Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] Cheryl Mirabella left the Catholic Church when she was a young adult and went on a yearslong “spiritual safari” through different denominations.  “I have a very deep spiritual life … but I didn’t really feel like I was getting what I needed through church,” she told Episcopal News Service. Mirabella accidentally tuned in to the Jan. 21 Service of Prayer for the Nation at Washington National Cathedral and listened to Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s plea to President Donald Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now” – specifically LGBTQ+ people and immigrants. “I was so impressed by her kindness and her words, so I immediately went and downloaded her book (“How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith”) on Audible and … listened to the whole book while taking a solo trip down to Arches National Park in Moab,” Mirabella said. “I was so inspired by her and her words and her journey through life.” Then on Sunday, Mirabella went to her local Episcopal parish, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Park City, Utah, to check out the Jan. 26 worship service. “The priest, a woman, got up and her first words were to welcome us … That felt really good,” she said. “What Jesus teaches us is not representative of what a lot of denominations are now.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by ek (@emmakateshaver.art) Many people like Mirabella reported on social media that they attended an Episcopal worship service for the first time because of Budde’s sermon, and they were pleasantly surprised to learn that LGBTQ+ people, women and all immigrants, regardless of status, are not only welcome in The Episcopal Church, but also serve as clergy and lay leaders. “I think people really have a hunger, especially in times like these, to have a story that will help them, give them hope and give them purpose in life. They don’t always hear a Christian message out there that resonates with them,” the Rev. Clare Hickman, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ferndale, Michigan, told ENS. “Having Bishop Budde speaking in a way that’s really talking about God’s kingdom coming in this world – this side of the grave – is powerful.” Five visitors told Hickman they went to St. Luke’s for worship after feeling inspired by Budde’s sermon five days earlier. Since her sermon went viral, Budde has made countless television appearances, including CNN and The View. She’s also done interviews with The New Yorker, The Nation, The Guardian, Glamour and other news outlets. Her image has appeared in works of art and on a cookie made by Hive Bakery in Flower Mound, Texas, which sold out every day. She also was mentioned in a folk song. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jesse Welles (@wellesmusic) Non-Episcopalians are also just learning about some of Budde’s past actions, like in 2020 when she criticized Trump for posing with a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square – one block from the White House – after ordering his security detail and law enforcement officers to forcibly push back protesters who had gathered outside the White House as part of an ongoing anti-racism demonstration a week after the killing of George Floyd.  In 2018, Budde safely interred the remains of Matthew Shepard – a young gay man who in 1998 was beaten and tortured to death – at Washington National Cathedral. Shepard’s parents held onto his ashes for 20 years out of fear of his grave being vandalized. News of Budde helping Shepard’s parents has been circulating among LGBTQ+ communities, organizations and news outlets. At Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge, New Jersey, about half a dozen people who either were new to the congregation or who don’t come regularly were in church, the rector, the Rev. Diana Wilcox, told ENS. The church has an average Sunday attendance of about 40, so that many new people not only was unusually high but really stood out, she said. After the service, she always asks visitors what brought them to the church that day. “One couple said they had lived in Bloomfield for a while and decided to find an Episcopal church to attend this Sunday” in response to Budde’s sermon, she said. During coffee hour after the service, people were lingering longer than usual and were talking about the sermon. “There was a buzz in the air,” Wilcox said. She suspects that additional people who are newly curious about The Episcopal Church were watching the livestreams of their service and those of other churches. They may translate into additional new visitors in coming weeks, she said. When Rebekah Gleaves Sanderlin was a little girl growing up in Tennessee, her Southern Baptist preacher told the congregation that God calls people to the ministry, “and if you hear the voice, you’ll know.” When she told her grandmother that she thinks God’s calling her to the ministry, she was told that only men could serve as pastors. In elementary school, Sanderlin was sent to the principal’s office and then home from her conservative Church of Christ school one day because she prayed in front of boys before lunch. Her teacher accused her of “trying to spiritually lead boys.” “Looking back now, oh my God, those were horrible things to say to a small child,” Sanderlin told ENS. As an adult, Sanderlin searched for her spiritual home while frequently moving due to her husband serving in the Army. But when Trump won the 2016 election while she was living in the Florida Panhandle, a very religiously and politically conservative region, she no longer felt comfortable in church. When Sanderlin saw a clip of Budde’s plea to Trump, she decided to visit her local Episcopal parish, St. Aidan’s Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. “Just hearing Budde say the most basic tenets of Christianity, […]

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will be ceremonially seated at Washington National Cathedral on Feb. 2 during the cathedral’s main Sunday Eucharist, at which Rowe also will preach. The 11:15 a.m. Eastern service will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. The liturgy for the service is contained in the church’s Book of Occasional Services (page 355 here). Washington Bishop Mariann Budde will preside. During the service, Rowe will formally enter the cathedral through its Great West Doors and take his seat in the Great Choir, according to a cathedral announcement. Rowe was elected by the House of Bishops and confirmed by the House of Deputies as The Episcopal Church’s 28th presiding bishop in June 2024 at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. He took office Nov. 1, and the church celebrated the start of his nine-year term the next day with a Nov. 2 investiture at the Episcopal Church Center in New York that was livestreamed to a large churchwide audience. Washington National Cathedral, located in the United States’ capital city, is known as the formal seat of both the presiding bishop and the bishop of Washington. While Rowe chose a more intimate setting for his investiture, the Feb. 2 seating ceremony acknowledges the cathedral’s place of importance in the life of the wider church, particularly where the church’s mission overlaps with issues in the public sphere. The presiding bishop has a range of responsibilities, as outlined by The Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons. Those include presiding over the House of Bishops, chairing Executive Council, visiting every Episcopal diocese, participating in the ordination and consecration of bishops, receiving and responding to disciplinary complaints against bishops, making appointments to the church’s interim bodies, and “developing policies and strategies for the church and speaking for the church on the policies, strategies and programs of General Convention.” One of Rowe’s first priorities after taking office has been to study churchwide structures and staffing and develop a realignment plan that is intended to greater assist dioceses and congregations. Rowe has said he expects to announce the initial details of that realignment when Executive Council meets next, Feb. 17-19 in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.

[Anglican Taonga] There’s a lot of talk about connecting with communities in mission, and Ross McQueen, a retired farmer in the Canterbury region of New Zealand,  is exactly the kind of person our church could overlook if “connecting with communities” got left out of our plans. Back in 1976 when Ross McQueen was a young farmer in Mount Grey Downs (north of Rangiora), he turned up to an evening led by Christchurch City Missioner, the Rev. Maurice Goodall, who would later become a much-loved Bishop of Christchurch. Goodall was looking for a place where young men stuck on drugs and alcohol in the city, or courting problems with the law, could get a different view of life and learn skills to set them on a new trajectory. His eye had alighted on a closed-down country school next to McQueen’s farm, spying its potential as a learning center where young men could do on-the-job training and gather life skills. As Goodall shared his vision for giving young men a second chance, McQueen and his wife Carol stepped up to offer a helping hand. Although baptized in an Anglican Church, McQueen wasn’t a churchgoer, but he did know a bit about how life can deal a tough hand to young men. A few years earlier, when he was only 17 years old, his father died, leaving him and his brother in line to run the family farm. That experience meant he knew that young men in crisis needed genuine help, not someone to tell them what was wrong with them. “One thing I’ve always liked about the Mission is its only criteria is need … they don’t ask too many questions, they don’t judge – and it’s helped an awful lot of people.” Jump forward to 2025 and McQueen’s commitment to the City Mission continues, from his 1970s efforts to get young men on track for a better future, to serving the Mission’s various operations teams, to bringing his business acumen into the Mission’s Finance, Risk Management and Property Committee for over 30 years. McQueen is proud of the Mission’s recent successes getting people into supported housing, setting up social supermarkets and designing interventions that help people move out of charity and into developing the skills they’ll need to live a good life on their own terms. He thinks that Christians should care most about people who miss out on a good life, and our governments also should focus on preventing problems rather than fixing their sights on the negative results. “I volunteer at a high school here in Rangiora (with the Smallbore Rifle Club, also recognized in the honor) and the majority of kids are doing well. But there’s a group of children that school just doesn’t serve. But get them one on one, out there working on farms, or in forestry, in anything that’s a good job really, and it’s a different story. The vast majority are good kids.” A year or two back, one of those 1970s kids bowled up to McQueen and told him that his time in Mount Grey Downs had changed his life for the better. “‘I wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for the Mission,’ he said.” Now he has a family and runs his own business as a gibstopper, a craftsperson who applies a special compound to plasterboard to create a smooth surface.. “When someone says thank you, or says, “What the Mission did for me has made a difference,” it makes it all worthwhile. McQueen says it’s sad the Mission still has work to do, but that has shifted, too, over the years. “The people are changing, they’re not always unemployed, they might be working two jobs, but it’s not enough if you are paying hundreds of dollars a week for your house and you have a couple of children. What they earn sounds alright, but when something goes wrong it’s hard to cope. People who were donors five years ago are now coming in for help.” “I think half of New Zealand doesn’t know how the other half lives – and they don’t want to know. You talk to people and they say, ‘What a bunch of no-hopers’, and it’s just not true.” Ross McQueen was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Christchurch, Rangiora and Canterbury rural communities, including his almost 50 years’ service to the work of the Christchurch City Mission. His honor citation is in the 2025 New Year’s Honours MNZM list here.

[World Council of Churches] In an address before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Jan. 27, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew spoke of how religion can provide a unique perspective in the objective to eradicate poverty and hunger, to address fundamentalism and racism, and to advance tolerance and dialogue. “Churches and religious communities are not only pivotal in people’s personal or spiritual lives,” he said. “They also reserve a critical role in mobilizing institutions and societies on manifold levels.” He also emphasized the urgency of protecting our planet. “We are convinced that what we do for the earth is intimately related to what we do for people, whether in the context of human rights, international politics, or world peace,” the ecumenical patriarch said. “In other words, the way we respond to climate change is intimately connected to the way we respond to human challenges.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew serves as the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. Read the entire article here.

[Episcopal News Service] After continuously advocating for firearm violence prevention, Episcopal leaders in the Diocese of Michigan are celebrating the passing of the state’s newest gun safety law, which requires the state police to completely destroy all guns turned in during community buyback events. “We are committed to making changes that matter,” Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry told Episcopal News Service. “All of the work we’ve been doing with End Gun Violence Michigan – which is a coalition of 50 faith and secular groups – is how we, who happen to be Episcopalians, are embodying our baptismal promises, how we’re living out gospel values and, frankly, how we are saving lives.” Perry — a co-convener of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail gun violence — was instrumental in helping to launch End Gun Violence Michigan, a grassroots group credited with helping several gun safety laws pass in the state over the last couple of years. Gun safety has been a growing issue of concern in Michigan in recent years, especially after the mass shootings at Michigan State University in East Lansing in 2023 and at Oxford High School in Oxford Township in 2021. “We’ve had two horrible mass shootings in schools, but we also have continuous gun violence in rural areas and in our urban centers,” Perry said. “When people see that a church is taking a stand and offering a service for something they care about, they can be reassured that the church understands their fears and sadness.” Since 2022, St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit, has hosted several public gun buyback events, where hundreds of unwanted firearms have been collected in exchange for Target or Meijer gift cards. The guns are supposed to be melted down to prevent further use. Despite the genuine effort to reduce the number of firearms, however, Yaw later learned from a New York Times investigation that the guns collected by police agencies, St. David’s and other churches and organizations in the Lower Peninsula weren’t being melted down as promised. Instead, a private company that collected the guns from the buybacks was only destroying the frame or receiver – whichever piece has the serial number – of each firearm and recycling the remaining parts to sell as gun kits online. “I blew a gasket when I found out,” the Rev. Chris Yaw, rector of St. David’s, told ENS. “We contacted our legislators, and Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer signed our bill into law so that now in Michigan, when you donate a gun at a buyback or when the municipality gets a gun earmarked for destruction … it will not be broken down and recycled on the internet and making third parties millions of dollars.” Yaw pointed out that guns have a “very long shelf life,” and St. David’s has collected intact guns dating back to the Civil War at buybacks. “We’ve had families stuck with their loved one’s massive gun collection after they die, and they don’t know what to do with it other than get rid of it.”  Some of the buyback events at St. David’s have included an arts and crafts component, where guns are destroyed on site using specialized saws and transformed into jewelry, rosaries, key fobs and other works of art. During one “Guns and Crafts” event in June 2024, Perry blessed the saws ahead their use throughout the summer. “I see this kind of ministry as a means of congregational vitality and development, how our communities of faith become hubs for their local neighbors – as a place where people can turn to,” Perry said. “For many people, they feel safer and more comfortable dropping off their unwanted guns at a church than a police station. …We’re offering pastoral care to people as they are getting rid of these unwanted guns.” Perry and Yaw both said many people who turn in guns at buybacks need pastoral care because the guns have become a source of grief and fear, especially if a loved one was harmed or killed by gunshot. Yaw said one woman turned in a pistol that she discovered was loaded inside her mattress after her husband died, for example. “She freaked out because she had no idea her husband owned a gun or that he had it their entire married life, but she felt relieved when she saw that she could safely get rid of it at St. David’s,” Yaw said. As for grief, “Many families have brought in guns that were responsible for their loved ones dying by suicide,” Yaw said. Most U.S. gun deaths are suicides, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control classifies as a public health issue particularly in rural areas. Over the last 20 years, suicide rates have been higher in rural areas than urban areas. On average, 1,421 Michiganders die annually from gun violence, according to data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Jan. 29, nationwide 1,807 people have died from gun violence this year, including 21 from mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an American nonprofit that catalogs every gun-related death in the United States. A mass shooting is any shooting in which at least four people are shot. Episcopalians can learn more about the church’s gun safety legislation dating to 1976 here. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Kevin Laskowski’s road to “Jeopardy!” fame, as he tells the story, began in a moment of grief. It was February 2023, and he had recently lost his father to leukemia. Up late one night and “in my feelings,” he recalled his childhood love of “Jeopardy!” and how his parents had told him he ought to be on the show. At 2 a.m., he decided to stop “doomscrolling” on his phone and instead took the online test that is the first step toward becoming a contestant on the popular quiz show. Within the next few months, he received a reply from the show asking him to take another test and then an invitation to a Zoom audition. In September 2024, he was at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, Virginia, where he serves as priest-in-charge, when he got the final call. He didn’t recognize the number, but it came from California. It was the show, asking him to fly out to compete in front of a studio audience for an upcoming episode. “I went from a casual fan to actually hoping to win a few games and now I’m heading to the Tournament of Champions,” Laskowski, 44, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview this month. Laskowski, who lives in Falls Church, took home $53,000 from his three-game win streak in November, enough to qualify for the show’s annual tournament. He will compete against two other “Jeopardy!” champions in an episode scheduled to air Jan. 31. No surprise, Laskowski is sworn to secrecy about the outcome of that match. He told ENS that in general “the competition gets fierce” at the show’s Tournament of Champions. “You already are part of an incredibly thoughtful group of people, and the Tournament of Champions just ramps that up.” In such a potentially stressful setting, host Ken Jennings had the ability to put everyone at ease. “He’s a former competitor, so you just get the sense that he’s in it with you,” Laskowski said. “He was just an awesome person, a terrific host.” This is the second straight year – more happenstance than divine intervention – that an Episcopal priest has appeared in the Tournament of Champions. The Rev. David Sibley, who serves a parish in Walla Walla, Washington, was good enough at providing his responses in the form of questions that “Jeopardy!” invited him to compete in last year’s tournament. (Sibley won his first match but lost in the semifinal round.) Previously, the Rev. Kit Carlson, a priest in East Lansing, Michigan, appeared on the show in September 2008, and the Rev. Scott Russell was a contestant in December 2011. Russell, then a chaplain at Virginia Tech, is now a chaplain at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. Laskowski hadn’t yet talked to those past clergy competitors, but he said their TV appearances gave him the confidence to wear his own clergy collar proudly during tapings of his episodes. And though the show doesn’t provide much opportunity for evangelism, he hoped that his participation was a signal to the audience that “priests are people too.” Contestant priests like Laskowski also have demonstrated they know a little bit about a lot of things, in addition to their faith. In one of his November episodes, for example, Laskowski picked up $4,800 in a category about rap music by giving three correct responses, earning the label “rap fan” from Jennings. He also knew that Tennessee was the state whose “15 official state songs include two that mention moonshine & 3 played in 3/4 time.” Laskowski describes himself as a voracious reader with a good memory. “You pick up different things along the way,” he said, “and I just happened to remember them.” Some of his talent with trivia derives from his experiences before becoming a priest. A lifelong Virginia resident, Laskowski studied political science in college, earning a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University in Fairfax. For much of his adult life, he worked in the philanthropic sector, including with an organization that counseled affluent families on maximizing the positive impact of their charity giving. He later worked with philanthropists on social justice advocacy and engagement. He recalls initially feeling called to ordained ministry as far back as his teenage years, but he grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. Pursuing a path to the priesthood as an adult conflicted with his desire to be a husband and father. At that time, he recalled, “I told God, no.” He was introduced to The Episcopal Church after meeting and marrying his wife, Allison, whose mother is an Episcopal priest. The Laskowskis now have three sons, and after the family began attending Episcopal services, Kevin Laskowski’s childhood interest in ordained ministry returned. In 2014, he enrolled at Virginia Theological Seminary, graduating in 2017. He was ordained into the priesthood in 2022 by the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davidson, then assistant bishop of the Diocese of Virginia. He has served at St. John’s since March 2023. Laskowski’s congregation doesn’t know yet how well Laskowski did in the Tournament of Champions, though observant parishioners could have picked up early signs that he had been invited to compete on the show. For the regular episodes that aired in November, Laskowski used vacation time to travel to California for the tapings. Then back at St. John’s, he organized for the congregation what presumably was a pre-Thanksgiving potluck gathering – which also happened to coincide with the airing of his first “Jeopardy!” victory. A TV was set up in the parish hall for everyone to watch together. Then for the tournament, he took off more time to fly to California – leaving his church at the beginning of a certain festive liturgical season. Could this have been “Jeopardy!” calling again? “When I said I have to leave the first week of Advent for another trip, everyone knew,” Laskowski said. After he got back, he invited the congregation to another gathering on […]

[Melbourne Anglican] A Rotarian, long-term volunteers in op shops (known in the United States as thrift shops), a chancellor and a dedicated Bellarine-region parishioner were among Anglicans honored in the 2025 Australia Day list. At least five parishioners from across Victoria received Medals of the Order of Australia for their community service and leadership. Jan. 26 is Australia Day and celebrates the anniversary of the country’s settlement in 1788. The list, which included 732 people, celebrates outstanding contributions to the nation across various fields, including community service, arts, science and more St. Stephen’s, Gardenvale, parishioner Lynette Maskell said she felt humbled by the recognition for her service to the community of the Brighton region. “I’ve lived a very privileged life, and it’s nice to give back,” she said. She said her work integrating children with disabilities into classrooms and helping teachers upskill was the most rewarding for her. “It makes a difference in the children’s lives and in the parents’ lives because they don’t have to battle so much to get rights for their children.” Maskell has also worked with St. Stephen’s Op Shop, which supported programs for aged and youth and delivered meals to elderly during COVID among other contributions. Her philosophy on community service remains straightforward. “If we all just give a little bit, it makes the world a better place,” she said. All Saints’ Church, Barwon Heads, parishioners John and Christine Wheal were both awarded medals for their service to the community of Barwon Heads. Christine Wheal coordinates the Anglican op shop’s sorting room and John Wheal was treasurer there. He has also held various roles with the local fire brigade and with Returned & Services League of Australia, a non-profit organization that provides support to Australian veterans and their families. The chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland, Roger Blythman, was recognized for service to the community and to the church. He served as Naval aide-de-camp to the governor of Victoria in the early 1980s and now leads the Navy League’s Victoria-Tasmania division. St. James’, Drysdale, parishioner Pauline Cline was recognized for her service to the community of the Bellarine region. Her contributions include fundraising for St. James’ restoration fund, animal welfare, and involvement in church committees and Drysdale Neighborhood Watch.

[Episcopal News Service] The University of the South’s School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee, hosted a panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges The Episcopal Church faces in a contemporary cultural landscape. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe spoke alongside Western Louisiana Bishop Jacob Owensby, the university’s chancellor, and Robert Pearigen, its vice-chancellor. “The Episcopal Church is a tradition that has always valued learning, and in particularly in this time and in this season, we could use a bit more thinking and a bit more reflection, a little less reaction,” Rowe said during the Jan. 26 panel discussion, which was held at the University of the South’s Convocation Hall and led by Owensby. About 150 people from the university and wider Sewanee community attended the event, where the panelists also discussed the university’s role as an Episcopal institution. The University of the South – which is owned and governed by The Episcopal Church’s 28 southeast dioceses – continues to be rooted in that same tradition, which remains relevant in the 21st century as it’s combined with Episcopal faith and morality, Pearigen said. “That includes the integration of the mind and the heart – the integration of faith and reason in a way that is so important to who we are as an institution – that integration of faith and reason and service,” he said, referring to the university’s motto, Psalm 133; “A commitment to the common good is at our core.” Even though The Episcopal Church and its affiliated institutions, like Sewanee, remain steadfast in upholding Anglican traditions and morals, Rowe stressed the importance of also adapting to broader cultural shifts while delivering a “grounded” Christian spirituality. This requires going beyond politics and partisanship to bring the “hope of a relationship with God.” Adapting and proclaiming Christ’s message includes catering to the spiritual needs of people of all ages and backgrounds, including young adults and seminary students. “I think what the church has to offer is a way of thinking about the world, a way of reflecting on life, particularly as you’re beginning to form what is your own vocation and call,” Rowe said. “I think that’s the joy of The Episcopal Church, because we all have a vocation to which God is calling us.” Rowe highlighted the work Episcopal Migration Ministries, or EMM, as an example of effectively and adaptively responding to the modern world. EMM is one of 10 agencies with federal contracts to facilitate refugee resettlement on behalf of the State Department. Through EMM, the church has helped resettle more than 100,000 refugees fleeing war and persecution since the United States created its federal resettlement program 45 years ago. The agency’s work was effectively halted last week when President Donald Trump signed an executive order that suspended all refugee resettlement in the United States and gave no clear indication when, if ever, it might resume. Despite uncertainty under the Trump administration, EMM is remaining focused on its mission. “The program as we’ve known it will go away, but something new will emerge, and we’ve already been thinking about ways in which we can continue that commitment to refugees around the world,” Rowe said. “We’re learning how to adapt right now. We’re not going to give up.” Regarding seminaries, specifically, Pearigen said offering a strong liberal arts education provides an environment that encourages exchanging ideas and asking questions. This foundation is applied to adaptive programming the University of the South’s School of Theology offers, including the SUMMA Theological Debate Summer Camp for high school students. Adding to the discussion of faith and cultural adaptation, Owensby said Episcopalians tend to be able to inhabit spaces with people from different faiths and viewpoints without compromising their commitment to Jesus. Whether inside or outside academia, civil exchanges can be “enriching” and “enhancing.” “You might not be Episcopalian. You might not even be a Christian; that’s fine,” Owensby said. “The point is … we’re about making humans more human, and we believe that that involves this connection to the transcendent in some way that propels us to just keep asking.” Some students who attended the webinar in person asked the panelists questions. One person asked Rowe how the church should maintain nonpartisanship in politics. Rowe said that politics is both important and inevitable, but ultimately Episcopalians should remember that their first allegiance is to God. For reference, he mentioned Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s plea to Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now” – specifically LGBTQ+ people and immigrants – during her sermon at Washington National Cathedral’s Jan. 21 post-inauguration worship service. “This is about loving our neighbor and the fact that our first citizenship is in the Kingdom [of God],” Rowe said. “That’s why we should be able to be united across parties, across political differences … caring for the stranger.” Earlier in the day, Rowe preached during the university’s All Saints’ Chapel 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. worship services. The latter service was livestreamed. While visiting Sewanee, Rowe also met with seminarians, faculty from the theology school and other university groups. –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Office of the Archbishop of York] Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and the bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally, attended two remembrance events Jan. 27 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day is “Learn for a better future,” urging people to reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust and more recent genocides. The first was a service at the Great Hall at Lambeth Palace, hosted by the Council of Christians and Jews. Cottrell introduced the event along with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, rabbi of the New North London Synagogue and senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK. It then included testimonies from Holocaust survivor Martin Stern and second-generation Roma survivor Daniela Abraham. Stern survived camps at both Westerbork and Theresienstadt, held there after the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Writer and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, whose Jewish ancestors were driven out of Vienna by the Nazis in 1938, offered a reflection. He also had created a candleholder especially for the ceremony, which Mullally and others lighted. Cottrell and Mullally later attended a national service of remembrance at the Guildhall in London, joined by members of the royal family, members of Parliament, faith leaders, and survivors of the Holocaust and the Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur genocides. Cottrell said, “Eighty years on since the liberation of Auschwitz, we gather to mark Holocaust Memorial Day remembering the millions of people who were killed during the Second World War. The Holocaust is a horrifying reminder of what can happen when the world turns its head. Across their death camps, the Nazis murdered more than six million people, mostly Jews, each made lovingly in God’s image. We must not ignore such crimes. “I pray for the survivors of this sin against humanity, the majority of whom were children at the time, born into a world that wanted to kill them. Each one of them is a living testimony to the horrors of war, but also the towering resilience in the face of such unspeakable evil. I give thanks for them, and pray for God’s protection over them as they confront again this painful part of their past, and our history. “‘Evil triumphs when good men do nothing’ – let us strive for peace and recognize we are of the one same humanity.”

[Anglican Communion News Service] On Jan. 26 the Most Rev. Vicente Msosa was installed as primate of the Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola (IAMA), or the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola. He succeeds interim presiding bishop the Rt. Rev. Carlos Matsinhe. IAMA is the newest province in the Anglican Communion. It was inaugurated on Sept. 24, 2021, and was formed from two dioceses that had been part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The service was held at Centro de Conferências de Belas in Luanda, the capital of Angola. The Rt. Rev. Augusto Domingos, dean of the province, presided, and the sermon was given by the Rt. Rev. Dinis Sengulane, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Lebombo. The secretary general of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, attended the installation service and welcomed the new primate. Msosa was born Feb. 18,1981, in Niassa Province in Mozambique. After completing secondary school, he studied to be a teacher, and he became involved in evangelism during his teaching career. He later studied theology at the College of Transfiguration in Grahamstown, South Africa. He is now a Ph.D. candidate in mission, leadership and development at Gordon Cornwell Theological Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts. He was ordained deacon in 2013 and priest in 2014. In 2017 he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Niassa, making him at the age of 35  the youngest bishop in the Anglican Communion at the time. In 2021 he was translated to the Missionary Diocese of Zambézia, where he has served to date. He was elected primate of IAMA in November 2024 and will hold the office for five years, after which he may renew his position. Msosa said, “Our call in such a critical time to such a critical role is to help IAMA province to respond to mission, evangelism and intentional discipleship. We are joining you all as Anglican churches and provinces around the world in sharing this common goal to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom, to teach, baptize and nurture new believers. We are deeply committed and convicted with the ‘five marks of mission,’ which begin with the preaching of the Gospel and the call to personal conversion embracing the whole of life. We are deeply convicted in spirit that God is calling us as a new province in such a troubled time like this to shepherd the province to “fear the Lord our God, walk in all his ways, love God, serve him wholeheartedly, keep the commandments and his decrees.’ Each member contributes to his kingdom with what she/he has.” Poggo said, “It is a blessing and an honor to attend this historic service of IAMA’s first presiding bishop. I am thankful to interim presiding bishop the Rt. Rev. Carlos Matsinhe and for the ministry of the Rt. Rev. Augusto Domingos as dean, who both have shown great leadership and grace. I will continue to pray for Presiding Bishop Vicente and the parishes of IAMA as they journey together on this new and exciting path.” Speaking of the installation, Provincial Secretary of IAMA the Rev. Carlos Respeito said, “It is an honor to be part of this significant event in our province. It is hoped that the work initiated will continue and further efforts will contribute to the growth and development of our province. We face many challenges ahead, and Archbishop Vicente Msosa, with his youth and energy, supported by all bishops, will achieve substantial progress in the province and the Communion.”

[Anglican Communion News Service] On Jan. 24 – during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell participated in ecumenical services at the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. The occasion also marked the farewell of the Most Rev. Ian Ernest, concluding his role as the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. The farewell service took place during a Celebration of First Vespers on the Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul. The basilica’s abbot, the Rt. Rev. Donara Ogliari OSB, presided. After the service Cottrell said, “It was a joy to return to the Anglican Centre in Rome and a privilege to mark the end of Archbishop Ian’s remarkable time of service. Archbishop Ian has been an inspiring advocate for Christian unity, demonstrating a deep commitment to building bridges across denominations. Ending his tenure with an ecumenical service during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was a fitting tribute. The Anglican Centre exemplifies a living commitment to the full, visible unity of the church, fostering conversation through worship, hospitality and education. By working collaboratively with all Christians, it continues to strengthen the bond between the Anglican Church and the Holy See.” Reflecting on his service as director for the Anglican Centre in Rome, Ernest said, “All of us have responsibilities — whether a doctor healing, a teacher guiding, or a parent nurturing. The task may feel heavy, but when we allow the grace of God to flow through us, he will guide us. Everything I’ve done in fostering the bond between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion has been made possible through his grace.” Speaking of what comes next Ernest said, “I wish to give myself some time of rest and some moments of reflection on my life and the various callings I have had from God. These moments rooted in prayer will surely help me to discern the way forward.”  The full text of Cottrell’s address is available here. An interview with Ernest, as he reflects on his ministry at the Anglican Centre in Rome before his retirement this month, is available here.

[Episcopal News Service] Less than four years after launching a capital campaign for renovations, the 2,000+-member congregation at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Denver, Colorado, is witnessing the payoff. “The building itself and the campus, the building grounds, have their own ministry to the neighborhood and the city … like the stone walls that provide a lot of shade for people who need to get out of the hot sun and rest in the summer months,” the Very Rev. Richard Lawson, dean of St. John’s, told Episcopal News Service. “We needed to take care of a long list of deferred maintenance. …This capital campaign was urgent, not optional.” After careful planning and collaboration among professionals, the vestry, St. John’s staff and the cathedral’s arts & architecture committee, several “urgent” projects were identified to be addressed: Replacing the old HVAC system in the staff offices and the library with a new electric system. Restoring the stained-glass windows. Renovating the sacristy. Installing a new baptismal font. Repairing the tower bells that have been inoperable for more than 20 years. Renovating the kitchen for feeding ministries and special events. Repairing the All Souls’ Walk Columbarium. “These renovation projects have made congregants feel invested in this space, and they feel good about it” Kate Dykstra, a parishioner of St. John’s who served as vice chair of the capital campaign, told ENS. “This is a growing and beloved parish, so this work is so important to ensure that this space will be standing for the next hundred years and more.” Shortly after the campaign was launched in 2021, one anonymous donor gave St. John’s $4.5 million, and another one gave $500,000. That “phase one” money was used to install the new HVAC system on the first floor and replace all the pews with chairs. Lawson said the switch from pews to chairs allows the congregation to rearrange the nave in different ways and to use the nave as an emergency space for the Denver community. During “phase two” of the capital campaign, St. John’s raised $7 million from more than 260 households in the congregation. One of the first projects addressed during this phase was installing a new baptismal font to replace the old one that had collapsed several years ago. Another was restoring the cathedral’s historic stained-glassed windows, which were produced more than a century ago by Charles J. Connick, an American stained-glass artist. St. John’s houses one of the nation’s largest collections of Connick windows, which had been held together by worn-down lead, masonry and millwork prior to being repaired. The cathedral spent $3 million and several months working with a New Jersey-based stained-glass studio on the repairs. Today, the stained-windows are fully restored. “It was hard to see issues with the windows to the naked eye, but there were cracks and corrosion, and the bonds between the pieces of glass were disintegrating,” Greg Movesian, a St. John’s parishioner who co-chaired the capital campaign, told ENS. The tower bells, kitchen, sacristy and All Souls’ Walk Columbarium renovations are expected to be completed later this year. Rebecca Richardson, a St. John’s parishioner who co-chaired the capital campaign with Movesian, said she’s most concerned about repairing the columbarium, which is now half full as the final resting place of about 2,000 people. The columbarium’s foundation has suffered extensive damage since it opened in 1966 due to weathering and water damage. The foundation will be repaired with a new drainage system, and the pavers will be leveled. All the plaques will also be replaced. “We’ve got to approach doing the structural work in a kind and sensitive way because people have their loved ones resting there,” Richardson said. “There’s understandably a lot more emotion and sensitivity with this project.” The capital campaign also will benefit the wider community in Denver, a “sanctuary city” for immigrants. Through an initiative called “Support for Underestimated, Underserved and Marginalized People,” St. John’s set aside $250,000 of the money raised over the last couple of years for five select local nonprofits that focus on racial justice, gun violence prevention and economic justice and opportunity: Casa de Pas assists immigrants released by ICE into the community without resources, information or transportation Colorado Ceasefire focuses on gun violence prevention and education. The nonprofit will distribute free gun safety locks with St. John’s support. Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Center helps people released from prison secure employment and housing and provides access to support services. The nonprofit also reunites families and registers people in prison to vote. Expunge Colorado helps convicted people released from prison find jobs and housing more easily by sealing their records. The nonprofit was part of a coalition that was instrumental in getting the state’s legislature to pass the Clean Slate Law in 2022. Village Exchange Center serves immigrants through various programs and services, including a food pantry, youth programs, vaccination clinics and more. St. John’s will support the Aurora-based nonprofit through  a community relief program focusing on economic resiliency and self-sufficiency and by helping to establish a new site in Denver that expands on the services already available. “These organizations very much align with St. John’s mission as a church,” Movesian said. “We didn’t want all the money that we raised to be just for ourselves and our own needs. We are very committed as a parish to supporting nonprofit agencies in the community who help people in need, whether that’s focusing on hunger, homelessness, mental health or immigrant refugees who are struggling.” Giving grants to area nonprofits isn’t new to St. John’s, which donates 5% of its plate and pledge income annually to agencies that apply for financial support. In 2024, according to Movesian, the cathedral distributed $130,000 to 20 different nonprofits. Lawson said all the accomplishments made through the capital campaign reflect St. John’s numeric and spiritual growth, which he attributes to the gospel being preached “passionately and imaginatively, and Christ’s sacraments are offered with tenderness.” “There’s a […]

[Episcopal News Service] A growing number of Episcopal bishops are speaking out in response to the Trump administration’s threat to fulfill a campaign promise of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, possibly including raids in churches and other places that previous presidents had deemed off-limits for such enforcement. Arizona Bishop Jennifer Reddall, in a newspaper op-ed and in a recent radio interview, has opposed border enforcement officers making arrests in churches. She also specified that family separations are among the diocese’s biggest concerns since President Donald Trump took office this week. “In our congregations, we’re worried about how these [policies] are going to be enforced,” Reddall said in her interview with KJZZ-FM. “There are norms that say you don’t invade churches to arrest people, but those are just norms. … We aren’t sure if we’re going to be targeted.” New York Bishop Matthew Heyd raised similar concerns Jan. 24 at a news conference of interfaith leaders at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Later in the day, the two bishops of the dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts released a joint statement voicing support for Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s post-inauguration sermon, in which she called on President Donald Trump to show mercy to immigrants and their families. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe also underscored the church’s long-time support for respecting the dignity of immigrants. Rowe, in a joint Jan. 21 letter with House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, affirmed “Christ’s call to welcome the stranger” in the face of the new administration’s shift in policies. Trump, in the hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration to a second term, issued a barrage of executive orders, many of them aiming to limit both legal and illegal immigration in the United States. He declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, which is experiencing the fewest number of illegal crossings in four years after a surge earlier in the Biden administration. Trump sought to selectively end birthright citizenship in the United States, a right protected by the Constitution. He suspended the country’s 45-year-old program of refugee resettlement, which has long enjoyed bipartisan support. He reinstated a policy from his first term that required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security issued directives reversing Biden administration policies that avoided immigration enforcement at “sensitive” or “protected” areas, including schools, hospitals and houses of worship. Ending such protections “curtails our liberties, upends our civic tradition and makes all New Yorkers less safe,” Heyd said at the news conference in New York, according to a written summary of his remarks. “Invading school classrooms, library read-alongs and our sacred spaces makes no sense. So today, we’re calling on all New Yorkers to join a coalition of care and welcome; that together, we continue our traditions of caring and welcoming everybody and making New York better.” The Diocese of New York is among several Episcopal dioceses that have adopted policies enabling their churches to offer sanctuary to immigrants who fear arrests because of their legal status. Other dioceses with similar policies in place include Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Washington. Some cities have taken parallel actions, declaring themselves “sanctuary cities.” That designation indicates local officials will not enforce immigration laws, which they deem solely the responsibility of the federal government. The Trump administration has threatened federal prosecution of state and local officials who adhere to such policies. Like sanctuary cities, sanctuary dioceses now are considering how best to prepare for possible immigration enforcement actions in their communities and congregations. “Since 2016, we have been a sanctuary diocese,” Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor said in a Jan. 21 message to his Southern California diocese. “That means it is up to each of us to make a sanctuary in our heart for immigrant workers and their families, especially workers of color, and, if we are so called, to provide concrete assistance, including through political advocacy.” Budde also spoke to such concerns in her sermon Jan. 21 at Washington National Cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation. Trump attended the service, and Budde addressed the last four minutes of her 15-minute sermon to him. “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” Budde said. “Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.” Budde’s sermon continues to make waves nationally and globally, as Trump and his supporters criticize her for what they saw as a personal “attack.” Many others, including her fellow bishops, have thanked Budde for upholding Christian and American values at such a polarized and uncertain moment. “One of the many vows bishops make at ordination is a promise ‘to defend those who have no helper,’” Massachusetts Bishop Julia Whitworth and Western Massachusetts Bishop Douglas Fisher said in their Jan. 24 statement in support of Budde. “Bishop Budde pointed out that many of our neighbors are ‘scared now’ – immigrants and refugees, those who identify as LGBTQ+,” Whitworth and Fisher said. “They need our non-violent defense. They need us to stand beside them and proclaim the inherent dignity of every human being. They need us to hold the vision of God’s dream for the world in which there is room at the table for everyone.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church has helped resettle more than 100,000 refugees fleeing war and persecution since the United States created its federal resettlement program 45 years ago. That ministry, one of the church’s most revered and robust, was effectively halted this week by a stroke of the president’s pen. On Jan. 20, hours after President Donald Trump took office for a second term, he signed an executive order that suspended all refugee resettlement in the United States and gave no clear indication when, if ever, it might resume. “The historic and ongoing work of Episcopal Migration Ministries is a living expression of Christ’s command to care for those in need and offer hope to the weary,” the Rev. Sarah Shipman, Episcopal Migration Ministries’ director, said in a Jan. 23 statement to Episcopal News Service. “The executive order halting refugee resettlement is devastating for many vulnerable people who were close to starting new lives in the United States. Our hearts hurt for them, and our prayers go out for them.” The order was one of a series of first-day measures by the Trump administration targeting both legal and illegal immigration. The suspension of refugee resettlement was scheduled to take effect Jan. 27, but already some refugees and refugee families who had been scheduled to arrive in the United States this week have had their travel plans canceled, according to news reports. Episcopal Migration Ministries, EMM, is one of 10 agencies with federal contracts to facilitate refugee resettlement on behalf of the State Department. The agencies had spent the past four years rebuilding their capacity, after Trump slashed refugee resettlement in his first term. His new order again casts doubt on the viability of a federal program that has long had bipartisan support. Refugee resettlement has been central to EMM’s work, which also includes support for asylum-seekers and other migrants through local affiliates and congregations. Since the inauguration, it has been tracking Trump’s immigration-related executive orders on its website. Despite the renewed uncertainty under Trump, Shipman said the agency remains focused on its mission. “We are confident we will continue our vital ministry to address the needs of immigrants already in our communities–now and in the years to come,” she said. Refugee resettlement agencies often praise the refugees they assist for quickly establishing themselves in their new communities and contributing to those communities both economically and culturally. Many of the newest refugees to arrive in the United States are fleeing Afghanistan, often because of their support for the United States’ former war effort in their home country. Because of Trump’s order, more than 10,000 refugees are now stranded in locations around the world awaiting final clearance to resettle in the United States, and more than 1,600 Afghans already had been cleared for travel, only to learn this week that those plans had been canceled by the Trump administration, according to the Associated Press. “This abrupt halt to refugee admissions is devastating for families who have already endured unimaginable persecution and waited years for the chance to rebuild their lives in safety,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the head of the resettlement agency Global Refuge, told The New York Times. “Refugees go through one of the most rigorous vetting processes in the world,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to see their dreams of safety derailed just days before, or in some cases, just hours before they were set to begin their new lives here.” Some refugees have waited years or even decades for the opportunity to resettle in the United States, Eskinder Negash, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, told the Times. “Even if the refugee program is reopened in the future, the indefinite suspension of refugee travel and processing will have lasting trauma and impact on refugees and families,” he said. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, established by Congress in 1980, created a lengthy and rigorous process for screening, vetting, welcoming and supporting the resettlement of refugees unable to return to their home countries. The law also requires the U.S. president each year to set a ceiling, or maximum number of refugees to be admitted. During Trump’s first term, his administration reduced the ceiling to a record low of 15,000 refugees a year. President Joe Biden reversed that policy when he took office in 2021, raising the ceiling to 125,000 refugees, though it took several years for EMM and the other resettlement agencies to rebuild their networks and capacity. EMM now has 15 affiliates around the country, up from 11 in 2020, and they helped welcome more than 6,500 refugees in the past fiscal year. In all last year, EMM and the other contracted agencies resettled about 100,000 refugees, a significant turnaround, though still short of the maximum allowed entry under Biden. The Episcopal Church’s presiding officers also pledged the church’s continuing support for “Christ’s call to welcome the stranger” in a joint letter issued Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration. “Because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world,” Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris said. “This sacred call shapes both our churchwide commitment to stand with migrants and the ministries of congregations across our church who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees in their communities.” Trump’s new executive order suspends the refugee resettlement program entirely, “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” The order is titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.” It begins by citing a surge of migrants into and across the United States under President Joe Biden that was unrelated to refugee admissions. It mentions, for example, Springfield, Ohio, which courted a growing population of Haitian migrants, many of whom are in the United States legally under a different federal program known as Temporary […]

[Diocese of Los Angeles] The congregation of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena, California — among whose members 40 homes were lost in the wildfire that also burned their church and school buildings — gathered Jan. 19 for their first Sunday worship service at nearby St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Eagle Rock, where church leaders have welcomed the Altadena parish to use the sanctuary weekly going forward. The Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, rector of St. Mark’s, greeted the 185 in attendance and gave thanks for community support – including a $100,000 gift from the California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, which made an equal disbursement to each house of worship lost in the area. Robert Ross, at parishioner of St. Mark’s who recently retired as president of the California Endowment, preached with themes of hope and transformation. He praised his colleagues for their work toward “a just and fair and equitable rebuild of Altadena,” and focusing on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for “Beloved Community” as “a North Star for social justice work firmly grounded in our Christian faith.” Ross added that King received inspiration for his concept of “Beloved Community” from philosopher and theologian Josiah Royce, a Californian for whom UCLA’s Royce Hall is named.  Royce “explicitly elevated the role of church in community terms,” Ross said, “and advanced the idea of church as community, not just a building for people to pray.” Ross quoted Royce’s view that “a church community has a congruence of feeling, and thought, and will, such as a community of hope, loyalty and truth, unified by a guiding spirit. My life means nothing, either theoretically or practically, unless I’m a member of a community.” At various points in his sermon, Ross drew applause and laughter. The Rev. Michael Micheler, St. Mark’s Christian education director, officiated. It was his first worship service as celebrant since his Jan. 11 ordination. Lisa Sylvester, St. Mark’s music director, led worship music with solos sung by Ayanda Fuzane (“Give me Jesus”) and Daniel Voigt (“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Fire,” a setting of Langston Hughes’s poem). During the worship service, Maria Horner, a parishioner of St. Mark’s, provided outreach updates, surveyed needs among parishioners and rallied volunteers. The Rev. Melissa McCarthy, the Diocese of Los Angeles’ canon to the ordinary, was present, having also attended a morning service at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Pasadena, where four families in the congregation lost homes. Suzanne Edwards-Acton brought greetings on behalf of St. Barnabas in Eagle Rock, also known as “St. Be’s,” and the community center that includes a preschool and serves as a Seeds of Hope food distribution site. Financial contributions to St. Mark’s may be made here. Contributions to the diocesan appeal, which provides grants for affected churches and individuals, including those affected by the Palisades Fire may be made here.

[Episcopal News Service] The sermon’s duration was less than 15 minutes. Its theme – a call for unity grounded in faith at a time of political division – was hardly out of the norm for a post-inauguration service at Washington National Cathedral, which has hosted similar services 10 times before. It was the sermon’s final four minutes that struck a chord. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde issued a final plea directly to President Donald Trump as he sat in the front row, a moment that would generate national headlines and intense reactions, both positive and negative. Her calm plea to the president: “Have mercy.” Later in the day Jan. 21, Trump made clear his distaste for the sermon when asked about it by reporters, saying he “didn’t think it was a good service.” Then early Jan. 22, he amplified his complaints with a social media post that demanded Budde and “her church” apologize. Without using Budde’s name, the president labeled her “a so-called bishop” and a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” whose sermon was “ungracious” and “nasty in tone.” Budde, in her sermon, had asked Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now,” and she specifically held up the fears felt by many LGTBQ+ people and immigrants at the start of Trump’s second term. A day earlier, after his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump had issued a series of executive orders, including several intended to address what he declared was a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. During the campaign Trump had promised to enact mass deportations, and in his social media post about Budde’s sermon, he added, without evidence, that a “large number of illegal migrants” had entered the United States and killed people as part of a “giant crime wave.” Budde’s plea to Trump: ‘Have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared’ Episcopal News Service sought comment from Budde for this story, which will be updated upon receiving a response. The bishop, whose diocese includes the United States’ capital city and part of Maryland, discussed her sermon in an interview with CNN that aired Jan. 21, after Trump’s initial comments but before his demand for an apology. Budde confirmed she was looking directly at Trump while speaking to him from the pulpit. “I was also, frankly, as you do in every sermon, speaking to everyone who was listening, through that one-on-one conversation with the president, reminding us all that the people that are frightened in our country … are our fellow human beings and that they have been portrayed all throughout the political campaign in the harshest of lights,” Budde told CNN. “I wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of their humanity and their place in our wider community.” She later told NPR’s “All Things Considered” that she didn’t see a need to apologize. “I regret that it was something that has caused the kind of response that it has, in the sense that it actually confirmed the very thing that I was speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to outrage and not speak to one another with respect,” she said. “But, no, I won’t apologize for what I said.” However gentle, her sermon set off a firestorm on social media and a flurry of emails to church officials. The ENS story posted to Facebook had generated more than 600 comments as of midday Jan. 22, many of them thanking Budde for upholding Christian values and others strongly criticizing her – some even going as far as calling for her removal. ENS also received more than a dozen emails about the sermon, some supportive, many of them outraged. Some suggested Budde’s message to the president was better delivered in person rather than from the pulpit. Kathleen Kinsolving, who identified herself as the granddaughter of the Rt.  Rev. Arthur B. Kinsolving, bishop of Arizona from 1945-1962, shared with ENS a letter she had addressed directly to Budde. “It was extremely inappropriate for you to use the pulpit to lash out at President Trump during today’s service. This is completely unbecoming conduct, especially for a bishop!” Kinsolving wrote. “You should always treat every member of your congregation with the utmost respect, no matter who they are.” Trump, though not a member of the Washington National Cathedral, had attended the cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation with his family and members of his new administration, including Vice President JD Vance. An Episcopal Church spokesperson released a statement Jan. 22, saying that Budde has been a “bishop in good standing” since her consecration in 2011. “She is a valued and trusted pastor to her diocese and colleague to bishops throughout our church. We stand by Bishop Budde and her appeal for the Christian values of mercy and compassion.” Some critics of Budde’s sermon argued it was inappropriate for her to preach directly to Trump – or to any individual member of a worshipping community. ENS posed this scenario to the Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, a professor of homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary, who noted preachers commonly address individuals in other types of services, such as weddings, baptisms and ordinations. A post-inauguration service isn’t just about the president in the same way that an ordination is about the ordinand, Hooke said, though she thought Budde “built the case carefully” to justify the direct plea to the president. The first part of Budde’s sermon was rooted solidly in Scripture, Hooke said, specifically the passage from the Gospel of Matthew about “a wise man who built his house on rock.” “When people are going to preach a sermon that might be controversial in this context, basing it firmly on Scripture is the solid ground, to use that same metaphor,” Hooke said. The preacher’s message may not reach every member of a congregation immediately, but “sometimes a sermon is planting seeds that are going to grow and sprout much later.” Some […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City is featuring an immersive traveling exhibition on 850 years of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris’ history, using augmented reality. “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition,” is an example of technology being “put to very good use,” the Very Rev. Patrick Malloy, dean of St. John the Divine, told Episcopal News Service. The exhibition will remain in the Chapel of St. James through Jan. 31. “St. John the Divine has always, from its very beginning, seen itself not only as enshrining ancient truth and reality – ancient truth and tradition – but also trying to see the best of contemporary society and to celebrate it,” he said. “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition” combines virtual reality technology from Histovery, a French educational tech company, to showcase illuminated photo panels, 3D models and life-size sculptures of the Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral, including a full-size chimera and other famous grotesques, and its statues of the Twelve Apostles and other biblical figures. Visitors use a touchscreen tablet, called a HistoPad, to scan designated “portals” to view the exhibition, which also features key events in Notre-Dame’s history, including its construction, St. Louis IX of France bringing a venerated relic of the crown of thorns, Napoleon I’s coronation, and restoration work after a structural fire in 2019 burned the cathedral’s roof and flèche, or spire. Visitors can choose from a dozen available languages to experience the exhibition. “This tool really allows you to explore at your own pace. …You could spend hours in the exhibit taking in all the information, or spend an hour finding what you’re most interested in, whether it’s the architecture or the history of the people who have come through Notre-Dame or the people who are responsible for building it,” Laura Bosley, executive director of cathedral programming at St. John the Divine, told ENS. Bosley said more than 2,150 visitors have viewed the Notre-Dame exhibition at St. John the Divine since it debuted in November 2024. Launched in 2021, the international exhibition is running simultaneously in Tokyo, Japan; Melbourne, Australia; and Hong Kong. It was previously at Westminster Abbey in London, England; São Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; New Orleans, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; Dubai, United Arab Emirates and other cities. The most famous of the world’s medieval Gothic cathedrals and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Notre-Dame de Paris, French for “Our Lady of Paris,” is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its archbishop, the Most. Rev. Laurent Ulrich. The cathedral, located in Paris’ 4th arrondissement, also is the setting of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” Construction on the cathedral began in 1163 on the Île de la Cité, an island in the Seine and the first settlement, and was considered finished in 1350. The cathedral rose on the site of two earlier churches. Before those churches, the site held what was believed to be a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter, the god of the sky and thunder. Some of the Roman ruins can still be seen below the cathedral. About 12 million people visit Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in France. The cathedral houses some relics of Christ’s crucifixion, including the crown of thorns and remnants from the True Cross – a wood fragment of the cross and a nail. In December 2024, Notre-Dame reopened for the first time since the fire broke out under the eaves of the cathedral’s roof on April 15, 2019. The incident occurred one day after Palm Sunday, when a separate, unrelated and much smaller fire broke out in an art storage room in St. John the Divine’s basement crypt. Some art, including an icon, a 16th-century chair and some prints, drawings and carvings were destroyed, but overall, the fire at St. John the Divine was much less devastating than Notre-Dame’s. “An American Gothic cathedral and a European Gothic cathedral … there were many, many bits of overlap,” said Malloy, who pointed out that St. John the Divine was built by hand like Notre-Dame, despite having more technologically advanced equipment available when construction began in 1892 in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, a couple of blocks south of Columbia University. It is one of the world’s largest cathedrals, even though construction remains unfinished today. For these reasons, Bosley said that, in a way, St. John the Divine being a host site for “Notre-Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition” is a mark of solidarity. “That cathedral-to-cathedral connection just makes the most sense … and it’s very popular among both adults and children. The appeal is cross-generational,” she said. “When people walk into the doors of St. John the Divine, their jaws drop because they’re so in awe of the craftsmanship that has built this building, and the way the light dapples off the pillars. Notre-Dame is like that, too. You don’t need to be Episcopalian or Catholic to appreciate these incredible structures.” Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased either online or in person. The $25 fee includes tourist admission to St. John the Divine, which supports building maintenance. –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Church in Wales] An innovative church project, funded by the Church in Wales, has sparked extraordinary growth in youth ministry, engaging more than 160 children across three coastal parishes. Just a year ago, only two children were involved. The Faith Alive project from Bro Dwylan Ministry Area in the Diocese of Bangor combines regular family-friendly worship with hands-on activities for children and young people. A monthly Kids Club meets at the local community center, offering Bible stories, arts and crafts, games and a delicious picnic lunch provided by volunteers. Alongside regular activities, the project runs seasonal events to involve people who may be new to church. Activities include summer rock-pooling sessions exploring God’s creation, led by the Rev. Andy Broadbent, who is also a marine biologist; Halloween celebrations focusing on Christian traditions; and interactive Christmas activities including nativity displays and craft workshops. Funding has also enabled the creation of a welcoming family space at St. Mary and Christ Church in Llanfairfechan, complete with comfortable seating, a Lego table, children’s toys, library and art area. The impact has been significant. Where previously only two children attended, the Ministry Area now regularly engages with over 160 children through its events, with additional hundreds reached through joint community initiatives. Several new families have become regular worship attendees.

[Melbourne Anglican] Muslim, Jewish, Arab and Palestinian people in Australia might be unable to practice their religion freely because of escalating hate crimes and racism across the country, faith and human rights groups say. The groups, including Human Rights Watch, Jewish Council of Australia, Australian National Imams Council and Amnesty International, denounced a recent series of hate crimes in a joint statement and warned that acts of Islamophobia and antisemitism, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism stoked fear in those communities. The groups said the incidents also prevented those communities from practicing their culture and enjoying their human rights. The recent attacks, including the vandalizing of a childcare center and two synagogues in Sydney, come after intensifying hate crimes against Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities. The organizations called on political leaders to stand up against the recent crimes and acts of discrimination, saying this racism included politicians’ denial of the seriousness of Islamophobia and racist language in the media. “Political leaders … should not seek to politicize racist attacks for political gain. Nor should political leaders cause further community division or vilification in their response to attacks. Human rights protections should not devolve into a game of political point scoring,” the groups said. They urged governments at all levels in Australia to support efforts to address antisemitism and Islamophobic acts and racist discrimination The groups also called on them to consult with human rights experts and affected communities, and to ensure that any restrictions on rights were legitimate, necessary and proportionate. In December, religious leaders from across Australia expressed solidarity with the Jewish community and denounced antisemitism after a synagogue in Melbourne’s south-east was firebombed. They urged Australians to reject hatred and violence to keep Australia a safe, flourishing and healthy democracy. Faith bodies, including the Victorian Council of Churches and the Islamic Council of Victoria, said they wanted people to embrace unity instead.

[Episcopal News Service] Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, in her Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation, called on all Americans to strive for a renewed unity based in honesty, humility and respect for human dignity – and she directed her final words to President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row. “Millions have put their trust in you,” Budde said to Trump, who was joined at the Episcopal cathedral’s service by Vice President JD Vance and their spouses. Budde then alluded to Trump’s speech the day before, at his Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump, who survived an assassination attempt during the 2024 presidential campaign, had said he felt “saved by God to make America great again.” “In the name of our God,” Budde continued, “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Some gay, lesbian and transgender Americans fear for their lives, Budde said, and a similar fear looms over hard-working immigrant families in communities across the country. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” Budde said. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples. “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.” Budde’s sermon echoed the concerns stated by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris in their Jan. 21 letter to the church, issued in response to Trump starting his second term with a barrage of executive orders, many of them targeting migrants, refugees and other immigrants. The orders signed by Trump included measures seeking to suspend the federal refugee resettlement program, declare a national emergency at the U.S-Mexico border, block an “invasion” of migrants into the United States, end the right to birthright citizenship that is guaranteed by the Constitution and resume a policy of making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard. Other executive orders were related to the federal work force, the economy, energy policy and the environment, and they included some measures targeting transgender people. The government, under Trump, intends to recognize only two sexes, male and female, and he seeks to end protections for transgender inmates in federal prisons. “We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said in their letter, which focused primarily on immigration policy. UPDATE: As Trump demands apology, Budde explains her call for mercy toward those living in fear Before the inauguration, Trump started his day Jan. 20 by attending a worship service at another Episcopal church, St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square. It sometimes is referred to as “the church of the presidents” because of its location across the street from the White House. Nearly five years ago, in June 2020, Trump drew widespread condemnation for posing with a Bible in front of St. John’s after ordering his security detail and law enforcement officers to forcibly push back protesters who had gathered outside the White House as part of an ongoing anti-racism demonstration a week after the killing of George Floyd. At the time, Budde and other church leaders condemned the use of force against protesters and the photo-op, which they said ran counter to Christian teachings. Budde’s sermon at Washington National Cathedral was not so pointed, though she again sought to underscore universal values shared by most world religions over the politics of hate and division. “We have gathered this morning to pray for unity as a people and a nation,” she said, “not for agreement, political or otherwise, but for the kind of unity that fosters community across diversity and division, a unity that serves the common good. … It is not conformity. It is not victory. It is not polite weariness or passivity born of exhaustion. Unity is not partisan. “Rather, unity is a way of being with one another that encompasses and respects our differences, that teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect, that enables us in our communities and in the halls of power to genuinely care for one another, even when we disagree.” Washington National Cathedral is the seat of The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Plans for the cathedral’s post-inauguration service were announced in October, before Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November to win the presidency for a second time. The service was not open to the public because of security concerns, and the cathedral’s nave was only partially filled with the service’s invitees, who included House Speaker Mike Johnson and some of Trump’s cabinet nominees. It was livestreamed and is available as a video on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith also participated, along with the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan for armed forces and federal ministries. “As we mark the transition of political leadership and begin a new chapter in the story of America, may these sacred texts, songs and petitions from the many faith traditions of our country inspire and challenge us to care for one another and live according to the highest ideals to which God has called us,” Hollerith said in his welcoming remarks. “Thank you for being here, and please know that we are a house of prayer for all people, and you are always welcome.” The service was joined by leaders from a diverse group of faith denominations, […]