Episcopal News Service

[Religion News Service] About halfway through the service at First Universalist Church of Minneapolis on Aug. 16, the Rev. Jen Crow delivered the news: Recent court filings, she said, revealed that U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents had spied on churches, including First Universalist, as part of a broader investigation into activists opposing the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We know what the work of the church is,” Crow said, referring to the church’s efforts to push back against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. She spoke from a pulpit positioned next to a flickering open flame burning in a chalice, a symbol of Unitarian Universalism. “Our spiritual practice grounds us in that work,” the pastor said, adding, “Amen.” In response, the congregation burst into applause. It was a defiant moment, capping more than a year of rising tensions between federal immigration officials and religious communities in the Twin Cities. Since January, when thousands of federal agents arrived in the area as part of a targeted mass deportation campaign known as “Operation Metro Surge,” faith-led groups have joined others in resisting the government’s efforts — be it through protests in the streets or even a religious freedom lawsuit demanding the government allow faith leaders access to immigrant detainees. The latest source of friction centers on federal court filings that emerged last week, which state that DHS agents, as part of an investigation referred to as Operation Puppet Master, surveilled five churches in Minnesota and Michigan since December, with agents often operating both outside and inside church buildings. The documents, part of a federal case stemming from June charges against 15 immigration-enforcement protesters (none of them church officials), appear to be DHS’s own internal investigation records. The filings describe agents investigating events hosted by the churches, which appear to be organized by outside liberal activist groups, and the revelations are already raising questions about whether DHS may have violated a court injunction barring warrantless investigations on the grounds of some churches — except in “exigent” circumstances. According to court documents, one of the five churches surveilled was University Baptist Church in Minneapolis, which is affiliated with both the American Baptist Churches in the USA and the Alliance of Baptists. The two denominations are among more than 50 faith groups that have filed four separate lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s decision to rescind an internal policy discouraging immigration enforcement activities at “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and churches. In February, the judge overseeing the lawsuit that includes American Baptist Churches in the USA and the Alliance of Baptists as plaintiffs, issued an injunction barring DHS from conducting “warrantless enforcement actions—absent exigent circumstances” inside and around the churches involved in the suit. In March, University Baptist Church hung up signs that declared federal agents are not permitted on the premises and even cited the specific order, according to a signed declaration from Jean Lubke, who served as the church president until June 30. The testimony was submitted Aug. 14 as part of the Minnesota conspiracy case. But according to other court filings released last week, an undercover DHS agent attended a Mixed Martial Arts class in May, which was organized by a liberal group called “Left Jab” and held in the gymnasium of University Baptist Church. The agent had a hidden audio recording device that apparently fell to the floor “due to the physicality of the event,” and the DHS official only noticed it missing after leaving the gymnasium. The agent returned minutes later to retrieve the device from the gym floor, according to the court filing. In the case of First Universalist, documents describe an undercover agent attending a “How to Stop ICE and Build a Revolution” event in December 2025. Held at the church, the event was led by Sunrise Movement, a liberal activist organization that, as the federal filing notes, was described by leaders at the meeting as a “nonviolent, direct-action group.” The documents also describe an undercover agent attending an April meeting of the activist group Direct Action Minnesota that was held at St. John the Evangelist, an Episcopal Church in St. Paul, and collecting license plate information of vehicles parked in a nearby parking lot — seemingly irrespective of whether the owners of the cars were confirmed to be attendees of the meeting. In addition, two churches affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — one in Minnesota and another in Ann Arbor, Michigan — were listed in the documents as subject to surveillance. A DHS spokesperson would not comment on the filings. “DHS does not comment on the existence or status of specific on-going investigations, nor on investigative methods,” the spokesperson said. DHS referred further inquiries to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, which did not immediately respond to questions from RNS. Whether Minnesota faith communities surveilled by federal agents will challenge the government in court remains to be seen, but some are already voicing outrage — and vowing to continue their advocacy for immigrants. Crow, First Universalist’s pastor, spoke at a press conference on Aug.18 alongside some of the 15 plaintiffs in the Minnesota conspiracy case. Flanked by some of her church board members, she called on fellow Minnesotans and people of faith to “say no to political surveillance and intimidation.” In a statement, the Rev. Cody J. Sanders, University Baptist Church’s interim pastor, wrote that the church didn’t know about the surveillance until the court filings and pledged that the congregation “will continue to insist that solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors is the way that we best follow the ways of Jesus in the world.” “We should, as a society, agree that sacred places and the many and varied community activities taking place within them should not become targets of government infiltration,” the statement read. “Yet we know that many churches like University Baptist Church and our sibling congregations around the country have become a threat to those in power when we care for our neighbors, provide safe spaces for our community members to gather in peace, and strive together toward justice.” Both Sanders and Crow noted government surveillance of religious […]

[Episcopal News Service] Northern Indiana Bishop Douglas Sparks and Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows offered prayers as the state continues to experience thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, tornadoes and severe flooding. The storms began on Aug. 11, killing at least seven people, displacing at least 1,000 people and causing power outages. Sparks has been communicating with clergy, lay leaders and Episcopal Relief & Development to assess how best to assist with relief efforts across the South Bend-based Diocese of Northern Indiana, especially Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, which were the most heavily impacted. None of the churches have sustained major damage, but some remain without power. No injuries have been reported. Two of Sparks’ biggest concerns, however, are caring for the elderly and feeding people who can’t store food.  “Those most affected are the elderly in many of our faith communities. They don’t have family members who can rush over and are often living by themselves,” Sparks told Episcopal News Service in an Aug. 18 phone interview. “There are people in our faith communities who went to the store and got their groceries, then the storms hit, and all of their perishable food is gone. With Episcopal Relief & Development, we’re trying to gauge how much resources we need to cover food expenses as best we can.”  Baskerville-Burrows is out of state but has been regularly communicating with diocesan staff. “My heart is with you all in Indiana. Watching the impact of the floods and storms over the last few days has been so hard to watch from afar,” Baskerville-Burrows said in an Aug. 17 video message posted to the diocese’s YouTube channel. “My staff and I are keeping track and will be calling clergy and lay leaders,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure that you’re doing OK.” The Diocese of Indianapolis will provide updates on its website and social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Some parts of Indiana reported receiving more than 12 inches of rain over two days, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the severe flooding is occurring along the White River, a two-forked river that’s the main tributary to the larger Wabash River. Indianapolis, Indiana’s capital and most populous city, sits along the White River’s west fork. In Anderson, located 43 miles northeast of Indianapolis, the White River rose to a record 24.93 feet, surpassing the record previously set during the Great Flood of 1913. Flooding in the Mississinewa River has also severely impacted residents in eastern Indiana and killed at least one person, a teenager. The flooding also has forced hundreds of people to evacuate. First responders have been rescuing stranded people and animals by boat. In Carmel, a northern suburb of Indianapolis, a bridge over Blue Woods Creek collapsed after floodwaters broke it in half and washed a section of it away, forcing a major road to close. Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman confirmed the bridge as a “total loss.” The city’s main sewer line that carries 90% of Carmel’s wastewater has a “90% chance” of collapsing, threatening an environmental crisis, according to officials. St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Carmel collected funds to support local recovery efforts during its Aug. 16 morning worship service. Fishers, a Hamilton County suburb just east of Carmel, on Aug. 15 declared a local disaster emergency, which will remain in effect until Aug. 22. The city launched a 24/7 hotline and an online form to assist residents with non-emergency issues. On Aug. 11, the same day the floods started in central and southern Indiana, multiple tornadoes and a derecho – a fast-moving, straight-line windstorm that causes hurricane-force winds, heavy rain and flash floods – struck northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana. The storms killed at least three people, including an unhoused woman who was struck by roofing material in Gary. About 301,000 households lost power then, and 93,000 households remain without power as of Aug. 18, according to the Northern Indiana Public Service Company.  In South Bend, about 66 miles east of Gary, Diocese of Northern Indiana staff sheltered in the basement of the Cathedral of St. James during the storm. “People are dealing with a mixture of challenges at this point,” Sparks said. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency on Aug. 13 and deployed the Indiana National Guard to provide additional relief assistance to the northwest cities of Gary, Hobart and Munster in Lake County, near Chicago, Illinois. National Guardsmen are also now assisting with flood relief efforts statewide. In an Aug. 17 email, the Diocese of Indianapolis shared a list of local flood relief resources, including information from the American Red Cross of Indiana, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and Indiana 211. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis set up a web page sharing the most effective ways to help, including where to donate money and supplies, and where to volunteer for relief assistance. “When our neighbors are hurting, we are called to draw near,” St. Paul’s said in an Aug. 16 Facebook post. “This is what it means to live our mission: Sharing Christ’s Love. Creating Community. Striving for Justice. In a moment of crisis, we show up for one another – with compassion, generosity and hope.” Episcopal Relief & Development’s website includes information on how to respond immediately after a disaster. In her video message, Baskerville-Burrows said she’s “been heartened by the many ways in which you have shown up for each other.” “I’ve seen pictures and videos of you filling sandbags, canceling plans for your Sunday events and being present to those most in need at this time and making adjustments on the fly as we deal with the impact of the waters that continue to rise,” she said. The Diocese of Northern Indiana is accepting donations to the bishop’s discretionary fund that will be used for relief efforts. Across the Midwest, a developing El Niño weather pattern has brought above-normal temperatures, storms, flooding and high winds throughout the […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church is relaunching its creation care grant program, now with an emphasis on supporting local ministries connected to the church’s expanding eco-region framework. The church will accept proposals from now until Oct. 26 for grants of up to $15,000 to fund projects involved with “nature restoration, regenerative agriculture, climate advocacy, and environmental justice,” according to an Aug. 18 church news release announcing the latest round of grants. Applications for the grants, the first to be awarded from the creation care program since late 2024, will be collected by the churchwide creation care office and evaluated by the 12 eco-region networks, which include 55 Episcopal dioceses. Proposals should “align with network priorities, demonstrate understanding of local issues and context, show potential for partnerships with organizations doing similar work and include meaningful involvement and feedback from people who would benefit from the project.” Proposals from dioceses that are not yet connected to an eco-region also will be considered. “As we watch myriad climate concerns take hold across the lands and waters where Episcopalians dwell — from forest fires and water shortages to tornadoes, floods and sea level rise — people of faith are committed to organizing ourselves in our regions to bring healing to the world God loves,” said the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, the church’s eco-region network coordinator and a former bishop of Kansas. General Convention endorsed the formation of eco-region networks in a 2024 resolution that focused on the need for collaboration on conservation, renewable energy and food-based ministries. Under Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, who took office in November 2024, development of the Episcopal Eco-Region Network Initiative has been one of the church’s primary creation care initiatives. It is now facilitated through a partnership with the Center for Religion & Environment at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. “By bestowing creation care grants this year through our eco-region networks, we seek to address specific environmental challenges and encourage projects informed by local wisdom that will build regional collaboration,” Bascom said in the church news release. The new approach to the grant process has been received with enthusiasm by Episcopalians who are actively engaged in creation care ministries, according to the Rev. Stephanie Johnson. A priest in Connecticut, Johnson also is co-convener of the Episcopal Church Green Caucus. “There’s real excitement in talking about the grants,” Johnson told Episcopal News Service. “I love this model of really getting into these local communities.” Providing modest grants at the local level allows leaders to tailor their work to the needs within their contexts, she said, while pursuing opportunities for growth and sustainability. The Green Caucus also hopes the new granting process will encourage more Episcopalians and dioceses to form or join an eco-region. Those networks encourage greater creativity in addressing regional issues, Johnson said, and within the regions, “they might have a project that you and I could never imagine.” The Episcopal Church has awarded more than $1 million in grants over the past decade as part of its commitment to creation care ministries. In its last round of grants, authorized by Executive Council in November 2024, the church gave $100,000 to eight projects. The 2025-27 churchwide budget plan approved by General Convention calls for $375,000 in creation care grants during this triennium, with $125,000 budgeted in each of the three years. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

[Religion News Service] On Friday evening, Aug. 14, Philomene Philostin, a local youth pastor, business owner and nonprofit leader, stood on the street corner outside Springfield, Ohio’s City Hall, crying out in Haitian Creole. Pastor Fontil Daity, a Haitian immigrant who leads a local Pentecostal Haitian church, interpreted in English: “Haitians! Haitians! … We cannot take it anymore. We ask for God in heaven to hear our cries!” About 75 people gathered around them in the sweltering heat, many holding signs that read, “Love your neighbor” — a reference to the biblical command to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Philostin told Religion News Service she initiated the gathering in response to a new flurry of ICE raids in the city starting the day before. The peaceful protest wove together prayers and testimonies from community members, lawyers and faith leaders. Daity, singing in Haitian Creole, then in English, led attendees in the hymn “Precious Lord Take My Hand.”   For many of the more than 10,000 Haitians in the city of about 58,000, their faith in God — and the support of local immigrants’ rights organizers and faith leaders — is what’s sustaining them as they reckon with the end of Temporary Protected Status. Many of Springfield’s Haitians attend evangelical, Catholic, mainline and Pentecostal churches across the city. And in the months of dread and uncertainty before a federal judge cleared the way on Aug. 4 for the termination of Haiti’s TPS protections, faith leaders and congregations from within and beyond the Haitian community have emerged as pivotal actors in the support networks for affected families. Now, those networks are adapting in real time to respond to what they see as a human-engineered spiritual, moral and humanitarian crisis, especially as ICE activity stepped up over the weekend. A DHS spokesperson said they would not disclose details of its operations. That crisis had a face on Aug. 14 in the early morning. Charles Beaubrun Ardouin, a Haitian immigrant and Springfield resident who spoke at the protest that evening, was driving through the city dropping at least five other Haitian men off after their night shift at a local automobile factory when he was stopped by several ICE vehicles, he told RNS. Ardouin, a U.S. citizen, said about 10 agents — most wearing masks — demanded identification for everyone in the vehicle. After detaining the other men, ICE agents reportedly told Ardouin they would be taken to Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio. Ardouin said all the men have pending asylum cases. “These people are coming to the United States of America for freedom. They’re coming for work. All they want is due process,” Ardouin told RNS. “The first time I came to the United States of America, I felt freedom. But now, I [feel] fear.” Pro-immigrant faith leaders had long been bracing for a Minneapolis-style ICE crackdown against the Haitian community in Springfield. Instead, ICE has shifted tactics: Beginning just over a week after the termination of TPS for the country’s 330,000 Haitian recipients became enforceable on Aug. 5, ICE has conducted several rapid, small-scale ICE detentions. And since late July, ICE  has sent many Haitian residents in Springfield letters ordering them to report to the Blue Ash ICE office over an hour away, near Cincinnati. There, many former TPS holders, all of whom came to the U.S. legally seeking safety from disastrous conditions in Haiti, have reported being given the choice between self-deporting with $2,600, or being released with ankle monitors — which many in Springfield referred to as “shackles” — and a restriction to limit travel to within a 75-mile radius of their address. Without work permits, the Haitian residents are struggling to pay for rent and groceries. Some are hiding in their homes, too afraid of ICE to shop at local businesses or attend church. Others have had their drivers’ licenses expire or become nonrenewable. Parents are filling out legal paperwork to give power of attorney to neighbors and friends in case they get separated from their children, especially those born in the U.S. who have legal citizenship. This weekend, local Haitian leaders shared reports that one, possibly two, Haitian immigrants had committed suicide. RNS was unable to independently verify those claims. “Jesus says, ‘Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ And all that we can do is to go to Him right now, because we don’t have any other choice,” faith leader and executive director of the Haitian Supporter Center, Viles Dorsainvil, told RNS. On Aug. 14 in the afternoon, hours after the ICE raid Ardouin witnessed, staff and volunteers met with clients at the support center located in a Church of the Nazarene church. Beneath papered-over windows, boxes of diapers and food donations — Cheerios, black beans, ramen noodles — crowded one corner of the main room. In a three-hour span, nearly a dozen Haitians stopped in seeking help. One woman asked what her next steps should be after her cousin was detained. Several people arrived with ankle monitors, looking for legal assistance with next steps. As desperate as the situation has become in Springfield, Haitian community members do not want to return to Haiti. “They choose the ankle shackles because the whole world, they know going back to Haiti is being placed in a death sentence,” said the support center’s administrative assistant, James Pepitho Fleurijean. Armed gangs control most of Port-au-Prince and are expanding their reach into neighboring regions. Gang violence in Haiti has resulted in over 2,000 deaths in this year alone. “There are so many people that went back to Haiti, and when they get there, and you know the rest of the story: People have been kidnapped, people have been killed, young ladies have been raped,” Fleurijean said. In his office, Dorsainvil, a former TPS holder who moved to the U.S. from Haiti in 2020, sat at his desk answering a stream of phone calls and messages. He described living in Springfield […]

[Episcopal News Service] To be religious in today’s world is to live, work and pray alongside people of other faiths, denominations or none at all. Young Episcopalians who have inherited this increasingly secular, interreligious world are looking with fresh eyes on ecumenical institutions of the previous century and entering a movement whose aims of Christian unity and interfaith solidarity they see as existential and nonnegotiable. In June, New York City-based Hank Jeannel logged onto a Zoom call with over 60 young adult Christians from around the world and was put in a breakout room with others from North America and the Middle East. Some lamented their region’s pressing challenges, such as climate change, while others requested prayers for personal struggles. And amid it all was hope for a world where young Christians are united, Jeannel, The Episcopal Church’s associate for ecumenical and interreligious relations, told Episcopal News Service. “You felt like you were walking away with all of these concerns from around the world, these young people you met, and you had a long list of things to add to Evening Prayer later that day,” he said. It was the second “E-cumenical Youth Gathering” convened by the World Council of Churches. Jeannel said this was just one place where young people are bringing new energy to a movement whose work is increasingly urgent. The ecumenical movement started as an early 20th-century push among Christians to seek understanding and unity across doctrinal differences. The Rev. Kirsten Guidero, the ecumenical and interreligious officer for The Episcopal Church, noted the church’s crucial role early on. “You’ve got one world war down, and you’re about to enter another one, and I think there was just this burgeoning enthusiasm for, ‘Hey, if we actually talk to each other, what could happen?’” Guidero told ENS. Inspired by the World Missionary Conference in 1910 where he preached a sermon entitled, “The Call to Unity,” Episcopal Bishop Charles Brent served as president of the First World Conference on Faith and Order in 1927 in Switzerland. The Episcopal Church convened the gathering, where over 100 churches discussed divisions over doctrine and polity. When the World Council of Churches formed in 1948, Faith and Order became one of its commissions. The examples of the church seeking unity in the past remain instructive to some whose ecumenical work still takes place in institutional spaces. The Rev. Joseph Wolyniak, a priest in The Episcopal Church in Colorado, is the program director of a Lilly Endowment-funded ecumenical initiative called The Narthex and has participated in The Episcopal Church’s Presbyterian-Episcopal dialogue for 12 years.  He finds Brent’s reminder that Christian unity is a call from God inspiring. However, he also sees the old foundations of the movement cracking. “Like many things, the institutions of even the last mid-century are kind of falling apart,” Wolyniak said. “Especially for younger people, we are inheriting institutions that are under a lot of stress and duress.” And the world has changed. Today’s Christians live in a global context, different from the Western European-centric Christianity that birthed the ecumenical movement. And in the United States, following on what is now largely a secular Europe, Christianity is on the decline as the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans rises. “Most of my friends in the church, they live interreligious lives just because they wake up in the morning and go hang out with the people around them, and those are not always Christians and not always Episcopalians,” Jeannel said, adding that the church’s ministry must urgently address this reality. Michael Wheeler, a seminarian at Seminary of the Southwest, will become the first Episcopal fellow to attend the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, this fall. The institute is part of the World Council of Churches, and Wheeler’s participation in the one-semester program in ecumenical theology is thanks to The Episcopal Church’s Charles Henry Brent Ecumenical Fellowship. “Just getting to experience so many different parts of the Christian tradition, I think, is going to be so expansive and enriching,” Wheeler said. “I think that’s what I’m most excited about because there are so many people with life experiences [and] experiences of Jesus different than mine.” Wheeler identified rapidly developing technology, including AI, as a concern young people are particularly aware of within the ecumenical movement. Jeannel said climate change and the liberation of oppressed people across the world are also at the top of the priority list. Both Wheeler and Jeannel said ecumenical work can get stuck in intellectual spheres, with important theological discussions never reaching the ground. Guidero said young adults are more willing to look critically at older institutions whose mission of visible Christian unity hasn’t translated to action. “[They say] ‘You have to have integrity, you have to live these ideals that you’re preaching at people, or we’re not voting for you, or we’re not going to work for you. We’re not playing this game,’” she said. “I think in ecumenical and interreligious spaces, that’s great energy.” Everyone is involved in ecumenical or interreligious work every day, Guidero said, whether or not they have the terminology for it. One of her goals, she said, is to lift up the wisdom that is already in the church, fulfilling Jesus’s prayer in John 17 that his disciples and future followers “may be one.” Part of this includes tapping young people to join bodies explicitly dedicated to ecumenical and interfaith unity that might need new life. “When you’ve been laboring on a project for decades, you can sometimes miss the forest for the trees,” Jeannel said. “But when you’re new to it, things are less precious and there’s a kind of creativity that can come out of that.” For Wheeler, whose sending parish supports the food pantry and clothing donation drives of the Congregational church across the street, modern-day examples of ecumenism interest him more than the big names of the past. “Something that really inspired me was [Archbishop of Canterbury] Sarah Mullally’s first […]

[Episcopal Church of New Hampshire] After an extensive search process, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire has selected three candidates for the 11th bishop, to replace retiring Bishop Robert Hirschfeld, according to an Aug. 14 announcement. The next step is for finalists to meet with church members, lay leaders and clergy across New Hampshire at three events in October. Delegates will then vote for their next bishop on Oct. 24, 2026. The candidates were identified after an eight-month process that included a diocesan survey and listening sessions with church members across the diocese. The candidates on the slate are: The Rev. Ed Cardoza, priest-in-charge, Grace Church, Manchester, New Hampshire. The Rev. Fran Gardner-Smith, rector, St. Thomas Church, McLean, Virginia. The Rev. Kristofer Lindh-Payne, canon to the ordinary for leadership, Diocese of Maryland. Additional nominees may be added through a petition process that concludes on Aug. 22, 2026. Margaret Porter, president of the standing committee, says that the process reflects the best qualities of the diocese and its membership. “We are incredibly blessed by the commitment of our search committee, who have generously shared their time,” Porter said. “Their lengthy discernment has provided us with three people who match the hopes and prayers of our Episcopal Church in New Hampshire. Our equally dedicated transition committee members and other volunteers are preparing for the upcoming events to welcome the candidates to the diocese, express our gratitude to retiring Bishop Hirschfeld after 14 years in ministry with us, and install our new bishop.” Hirschfeld became bishop in August 2014. The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire serves approximately 10,000 members across 46 congregations and eight seasonal chapels statewide. The diocese describes itself as geographically diverse, spiritually resilient and deeply committed to community-based ministry. Meet and Greet events will be held Oct. 8-10 in multiple locations: Ashland, Exeter and Concord. The candidates will spend time conversing with people, sharing their vision for the future and fielding questions. The electing convention is scheduled for Oct. 24 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Concord, when lay delegates from the 46 New Hampshire congregations, along with clergy, will vote for the next bishop. The ordination and consecration of the 11th bishop of New Hampshire will take place March 6, 2027, at Rollins Chapel in Hanover, with the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, officiating. For more information, please visit nhepiscopalbishoptransition.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Top church leaders from seven Anglican provinces in North America and South America, including The Episcopal Church, have released a joint statement after concluding a three-day meeting this week in São Paulo, Brazil, seeking common ground on their faith-based responses to a range of global issues. The leaders emphasized that this was the first time that both the primates and provincial secretaries from the provinces of the Americas met together. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe represented The Episcopal Church, along with the Rev. Charles Robertson, senior adviser to the presiding bishop, and the Rev. David Ulloa Chavez, the church’s lead for Global Episcopal Partnerships. The Aug. 10-12 meeting occurred a little more than a month after a meeting in Northern Ireland of the Anglican Consultative Council, at which Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally said she intended to discuss with the primates of the Anglican Communion’s 42 autonomous provinces potential new models of shared leadership. The communion’s member churches are navigating ongoing tensions over theological differences, particularly related to human sexuality. In Brazil, the regional primates were joined by Bishop Anthony Poggo, the Anglican Communion secretary general. “We give thanks to God for the gift of our communion, which we receive as the Body of Christ,” the Anglican primates of the Americas said in their joint statement. “At this meeting, we strove to embody that gift as we spoke honestly and with hope about the realities of ministry in our contexts and sought to enter one another’s realities.” The meeting was hosted by the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil’s Archbishop Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto. In addition to Rowe, the other primates who participated were the Most Rev. Shane Parker of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Rev. Juan David Alvarado Melgar of the Anglican Church of Central America, the Most Rev. Alba Sally Sue Hernández García of the Anglican Church of Mexico, the Most Rev. Brian Williams of the Anglican Church of South America and the Most Rev. Philip Wright of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. “I pray that God continues to inspire, encourage, and hearten us to respond to the challenges of our time, serving as a reconciling and prophetic presence in the Americas,” Bassotto said in a written statement to Episcopal News Service. The primates’ joint statement noted that Brazil’s Indigenous peoples are “stewards of the Amazon and faithful voices in the struggle for climate justice.” “We affirmed the dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands span the Americas,” the primates said. “Although we are from richly diverse provinces, we share the experiences of living in cultures shaped by forces that call us to action, including colonialism, secularism, polarization, migration concerns, economic and social insecurity, corruption and climate change.” One step the primates took during their meeting was to revitalize their provinces’ Committee on Migration in the Americas, to foster cooperation on an issue that transcends political and provincial boundaries. “The committee’s proposal is to centralize and disseminate information that can assist the provinces in their work with migrants — both in preparing those who are leaving and in welcoming those who are arriving,” Christina Winnischofer, the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil’s general secretary, told ENS. Rowe, in a written comment to Episcopal News Service, called the meeting “a significant opportunity to strengthen relationships and discern the future of our ministry together. “Especially in this era, we are keenly aware that our shared voice as Anglicans in the Americas can make a profound witness in each of our contexts,” Rowe said. “As our statement says, we have begun a new chapter in our life together in Christ.” The primates of the Americas said they look forward to working together again in the future, supporting each other in their Gospel work. “Our Anglican tradition teaches us to find unity in service to God’s mission, and we pledge to work together with mutual accountability and hope for the people of our provinces,” they said in their joint statement. “We leave this gathering with the conviction that we have begun a new chapter in our life together in Christ.” The meeting was seen as grounding future efforts to strengthen Anglican relations, Robertson told ENS. “In an increasingly divided world, it has been all the more remarkable to see the Primates and Provincial Secretaries of the Americas, with their diverse backgrounds and contexts, come together in fellowship as a first step towards more intentional engagement and collaboration in the future.” After the meeting, Poggo released a separate statement. “It was wonderful to be a guest at the meeting of the Primates from the Americas, to pray for their ministries and for the churches and communities they represent,” he said. “May God continue to build his Church across the Americas.” Some of the primates and provincial secretaries remained in São Paulo for an additional meeting with leaders of the Anglican Alliance about a new initiative led by the global relief agency called “A Place at the Table.” The initiative, according to the Anglican Communion News Service, is “based on a conviction that many of the challenges facing the world are shaped not only by a lack of resources, but by distorted relationships of power: who is heard, who makes decisions, who benefits and who is excluded.” – 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] The last congregation to worship regularly at the historic Grace Episcopal Church in Riverhead, New York, shut down in 2017 because of dwindling membership. Then in 2023, the Diocese of Long Island halted any use of the building out of safety concerns from the deteriorating structure. But rather than tear the building down, the diocese chose to invest in extensive renovations that built upon the diocese’s evolving Episcopal ministry to the local Latino community in Riverhead. This month, the diocese officially rededicated the renovated building and reopened it as the renewed home of Iglesia San Francisco, a mission congregation made up predominantly of Spanish-speaking families and farmworkers on Long Island’s East End. The Rev. Luis Fernando López, who has served the diocese as a missioner in East End since March 2025, will move into the church’s renovated rectory while serving as the congregation’s priest-in-charge. “This is a day of thanksgiving for our congregation,” Lopez said in a diocesan news release before the Aug. 9 rededication. “Our people never lost faith. We continued to worship, to pray and to serve our neighbors wherever we gathered. Returning to this church gives us a renewed home for our ministry and a place where we can continue welcoming all who seek God’s love.” The original structure was built in 1871, but Grace Episcopal Church’s deep roots on the East End of Long Island weren’t enough to stem the gradual erosion in membership that led to the congregation’s 2017 closure. In the years since, the site has served as a hub of activity for the diocese’s ministry to farmworkers in the area. The diocese put the building to use as a ministry center and meeting place in support of its long-running partnership with Rural & Migrant Ministry, a nonprofit agency that works throughout New York state to give voice to the concerns of farm laborers. When the diocese was forced to halt use of the building in 2023, it began considering an extensive renovation project that would go beyond merely reopening the church campus. The church was restored for worship while adapting its spaces for ministries led by Iglesia San Francisco. Goals for the church and chapel included “enhancing their beauty, functionality and hospitality,” the diocese said. The parish hall, too, was transformed into a gathering space that can host parish meetings, celebrations, educational programs and community events. And exterior work has included a new roof, accessibility ramps and other safety and accessibility upgrades. The diocese has celebrated the building’s reopening as a sign of Iglesia San Francisco’s  commitment to its mission and the community. “Even when they could not gather in their church building, the people of Iglesia San Francisco continued to be the church — serving their neighbors, worshipping together and sharing Christ’s love,” Long Island Bishop Lawrence Provenzano said in the diocese’s news release. “Today we celebrate not only the renewal of this sacred space, but the flourishing ministry that has never ceased.” – 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] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic on Aug. 7 released a slate of four candidates for bishop coadjutor. The candidates are:   The Rev. Milquella R. Mendoza, a priest based in the Dominican Republic’s Santiago Province.  The Rev. Marivel Natera Milien, associate rector of Spanish and Families Ministries for St. George’s Episcopal Church in Summerville, South Carolina.  The Rev. Isaac Emilio Pringle Mejía, a priest who serves various parishes in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.  The Rev. Vanel Saint Juste, a priest who serves various parishes in San Pedro de Marcorís and Consuelo, Dominican Republic. The bishop coadjutor will eventually succeed the diocese’s fourth bishop, the Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota, who has led the diocese since 2016. The election is scheduled for Oct. 31.  The Santo Domingo-based Diocese of the Dominican Republic, which is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX, has about 5,000 members and 67 missions throughout the Caribbean nation on the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola.

[Religion News Service] From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Christ for a gardener, cultivated green spaces have long held a special place in Christianity. Now, in a corner of west London, England, an Anglican church is using its proximity to one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, Kew Gardens, as a reason for a new venture linking theology and nature. St Anne’s Church launched a new charity, Kew Theology & Gardening, to help deepen people’s connection with nature, develop a theology of the environment and explore climate change. The project started small in 2024 with talks for the local community but has since expanded to sponsoring retreats, partly held in Kew Gardens and partly in St Anne’s. Now the charity is hosting major lectures. The most significant so far will be held this September, when Carmody Grey, professor of integral ecology at Radboud University in the Netherlands and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, will talk on Sept. 30 on “What Are We Here For? Gardening and the Human Vocation” in the garden’s lecture theater. A previous lecture was given by then-director of gardens at Kew, Richard Barley, while another future lecture will be given by environmental biologist Martin J. Hodson, a visiting researcher at Oxford Brookes University. “In Britain gardening is just about the most popular activity there is,” said St Anne’s vicar, Giles Fraser. “People spend so much time with their hands in the soil. It’s how they connect with creation — and the story of creation began in a garden. “We garden on our knees, we pray on our knees. That’s the image I had in my mind when this started,” he added. Fraser, who is well-known as a broadcaster in Britain and has just completed a series on church-going for BBC radio, said that his parish was keen to find more ways to connect with its neighbor, Kew Gardens, which is known throughout the world for its research and attracts millions of visitors every year. The connection between St. Anne’s and the gardens, the parish believes, will help people reflect not only on creation but on the environment and threats to it, such as climate change. The Kew Theology & Gardening project comes at a time when the Church of England is increasing its work on environmental matters. In July, the church published a major teaching document on care for creation called “Hope for All Creation: A Theological Response to the Environmental Crises.” The document argues that creation care is not an option but a core part of Christian belief and mission. It sees environmental action as an expression of hope and roots care for the planet in the biblical story of creation, redemption and renewal, structured around the themes “See, Reflect, Respond.” In their foreword to the document, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell say that “we inhabit a world groaning with the growing impact of the climate and environmental crises. Their scale is daunting, and the devastation and suffering they bring — to which more and more people are increasingly vulnerable, especially those in poverty — are growing in scale and intensity. We can feel powerless and overwhelmed in the face of these things and our fears for the future.” But they also write, “To care for creation in partnership with others, to show solidarity with the vulnerable, to be prophetic in speech and action on these issues — locally, nationally and globally — is to live out this faith and hope. It is an essential part of following Jesus and sharing the Gospel today.” The Church of England’s General Synod has also just approved a new annual Festival of Creation in Christ to be celebrated in Church of England churches on the first Sunday of September — traditionally a time when churches mark the harvest season, reminding people of both their responsibility for stewarding the earth and to express thankfulness for God’s abundance. According to Grey, who is preparing her Kew lecture, humanity has two vocations that can be expressed in biblical terms: to be fruitful and multiply and to till and keep — both of which can be expressed through gardening. “Tilling and keeping and fruitfulness are defining marks of the human life and so are at the core of theological anthropology,” she said. “We have sometimes made too great a difference between beauty and utility, but these two aspects of life show how they are connected. We have children partly for survival but also as an expression of joy. The same is true of gardening — they overlap.” Grey also expressed concern that people do not appreciate the importance of plant life enough, citing the example of people being shown a photo of animals in a landscape. When asked to point out life in the photo, they almost always indicate the animals, and when shown a photo of a landscape, they almost always say there is nothing there. “The Bible highlights the importance of all life, including plant life, and the imagery of the tree is a key focus of the Bible,” she said. Kew Theology & Gardening has devised a walk called Stations of the Trees, based on the Christian devotion of Stations of the Cross, with each station or stopping point in the gardens focusing on a particular aspect of the environmental crisis. Among the stations is the carbon garden, focusing on the importance of carbon and problems associated with excessive carbon; boards highlighting Kew’s role in collecting seeds, with a reflection on the parable of the sower; and the rose garden, where prayers reminding pilgrims of the rosary are offered to Mary. Also included is a visit to olive trees, representing the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prayed with foreboding before he was arrested while his disciples slept. Pilgrims are urged to wake up and are given a […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Bob Gordon Jones, the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Wyoming has died. He was 93. Jones led the Diocese of Wyoming from his consecration in 1977 until he left the diocese in 1996 to become dean of St. George’s College in the Diocese of Jerusalem. He later became assisting bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf and also had served dioceses and churches in Arkansas, Alaska, Florida and Hawaii. “His life and ministry was marked by both faithful service and an adventurous spirit,” the Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, bishop provisional of Wyoming, told the Living Church in a story about Jones’ death. Jones was born in 1932 in Paragould, Arkansas. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, he served in the Navy during the Korean War. After attending the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, he was ordained a deacon in 1959 and a priest in 1960, serving as assistant to the dean of Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas. From 1962 to 1967, Jones was priest-in-charge of St. George’s-in-the-Arctic in Kotzebue, Alaska, and also served congregations in Nome and the small Iñupiat village of Noatak. In 1967, he started the new congregation of St. Christopher’s Church in Anchorage, where he served as rector until he was elected bishop of Wyoming. As bishop, he also served on the executive committee of the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief and General Convention’s Program, Budget and Finance Committee. Jones is survived by his wife, Mary Page Jones, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Judith Edwards, and a brother.

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal leaders are calling for prayers and offering support after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Aug. 10. More than 250 people are dead and more than 2,597 people are injured. “We lift up our prayers for the communities and families affected by this earthquake,” the Bogotá-based Diocese of Colombia said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post. “May God grant them strength, protection and comfort, and help us remain united in solidarity and hope.” Occuring at 7:34 a.m. Central, the earthquake‘s epicenter was in the Chocó Department on the Pacific coast, which is Colombia’s poorest region and home to its largest Afro-Colombian population. At least 4,130 people have been reported missing, and an estimated 5,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, according to Colombia President Abelardo De La Espriella, who was sworn in three days earlier. Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, and other cities have also reported fatalities and structural damage. The earthquake struck near what is Colombia’s “Eje Cafetero,” also known as the “Coffee Axis” or “Coffee Triangle,” a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists annually. Coffee is both a significant part of Colombia’s cultural identity and one of the South American country’s largest exports. The Houston-based Diocese of Texas said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post, “We stand with Colombia in prayer. “We keep the people of Colombia in our prayers after the recent earthquake,” it said. “We pray for those who lost loved ones, those who are hurt and all the families and communities affected. May God give strength to those helping, comfort to those in pain and hope to everyone during this difficult time.” The Diocese of Colombia, which is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX, has 12 churches and 11 missions in 15 cities throughout the country. Episcopal News Service attempted to reach out to Colombia Bishop Pastor Elias Garcia Cardenas via WhatsApp, and coverage will be updated upon receiving a response. Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post that he has been communicating with Cardenas: “I expressed our solidarity and our readiness to help in any way needed,” Maldonado said. “We are praying for Colombia, for the victims and for the affected families. We stand with you!” The earthquake happened less than two months after back-to-back major earthquakes struck Colombia’s neighbor to the northeast, Venezuela, near Caracas on June 25, killing more than 6,300 people. Some leaders from the Diocese of Colombia collected money, medicine and other goods and crossed the border to deliver the aid in person to diocesan leaders in Venezuela. Dozens of countries, including the United States, have offered Colombia financial and recovery assistance. The U.S. State Department announced on Aug. 10 that it will commit $15.5 million in funding for emergency shelter, food, earthquake assessments and more. In a prayer posted Aug. 10 on Facebook, the National Episcopal Church Women called for comfort, healing and guidance. “Gracious God … bring comfort to those who are frightened, healing to those who are injured and strength to those who have lost homes or loved ones. Guide the hands of rescuers and surround every family with your peace and presence,” the organization’s post said. “May hope rise from the devastation and may the people of Colombia know that they are not alone.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

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

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

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, a ministry in the Diocese of East Carolina based in Dunn, is calling for aid to help serve H-2A farmworkers after the federal government reduced their wages this year. The average hourly wages for farmworkers who are in the United States seasonally under the H-2A visa program have been reduced by between $1 and $7 depending on the state. In North Carolina, the hourly wage rate dropped from $16.16 to $12.78. The wage reduction has made it so farmworkers cannot support themselves, let alone send money to their families, according to the Rev. Fred Clarkson, executive convener of Episcopal Farmworker Ministry and priest-in-charge of the Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia (Episcopal Church of the Holy Family), which operates the ministry. “These changes are causing so many problems for the farmworkers, who already live under tough conditions as is, as they work behind the scenes to put food on our tables,” Clarkson told Episcopal News Service. “Making their lives even harder is, frankly, really appalling. … We endeavor to do the best we can to assist the farmworkers, but we can’t do it alone.” Since 1978, Episcopal Farmworker Ministry has served farmworkers who come to the region for six to nine months a year on U.S. government-issued H-2A visas. Seasonal workers and immigrants who live in the area year-round mostly work in fields harvesting sweet potatoes and other vegetables, fruit, Christmas trees or tobacco, or in turkey- or pork-processing plants. “At least 70% of the farmworkers we serve are thinking about not coming back next season because they can earn the same wages in Mexico without sacrificing having to be away from their families most of the year and being so isolated from the world,” Alisson Herrarte, Episcopal Farmworkers Ministries’ administrative minister, told ENS. “Farmworkers come to the United States so they can support their families and give their children a good life. But these changes defeat the purpose of coming to work here in the first place.”  Clarkson regularly communicates with staff at the Mexican consulate in Raleigh, North Carolina. He said consulate staff reported to him that 20% fewer Mexican citizens came to North Carolina this year to work under H-2A visas, and a steeper decline is anticipated for 2027. The increasing farmworker shortage is fueling labor expenses and leaving crops unharvested, which is driving up food prices, according to a May 19 farm sector income and finances report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources. “If you don’t think this change is relevant to you, just wait. When it catches up with us, this is going to be drastic for us as a country,” Clarkson said. Wage rates for H-2A workers were reduced after the U.S. Department of Labor in October 2025 restructured how minimum wages are calculated. The Episcopal Church’s longstanding support for farmworkers dates back to 1973, when General Convention adopted a resolution to back extending legal protection to agricultural workers. Several other resolutions supporting farmworkers have since passed. Last year, the church’s Office of Government Relations’ Episcopal Public Policy Network posted an action alert calling on Episcopalians to support the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025. If enacted, it would streamline the H-2A application process, reform wage calculations to better reflect real-world conditions, invest in preserving and expanding farmworker housing and more. “Through General Convention resolutions and longstanding advocacy, The Episcopal Church has consistently supported the rights and dignity of immigrants and farmworkers, including access to fair compensation and safe working conditions,” Troy Collazo, a policy adviser with the Office of Government Relations, told ENS in an email. “As policymakers debate agricultural labor policy, we believe the well-being of workers and their families should remain a central consideration alongside the economic needs of farmers and rural communities.” Episcopal Farmworker Ministry offers English classes, mental health services, immigration services, economic development projects, creative outlets for children, services for pregnant women, new mattresses and bedding sets, clothing and a worship space. Staff and volunteers, most of whom are former farmworkers themselves or are related to farmworkers, sometimes provide transportation to nearby laundromats and convenience stores, or anywhere farmworkers ask to go. They also help them open bank accounts so they can send money home without paying interest fees. Now staff and volunteers are collecting groceries and money to serve meals, nonperishable food, clothing and laundry supplies to farmworkers to help alleviate their financial strains. The ministry has established two separate Amazon wish lists for donors to shop online; one for food and another for clothing. Additionally, staff and volunteers are developing community gardens on site to provide fresh produce to the farmworkers year-round. They also have communicated with consultants to estimate the potential costs and logistics of establishing and running a commercial laundry facility for the farmworkers. “These are farmworkers’ biggest immediate needs,” Herrarte said. Addressing these needs is urgent, Herrarte said, because farmworkers “deserve to live comfortably and not be treated poorly.” For Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, prioritizing farmworkers’ well-being includes addressing their spiritual and emotional needs. No matter how exhausted they are or what their denomination is, many farmworkers fill the pews at Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia every Sunday for worship and community. They also sometimes volunteer in their spare time to serve fellow farmworkers. “If you meet the people we serve, you’ll see that they are such good, faithful people who embody so much of the goodness of the Gospel in terms of doing the best for their families and also for their communities,” Clarkson said. “Farmworkers really are the salt of the earth.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Religion News Service] After renewing her commitment to a controversial £100 million Church of England fund apologizing for the church’s historical ties to the slave trade, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally ended her 10-day Africa tour Aug. 4, calling for peace and healing. “Our world cries out for healing. Millions of people live in fear. Millions are displaced. Hundreds of children do not have access to school,” said Mullally in a sermon on Aug. 4 from the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé. “I heard you speak of all these things, and I know the people of Cameroon have suffered far too long.” The trip marked Mullally’s first visit to Africa since her March 25 installation, when she became the first woman to serve as archbishop of Canterbury. She is also the first in her role to visit Cameroon. Mullally visited Ghana July 26-31 and Cameroon July 31-Aug. 4. While Ghana is regarded as one of West Africa’s more stable democracies, Cameroon is grappling with armed conflict between government forces and militant separatists identifying with the historically sidelined Anglophone community. The archbishop praised the peace-building partnerships between the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and other denominations and faiths in Cameroon and emphasized that peace required genuine and inclusive dialogue with everyone at the table. “That requires courage, it requires strength, and it requires commitment at every level of society, but particularly those in authority,” said the archbishop. The peace message capped a trip that also focused on the Church of England’s efforts to address its historic links to the transatlantic slave trade. During the Ghana leg of her visit, Mullally defended the church’s £100 million reparations fund while visiting one of West Africa’s most significant slave forts, the Cape Coast Castle that came under British control in the 1660s. “Part of the Christian belief in repentance is about action, so we are putting in place action to support those communities that feel the legacy of the slave trade,” Mullally said from the slave fort on July 30, according to the BBC. The church’s reparation fund, first announced in January 2023, followed an independent audit revealing that an 18th-century church endowment called Queen Anne’s Bounty had heavily invested and profited in a slave-trading company. The church’s missionaries also ran slave plantations in the Caribbean to fund their work; some clergy owned slaves; and the church pocketed large donations from slave traders. The archbishop toured the dungeons where enslaved Africans were kept and went through “the door of no return” that traders forced the slaves through before shipping them to the Caribbean, Brazil and North America. Atop the dungeons sits an Anglican chapel. Mullally said that, in seeing the horrific conditions thousands of people were kept in, it was impossible not to feel the weight of the immense evil that drove the transatlantic slave trade. “I pray not only in lament for the Church’s involvement in the slave trade, but also for hope — hope that the God of healing can bring justice and reconciliation to all who are still impacted by its legacy,” she said after visiting the castle. The archbishop also preached at an all-women-led clergy service in Accra on July 26, met Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama on July 27 and visited the king of the Asante people, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on July 29. The fund is meant to be distributed through 2032 for investment, research and aid programs supporting communities affected by the slave trade. But the church has not yet made details clear about who will receive what funds or how. Retired Anglican Bishop Julius Kalu of Mombasa questioned how beneficiaries of the fund would be found, since people impacted by the slave trade died a long time ago. “That is my concern. Who is going to benefit and how are they going to be identified?” he said. Mullally’s recommitment to the fund has also ignited sharp criticisms in her home country, where some opponents have disputed the level of the church’s complicity, questioned ideological motivations behind the decision and raised legal concerns, arguing the fund is taking away money from parish churches. But in Africa, many welcome the effort and hope it will encourage other churches to work toward reparations for slavery and colonization. “This is a welcome and necessary acknowledgement, but history teaches us that recognition alone is not justice,”  said Jackie Makena, a young theologian from the Methodist Church in Kenya. “Genuine repentance requires repair.” Makena said the legacies of slavery and colonialism were inseparable and were not confined to history. “They persist in structural injustices like economic disparities and unequal global power relations that continue to shape inequality today,” she said, adding that reparation was not about assigning perpetual guilt. “It is about taking shared responsibility for healing the enduring consequences of historical injustice.” Kalu also described the fund as a good effort. “It is also a way of saying: ‘Yes, we did it, accepting we did it, but we apologize for this and (accept) this was wrong,’” he said. “I saw the damage that the slave trade did in that region, and the scars are still there and can still be seen very clearly in Ghana, more than anywhere else.” The African Union and other continental organizations have pushed for moral accountability, investment and return of stolen artifacts. The movement gained a boost in March, when the United Nations declared the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity.” According to Adebayo Anthony Kehinde, an evangelist in the Nigeria African Church, ministry leaders remained largely unconvinced that the £100 million commitment was sufficient. “While many of them welcome and acknowledge the apology, they instead consider the amount grossly inadequate, considering the quantum of the Church of England’s involvement in transatlantic slavery,” Kehinde said. The Church of England’s independent oversight group that conducted the audit had recommended £1 billion or more for reparations to reflect the moral gravity of slavery and the wealth of the church. Kehinde also urged European churches […]

[Anglican Communion News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally has called for peace in Cameroon on the final day of her historic visit to the country. Cameroon is the second part of Mullally’s pastoral visit to Anglican churches in Ghana and Cameroon by invitation from Archbishop Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa. The 10-day visit began on July 26 in Ghana. Preaching at a farewell service in Yaoundé on Aug. 4, Mullally said the people of Cameroon “have suffered for far too long” and called for “genuine and inclusive dialogue” that leads to peace. A civil war in Cameroon called the “Anglophone Crisis” began in 2017 and remains ongoing. Read the entire article here.

[Episcopal News Service] Spokane Bishop Gretchen Rehberg is calling for Episcopalians to “be the hands and feet of Jesus” in response to multiple wildfires spreading throughout eastern Washington. The 2026 wildfire season is the most destructive in the state’s modern history. “Our hearts and prayers are with everyone who has been displaced or is suffering loss due to the fires in our region,” Rehberg said in an Aug. 3 reel on the Diocese of Spokane’s Facebook page. “You are not alone.” The state’s governor issued a statewide emergency on Aug. 1. As of Aug. 4, at least 700 structures have burned in the state’s second-most populated city, Spokane, displacing at least 65,000 people. The three fires – called the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires and collectively known as the Spokane Complex Fire – are burning on Spokane’s outskirts and are all 0% contained. More than 250,000 acres statewide have burned, surpassing the total acres burned in 2025. A man has been arrested for allegedly starting the Old Trails fire on purpose. The cause of the Autumn Lane and Fairview fires remains unknown. No deaths have been reported. Strong winds, high heat and a very dry cold front are exacerbating the wildfires. Washington has been experiencing a statewide drought since summer 2023. Climate change is also intensifying the severity of the wildfires, as burning fossil fuels contributes to hotter temperatures and a drier atmosphere. As the climate warms, more water vapor evaporates from plants, which dries them out and increases the risk of fires that can also generate smoke plumes, according to a report from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The Spokane wildfires are the latest case of an urban firestorm, which occurs when large fires move into a built environment. This causes structures to become the fires’ primary fuel source instead of vegetation, according to the Yale report. Other recent notable urban firestorms include the 2025 Southern California wildfires and the 2023 Maui wildfires in Hawai‘i. Like Spokane, the Southern California and Maui wildfires occurred in densely populated areas. Wildfires are also burning nationwide, including in Washington’s neighboring states, Oregon and Idaho. Rehberg has been communicating with Episcopal Relief & Development to assess how best to assist relief efforts. “There are ways we can contribute in the short run – to the Red Cross, to other relief agencies – but ERD will be here in the long run,” Rehberg said. The Diocese of Spokane is also accepting monetary donations through its disaster relief fund. Several dioceses in the western half of the United States have reached out to Rehberg asking how they can help. She noted in the video that she was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that youth and young adult Episcopalians recently gave her after returning from a Province VIII youth event in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The reason, she said, was to remind Episcopalians of the 2023 Maui and 2025 Southern California wildfires. The Diocese of Spokane sent funds to the dioceses of Hawai‘i and Los Angeles to help with their recovery efforts. “We care for one another, not just in our own small towns, not just in our own congregations. But we reach out, and we care for and we love one another and we help one another when we are in need,” Rehberg said in the reel. “That’s what we are called to do in this time of need – not just for ourselves, to Episcopalians, but to our town, our cities, our communities that are hurting.” In an Aug. 3 diocesan email, Hawai‘i Bishop Robert L. Fitzpatrick encouraged Episcopalians to donate to the Diocese of Spokane’s disaster relief fund. “God’s people and congregations in the Diocese of Hawai‘i are urged to pray for the Diocese of Spokane and for those affected by these devastating fires,” he said. In addition to disaster relief donations and prayers, Rehberg also called on Episcopalians to be “loving and compassionate” as wildfire suppression continues, and Spokane communities prepare to begin recovery efforts. “As we deal with the devastation of the fires – as we deal with the fear and the anxiety and relief, and the concern about smoke and the concern about loss – let us be like Jesus,” Rehberg said. “Let us offer one another love. Let us offer one another assistance. Let us offer one another peace. And let us remember that we will get through this, and Christ is with us in this time.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Episcopal News Service] When the Rev. Adam James Shoemaker is ordained and consecrated the ninth bishop of Long Island next month, he will become the first Episcopal bishop of Arab and North African descent in The Episcopal Church’s 237-year history. Shoemaker believes he’s an “imperfect vessel” for this distinction, but his life experiences as an Egyptian American have shaped his faith journey to focus on racial justice and reconciliation and embrace diversity in The Episcopal Church. “I think my story has humanized so many of the differences that can sometimes divide – sometimes in tragic ways – and given me a heart for all that diversity,” Shoemaker told Episcopal News Service. “It’s been a lifelong journey for me to come fully into my sense of self. It’s been a journey of prayer and introspection.” Embracing diversity is what attracted Shoemaker to the Garden City, New York-based Diocese of Long Island, which serves more than 120 congregations across Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. It’s today recognized as one of the most culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse regions in The Episcopal Church. It’s also the home diocese of Shoemaker, who was raised in Huntington. Shoemaker was notably elected bishop in April, which is National Arab American Heritage Month. Shoemaker’s mother, Jamie Stanforth, was an Egyptologist of Jewish descent. She met Shoemaker’s father, Hamada Haggagi, when they were in their early 20s in the mid-1970s at the Luxor Railway Station in Egypt. They married in Luxor and lived with Haggagi’s Muslim family in Egypt until Stanforth became pregnant with Shoemaker. They moved to Manhattan, New York City, Stanforth’s hometown, where Shoemaker was born as Adam James Haggagi. That decision, Shoemaker believes, was the “turning point” in his life. “Had I been born in Cairo and not New York City, I think it is highly likely I would have been raised in Egypt and not in the United States. I would have been raised a Muslim and not a Christian. Since God planted in my heart the instinct to pursue a religious vocation, no matter the context I grew up in, I’ve often wondered if I would perhaps be a Muslim imam today.” After his parents divorced shortly before his first birthday, Shoemaker lived with his mother and grandparents on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He was baptized at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles near General Theological Seminary. Hamada Haggagi had returned to Egypt, where he remarried twice and had six more children. A few years later, shortly before Shoemaker started kindergarten, Jamie Stanforth married Thomas Shoemaker, and they moved to Long Island. His last name was then legally changed to Shoemaker. As a light-skinned Egyptian American, Shoemaker faced internalized racism, but he didn’t really realize it until after 9/11. “I remember seeing Arab people, Muslim people having to travel around New York City with little American flags on their person so as not to be attacked by anybody who was looking for revenge against terrorists. I remember the vandalism of mosques and the so-called War on Terror,” Shoemaker, 47, said. “Growing up, many people would look at my Semitic features and would just assume I was Jewish. Because I didn’t look stereotypically Arab to many Americans, I was shielded from any anger and desire for retribution that came out of 9/11.” These observations and thinking about his family in Egypt, who have different shades of brown skin, led to several years of reflection and prayer before he graduated from General Theological Seminary. He then pursued opportunities to build ecumenical and interfaith relationships, which led him to serve congregations in North Carolina and Massachusetts. As a member of the church’s Young Adult Service Corps, he also served as a missionary at Igreja de Cristo Rei (Christ the King Anglican Church) at the Cidade de Deus (“City of God”) favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Favelas, which are low-income, densely populated urban settlements in Brazil, are home to large Afro-Brazilian populations. “I became very aware, from my own personal story, of the way in which prejudice exists around skin tones and how it can diminish everybody and impact communities,” Shoemaker said. “It’s been a lifelong journey of prayer and introspection for me to come more fully into my sense of self.” Having that awareness helped lead Shoemaker to serve as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, one of three historically Black Episcopal churches in Charleston, Diocese of South Carolina. While at St. Stephen’s, he worked closely with the rectors of Charleston’s other historically Black Episcopal churches and South Carolina Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley to form the Three Churches United. The coalition hosts and participates in events and initiatives as part of the diocese’s commitment to racial justice and reconciliation work. As bishop of the Diocese of Long Island, Shoemaker plans to continue racial justice and reconciliation work and embrace diversity. He will be ordained and consecrated on Sept. 19 at the Tilles Center in Greenvale, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano, who has been bishop of the Diocese of Long Island since 2009. Since March, Shoemaker has been regularly meeting with other Episcopal leaders of Southwest Asian and North African, or SWANA, descent and the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, missioner for The Episcopal Church’s Asiamerica Ministries. They aim to strengthen the church’s support for SWANA Episcopalians, including those of Arab descent. “I hope that my personal story, my family history, might have something constructive to offer the church and the wider world at this moment in time,” said Shoemaker, who started his bishop-elect duties last month. Even though Shoemaker didn’t grow up Muslim like his six half-siblings, his father never treated him any differently from them. When he was alive, Haggagi frequently expressed to his neighbor, a Coptic Orthodox priest, how proud he was of his American son’s accomplishments. Shoemaker, accompanied by one of his sisters, worshiped at that priest’s church last year during Holy Week. “It was very meaningful to me, looking […]

[Lambeth Palace] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally urged Anglicans in Cameroon to stand firm in their faith, saying that “God sees your struggles and is with you.” Mullally is the first archbishop of Canterbury to visit Cameroon. She preached at a Eucharist at Bishopcourt, Douala, on Aug. 2. Preaching to a congregation of parishioners, bishops and clergy from across the Anglican Diocese of Cameroon, government officials and traditional leaders, Mullally said: “It is a joy to be with you here today at the heart of my pastoral visit to the Diocese of Cameroon.” Read the full article.