears at different points in time, but that was to be expected,” Brokenleg said. “But I think what I really saw from people was, while there’s pain in that our lives have been touched by suicide, there’s also a lot of hope. … And that’s one of the key pieces of this curriculum, that there’s a sharing of hope like there’s a sharing of peace at church.” The Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Lakota and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is an endowed professor of Indigenous congregational studies with the Indigenous Theological Circle at Bexley Seabury Seminary and The Episcopal Church’s former Indigenous Ministries missioner. As a priest, he believes Episcopalians can help prevent suicide, “but we have to find ways to be able to do it and engage with those who are contemplating suicide or have thoughts of suicidal ideation or despair.” “[Soul Shop] identified two significant causes or contributors to suicidal ideation, or suicidal despair: loss of hope and loss of social connections. The church can certainly provide both,” Hauff told ENS. “Church programming and clergy and pastoral visitors reaching out to people so that nobody’s alone, keeping track of our members and those who visited the congregation and newcomers … the church has been doing that all along, but we can do better. It would be a blessing if people who don’t go to church could at least identify the church as a source […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church has found a prospective buyer for its 12-story office building in New York, New York, and is finalizing a tentative plan to move out of the longtime church headquarters, based on sale negotiations authorized on Oct. 19 by Executive Council, the church’s governing body between General Conventions. The buyer has not been named and the price has not been revealed, but the impending sale, if completed, would mark the culmination of decades of discussions about whether to maintain the current denominational headquarters or downsize in another location. The Episcopal Church Center in Midtown Manhattan is commonly referred to as “815” because of its street address, 815 Second Ave. A quarter of the proceeds from its sale will be set aside to pay for temporary offices in Manhattan and, eventually, to “fund costs associated with a new permanent location for the Church Center in a metropolitan area or state to be determined,” according to the resolution adopted by Executive Council. The rest of the proceeds, 75%, is to be placed in a new trust fund that will distribute grants for church planting, redevelopment and revitalization as part of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s strategic framework for the church’s future, which also was adopted by Executive Council during a one-day meeting in the headquarters building. “I think it’s really the opportunity to put our money where our mouth is, and say we’re going to repurpose an asset that we have that has been given to us as a legacy, and we’re going to use it to plant seeds for the future,” Rowe told Episcopal News Service after Executive Council’s votes. “This is essentially saying we’re going to sell the house in order to plant new churches and revitalize our congregations, and I think it sends a great message to the church.” The Episcopal Church Center includes 146,000 square feet of space, but in recent years, much of the churchwide staff has worked remotely in locations across the United States and Europe. Less than half the building is now occupied by church operations or affiliated organizations. In 2012, bishops and deputies at General Convention voted in favor of pursuing a new headquarters. The resolution said simply: “It is the will of this Convention to move the Church Center headquarters away from the Church Center building at 815 2nd Avenue, New York City.” Despite the 2012 resolution, planning for such a relocation never got off the ground. Chief Financial Officer Christopher Lacovara researched what it has cost the church to keep the building in the years since that vote. “If we had sold 815 Second Ave. following the 2012 General Convention resolution, invested the proceeds in the endowment and avoided the losses incurred by operating the building since then, we would now have $85 million in additional funds,” Lacovara said in a written statement to ENS. In June 2026, Executive Council voted to hire New York-based Denham Wolf Real Estate Services to market the 63-year-old building for a possible sale. “In July through September 2026, the DFMS conducted a broad marketing process and received numerous offers to sell the building for cash,” the council said in documentation supporting the vote, referring to the church’s corporate entity, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Under the pending sale, the church would have access to one floor of the current headquarters through 2027 while it arranges to relocate to new offices. House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, in her opening remarks to Executive Council, said the building’s sale raises the question, “what are we called to sustain?” “Our faithfulness will not be measured by whether we preserved a certain address, but by whether our decisions have enabled the church to serve God’s Mission, and that question … goes well beyond the matter of this building,” Ayala Harris said.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Diocese of Seoul in the Anglican Church of Korea hosted the bishops’ meeting of the Council of Churches in East Asia. The council gathers church leaders from Anglican traditions together annually, with member churches rotating the host role. This year, the bishops’ spouses were invited to attend the meeting. The Oct. 15-19 meeting centered on the theme “Seeds of the Gospel: Mission in East Asia. The theme drew from the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:32: “Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Bishops were present from the Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan, the Church of the Province of South East Asia, Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church of Japan), Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church of Hong Kong), the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and the Church in the Province of Myanmar. Associates from the Anglican Church of Australia and Iglesia Filipina Independiente also participated. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Oct. 19 presented publicly for the first time his sweeping, point-by-point strategic vision for The Episcopal Church, titled “Our Courageous Witness,” that combines Christian witness in the public square, greater support for dioceses and congregations, and structural and financial changes intended to sustain the church for years to come. The 15-year framework, which is expected to guide a restructured triennial churchwide budget for 2028-30, was endorsed in a vote by Executive Council, the church’s governing and oversight body between meetings of General Convention. The council adopted the plan unanimously without discussion during a livestreamed session. The council, attending a one-day meeting at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, had been one of a select group of key church stakeholders who had provided previous feedback to earlier drafts of the strategic framework, including at the council’s private retreat meeting in June in Puerto Rico. It has been in development by Rowe and his staff for much of this year, though many of its component details reflect changes that have been underway since Rowe took office as the denominational leader in November 2024. Rowe spoke for about a half hour before the vote to detail some of the key components of the plan, which is not being released in printed form. “We can be faithful to God in the here and in the now,” Rowe said in his presentation. “What does that mean for us? What does that mean for the church? How do we position ourselves to meet the needs of the time and God’s call on us now in this time and place?” Rowe then outlined the plan’s three strategic priorities — “ways in which we’ll reorient our work as a churchwide body toward the work of being the risen body of Christ in the world.” The plan’s three priorities are “Witness: A Christianity Worth Proclaiming,” “Support: Capacity Where It’s Needed” and “Sustain: A Church Built to Last.” Tied to the three priorities are 10 action steps, led or facilitated by the churchwide staff, to achieve a range of goals, such as reducing the church’s costs, increasing the church’s visibility and collaborating with dioceses so that local leaders can focus more on Christian ministry in their communities. The action items for “Witness” include developing a “churchwide evangelism and visibility campaign” that will promote The Episcopal Church more widely, a step that church leaders hope will help to stem the decline in membership and attendance that has affected all mainline Protestant denominations in recent decades. A related action item is to “elevate the voice of The Episcopal Church in the public square.” Some of this work already has been put in motion under the new staff structure Rowe implemented starting from his first days in office. Many of the church’s departments are now grouped into two core divisions, Mission Program, led by the Rev. Lester Mackenzie; and Public Policy, Partnership and Witness, led by Rebecca Blachly. The biggest changes in that staff realignment occurred in February 2025, when Rowe announced that 16 employees accepted early retirement incentives, 14 others were laid off and 13 vacant positions were left unfilled. Under Rowe, the churchwide staff has also added employees in several newly created positions. The presiding officers have chosen to leave the canonical position of chief operating officer vacant, but Rowe has created a new role of chief administrative officer and named Bishop José McLoughlin, who stepped down as bishop of Western North Carolina this year, to take the position. Other newly hired staff members have been laying the foundation for some of the work outlined in Rowe’s strategic plan. Chief Financial Officer Chris Lacovara, for example, has been a central figure in updating the church’s financial systems and seeking “cost improvements” since he was hired in March 2025. He has also been involved in talks of selling the church’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters. Later in the day’s meeting, Executive Council voted to authorize negotiations with a prospective buyer. The presiding bishop chairs Executive Council, and the House of Deputies president serves as its vice chair. Its 38 other voting members are a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders. Twenty are elected by General Convention to staggered six-year terms, or 10 new members every three years. The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces elect the other 18 to six-year terms, also staggered. The sale of the Episcopal Church Center is incorporated into the action items Rowe presented under the strategic framework’s “Sustain” priority, and Rowe has advocated for proceeds from the potential sale to be invested in a fund that will support a more robust church planting and revitalization effort. Other related action items include structural changes to make church governance more efficient and a new approach to churchwide grant-making that will emphasize strategic investments with measurable results. The “Support” priority has been central to Rowe’s stated vision since he was elected and confirmed as presiding bishop in June 2024. In his acceptance speech at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Rowe spoke of refocusing churchwide structures to better support the work of dioceses and congregations. That message resonated with bishops and deputies at a time when many Episcopal leaders are struggling to respond to declining membership, growing property maintenance costs and diminished capacity to meet canonical requirements, such as with clergy discipline. The presiding officers are planning to roll out a pilot program to assist dioceses with clergy disciplinary matters under the church’s Title IV canons, allowing dioceses to opt into a consolidated program that would relieve local leaders from filling every canonical role at the diocesan level. If successful, it would require canonical changes by General Convention to expand the program more broadly. Another initiative, already underway in dioceses like South Carolina, offers churchwide support for more efficient fundraising for local mission. Rowe also envisions deploying churchwide staff to support dioceses on financial matters, real estate issues and crisis communications, based […]

[National Council of Churches] The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) Governing Board convened for the 2026 Christian Unity Gathering, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 12-16 to discuss pressing concerns facing churches, communities and public life in the United States and around the world. Following these deliberations, the Governing Board approved four statements affirming the NCC’s commitment to Christian unity, human dignity, religious liberty and civic responsibility. Reflecting the central theme of this year’s Christian Unity Gathering, the Governing Board emphasized the importance of protecting the constitutional right of all Americans to freely practice their faith. The NCC, of which The Episcopal Church is a member, rejects efforts to privilege one religion over others and calls on Christians to model humility, respect and civic responsibility in public life, affirming that authentic religious freedom must be safeguarded for everyone, not only for one’s own faith community. These principles are expressed in “An Ecumenical Christian Statement on Safeguarding Religious Freedom.” The Governing Board reaffirmed the NCC’s longstanding opposition to the death penalty, and condemned proposals to publicly broadcast executions as a spectacle that diminishes the human dignity inherent in the Imago Dei and undermines the values of justice, mercy and respect for human life. These concerns are outlined in the statement, “A Call to Choose Mercy Over Spectacle: Opposing the Livestreamed Execution at Fort Hood.”  In response to ongoing suffering and economic hardship in Cuba, the Governing Board expressed concern for the well-being of the Cuban people and encouraged NCC member communions to deepen humanitarian assistance, strengthen church partnerships, engage in advocacy efforts and remain steadfast in prayerful solidarity with Cuban churches and communities. This call is detailed in “Humanitarian Situation in Cuba: A Call to Ecumenical Solidarity, Compassion, and Action.” The Governing Board also addressed the importance of protecting democratic participation and ensuring the integrity of the electoral process. Condemning political violence, voter intimidation, election mis- and disinformation and efforts to suppress or overturn lawful votes, “NCC Calls on People of Faith to Vote and Protect the Voting Rights of Others” urges people of faith to uphold truth, support free and fair elections and defend the right of every eligible person to vote and have their vote counted. It further encourages congregations to engage in prayer, civic education, voter assistance and nonpartisan efforts to promote peaceful participation in the democratic process. In addition to addressing matters of public witness and advocacy, the Christian Unity Gathering convened faith leaders, advocates, technology experts and academicians for a breakfast roundtable to discuss faith and artificial intelligence. The session explored how NCC member denominations can responsibly engage their communities on the moral and theological implications of emerging technologies. Plans are underway for a more in-depth gathering early in 2027 to decide on ways to collaborate and provide guidance and guardrails on emerging technologies’ impacts. Founded in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is the leading ecumenical body in the U.S., bringing together 37 member denominations and about 30 million people in 100,000 congregations. The Christian Unity Gathering is NCC’s signature annual event in which denominational and other faith leaders come together to collaborate, discuss and engage the issues of the day to find ways to meaningfully and faithfully respond to the challenges facing our communities.

[Episcopal News Service] According to the most recent Parochial Report published this week by The Episcopal Church, a full half of congregations had an average Sunday attendance of 50 or fewer in 2025. Yet those smaller congregations account for just 15% of worshipers; the remaining 85% attend churches with an average Sunday attendance of 51 or more. That kind of lopsided distribution, and the funding disparity that comes with it, makes it challenging for those smaller parishes and missions to recruit priests to serve their communities. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, which averages about 30 congregants on any given Sunday, is a case in point. After searching for a rector for two years, the parish in June 2024 announced the Rev. Erik Broeren was their choice — as did St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church 2.4 miles away in Benton Harbor. Broeren now alternates between the two: On the Sundays he’s there, he presides over the Eucharist, and on the Sundays he’s not, licensed lay preacher and longtime congregant Freya Gilbert oversees Morning Prayer, including a sermon. “In rural settings or small towns like we’re in, you’re going to see more priests who are called to multiple parishes at the same time,” Broeren told the Episcopal News Service. “We have to empower our laity to live into their ministry as worship leaders, as preachers, as educators. To me, there’s no other way forward.” Broeren isn’t the only one who sees lay leaders as the way forward. According to a survey of deputies and alternate deputies at the 79th and 80th General Conventions, published in 2022, lack of lay training ranked as the second-most-cited obstacle – behind funding – when asked about the barriers to ministry facing their congregations and dioceses. Since these lay leaders, like Gilbert, come from the communities they live and work in – and these are overwhelmingly non-stipendiary roles — the challenge is more logistical than liturgical: How do dioceses get them the training they need and their congregations deserve? The answer, for both future lay leaders as well as ordained priests, has increasingly been access to nonresidential programs. One such program, which focuses specifically on serving the needs of dioceses with rural congregations, is the Iona Collaborative at the Seminary of the Southwest. Taking its name from the island off the coast of Scotland where, in 563, St. Columba established a monastery to help spread Christianity east into modern-day continental Europe, the Iona Collaborative launched in 2012 and became part of the Austin, Texas-based Seminary of the Southwest in 2017. At first, the Iona Initiative, as it was originally known, offered curricula and other resources to diocesan schools of formation to train aspiring priests (a three-year program) and deacons (a two-year program) locally, rather than requiring them to relocate for a traditional residential seminary education. Over the last six years, however, training local lay leaders has become an increasingly important focus. “When I came on board in 2020, we did not train lay leaders at all,” Iona’s Director Nandra Perry told ENS. “And the dioceses we work with started coming to us and saying, ‘We would really like to use this curriculum to train lay preachers.’ And we looked at what we had and said, ‘We think we can help you build that!’” “Now, it’s Iona’s growing edge,” she added. “And more and more Iona schools are offering lay formation of some kind.” In fact, she said, the vast majority of the dioceses they work with — currently 32 across the U.S. and the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa — offer some type of lay certification program. For the one-year lay certificate programs, Iona provides the curriculum — reading materials and lectures — and a combination of Zoom-based and in-person weekend meetings, with the latter held in local partner dioceses lessening the burden of travel and days off work. Iona works closely with the deans of the diocesan schools of formation to provide tailor-made programs to serve the needs of each partner diocese, Perry said. While some of the modifications have to with things like what the courses cover and how often they meet in person, others have a more broad-reaching impact, such as providing an effective Spanish-language curricula. Perry explained that originally Iona simply translated or subtitled all of its materials into Spanish, but after working with the West Coast Collaborative Episcopal School for Ministry, which serves the dioceses of Northern California, El Camino Real and San Diego, “we learned that’s just a Band-Aid because Spanish-language preachers are coming from – and preaching in – a different cultural context,” she said. “What counts as effective preaching is quite different.” As a result, she said, readings and other aspects of the program within that school of formation were adjusted to reflect this reality. Instead of “bridging a gap,” Perry considers the lay certification program an investment in the future of those smaller congregations, one that gives aspiring lay leaders the tools and confidence they need to succeed without sending them far afield. Gilbert, of St. Paul’s in St. Joseph, is one of those lay leaders. In 2023, she enrolled in a lay preaching program offered through her diocese’s Academy for Vocational Leadership in partnership with Iona. She said that throughout the 10-month course, she attended three of the weekend sessions via Zoom and the rest at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan, a three-hour drive from her home. And even though she had been preaching for years, she said the coursework made her better at it. “To use an illustration from music,” she said, “it doesn’t matter how gifted you are musically, your teacher is still going to make you practice scales. Before the course I absolutely produced acceptable homilies. But [preaching class instructor the Rev. Tracie Little] basically made us practice scales by teaching us different methodologies and models and listening to each other identify and read different parts […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church is in the middle of a three-year celebration of the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination, and this weekend, the Diocese of California will host a panel discussion featuring the church’s first female presiding bishop, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. The event, “Celebrating Audacity,” is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Pacific Oct. 18, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Jefferts Schori, who served as the church’s denominational leader from 2006 to 2015, will be joined on the panel by the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, priest-in-charge of St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco, and the Rev. Liz Tichenor, rector of the Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill. The panel discussion and an Evensong will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s website and on YouTube. “The commemorations help us learn and preserve valuable history about the many ordained women across the church who brought creativity and persistence to their ministries, sometimes at great cost in doing so,” the Rev. Paula Nesbitt, a co-chair of the “Celebrating Audacity” planning committee, said in a written statement to Episcopal News Service. “Inevitably, they have widened the path for others to pursue their own ordained or lay vocations.” The first women to be ordained as priests in The Episcopal Church became known as the Philadelphia Eleven, after their 1974 ordinations at Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four more women were ordained in 1975 at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., before General Convention voted the following year formally to allow women to serve as priests in the church. Tributes to the Philadelphia Eleven and broader celebrations of women’s ordination on the 50th anniversary began in 2024. The church that year also designated three years of celebration, as outlined in a resolution passed by the 81st General Convention. “This General Convention encourages and supports churchwide events and programs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood and the 50th anniversary of the first time a woman priest presided at the Eucharist,” the resolution said. “In doing so, the church celebrates both the historical and contemporary significance of increased gender diversity in the three ordained Orders, more closely reflecting that of the church overall.” In the Diocese of California, its convention passed a resolution in October 2024 establishing a timeline for diocesan commemorations related to women’s ordination and calling for the formation of a bishop’s advisory committee to lead the planning of those commemorations. “A commemorative triennium of the ordination of women to all orders of ministry provides a means to communicate and celebrate these significant events as well as to acknowledge the history of mutually supportive efforts by people of all genders, ordained and lay, to create a more just and demographically representative structure of ministry in the church,” the Diocese of California said in its resolutions supporting documentation. The diocese specified that its milestone commemorations are intended to convey the full scope of the women’s ordination movement, which it dated from 1944 to 2006, when Jefferts Schori was elected to the church’s highest-ranking ordained role 20 years ago. “Bishop Jefferts Schori will help us celebrate the audacity of pathbreaking women in The Episcopal Church, continuing the process of widening the gates of ministry for all,” the diocese said in announcing the panel discussion. Afterward, Jefferts Schori will preach at the 4 p.m. Evensong, and all ordained women in the diocese have been invited to process. The event is intended not only to mark the barriers broken down by Jefferts Schori, but also the way her election paved the way for others to step up, including LGBTQ+ Episcopalians. “I remember where I was in June 2006 when I learned of Bishop Katharine’s election –nreading the news at my dining room table, absolutely electrified,” said the Rev. Cameron Partridge, a co-chair of the “Celebrating Audacity” planning committee and a transgender priest who is active in the group TransEpiscopal. Jefferts Schori’s “steadfast, courageous leadership has broken trail for women and for people of all genders in the Episcopal Church. I very much look forward to celebrating her ministry here this Sunday.”

[Diocese of Los Angeles] By the time “Clear the Road to Freedom” walkers reached Los Angeles Oct. 6, they had focused national media attention on inhumane ICE detention center conditions, raised $65,000 for bonds for detainees, built extensive grassroots support and, although exhausted, sunburned and blistered from their 96-mile trek in extreme heat, were dancing in the streets, said the Rev. Canon Jaime Edwards Acton, an organizer and diocesan Sacred Resistance co-chair. “It was like we had endless energy. It was beautiful,” and only the beginning, Edwards Acton told The Episcopal News Oct. 7. “We’re going to keep showing up, keep insisting that something be done, that centers be closed down, that the immigration system be fixed and that people be held accountable, and to make sure that these places are humane.” The interfaith walk, itself, was the message. Organized by the diocesan Sacred Resistance, CLUE, or Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, and Nefesh L.A., a Jewish spiritual community, the pilgrimage drew widespread attention from such Spanish- and English-language media outlets as Univision, the Rachel Maddow Show, MS Now, L.A. Local, USA Today Network/Visalia Times-Delta and many others, he said. Walkers also drew a groundswell of local and individual support, Rabbi Susan Goldberg, Nefesh founder and a pilgrimage organizer, told The Episcopal News on Oct. 3, when the group reached Upland, about halfway to their destination. “People are showing up and saying, ‘I saw this on TikTok and on social media, and I decided to come walk for the day, and they are having transformative experiences. “That’s the beautiful part about pilgrimage,” she added. “We have woven together a beautiful sense of group and shared purpose,” and are learning about each other. Nefesh had hosted a shabbat meal at an evening stop in Fontana, she said. “We have time to reflect together, the opportunity to hear testimonies of those who’ve been held in Adelanto,” where at least five people have died amid allegations of detainees being served dirty water and worm-infested food, and refused medical attention. There are many opportunities to join the supporters, said the Rev. Rob Muthiah, a Mennonite pastor and CLUE’s Director of Leadership Development. “Most people in detention don’t have criminal records, but even if they did, they still bear the image of God. They still have legal rights. The administration is ignoring those rights. The level of cruelty there, for me, as a Christian, seeing people who identify as Christians perpetrating this – God, forgive us. “We want everybody to think about what’s your moral core, and then, what can you do,” he added. “Some will show up to protest; others will push for legislation; others do letter drives. We need it all, and it doesn’t have to look like walking 96 miles. We can do it together.” The 96-mile distance is meaningful and calculated, said the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez, CLUE’s Executive Director and a United Methodist Church pastor. “It’s a long walk for us but an even longer trek for families trying to visit loved ones. The objective is to break people down.” The walkers also aimed to raise money for CLUE’s bond fund, which, according to The Progressive Magazine, as of May 2026, had raised and paid more than $1.5 million in detainee bonds. The detention center intentionally was located in a remote space, Edwards Acton said. “This camp is built 96-1/2 miles away from downtown L.A. in the high desert, in the heat, away from the eyes and ears of Angelenos and 96-1/2 miles away from family members who want to visit loved ones, 96-1/2 miles away from the legal representation which everybody deserves. “Adelanto is a long way from a lot of things by design, not by accident, and it speaks to the cruelty, the intentionality of this federal government and our immigration policies—and you see this all across the country,” he said. “We hoped that each step we took brought a little bit closer to people in L.A. and across the country and the world, the stories and messages of those suffering and going through this.” E.B. Stapp’s eyes welled up as she recalled the signs bearing images of detainees who died at Adelanto and the account shared by “a man who was there for six weeks and was bonded out by CLUE. He said his children were so traumatized by his detention that now they don’t sleep. They keep getting up in the night to make sure he hasn’t been taken away from them again.” Participating the first and last day of the walk, she aimed to express solidarity so detainees would know they are not forgotten. “It was an incredibly moving experience, rather than being angry about the worst of humanity, to just be around the best of humanity,” said Stapp, a member of St. Mark’s Church in Upland, which served as an Oct. 3 rest and snack stop for the walkers. Gutierrez said the Upland welcome was emblematic of support received along the way from many churches and others. “People were clapping and cheering us as we arrived. There was a beautiful spread of snacks and cold drinks, charging stations for phones, signs welcoming us.” The Very Rev. Keith Yamamoto, St. Mark’s rector, said the congregation felt “honored to host the pilgrims. For me, their witness is a reminder of the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and our baptismal vow to uphold the dignity of all people.” Edwards Acton agreed, noting that as the walkers had passed the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, “we were joined by young people from Nikkei Progressives,” a volunteer Japanese American grassroots organization opposing systemic injustice. Similarly, Japanese Americans and supporters began a four-day, 48-mile pilgrimage Oct. 7 from Seattle, Washington, to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma to protest the administration’s policy of mass deportations, he said. The Adelanto walkers were aged 9 months to a 91-year-old retired priest. They were Black, White, Latino, Asian; they represented organized labor, activist organizations and faith communities; some were random individuals. Some joined in for a time, along “scary turns” on the Cajon Pass, over the rough terrain of the San Gabriel mountain range, to moving single file on dirt roads, Edwards Acton said. Churches and individuals […]

[Episcopal News Service — Washington, D.C.] In Episcopal worship services, acolytes are the lay volunteers who assist with the Gospel procession, tend to duties on the altar and help set the table for the Eucharist. They are responsible for routine tasks that rarely draw attention away from the clergy leading the services, yet those worship services often wouldn’t go as smoothly if not for the acolytes. Washington National Cathedral acknowledges the acolytes’ importance and has celebrated their roles since 1979 by hosting the annual Acolyte Festival. Some 700 acolytes from 68 Episcopal churches in 15 U.S.-based dioceses and an Anglican congregation in Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil, attended this year’s festival on Oct. 10. The acolytes’ estimated ages ranged from as young as 4 years old to as old as 80. The cathedral celebrates acolytes because “they’re supporting what’s happening for people to come and to receive the sacrament, and to enter into that closer relationship with God in Christ,” the Rev. Rosemarie Logan Duncan, canon precentor of Washington National Cathedral and a former acolyte, told Episcopal News Service. The Acolyte Festival’s centerpiece was the opening worship service and procession, when all the acolytes, servers, clergy and vergers processed from the cathedral’s Great West Doors down the center aisle wearing their vestments and holding traditional procession items, including the book of the Gospels, processional crosses, thuribles, candles, liturgical banners, kites and streamers. “I really liked how everybody carried themselves at the procession,” Isabel Oria, a 17-year-old crucifer at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, told ENS. “It was really cool to observe all the other acolytes, especially the ones for [Washington National Cathedral], because their footsteps were so synchronized.” During the worship service, Duncan presented the acolytes to the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, as they recommitted themselves to their ministry. The service included readings from Jeremiah 1:4-9, Colossians 3:12-17 and Matthew 9:35-38. West Virginia Bishop Matthew Cowden preached. During his sermon, Cowden acknowledged that many acolytes, especially the children, may “feel a little too small” in the space they were sharing. However, referencing Jeremiah 1:4-9, the biblical account of the young prophet Jeremiah’s call and commission by God, Cowden said, “feeling small before God is not a new experience.” “You might say … ‘I’m only the backup acolyte. I’m just driving the van on this mission. I’m just here to carry the banner,’” Cowden said. “God has a mission and a ministry for your service and love in the world, and participating as an acolyte is one of the ways we tune our ears, our heart and our stomach to hear the call of God. Wherever you go, wherever you are called to carry the light into the world, do it in the name of Jesus, who speaks for you and has compassion for you.” Many of the acolytes attend the festival every year, not just for the festivities, but also the educational workshops and networking opportunities. “We’ll take inspiration from what we see with other churches and bring them back to our church,” Austin Ochoa, a 15-year-old crucifer at All Saints’, told ENS. “I’m also excited to see how thurifers work because I’m not very good at handling the thurible yet.” A thurifer is an acolyte or altar server who carries and swings the thurible – a metal incense burner suspended by chains. Duncan taught the hands-on thurible workshop. Other workshops included a lecture on the history of acolytes and hands-on demonstrations on how to make liturgical kites and streamers. “I love teaching the acolytes how to make the liturgical kites every year because I think they’re significant. I think they’re definitely a sign of the Holy Spirit,” the Rev. Sue Von Rautenkranz, archdeacon emerita of the Diocese of Washington, told ENS. “They’re symbolic, but liturgical kites are also fun, and I think church needs to be fun sometimes.” The Acolyte Festival is also a rare opportunity for many acolytes to visit Washington National Cathedral – officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul – which is the seat of the presiding bishop and the bishop of Washington, as well as the second-tallest church building in the United States and six-largest cathedral in the world. Because of this, family-friendly activities were offered for participants to experience the cathedral up close, including tours, stained-glass window puzzle and coloring activities, an organ demonstration and mini recital, as well as a presentation on the cathedral’s historic “treasures,” such as different chalices. Acolytes could also test their masonry skills by carving blocks of Indiana limestone like many stone masons and master carvers did throughout the cathedral’s 83-year construction period. The acolytes also added bricks to contribute to the cathedral’s ongoing Lego model project, which is a 1:40 scale community-built replica that will be 13 feet long and 8 feet tall and made with more than 500,000 Lego bricks when complete. The cathedral launched the project in 2019 as a fundraising initiative for ongoing preservation, maintenance and repair work. “Experiencing the cathedral in Washington, D.C., is a really big experience among acolytes of our church. We have to drive six hours up from Tennessee to get here, which is a big investment for us,” Willis Bidgood, a 16-year-old acolyte at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Johnson City, told ENS. “This journey creates a really close bond for the acolytes because we get to share this incredible experience together.” For Hollerith, seeing so many congregations of various sizes from different dioceses gather “like a family” is a major highlight of the festival, describing the day “like a homecoming.” He additionally told ENS that, based on his experience as a teenage acolyte at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, serving as an acolyte can inspire and “open the doors” to pursue other callings of leadership in the church. “One of the great gifts of being an acolyte is all that you’re exposed to, and I got exposed to really […]

[Anglican Taonga] The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has empowered its Climate Commission to develop a churchwide climate resilience strategy over the next two years. Elisiva Sunia moved the motion on climate resilience, speaking from her experience reducing disaster risks for communities. Sunia said that while climate change affects every part of the church, its impacts are experienced differently in each community. “A churchwide strategy will give us a shared direction, while still allowing dioceses and Hui Amorangi to respond to their own local realities,” she said. Read the full article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Throughout the Anglican Communion, churches, communities and individuals are advocating to restore and protect the “lungs of the Earth.” Creation care is a core pillar of the Anglican tradition, reflected in the Fifth Mark of Mission, which urges Anglican to “safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the Earth.” The Episcopal Church of South Sudan is implementing this vital charge in the form of intentional tree planting, water source care and waste management in churches and beyond. Kenyi Emmanuel Dube, a team leader for the Episcopal Church of South Sudan Environmental Network (ECSSEN), shared with Anglican News the changes that are being implemented in parishes and regionally. “Through ECSSEN, we mobilize Christians to become better stewards of God’s creation and actively promote the Green Anglican Movement in South Sudan,” Dube said. “This year, in collaboration with the Catholic Church, we jointly launched the Season of Creation, during which we engaged in prayer and practical actions such as cleaning water sources, as part of our commitment to caring for creation.” Read the full article here.