Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church is breaking ground this week on a new facility to house its archival collections, on a 3.5-acre property in Oakwood, Georgia, that was the former home of the Diocese of Atlanta’s St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church. Site preparation work was scheduled to begin June 22 on renovations of the former St. Gabriel’s building and an expansion project that will turn the site into the first permanent home for The Episcopal Church Archives since 2021. The $4.5 million project is expected to be completed by spring 2027. The Episcopal Church Archives preserves documents and artifacts detailing centuries’ worth of church history. For the past five years, the archives have occupied a temporary warehouse in Austin, Texas. The church previously had leased space from the Seminary of the Southwest for 60 years. The new facility in Oakwood, about 45 minutes from Atlanta, will include offices, a reading room and 75% more storage space than the current facility in Austin, Lawrence Hitt II, an Executive Council member from the Diocese of Colorado, told other members of the church governing body at its meeting last week. Hitt, who chairs Executive Council’s Governance & Operations Committee, also leads the church’s Archives Advisory Committee. The project is the culmination of a 20-year effort to find a new home for The Episcopal Church Archives. Its collections include letters, diaries, photographs, motion pictures, plans, maps, certificates of ordination, journals of every diocese, various periodicals and magazines, church newspapers, paintings and parish histories. General Convention first passed a resolution in 2006 initiating the search. Early plans involved building a new facility on a property the church purchased in Austin, but in 2018, the church chose instead to sell the undeveloped lot and make a temporary move into leased warehouse space. In January 2024, Executive Council authorized negotiations for a potential long-term lease of space at the DeKoven Center in Racine, Wisconsin, but later that year, church leaders broadened their scope to research a range of potential sites for consideration. In June 2025, the church announced it had chosen the property in the Diocese of Atlanta as the new site. It had been vacant since the former St. Gabriel’s Church had ceased operations in October 2023.

[Religion News Service] From 1830 to 1860, tens of thousands of enslaved people disembarked ships at Richmond’s Manchester Docks, an entry point into a bondage system that built Virginia’s wealth and shaped the city’s history. Shackled together, the enslaved people trudged along a muddy trail connecting the docks to the city’s auction house, where they were sold and bought as property. Today, the path, known as the “slave trail,” is part of a citywide walking tour exploring Richmond’s role as a major hub of the domestic slave trade. As about 20 Virginians marched in line, in silence, over the muddy trail on June 13 — some clinging to one another to understand the experience of enslaved people who walked the trail in chains — a gospel singer performed the African American spiritual “Wade in the Water” alongside them. Walking silently, Renee Munford, who is Black, said she felt her ancestors. The 65-year-old wondered what they thought as they walked, whether they were afraid, confused or both. At some point, she cried. “Every time I looked out at the water, all I could see was people coming in on ships and disembarking, and just in a frenzy, so my heart bled for that,” she said. The silent walk was the first part of a historical and spiritual pilgrimage through Richmond led by two local Episcopal churches. The gathering, called “Walking With the Enslaved: The Church’s Role in Slavery Pilgrimage,” seeks to cover the city’s racial history from the steps of Virginia’s state Capitol to a notorious 19th-century slave jail to Richmond’s first African church. The daylong retreat grew out of a partnership between St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Virginia’s largest Episcopal parish that was once attended by Confederate army Gen. Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, one of the South’s oldest Black Episcopal churches, founded in 1861 by enslaved and freed Richmonders. The two congregations designed the experience centered on stories of enslaved people and enslavers, prayer and African American spirituals, which they hope will make for a transformative and eye-opening encounter for all who take part. Just as the country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — and celebrated Juneteenth, the commemoration of when enslaved people of Galveston got news of their liberation on June 19, 1865 — these Episcopalians are trying to reckon with the role of their city and their denomination in slavery as a founding reality of the United States. The churches’ collaboration reflects both the Episcopal Church’s racial reconciliation focus, announced in 2016, by then-Presiding Bishop Michael Curry — the first African American to lead the denomination nationally — and a broader citywide effort to confront the city’s slave-trading past. St. Paul’s and St. Philip’s, both of whose histories were shaped by Richmond’s role as a major slave-trading center and the capital of the Confederacy, are hoping to translate these efforts into personal transformation. Before they embarked on the pilgrimage, the group gathered for an introduction session at St. Philip’s. Nikki Fernandes, one of the tour’s docents, reminded them of the day’s spiritual goal. “We hope you leave this pilgrimage with something, and that the Holy Spirit will guide what that something is,” said Fernandes, a Virginia native and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. Walking through these historic sites is more likely to transform people and help the history solidify in their minds than something less immersive, said Jerry Gilbert, one of the pilgrimage’s co-chairs and a vestry member at St. Paul’s. “That may be what people would call the ancestors talking to you, or the place talking to you. … But I think it really happens because I’ve felt it happen,” Gilbert told RNS in an April interview. Many participants had heard about the pilgrimage through the churches. The project started at St. Paul’s and took off after the congregation reached out to St. Philip’s to collaborate. Gilbert said the church needed a “nonwhite majority” partner to improve the walks. “We knew that sometimes white privilege is very blind to seeing all of the aspects of a situation when race is involved,” he said. St. Paul’s, perched on Richmond Hill near the Virginia Capitol, traces its roots to Monumental Church, established in 1814 by prominent Richmonders — “nearly all” enslavers, according to the church’s website. During a tour stop on Richmond Hill, Glyn Hughes, another docent, stressed that the freedom ideals that fueled America’s founding collided with Virginia’s reliance on slave trading and its leaders’ affiliation with Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. In front of the state Capitol, which once held church services for Presbyterians and Episcopalians but also served as the Confederate States Congress during the Civil War, Hughes invited participants to “think about how they were mingling Christian values to their ideals.” After the 2015 killing of nine Black worshippers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, St. Paul’s started examining its own racist past. Five years later, the church removed Confederate symbols from the sanctuary, shedding the most visible reminders of its support for the Confederacy and cutting off its embrace of Lost Cause ideology after the Civil War. St. Philip’s, nestled in Richmond’s North Side, has served as a refuge for Black Richmonders through the Civil War, the Jim Crow era and today. Despite its prominence for the city’s Black Episcopalians, the church didn’t gain full representation at the diocesan convention until 1937. The churches’ partnership has been “transformational,” said Crystal Green, a co-chair of the project and a member of St. Philip’s. “It’s part of a healing process that is 400 years in the making, so it’s transformed our lives, our worship styles, and it’s also built a lifetime of friendships.” Beginning at the “slave trail” shapes participants’ experience of the pilgrimage’s nine remaining stops, organizers noted. The recovered stories of Black Richmonders also ensure participants center the perspectives of enslaved people during the pilgrimage. At the fifth […]

[Diocese of Alabama] St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church in Chelsea, Alabama, broke ground on June 14 for its first permanent church building after nearly two decades of worshiping in borrowed and temporary spaces. Construction on the church is expected to begin in July and will take about eight months to complete. When finished, it will become the first permanent brick-and-mortar worship space owned by the parish since its founding in 2007. Dozens of clergy and parishioners gathered on the church’s campus on King’s Home Road for the liturgical groundbreaking ceremony, celebrating the culmination of years of fundraising, planning and prayer. The new building will stand on a 20-acre property owned by the Diocese of Alabama, where St. Catherine’s has worshiped in temporary structures donated by Asbury Methodist Church in 2017. The parish now averages 40 worshippers each Sunday and has outgrown its temporary worship space. Church leaders say the new nave will give the growing congregation room to expand its ministries and welcome more worshippers. The 2,555-square-foot church will accommodate up to 150 people, including seating for 135 in the nave. The traditional design features a steeply pitched roof, pointed-arch windows reminiscent of traditional church architecture and a large floor-to-ceiling window behind the altar that frames views of the surrounding woods and brings the natural landscape into the worship space. For many parishioners, one of the project’s most significant achievements is that it will be built debt-free. Chris Stricklin, head of St. Catherine’s building committee and former senior warden, said the congregation established a building fund about three years ago and began working with diocesan leadership to make the project a reality. The fund grew through generous parishioner donations, memorial gifts and a $150,000 contribution from the Diocese of Alabama, enabling the parish to raise the $900,000 needed for construction without financing. “We wanted to create something that parishioners would be proud of not only today, but 30 years from now,” Stricklin said, while also ensuring the project remained financially responsible. Drawing a parallel to Jacob’s dream described in Genesis 28:10-17, Alabama Bishop Glenda Curry, who officiated the ceremony, used the biblical story to frame the congregation’s journey from a fledgling worshiping community to a parish preparing to build its first permanent church. “Since 2007, this community has come together based on prayers and dreams beyond anyone’s expectations, and look what you have done,” Curry said. “You have come to the place where you are ready to make exactly what Jacob did, a place that will be a gate from earth to heaven and that is filled with the goodness of God that will be a symbol to everybody riding down this road, that this is God’s land, God’s place, God’s earth, and that you are servants.” She continued: “This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.” For the Rev. Dillon Green, St. Catherine’s rector, the new church will provide more room for parish life while creating a more visible presence in the community, helping welcome newcomers and serving as a lasting witness to The Episcopal Church in Chelsea. “The location itself is beautiful, surrounded by God’s creation, and it will be more visible from the road,” he said. “As we often say, we worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. This gives us an opportunity to build a structure that reflects what we value and love about The Episcopal Church — a place shaped by intention, thought, prayer, tradition, beauty and goodness.” Green said he hopes the new church will serve as a visible reminder of the parish’s presence in Chelsea and invite newcomers to explore the congregation. Founded by a group of Episcopalians, St. Catherine’s began as a monthly Bible study as part of the Diocese of Alabama’s Decade of Evangelism program, which sought to start a new church every three years. The young congregation soon found a temporary home in a vacant 75-year-old Church of God building that had sat unused for more than a decade. After extensive cleaning and repairs, members painted the church’s front door red and held their first Sunday worship service on Feb. 3, 2008. Later that month, the diocese formally recognized St. Catherine’s as a worshiping community at the diocesan convention. As the parish grew, volunteers converted an abandoned trailer into ministry space before church leaders turned their attention to the King’s Home Road property. Two temporary buildings donated by Asbury Methodist Church were later moved to the site and renovated to serve as a worship space, classrooms, offices, a nursery and other ministries. The congregation continues to worship in those buildings today. Looking back on Sunday’s ceremony, Green said he was mindful of the generations of parishioners whose prayers, sacrifices and generosity helped bring the project to fruition. “It was incredibly meaningful,” he said. “I feel very honored and blessed to have been part of this project and to have been invited to help bring it to life. I could feel the presence of those who have been here, as well as those who have gone on to be with the Lord. Their prayers, sacrifices and love helped make this possible. In many ways, it felt like they were still present with us, sharing in the joy of seeing this vision become a reality.”

[Archbishop of Canterbury] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally met with Layan Nasir, the 26-year-old Palestinian Anglican woman who has spent three periods in Israeli administrative detention and prison over the last five years. Nasir, who is a member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit in the West Bank, was released from Israel’s Damon Prison in May. Nasir’s parents, Lula and Sami, welcomed the archbishop to their home during her June 21 visit to Birzeit. Nasir told Mullally about her experience and its impact on her. Mullally prayed for Nasir and her family and assured her that many Church of England members have also been praying for her. Nasir’s case has been the subject of significant advocacy and prayer from global Christian organizations, including from around the Anglican Communion, due to her being the only Palestinian Christian woman held in Israeli detention during much of the last five years. Mullally’s visit with Nasir was part of a five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Read the entire article here.

[Archbishop of Canterbury] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally preached on June 21 at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in the Palestinian Christian town of Birzeit in the West Bank. She is on a five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land to show solidarity with Palestinian Christians. Archbishop Hosam Naoum, bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem and primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, is accompanying Mullally on her Holy Land pilgrimage. He presided over the worship service at St. Peter’s. Before she began her sermon, Mullally thanked St. Peter’s rector, the Rev. Fadi Diab, and the congregation for their hospitality. She said she would use her role as archbishop to seek “the peace you desire and the freedom you deserve.” In her sermon, the archbishop spoke about living faithfully in times of fear, trusting in the promises of Christ, and Christian hope as an act of resistance. “And your faithful, hopeful resistance is also visible as fathers and mothers navigate the web of checkpoints daily to provide an income for their family, or to get their children to school to provide for their future, or as you gather to break bread together week by week in this church,” Mullally said in her sermon. “All these acts of faithful resistance point to our hope in Jesus Christ and reflect your ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity.” The following is a transcript of Mullally’s introduction and sermon. Mullally’s introduction: I am grateful for your hospitality today. It is a privilege to spend time in solidarity with you and learn about your lives here in Birzeit. It is an honour to spend time with Archbishop Hosam this week, to meet Father Fadi and clergy from the surrounding area, to gather with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to pray and worship, and to learn about the life of the Church in this place. I am aware that I have certain freedoms that many of you do not enjoy, being able to cross borders and checkpoints, spending time in neighbouring communities, and going to Jerusalem. I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to join you in prayer and fellowship. I recognise the costliness of life for you and your families, and the costliness of following Jesus here in this land, which was our Saviour’s home and is your home. Thank you for the openness with which you have welcomed me. I will not forget what I have seen and what I have heard. I could not forget it. I will carry these encounters with me as I return home. I will use my role as Archbishop to seek the peace you desire and the freedom you deserve. Mullally’s sermon: Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19.14) Our scriptures give us a lens through which we can see the world and reflect upon our lives. There are two important themes we might reflect on in our readings today. The first is fear: how do we live as people of faith in fearful times? The second is hope: how do we live as those who trust in the promises of Christ and bear witness to hope? The Psalmist writes to people living in fearful times. They are experiencing the trauma of oppression and exile, of families being separated: “I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s children” (Psalm 69.8); and there is a profound sense of abandonment: “Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress – make haste to answer me”. (Psalm 69.17) In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is speaking to a community living in fear: his own people living in an occupied land and under foreign rule. Matthew writes for a community that knew uncertainty, insecurity, and pressure. Jesus speaks these words: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus tells his own people, who are living in fear, that they are valued in God’s eyes. He reminds them that they are precious in God’s sight; that the hairs of their head are counted; that they are known and loved by God. I think these words are even more powerful when heard against this backdrop of fear. They are spoken not to those who are secure and comfortable, but to those who are anxious and burdened. I can only imagine how these words may sound to you today as you live with the realities of life under occupation here in Birzeit, and when your fellow Palestinians still strive for freedom and dignity in Gaza. I wonder how these words of Jesus sound when you have felt that the eyes of the world, the international community, and even parts of the wider Church have turned away from you. Yet Jesus speaks these words to you now: you are precious in God’s sight; you are known, seen, and loved. I hope that, through my visit, you may also know that you are not forgotten by the wider Body of Christ. The Church is called to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. The Church stands with you in your right to live in freedom and dignity. How then do we continue to live faithfully in times of fear? Jesus speaks truthfully about the cost of discipleship. At first, Jesus’ words sound surprising: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” This seems the opposite of what we expect from the Prince of Peace. Jesus is not glorifying conflict. Rather, he is speaking honestly […]

[Episcopal News Service] Representatives from 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion, including The Episcopal Church, are expected to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland, from June 28-July 4 for the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Church of Ireland is ready to welcome them. “We have a reputation for hospitality. We hope that people feel the warmth of that when they come,” Ireland Archbishop John McDowell, whose province includes both Ireland and Northern Ireland, said June 18 during a media briefing organized by the Anglican Communion Office. The Anglican Consultative Council, often referred to as ACC, is one of four “Instruments of Communion” by which the 42 autonomous, interdependent provinces of the Anglican Communion engage across differences in common mission based in their shared historical roots in the Church of England. The other three Instruments of Communion are the Primates’ Meeting of provincial leaders, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops and the archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as a kind of “focus of unity.” The Episcopal Church’s representatives to ACC-19 are Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado; the Rev. Ranjit Mathews, canon to the ordinary of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and Yvonne O’Neal, a lay leader from the Diocese of New York. Mathews attended the last ACC meeting, held in 2023 in Accra, Ghana. Morales and O’Neal will be attending their first meeting as Episcopal members. The weeklong meeting also will be the first Anglican Communion meeting attended by Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, who took office in January. In her role, she serves as president of the Anglican Consultative Council. ACC-19 is scheduled to discuss potential changes to the leadership role of the archbishop of Canterbury, based recommendations known as the Nairobi-Cairo proposals.  The first proposal offers an updated statement of what binds the 42 provinces to each other as the Anglican Communion. The second proposal seeks to broaden and diversify the leadership of the Instruments of Communion in ways that could diminish that archbishop of Canterbury’s status as a “first among equals.” The two principal proposals were developed by a body known as the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order, led by Bishop Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. Tomlin said during the June 18 media briefing on Zoom that the Anglican Communion’s “center of gravity” has shifted over the past century, with significant growth in African and Asian provinces. “With that growth can also come some tensions,” Tomlin said. Citing theological divisions, some conservative Anglican bishops have warned of “impaired” communion with provinces like The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada that are more progressive on issues of LGBTQ+ inclusion. It remains to be seen whether the Nairobi-Cairo proposals could mend those relations. Longstanding ties between the Anglican provinces faced new uncertainty in October 2025, shortly after Mullally was named as the next archbishop of Canterbury, when a faction of conservative provincial leaders said they were rejecting the archbishop’s authority and intended to form their own global body to rival the Anglican Communion. Support for that faction, however, appears to have fizzled, at least based on the large number of provinces expected to attend the upcoming Anglican Consultative Council meeting. Only four provinces will be absent, according to Anglican Communion officials. They include the provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda, which have shunned these meetings for years. The fourth is the Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, which ministers in a country torn apart by war and violence. The other 38 provinces have accepted the invitation to send up to three representatives each. Maggie Swinson, a Church of England lay leader who serves as chair of the ACC, was encouraged by the positive response. “For me, what this indicates is there is a desire for us to talk about these things rather than shut doors and disengage,” she said. Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, underscored the theme of ACC-19: “Called to One Hope.” “In a fragmented world, it is important that the church is called by Christ to be one,” Poggo said during the media briefing. In his travels, he sees Anglicans around the world who are active in the faith and doing “wonderful things” in their communities. “It gives me hope,” he said, and he expects those stories will be elevated at the ACC meeting. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

[Church of England] The Church of England has apologized for its role in historical adoption practices, particularly in mother and baby homes. Mothers and adoptees who came into contact with these homes have described the profound and lasting impact of these experiences. Published alongside new research into these homes, the apology recognizes the impact on people affected and sets out the church’s commitment to listening, learning and responding with honesty and compassion. “We are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced – and still carried – by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England,” Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally said. “We have heard first-hand the accounts of mothers who were separated from their babies in circumstances where they had very few meaningful choices. Read the full article.

[Diocese of Newark] When a lifelong soccer fan who also happens to be an Episcopal priest volunteers as a host city ambassador for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it should surprise no one that he sees the role as a ministry. In each of the tournament’s 16 host cities, ambassadors work in small teams, welcoming visitors, answering questions, handing out stickers and other World Cup-branded items, and creating a hospitable environment for fans from around the world. The Rev. Asa David Coulson, rector of Grace Church in Nutley, signed up for 10 shifts of seven to eight hours each, serving both in New York City and at New Jersey locations such as the Hoboken NJ Transit Terminal, where he greets fans traveling to matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. He sees it as a blend of his religious calling and his favorite sport. “Talking with my peers who are on my team, almost all of us are doing it because we think it’s very important right now for people in the United States, as citizens, to be hospitable, to kind of counterbalance some of the inhospitality that’s happening,” Coulson said. “Everyone who I’ve talked to about that has said that same sort of thing, that, ‘I just wanted to make sure that people knew they were welcome here,’ because we all had a fear that maybe people wouldn’t feel welcomed.” Coulson says he has been a soccer fan “forever.” “I played through high school, and then I wasn’t good enough in college,” he said. “I’m a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Union, to the chagrin of the Red Bulls fans in the congregation, I’m sure. I’m also an official supporter of the U.S. national teams, both men’s and women’s, and I have a British Premier League team that I like too. “I also like LEGO quite a bit,” he continued, “and they made sets for the World Cup, and I have some of those that I’m putting together when I’m watching matches. “So, yeah, you could say I’m a little bit of a soccer fan.” Coulson first got the idea to volunteer at the World Cup while watching the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. “I noticed they had volunteers, right? And so because I knew the World Cup was coming, and I like soccer, I googled how to do that, and I found the host committee and applied, so that’s how I started the process.” The process of being selected as a host city ambassador was long and thorough, including in-person interviews, multiple training sessions both in-person and online, and a background check. Of roughly a million applicants across all host cities, about 65,000 were selected. “There was a lot of pre-work for almost six months prior to the tournament starting,” Coulson said. “You had to be willing to do it and dedicated to completing your online modules and going into the city.” Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] Several congregations in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe will participate in parades and host special worship services throughout June in celebration of Pride Month. Many of these special events will take place on or close to World Refugee Day, June 20. The participating churches will use their presence to promote Episcopal Migration Ministries’ Rainbow Initiative. They aim to bring attention to the special needs of LGBTQ+ forced migrants and to spread the word that Episcopal churches are a safe space for them. “It all, for me, keeps going back to our Baptismal Covenant – ‘Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?’ That’s what we’re all trying to do,” Janet Day-Strehlow, chair of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe’s Institute for Christian Studies, told Episcopal News Service. “It’s not what we’re seeing happening in the U.S., nor in places in Europe. It’s getting more and more difficult, and more and more right-leaning, which is not the direction we want to be going.” Day-Strehlow proposed Resolution D045 – “Supporting the Protection of LGBTQI+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers” – which passed at the 80th General Convention in 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland. That resolution paved the way for the Rainbow Initiative, which launched in 2023. Since then, many dioceses and congregations churchwide have worked toward addressing the needs of LGBTQ+ migrants with their own ministries. “I think that the way that we are inclusive and loving assures people that they’re being seen – we see them, we recognize them as they are. … We are coming to these initiatives with open and loving hearts,” Erin Lederrey, the first Episcopal chaplain to serve in Switzerland and the first trans woman chaplain to serve in the Swiss Army, told ENS. Max Niedzwiecki is an anthropologist who serves on The Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on World Mission and who has worked closely with Episcopal Migration Ministries on developing its Rainbow Initiative Program. He told ENS that bringing attention to LGBTQ+ migrants is an extension of being a welcoming, inclusive and respectful church. “Putting into practice ‘welcome,’ meaning everybody, includes people who don’t speak your language and people who don’t share your gender identity or sexual orientation, and people who don’t have legal status,” Niedzwiecki said. “This is an opportunity to put that [welcome] into practice and to develop spiritually. … This is an opportunity to bring those different ministries together so that they can both become stronger.” The Episcopalians who help run these ministries have seen that LGBTQ+ migrants need support more than ever as the United States and some European Union countries enact increasingly aggressive anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ policies. LGBTQ+ migrants face persecution, discrimination and violence in their home countries and often in resettlement countries. Sixty-five countries around the world criminalize private, consensual same-sex relations. Homosexuality is punishable by death in 12 countries, according to data collected by the Human Dignity Trust, a United Kingdom-based charity organization that uses strategic litigation to defend LGBTQ+ rights globally. In the European Union, which includes 27 member countries, LGBTQ+ individuals have some protections under EU law and treaties. Social protections, same-sex marriages and family rights, however, vary by country. Some EU countries, like Hungary and Slovakia, have attempted to implement anti-LGBTQ+ policies in recent years. Reported hate crimes and harassment against LGBTQ+ people are increasing across Europe, according to survey data compiled by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies also have been spreading across Europe. This month, the European Union is pursuing a new migration regulation that, if enacted, will increase deportations and allow the creation of detention centers for rejected asylum-seekers who can’t be repatriated. Asylum-seekers are people seeking protection from persecution or violence but haven’t yet been legally recognized as refugees. Violence against immigrants has increased along with anti-immigrant sentiment. Last week, for example, a knife attack in Northern Ireland set off two nights of riots. Several homes believed to be housing immigrants were targeted. “No refugee or asylum-seeker is just getting up one day to move to an unfamiliar country and have the time of their life. Like LGBTQ+ communities, especially trans communities, migrant communities feel the brunt of being the scapegoats whenever there’s a conflict somewhere,” Aaron Scott, The Episcopal Church’s gender justice officer and a trans man, told ENS. Scott previously worked for an LGBTQ+ migration rights organization in New York City. The Episcopal churches in Europe are responding to these growing trends with acts of love, according to Kim Powell, senior warden of the American Cathedral in Paris, France. “In the context of church, everyone should care because we’re all children of God. We are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves and see the reflection of God in the person we’re looking at, and ourselves,” Powell told ENS. “If it is about love, then we should be welcoming to everyone and care, because it matters.” The cathedral is observing World Refugee Day by collecting sneakers and socks for migrant children in Paris. On the morning of Paris’ Pride parade on June 27, the cathedral will host a special Pride Eucharist and gathering. The cathedral will also promote its Rainbow Ministry, which holds weekly LGBTQ+-centered Evening Prayer and Compline services. Pride Month is a time for LGBTQ+ people to celebrate their identities, share their communities’ contributions to society and raise awareness of issues they face today. For Scott, Pride Month is also a time of solidarity that must include migrants. “Pride can’t be celebrated without the whole community, so we can’t leave LGBTQ+ migrants behind,” he said. Scott is working alongside Episcopalians in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to build a Rainbow Initiative partnerships between ministries in Europe and the United States. Day-Strehlow encourages Episcopalians living outside Europe to visit the convocation’s member churches to see firsthand how their ministries serve LGBTQ+ and migrant communities. “The Episcopal Church in Europe, […]

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church, after decades of discussions about the prudence of owning and maintaining a building in New York City as its headquarters, will test the market for a possible redevelopment, sale or both, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced on June 17. The Episcopal Church Center in Midtown Manhattan, commonly referred to as “815” because of its street address, 815 Second Ave., rises 12 stories high and contains 146,000 square feet of space, but in recent years, much of the churchwide staff has worked remotely in locations across the United States and Europe. Less than half the building is now occupied by church operations or affiliated organizations. After consulting this week with Executive Council — the church governing body is meeting June 15-17 in the Diocese of Puerto Rico —church officials are hiring New York-based Denham Wolf Real Estate Services to market the 63-year-old building for a possible sale. “We’ve done a detailed analysis about the best use of the building, with consultants and architects,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Lacovara said in a church news release. “We occupy a fraction of the Church Center space now, and the conclusion is that we don’t need to own and occupy a building in midtown Manhattan.” The news release describes the building as The Episcopal Church’s “most valuable non-endowment asset,” and it has long been a focus of speculation as church leaders considered whether to relocate the denominational headquarters. The news release notes those discussions date back at least as far as 1970, and in 2012, bishops and deputies at General Convention voted in favor of pursuing a new headquarters. The 2012 resolution says simply: “It is the will of this Convention to move the Church Center headquarters away from the Church Center building at 815 2nd Avenue, New York City.” The Rev. William Coyne, a deputy from the Diocese of South Carolina at that convention, was part of the team that drafted and proposed the resolution. He told Episcopal News Service recently that he still thinks relocation is the right course. “The size of our church and the structure of how we do things now, I don’t think we need a headquarters in Manhattan,” Coyne said. The geographic center of the church also has shifted over the years, with larger numbers of Episcopalians in the southeastern United States, he said. That might justify establishing a new headquarters in a more central American city. Despite the 2012 resolution, planning for such a relocation never got off the ground. Now, 14 years later, the church is considering a range of options, possibly including “a long-term ground lease with a group that would redevelop the building, potentially as affordable housing,” according to the news release. “Dioceses and congregations throughout The Episcopal Church are looking at real estate as a missional asset, and we need to think about the Church Center in the same way,” Lacovara said. “We’re hoping that the decision to market the building, and the process we went through leading up to it, will encourage others to think carefully about how best to steward underutilized buildings and land.” Any final decision on the building is still likely months away, Rowe said. If the building is leased or sold to a developer, the church would move its existing New York-based offices to another temporary Manhattan location and initiate a churchwide discussion on a future location for the Church Center. – 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] Executive Council, The Episcopal Church’s governing body between meetings of General Convention, concluded its June 15-17 meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a business session that included the selection of a new vice president of the House of Deputies. The Rev. Steve Pankey of the Diocese of Kentucky, the deputies’ vice president since 2024, stepped down this year to fill a vacancy in the role of secretary of the House of Deputies, as the church prepares to convene its 82nd General Convention in July 2027. To replace Pankey as vice president, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris nominated the Rev. John Kitagawa of the Diocese of Arizona, and the non-bishop members of Executive Council voted to approve the selection. During its three-day meeting in the Diocese of Puerto Rico, Executive Council also spent time offering feedback on a strategic plan for the church that is being developed by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and his staff. Rowe alluded to those discussions in his brief remarks during the livestreamed June 17 business session. “I’m grateful for our willingness and ability to work together on this strategic plan over these last few days,” Rowe said. “The input that you’ve provided … will help us refine the plan.” Initial outlines of the strategic plan, though not yet presented publicly, have been shared with various church bodies and the churchwide staff, and Rowe said he expected a final draft to be submitted to Executive Council for approval in October. It then will inform the 2028-30 churchwide budget process. Though Executive Council’s meetings generally are held in open session, this meeting had been described as a “retreat-style” gathering for internal board development, and media was not invited to cover it in person. At past meetings of Executive Council some plenary sessions were livestreamed on YouTube. At this meeting, livestreaming was limited to the final day’s business session. “Over the last several days … we have seen people building; building relationships, building trust, building plans for the future, building systems that will enable this church to carry out its mission more faithfully, more effectively,” Ayala Harris said in her remarks on June 17. Executive Council typically meets three times a year to fulfill a range of church governance functions, including budget development and approval, adoption of new church policy statements, authorization of disbursements from churchwide grant programs and oversight for the work of the program and ministry staff that reports to the presiding bishop. Executive Council last met in February for a one-day gathering online. The last in-person meeting was in October 2025 in the Diocese of Western North Carolina. This week’s meeting in San Juan is the first meeting attended in-person by several new Executive Council members who are filling the unexpired terms of previous members who stepped down for various reasons. The members who have been elected since Executive Council’s last in-person meeting are the Rev. Andrea Gardner of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, Carolyn Mok of the Diocese of Rochester, the Rev. Mark Nabors of the Diocese of Arkansas and Steven Nishibayashi of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Rowe said the next Executive Council meeting will be a single-day gathering this October. The date and location have not been announced. The presiding bishop chairs Executive Council, and the House of Deputies president serves as its vice chair. Its 38 other voting members are a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders. Twenty are elected by General Convention to staggered six-year terms, or 10 new members every three years. The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces elect the other 18 to six-year terms, also staggered. – 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 holiday Juneteenth, which celebrates Black freedom in commemoration of the end of American slavery, also will serve in the Diocese of New York as the start of a “Season of Freedom” to mark the United States’ 250th birthday. Juneteenth falls each year on June 19, and in recent years, dioceses and congregations across The Episcopal Church have marked the occasion alongside secular celebrations of the day. It dates to June 19, 1865, when Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were notified by Union troops that their enslavement had ended with the Civil War. In the Diocese of New York, the Season of Freedom will begin on June 19 and run through July 5. A kickoff picnic on Juneteenth will be hosted at 2 p.m. Eastern at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. The diocese also is preparing to celebrate its own 250th anniversary this fall at its diocesan convention. “As a nation we have always struggled towards the ideals the [Declaration of Independence] proclaims. The promises of dignity, equality, and freedom have existed alongside exclusion, enslavement, and dispossession,” New York Bishop Matthew Heyd said in his weekly newsletter. “For many, freedom had to be won across generations and continues to be at stake now.” By beginning the diocese’s Season of Freedom on Juneteenth, Heyd said, it “reminds us that liberation has always been unfinished work.” The following are some of the other Episcopal commemorations planned for this week. Diocese of Massachusetts: St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in Boston will welcome the diocesan Office of Immigration and Multicultural Ministries and the Bishop Burgess Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians for a service celebrating Juneteenth at 10 a.m. June 19. Diocese of Washington: Washington National Cathedral will present “An Evening with Sen. Raphael Warnock,” the Georgia senator and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, at 7 p.m. June 19. The event will offer “a powerful conversation on faith, democracy, and moral imagination.” Diocese of Pennsylvania: Grace Epiphany Church in Philadelphia will host a Juneteenth Jazz and Gospel Concert at 3 p.m. June 20, featuring “a program rooted in joy, history, and community.” Diocese of Long Island: Assistant Bishop Geralyn Wolf will preach June 20 at the diocese’s Juneteenth Jubilee at 11 a.m. Eastern at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York. Diocese of Western Missouri: The Kansas City-based diocese will mark Juneteenth with an event, “Remembering the Past, Shaping the Future,” to be held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 20 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Episcopal Parish Network: A webinar on Juneteenth is scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern June 18, featuring the Rev. Brandon Thomas Crowley, director of theological education at Episcopal Divinity School in New York, and the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, Washington National Cathedral canon theologian.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal bishop in Utah has joined with her counterpart in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in opposing plans to build a massive immigrant detention facility in their state. Bishop Phyllis Spiegel of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah and the Rev. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni, bishop of the ELCA’s Rocky Mountain Synod, wrote an opinion article for the Salt Lake Tribute voicing their opposition to the federal conversion of an 833,000-square-foot Salt Lake City warehouse into a detention facility. In the piece, they invoke their Christian faith and community values, saying they are “called to love our neighbors and to welcome the stranger among us.” “A detention center of this scale risks defining Utah’s role in immigration policy through confinement rather than constructive solutions,” the bishops said. “As faith communities, we believe public policy should never lose sight of the people whose lives it affects. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’” The Trump administration has said it plans to spend millions of dollars expanding the federal system of detention facilities to house immigrants picked up in immigration enforcement raids to fulfill President Donald Trump’s demand for mass arrests and deportations. Those efforts, however, have run into local resistance in places like Utah. Episcopal leaders in other states and communities also have stepped up their opposition to detention facilities, citing their promise in the Baptismal Covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being.” In Newark, New Jersey, for example, Episcopal priests have rallied outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center there amid reports of mistreatment of the facility’s detainees. Newark Bishop Carlye Hughes and New York Bishop Matthew Heyd issued a joint statement calling for closure of Delaney Hall. “Delaney Hall is a symptom of dehumanization, a large and long-term chronic ailment of brutal times in our history,” Hughes and Heyd said. “We call for Delaney Hall to close and for those held there to be released as its main purpose is to enforce the dehumanization of them.” Other places where Episcopalians are opposing new detention facilities or the expansion of existing facilities have included the dioceses of Oklahoma, the Rio Grande and Virginia. In Utah, in addition to public opposition from faith leaders like the Episcopal and ELCA bishops, the federal government is facing a legal battle with those seeking to block the new detention facility in the state. Salt Lake City and County filed a complaint in federal court opposing the project last week. That legal fight has drawn support from a local advocacy group called Uproar Utah, as well as faith-based groups. “We cannot allow fear-based narratives to justify the suffering of families who have done everything right,” Liliana Bolaños, a program manager for Mormon Women for Ethical Government, said at a news conference last week according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “And we cannot look away from the human cost: the children left behind, the communities destabilized, the trauma that lingers long after detention ends.” – 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 Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie, the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, will host its third annual Jazz Vespers summer series beginning June 21. A jazz ensemble will accompany Scripture and hymns, poetry and other written works by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and mystic. Christopher Petit, the cathedral’s director of music and director of choirs at Mercyhurst University in Erie, decided in 2024 to launch a jazz-focused liturgical series because “many people find something spiritual or a connection to jazz.” “Jazz Vespers is opening up another connection for people to know that the cathedral is a space where we want to provide what’s meaningful to those in the community, and for them to know that everyone is welcome,” Petit told Episcopal News Service. “Different styles of music go with different styles of worship and spirituality, and we want to provide something for everybody.” Unlike Western classical music, which is historically rooted in the Western sacred music tradition and often emphasizes formal structure, jazz is spontaneous. The latter, which originated from Black communities in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, emphasizes improvisation against a steady rhythm. Jazz was born from several Black American music traditions like blues, ragtime and Black American sacred music. The Rev. John Garcia Gensel, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s pastor to the Jazz Community in New York City, created Jazz Vespers in 1965. The ministry gave the city’s jazz musicians, who often worked late on Saturdays into the wee hours of Sunday, an opportunity to participate in church services outside of traditional Sunday morning services. Over time, churches of different denominations began adding their own Jazz Vespers services. Barry Davis, a St. Paul’s parishioner who voluntarily promotes and financially supports Jazz Vespers, hasn’t missed a service. It has been held at the cathedral on the third Sunday evening of June, July and August since it began in 2024. He told ENS that he looks forward to attending the services every summer because jazz’s spontaneity “touches the soul” differently from sacred and classical music and “adds another dimension” to worship, comparing it to the Holy Spirit. “You can never play the same piece of jazz the exact same way twice. There are always different improvisations and interpretations, and the Holy Spirit, I believe, works the same way,” Davis said. “You can’t say, ‘This is the way it’s got to be, and you have to follow this dogma or doctrine to get an answer.’ Everybody’s experience with the Holy Spirit, like jazz, comes in a different form each and every time. In a church setting, jazz opens me up to a new interpretation of the Scriptures, and sometimes it informs my prayer process.” The Very Rev. Melinda Hall, St. Paul’s dean, told ENS that she was inspired to focus on Merton’s writings this year after reading “A Book of Hours,” a compilation of his works. Sister Kathleen Deignan, the book’s editor, curated, arranged and interspersed the works with elements of Christian liturgy into a daily prayer and contemplation resource in the Divine Office’s “praying the hours” tradition. The Jazz Vespers services will be loosely structured on “A Book of Hours.” “I’m excited to see how the combination of the contemplativeness of Thomas Merton interlaced with jazz will work. I think it’s going to be so cool,” Hall said. “I think everyone will really appreciate how poetry and written reflections on faith can be brought together in new ways such as prayer and meditation.” Hall, Davis and Petit all noted that many “very good” professional musicians live in Erie. St. Paul strives to build working relationships with all of them and offer diverse musical performances throughout the year. Earlier this year, for example, the cathedral offered weekly Celtic services featuring live Celtic music as part of its larger Sacred Pathways program on exploring different spiritual practices. “At the end of the day, we want people to have fun and to feel welcome, and that group worship must not be boring,” Petit said. “Even though Jazz Vespers is first and foremost a worship service, you’re not forced to pray a specific way, but rather you go wherever the music takes you.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Diocese of Southwestern Virginia] The Diocese of Southwestern Virginia ordained and consecrated the Rt. Rev. Karin Lee MacPhail as its seventh bishop on June 13 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia. MacPhail, who succeeds the Rt. Rev. Mark Bourlakas, is the first female bishop in the 107-year history of the diocese. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe served as the chief consecrator. Joining Rowe as co-consecrators were Bourlakas, Texas Bishop Suffragan Jeff Fisher, former Virginia Bishop Suffragan Susan Goff, Maryland Bishop Carrie Schofield-Broadbent, Utah Bishop Phyllis Spiegel and Bishop Phyllis Milton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Virginia Synod. In the days leading up to her consecration, MacPhail said, “I am deeply honored at the trust that has been placed in me and humbled by the work of the Holy Spirit in this call. I look forward with great joy to supporting and serving all the parishes, ministries and people of the diocese as we grow in unity and community together, loving and serving God and all our neighbors, and always grounded in the love of Jesus Christ.” MacPhail was elected on the third ballot from a slate of four nominees during the diocese’s annual convention on Jan. 31, 2026. A priest for more than 22 years, MacPhail most recently served as rector of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, and previously at Christ Church in Millwood and St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville, both in the Diocese of Virginia. The holder of an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary, MacPhail and her husband, the Rev. Alexander MacPhail, live in Roanoke and are the parents of two college-aged children, Maggie and Peter. As bishop of Southwestern Virginia, MacPhail will oversee the spiritual care and leadership of 50 churches in five convocations, including two ecumenical parishes, and more than 9,500 communicants. The diocese, stretching from Staunton and Waynesboro southwest along the I-81 corridor to Abingdon and Bristol, also includes the Phoebe Needles Camp and Conference Center in Callaway, Grace House on the Mountain in St. Paul, Westminster Canterbury retirement community in Lynchburg and Boys Home of Virginia in Covington.

[Diocese of Lexington] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Lexington announced on June 15 the names of three nominees for election as the diocese’s ninth bishop. “We are delighted to discern with these exceptional candidates where God is calling the Diocese of Lexington,” the standing committee said. “The Search Committee has undertaken this work with faithfulness, diligence and prayer. We are grateful for the many people throughout the diocese who participated in listening sessions, completed surveys, prayed for the process and helped us discern the gifts and leadership needed for the next season of our common life. We also give thanks to the candidates for their willingness to offer themselves to the servant ministry of a bishop.” The candidates are: • The Rev. Benjamin Hart, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Anchorage, Kentucky. • The Rev. Rob Keim, rector of St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church, Arroyo Grande, California. • The Rev. David Sibley, rector, St. Paul’s Church, Walla Walla, Washington. The three nominees were presented by the Diocese of Lexington’s Bishop Search Committee following an extensive process of listening sessions, surveys, profile development, application review, interviews, background checks and discernment. The search began following Bishop Mark Van Koevering’s announcement in October 2024 that he would retire from active ministry. Additional candidates may be added through a petition process established by diocesan canons. The petition period runs from June 15-22. Following the close of the petition process, the standing committee will announce the final slate of nominees on July 1.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Mothers’ Union celebrated 150 years of faith, service and transformation with a special anniversary service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. More than 1,500 members, senior church leaders, supporters and partners from the Anglican Communion and charity sector participated in the service. The June 10 service celebrated a movement that’s grown from a small parish initiative to a global Christian organization with 4 million members in more than 80 countries. It also marked the beginning of Mother’s Union’s next chapter as the organization continues to grow its impact across the Anglican Communion and beyond. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, a Mothers’ Union member, preached. Her sermon reflected on the movement’s legacy and thanked those who have worked towards ending poverty, injustice and violence. “You have made such a difference not just to the church [but] to your communities and to the world,” Mullally said. “You are salt and light, and we are grateful.” Read the entire article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Pope Leo XIV’s first papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” invites reflection on the ethical implications of AI on war, relationships and the battle between good and evil. The pope signed the encyclical last month. “At key moments in history, the church is called to decipher the new things in the light of the Gospel and the dignity of the human being,” Leo said during an event marking the encyclical’s release. “Artificial intelligence already touches many areas of our lives and affects decisions that shape human coexistence. It is also dramatically changing how war is waged.” Some Anglican leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and Texas Bishop C. Andrew Doyle, have responded to “Magnifica Humanitas” and their perspectives on AI’s expanding role in society. “The pope is correct that there is a danger here. It is concerning that a few companies, individuals no less, hold a lion’s share of the world’s data and power. Such powers and institutions, easily taking on a life of their own and using the very people they promise to serve, are not new,” Doyle, who chairs The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property, told Anglican Communion News Service. “The encyclical is a gift, and as global Anglicans, we receive it with gratitude and learn from its clarity. Yet we must offer our own word on AI rather than echoing the pope.” Read the entire article here.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church in Navajoland’s Standing Committee announced June 11 that it would, for a second time, postpone its bishop election to an unspecified date in the future. “After prayerful consultation and discernment, the election has been postponed to a future date. This is a postponement of the election process, not a cancellation,” the Standing Committee said in the June 11 statement. “Both nominees remain in the process and will continue to be considered when the election is reconvened.” The Rev. Cornelia Eaton, the missionary diocese’s canon to the ordinary, and the Rev. Leon Sampson, co-vicar of the diocese’s southeast region, were scheduled to stand for election on June 13. In its statement, the Standing Committee acknowledged that suspension of the Election Convention may come “as a surprise and raise questions,” and added that the diocese will still gather June 12-13 for worship, fellowship, prayer, conversation, and discernment.” The 81st General Convention authorized the creation of the Missionary Diocese of Navajoland in June 2024,  and that process was completed a year later, when Executive Council voted to accept the new missionary diocese’s constitution. “Navajoland was already living as a missionary diocese in spirit and practice,” GJ Gordy, an Executive Council member from Navajoland, said before the council’s vote. “This is not just a structural change. It is recognition of our readiness to lead ourselves.” The Episcopal Church’s ministry on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation dates back more than a century to medical missions established in Fort Defiance, Arizona; Farmington, New Mexico; and Bluff, Utah. Navajoland was the name given to the area mission created by The Episcopal Church in 1977. Area missions’ bishops are appointed to the role by the House of Bishops rather than elected by a local convention. The Rt. Rev. Barry Beisner was the last bishop appointed to the area mission in this way. He was scheduled to retire this year. In 2022, the 80th General Convention passed a resolution entrusting Navajoland “to establish its own rules and procedures for a process of discernment for the calling of a bishop that reflects the values, teachings, and traditions of the Diné.”  Navajoland leaders worked on the plan with the church’s Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons, and, in January 2024, a special convocation in Navajoland voted in favor of the request for missionary diocese status. Missionary diocese status empowered Navajoland to adopt its own constitution and canons, in compliance with The Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons, and to hold an annual diocesan convention and elect a bishop, standing committee, and clergy and lay deputations to General Convention. After bishops and deputies authorized the elevation of Navajoland to missionary-diocese status at the 81st General Convention, Navajoland followed up by holding its first diocesan convention in June 2025, where it approved its new constitution. Its preamble, written in English and the Diné language, incorporates Navajoland’s mission statement into a document that respects Navajo culture and spiritual practices. “In the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy One, we set out to walk in harmony, seeking forgiveness and wholeness,” the preamble says. “Through compassion and service, Love binds us in relationship to all creation. In the Beauty Way all is restored again.” The church’s 2025-27 triennial budget includes $800,000 for the bishop in charge of Navajoland, as well as a $1.4 million block grant. In November 2025, the diocese announced a slate of three candidates for bishop, including Eaton and Sampson, who were set to stand for election on Jan. 3, 2026. Both Eaton and Sampson had been serving as members of Navojoland’s Standing Committee but took a leave of absence after being named to the bishop slate. Then, in mid-December, the diocese announced it was postponing its election until sometime in June. “As our nominees walked with us within the four sacred mountains of the Navajo Nation, we recognized that our discernment among these three nominees must be extended,” the diocese said. A few days later, the third bishop candidate, the Rev. Alyssa Stebbing of the Diocese of Texas, announced she was withdrawing from consideration. “I hope that I can continue to support the Episcopal Church in Navajoland and walk with the people and their clergy, including the new bishop,” Stebbing said. The Standing Committee said it would answer questions about the election process and next steps during the June 12-13 gathering and in future updates. “The Episcopal Church in Navajoland remains committed to the election of its first Bishop Diocesan and to seeking God’s guidance for the future of our Diocese,” its statement said. “Please continue to pray for the nominees, the Standing Committee, our clergy and delegates, and all the people of Navajoland.”

[Episcopal News Service — Indianapolis, Indiana] For members of Christ Church Cathedral, here on the northeast corner of Monument Circle, the only thing sweeter than supporting Central Indiana-based nonprofits is doing so with homemade dessert. The Cathedral Women are putting that longstanding belief in action on June 11 by hosting the 60th annual Strawberry Festival on the cathedral’s front lawn. The festival, the downtown cathedral’s biggest fundraiser, is a beloved and tasty tradition that raises tens of thousands of dollars annually by selling strawberry shortcakes to thousands of hungry visitors. “It’s such a fun day because you see Monument Circle come alive. Anybody and everybody of all ages is there and hanging out,” Sarah McFetridge, a Cathedral Women member and the festival’s coordinator, told Episcopal News Service. “We have a lot of stories where kids went with their grandparents, then they took their kids and now they’re taking their grandkids every year. It’s really fun to be a part of those core memories for people.” That’s the case with Rebecca Robinson, who has been coming to the festival with her family annually for 50 years. “This work is fellowship. It’s love; it’s community. Everything that Indianapolis stands for is right there in that church,” Robinson, a parishioner at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, told ENS. Many festivalgoers enjoy their fresh treats on the steps of the Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which is across the street from the cathedral in the middle of Monument Circle. SPARK on the Circle, a free season pop-up park on the northwest quadrant, is also popular. The Strawberry Festival began in 1965, when the Cathedral Women baked and sold 100 shortcakes. The cathedral, however, has actually been raising funds by selling strawberries since 1864, according to “The Little Church on the Circle,” a history book published in 1957 and written by pharmaceutical industrialist and philanthropist Eli Lilly Jr. His grandfather was the founder of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company. The cathedral is marking 2026 as the 60th anniversary instead of the 61st because the festival wasn’t held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Strawberry Festival is an official cathedral event, staff and volunteers don’t use it to proselytize. They do, however, distribute small items, like cathedral-branded Pride stickers, that show the congregation’s beliefs. “I call the Strawberry Festival a sacrament with a little ‘S.’ It’s an outward and visible sign of the grace that this church has for our city and community,” the Very Rev. Gray Lesesne, Christ Church Cathedral’s dean, told ENS. “I think it’s the best snapshot of our life together in a day.” The cathedral donates all proceeds from the festival, which will be evenly distributed to designated Strawberry Festival grant recipients in the spring and fall – up to $3,000 per recipient. “The more strawberry shortcakes we sell, the more money we can give to these amazing local charities,” McFetridge said. Recent recipients include Deeply Ingrained, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that teaches youth and underserved individuals woodworking skills, and Project Period Indy, an organization that stocks schools, libraries, shelters and other places with free feminine hygiene products. One of the only conditions the charitable organization members must meet to receive a grant is volunteering the week or day of the Strawberry Festival. Many of them don’t seem to mind, McFetridge said, because they will often return to volunteer in other years, even if their nonprofit isn’t a recipient. “We blast music in the kitchen, share meals and work together in a kind of assembly line process. It’s very fun community building, and everyone feels accomplished when we see how many shortcakes we’ve made from scratch,” she said. The shortcake recipe is a “church secret” that, according to McFetridge, “can’t be replicated at home.” When Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows was acquainting herself with the diocese after her April 2017 consecration, her first experience of the Strawberry Festival was a “great way to kick off my understanding of what’s really important and core for ministries here.” “The cathedral is impacting so many lives through all the organizations it supports through the Strawberry Festival,” Baskerville-Burrows told ENS in an in-person interview. “[The festival] is really about the reach that this cathedral has. It’s a great way to get to know the values here in the diocese.” When she’s able, Baskerville-Burrows likes to greet festivalgoers on the cathedral’s lawn. She’s previously volunteered to prepare the strawberry shortcakes; her task on the assembly line was to scoop the ice cream. She described the quick, repetitive motion as “high pressure.” “It’s usually hot outside, people are hungry and the lines are long. I applaud the volunteers who come back year after year after year, because this is a way for them to give back to the community,” Baskerville-Burrows said. “Having done it myself, I know what a commitment and what a gift this is. We couldn’t do it without the volunteers.” Earlier this week, about 200 volunteers, including parishioners from other Episcopal churches in the diocese, made 15,000 shortcake biscuits. And by the end of the day-long festival, they will have gone through 12,000 pounds of strawberries. The ingredients, which are sold à la carte or together for $10 as “The Works,” include shortcake, sliced strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped topping. Nothing will go to waste. If the cathedral doesn’t sell everything, Second Helpings, a hunger relief agency serving Central Indiana, will collect the leftovers and distribute them to nearby shelters. As a longtime runner who maintains a healthy lifestyle, Baskerville-Burrows rarely eats sweets. Every June, though, she makes an exception for the Strawberry Festival and orders “The Works.” “It’s once a year, so I’m going to indulge delightfully,” she said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].