Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] The Nashville-based Diocese of Tennessee is extending its bishop search process to find “a Christ-centered, theologically astute, energetic, forward-thinking and visionary leader.” The process for receiving new applications opened July 6 and will close on July 27. The final candidate slate is expected to be released in September, according to the diocese’s election webpage. The date of the electing convention is pending. The 12th bishop will succeed Tennessee Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt, who has led the diocese since 2007. In June 2025, Bauerschmidt announced his plans to retire in January 2027. “Serving as your diocesan bishop has been the singular privilege of my ordained ministry, and a personal joy,” Bauerschmidt said in his announcement. “I am grateful to all of you for your support and encouragement in this work. I am especially grateful to my wife, Caroline, who has accompanied me in this ministry.” In recent years, Bauerschmidt, known as one of the church’s more theologically conservative bishops, has been a prominent figure in churchwide efforts to foster greater “communion across difference,” engaging in dialogue involving Episcopalians at all points on the theological spectrum. “This new bishop will be able to preserve the sense of unity we have nurtured, while working creatively with parishes that differ in size, resources, regional needs and varied differences in theological and missional emphasis,” the announcement said. Pending consents from diocesan standing committees and bishops, the bishop’s consecration will be held on April 10, 2027. The Diocese of Tennessee, one of three dioceses in the state, includes Episcopal congregations in the central third of Tennessee.

[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally preached July 4 during the closing Holy Eucharist of the weeklong 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The service was held at Belfast Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Church of St. Anne. It concluded the June 28-July 4 meeting, which was attended by ACC members from 37 Anglican provinces from around the world, including The Episcopal Church. The following is the text of Mullally’s sermon, as released by her office. The theme that has gathered us – “Called to One Hope” – has been a challenging one. It was an invitation – despite our differences and disagreements – to trust the God who has called us together, and therefore hope in the future he is preparing for us. We have prayed together, studied the scriptures and walked together despite the deep pain of our differences. Together we have tended the soil of trust from which hope can grow. But this work is not finished yet. Walking together in Derry-Londonderry, we witnessed how Christian hope had been a daily resistance against conflict, as the hard work of peace and reconciliation was built. It reminded me of my recent pilgrimage in the Holy Land with my brother, Archbishop Hosam [Naoum], where we witnessed Christian hope – a faithful daily resistance against injustice and despair, lived out by those who carry the light of Christ in their hearts, even in the darkest times. We have heard stories from each other about how member churches across the Communion are proclaiming the message of hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We have heard stories of care for Creation; standing up against violence against women and girls; welcoming the stranger and the refugee; building a safer church; peacebuilding; and revitalizing and planting new churches. Stories that tell us of our shared purpose in Jesus Christ. Our reading from Amos speaks of hope in a broken world and God’s promises of restoration. “The days are coming, declares the Lord, New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.” The prophet Amos tells us that God wants to rebuild lives and promises new hope. We have gathered here from our various ministries and member churches seeking to follow Christ. Just as those in exile heard the words of Amos, so it is for us – we hear this promise in a fractured world. And we hear those words within a fractured church, which may make them more difficult to trust, but God has promised to do a new thing. We have thousands of years of evidence that God will raise up, he will repair. He will rebuild. We will plant vineyards—and even though we will not always tend them well, by God’s grace we will drink their wine. God doesn’t wait for us to have it all together. God calls us by name and invites us to be with him in the light of the resurrection, to trust that we are known and loved. He invites us to join him in building his church: the bride of Christ. In the Old Testament, the relationship between God and the people is likened to a vineyard owner and the vines. God has brought a vine out of Egypt, declared the Psalmist, and planted it in good land. The prophet Isaiah sings a song about God’s vineyard. Hosea spoke of God finding Israel like grapes in the wilderness. The image of the vine and the grapes is a thread through the Scriptures which continues to remind us of God’s promises. And Amos records that despite Israel’s disobedience, which led to their exile from the original “vineyard,” God allows them to return. God taught them to rebuild their cities. To replant their vineyards. God was gracious and faithful to his people just as he is to us now. Not because we are already perfect and fully formed, but precisely so that he can transform us into the people and the church he intends us to be. The scripture also uses the image of the vine to speak about the care God expects of us to show to others because we are equally known and loved by God. Jesus says that wine, the fruit of the vine, cannot be put in either old or new wine skins without care. If carelessly put into old wine skins, the wine causes the skin to crack. If unwisely put into unprepared new wine skins, the skin will burst as the wine ferments. Jesus calls us to take care of the church he loves in the same way, knowing that people are far more important and precious than wine, and knowing that the church is sometimes more fragile than wineskins. He calls us to care for one another with tenderness and to repent where we have caused harm. We are called to treat the church with patience, with commitment to our relationships, which are sometimes strained. Care of the church needs to be one of deep listening, with the study of Scripture, with attention to theological reflection and with prayer. None of this can be rushed. The Spirit is not asking us to choose between the old and the new, but to care for both, so that the wine of God’s mission is not wasted. I must admit that I don’t know very much about fermenting wine. I do, however, as a potter, know much about clay. In the ancient world, there were two types of clay jars: One kind was heavy, dark, designed for domestic use; the other was very thin and fragile. These fragile jars would crack when put in the kiln. This was intentional. When a light was placed inside […]

[Episcopal News Service – Belfast, Northern Ireland] The 19th Anglican Consultative Council, on the final day of its June 28-July 4 meeting here, approved a resolution that affirmed the existing understanding of Anglican identity — leaving the archbishop of Canterbury’s central role unchanged — while calling for further discernment on proposed structural changes to the Anglican Communion. The debate before the July 4 vote underscored the persistence of significant theological differences, particularly on issues of human sexuality, across the Anglican Communion’s 42 autonomous provinces, including The Episcopal Church. The conservative leaders of some provinces describe themselves as in “impaired communion” with the archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England over those differences, raising concerns that some provinces might disengage with the ACC and other major Anglican bodies, known collectively as the Instruments of Communion. Proposed structural changes, known as the Nairobi-Cairo proposals, would have revised the Anglican Communion’s definition, or description, so that member provinces that are now expected to be “in communion with” the office of the archbishop of Canterbury would need to have only a “historical connection” to the office. The proposed changes, developed by an Anglican commission, also offered new ways of sharing leadership across the worldwide provinces, potentially diminishing the archbishop of Canterbury’s role. ACC chose not to adopt any of those proposed changes. Instead, its standing committee drafted a resolution that called for three more years of discernment and conversation. After more than an hour of impassioned, respectful discussion about that resolution and its wording, it was adopted by a large majority. The official count of votes by hand was 72 ACC members supporting the resolution and eight against. The Episcopal Church’s three ACC members voted yes. “This has been a very good conversation,” ACC Chair Maggie Swinson, a lay leader from the Church of England, said before the vote. “A lot of views have been expressed, and a wide range of members have been able to contribute.” The Rev. Berthier Lainirina of the Province of the Indian Ocean spoke in favor of the Nairobi-Cairo proposals earlier in the week. On the final day, he again raised concerns that without such changes his province and other conservative churches might feel they no longer have a place in the Anglican Communion, because of the Church of England’s continued position of authority. The archbishop of Canterbury is both a global Anglican leader and the top cleric in the Church of England, which began allowing blessings of same-sex couples in 2023. “It is very sad that we don’t want to accept the reality” of the Anglican Communion’s divisions, Lainirina said before the July 4 vote. “It is very sad that we suppose that everything is OK when things are not OK.” Other leaders from conservative provinces raised similar concerns but also stressed the importance of remaining together as one Anglican “family,” a metaphor for the Anglican Communion that was used frequently throughout the week. “Come, let us reason together,” Ambrose Otieno Weda, a lay member, said just before the vote. His province, the Anglican Church of Kenya, is often aligned with other conservative provinces from regions known as the Global South. “We should not entertain the idea of walking away, leaving empty chairs, dividing ourselves.” All 42 provinces are allowed to send two or three representatives to ACC, which is the only one of the four Instruments of Communion to give lay leaders equal voice and vote alongside bishops and other clergy. The other Instruments of Communion are the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, the Primates’ Meeting of provincial leaders and the archbishop of Canterbury, whose office is referred to as “a focus for unity” between the provinces. This ACC meeting, held in the Presbyterian Church’s Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in central Belfast, was the first attended by Archbishop Canterbury Sarah Mullally since she officially took office in January and her ceremonial installation in March. The amended resolution adopted by ACC-19 acknowledged the messages of forgiveness and reconciliation that members heard during their July 1 pilgrimage to Derry, a city with a history of sectarian divisions that sits at the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, The resolution also invokes Mullally’s own words earlier in the week emphasizing that “lasting unity is built by trust.” “Our present reality is a communion of autonomous churches, identified by full communion with the See of Canterbury, that now experiences the pain of some describing themselves as being in full communion with Canterbury whilst others do not,” the resolution says. An additional clause noted “widespread agreement that communion with the See of Canterbury remains vital to any rearticulation of Anglican identity.” That clause was opposed by some ACC members, who questioned the accuracy of the word “widespread,” but efforts to eliminate that clause failed by a margin of more than two to one. Some members expressed gratitude to Mullally for her remarks to ACC-19 on July 2, when she offered some next steps that could build on the Nairobi-Cairo proposals and the work of ACC members in Belfast. The solutions to doctrinal differences “may not be structural,” but rather “spiritual and relational,” Mullally said, echoing points made by several ACC members. She intends to meet with the Primates’ Standing Committee in September about possible models for sharing leadership across various Anglican provinces, and those conversations would inform the next Primates’ Meeting, which Mullally intends to schedule in early 2027. She also revealed that she is in early discussions to plan a future Lambeth Conference, the gathering of Anglican bishops that typically occurs about once every 10 years. The last was held in 2022 under Mullally’s predecessor, former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “I am convinced that hope is inviting us forward, and for us to build trust is important, because trust is how we learn to walk together despite our deep differences,” Mullally said. Mullally acknowledged she was in an “interesting” position, as ACC president, to be in […]

[Episcopal News Service – Belfast, Northern Ireland] The Rev. Ranjit Mathews, one of three Episcopal delegates to the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, was elected July 4 by the Anglican Communion body to its standing committee. Mathews, canon to the ordinary of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, was one of five ACC members elected on a ballot of 17 candidates. He first attended ACC-18 in Accra, Ghana, in 2023. His service on the standing committee will take him through the end of his term, which will conclude with ACC-20, scheduled for 2029 in North India. “I am humbled and honored to be elected to serve on the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council,” Mathews said in a written comment to Episcopal News Service. “It’s been some time since we have had an Episcopal Church representative on the standing committee of ACC, and I hope to bring the beauty and breadth of our church’s voice to these forthcoming meetings.” The Anglican Consultative Council, or ACC, meets about every three years, bringing together up to three representatives from each of the Anglican Communion’s 42 member provinces for a week of inter-Anglican fellowship, presentations on global Anglican initiatives and discussion and votes on a range of resolutions proposed by Anglican commissions and ACC members. ACC-19 met July 28-July 4 in the Presbyterian Church’s Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in central Belfast. The Episcopal Church’s other two representatives to ACC are Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado and Yvonne O’Neal, a lay leader from the Diocese of New York. O’Neal was also on the ballot for the standing committee but was not elected. The ACC Standing Committee’s 15 members include seven elected members of the ACC, as well as an elected chair and vice chair. The archbishop of Canterbury is its president, and the five members of the Primates’ Standing Committee also serve as ACC Standing Committee members.

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal churches nationwide are hosting and participating in events commemorating the United States’ 250th anniversary this weekend. While the commemoration is intended to be joyful and festive in nature, many Episcopal-led events will be more nuanced and reflective. The 250th anniversary celebration throughout the afternoon of July 5 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Frederick, Maryland, for example, won’t shy from acknowledging the United States’ imperfect history. “It’s very clear to us here at All Saints, and to many members of our community, of the state that we’re in in terms of the ideals of our democracy and how far we are from God’s vision for all of humanity,” the Rev. Catherine M. Thompson, All Saints’ rector, told Episcopal News Service. “How do you balance those two things, a love of the country in which you live and serve, and a desire to live more fully into God’s vision?” All Saints’ celebration will begin with a concert that includes the premiere of Hollis Thoms’ “Mneme,” featuring the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, a West African woman enslaved during the period of the American Revolution who became the first published African American author. Her enslavers, so impressed with her work, got her book, “Poetry on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral,” published in 1773. She was freed shortly after her book was published. Wheatley’s poetry attracted the attention of Founding Fathers George Washington, who praised her work, and Thomas Jefferson, who dismissed her literary talents as “below the dignity of criticism.” “By me setting [Wheatley’s] poems to music and having a Black woman sing her words, we’re trying to say that her poetic talent is of value and is part of our society,” Thoms, an All Saints parishioner, told ENS. “Phillis Wheatley’s words are a part of our American history and American way of life … a part of this idea that we’re all striving for, that all persons are created equal.” Jouelle Roberson, a soprano based in Washington, D.C., will sing Wheatley’s poetry in “Mneme.” After the concert, members of All Saints’ truth and reconciliation committee will lead roundtable discussions on select writings and speeches from historical American figures of different backgrounds, including Logan, a Cayuga orator and war leader, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the Declaration of Sentiments and others. Participants will gather in small groups to discuss the readings and reflect on their significance today. All Saints’ celebration will conclude with a choral Evensong using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The Rev. Jennifer Mariano, the church’s associate for pastoral care, will preach. “The United States is politically and socially divided, but we don’t have to stay stuck in this division. We don’t have to be like this,” Mariano told ENS. “We can move forward by God’s grace. The ideal that we are all created equal is still appropriate and worth striving for.” Many Episcopal churches share All Saints’ sentiment and will express similar messages during their celebrations. The following is a list of some Episcopal churches hosting or participating in community-led America 250 events. Check online locally for additional events. All times listed are local. New York, New York — The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine will host “Truth Is a Common Good: A Vigil for Our Unfinished Democracy” on July 2 at 6 p.m. The livestreamed vigil will incorporate readings, live music and time for reflection to “consider the ideals that have shaped our nation and the ongoing work of building a more just and inclusive society.” Washington, D.C. — Washington National Cathedral will host an interfaith service on July 3 at 10 a.m. The livestreamed service, taking place instead of the cathedral’s annual Independence Day concert, will include curated Scripture, readings and music from different religious and cultural traditions, as well as contributions from spiritual and civic leaders. The service also will honor “individuals who have shown extraordinary courage and bravery in service to our shared life together, affirming that the work of a more perfect union is never finished and never done alone.” Boston, Massachusetts — Old North Church’s Evensong service on July 3 at 6 p.m., and Choral Matins service on July 5 at 11 a.m., will include patriotic hymns, choral anthems and historic prayers for the nation. Old North Church has a direct connection to the American Revolution. The lighting of two lanterns on the church’s steeple signaled to Paul Revere that British soldiers were on their way to arrest colonial militia leaders. The lit lanterns ignited his “midnight ride” to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn the militia leaders. Omaha, Nebraska — Trinity Episcopal Church will host a celebratory prayer service on July 4 at 9:30 a.m. commemorating the “inextricable link” between the establishment of the United States and The Episcopal Church. Lorton, Virginia — Pohick Episcopal Church will host several events throughout the day on July 4, beginning at 12:30 p.m. with a bicycle ride around the Pohick Cemetery. There will also be a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a prayer service and more. Founding Fathers George Washington and George Mason served on Pohick’s vestry and supervised the church’s construction, which was completed in 1774 by enslaved and indentured laborers. East Hampton, New York — The commemorative communitywide service on July 5 at 10 a.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church will feature parishioners reading excerpts from speeches, writing, and documents from historical U.S. figures, including U.S. presidents, Emma Lazarus and Martin Luther King Jr.  New York, New York — The Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, will preach at a festive livestreamed worship service on July 5 at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The service will take place while an international fleet of tall ships is in New York for various weeklong celebrations commemorating the 250th anniversary, including an Independence Day parade, public tours and a regatta. Trenton, New Jersey — St. Michael’s Episcopal […]

[Episcopal News Service – Londonderry, Northern Ireland] The Peace Bridge is one of the most prominent public symbols of reconciliation in this city, once an epicenter of Irish sectarian violence. Completed in 2011, the bridge connects the city’s two halves, though the east side is still mostly Protestant and the west side mostly Roman Catholic, decades after a peace agreement marked an end to the conflict known as The Troubles. A more personal symbol of reconciliation can be found in the face of Richard Moore. His right eye is gone. His left eye remains, but it no longer sees. Raised Catholic in the west-side neighborhood of Creggan, Moore’s blindness was the result of a rubber bullet fired into his face by a British soldier in 1972 when Moore was 10. His only infraction was running home by an unauthorized route, past a military outpost set up to quell the city’s civil unrest. The moment the bullet hit Moore’s face, it changed his life forever — for the better, he believes. Now in his mid-60s, he is a successful pub owner who founded the global charity Children in Crossfire, which helps children in communities struggling with poverty. “I actually had no anger, no bitterness, no hatred for the person who shot me,” Moore said, his eyes shaded behind dark glasses as he shared his story July 1. Anglican Consultative Council members, on a pilgrimage to his city, listened inside Derry’s historic St. Augustine’s Church as Moore described how he eventually found and met the man who shot him in 2006, and how he forgave the man. They are now friends. To be filled with such happiness after such adversity, forgiveness is the reason, Moore said. “Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself.” His story provided a poignant human element to the ACC’s daylong pilgrimage, scheduled midway through its June 28-July 4 meeting. The ACC is meeting for the rest of this week in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. The rest of the island is the Republic of Ireland. The Anglican pilgrimage to Derry frequently invoked the theme of reconciliation in the context of ongoing Irish efforts in the city and across Ireland’s divided island to maintain the peace that was established in 1998 after three decades of violence. Derry, a Northern Ireland border city, was the site of some of the worst violence between Catholic nationalists, who wanted independence and greater civil rights, and Protestant unionists, who were loyal to the United Kingdom. Irish Archbishop John McDowell, whose Anglican Church of Ireland spans the entire island, told Episcopal News Service that some of the old divisions still exist in Derry. Today, Irish nationalism is the majority sentiment here, he said, and even the city’s name can provoke controversy. Londonderry is the more formal name, reflecting British influence dating to the early 1600s, though residents often prefer Derry, which is closer to the original Irish “Doire.” Even now, the city is “still coming out of conflict,” McDowell said. “It was difficult to end the war, but it takes a completely new set of skills to make the peace.” Derry residents are also known for their exuberant hospitality, as they demonstrated to the ACC representatives from 37 worldwide Anglican provinces, including The Episcopal Church, who traveled from Belfast by coach buses. They arrived at a former military facility that had been converted to a hotel and conference center called The Ebrington. Volunteers from the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe, many wearing neon yellow reflective vests, greeted them in a long welcome line that threaded into the building. Every handshake was paired with a broad smile and a greeting in the local way: “You’re very welcome.” Smile. Handshake. “You’re very welcome!” Smile. Handshake. “You’re very welcome!” The welcome line led to a ballroom, where Derry Bishop Andrew Forster gave the ACC visitors his own warm welcome. “You’re not the first pilgrims to come to this place,” he said. “The city’s been here since 546,” when St. Columba planted churches around the region. “This city has a reputation for being a place of division,” Forster said. Now at peace, it is writing a better history. “We’re called to be reconcilers in a sectarian environment. …Our experience on this island is that peace is always a fragile thing. We have to handle it with care.” With the Anglican pilgrims ready to tour the city, lead tour guide Jim O’Hagan warned of rain in the forecast. While providing safety instructions, he also shared his own excitement at the presence of more than 100 bishops, other clergy and lay leaders from across the Anglican Communion. “I’m a proud Derryman, and like all proud Derrymen, we like nothing more than sharing our city with visitors,” said O’Hagan, executive director of Veritas Tours. The ACC members were divided into four groups to begin their walking tour of central Derry. Starting on the east bank of the River Foyle, they learned about the Peace Bridge and then crossed the bridge on foot to the west side. The city’s Catholic and Protestant populations had once been more integrated, before the start of The Troubles in about 1968. After civil unrest and nationalist violence were met by British crackdowns, residents began relocating to sectarian enclaves on either side of the river, said the Rev. David McBeth, a minister from All Saints Anglican Church in Derry who was leading one of the pilgrim groups. Today, the footbridge serves as both a symbolic and a functional structure, “to join the Catholic community and the Protestant community together again,” McBeth said. On the west side, the ACC members made their way to the city’s Guildhall, an 1890 structure that serves as a civic center and a repository of local history. During The Troubles, it was the site of some civil rights protests and, in 1972, was damaged by a nationalist terror bombing. Now restored, it hosted the ACC for lunch. Local […]

[Diocese of Lexington] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Lexington in Kentucky announced on July 1 the final slate for nominees for election as the diocese’s ninth bishop. With the successful addition of the Rev. Karen Booth as a petition candidate, the candidates are: The Rev. Karen Booth, rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Kentucky. The Rev. Benjamin Hart, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Anchorage, Kentucky. The Rev. Rob Keim, rector of St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church in Arroyo Grande, California. The Rev. David Sibley, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla, Washington. Clergy and lay leaders will have opportunities to meet the nominees during meet-and-greet events the week of July 20–24. These gatherings will allow members of the diocese to learn more about the candidates’ ministries, leadership experience and vision for the church. The schedule and more details can be found here. The Diocese of Lexington invites the church to join in a novena – nine days of prayer – leading up to the bishop election. Those prayers can be found here. The bishop election is scheduled to take place Aug. 1 at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, the second-largest city in the state. The consecration is planned for Dec. 12. Click here to learn more about the candidates and the search process. The ninth bishop will succeed Bishop Mark Van Koevering. They will lead the Diocese of Lexington’s 34 faith communities across the eastern half of Kentucky, extending north to the Ohio River and east to the mountain communities of Appalachia.

[Episcopal News Service] The U.S. Coast Guard’s Eagle cutter will lead an international fleet of tall and gray hull ships as they sail into New York harbor and salute the Statue of Liberty on July 4 in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary and Independence Day. Among the officers, crew and cadets who are celebrating on the 295-foot Eagle is the Rev. Sue Carter, an Episcopal priest based in the Diocese of Michigan. This is her second year serving as auxiliary chaplain on the Eagle. “I’m looking forward to being alongside the cadets,” Carter, associate priest at St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church in Williamston, told Episcopal News Service before setting sail on the Eagle last month. As chaplain, Carter holds worship services on the Eagle and is available for counseling and pastoral care whenever anyone on board needs it. “They tell me that I’m their ‘nana’ on board,” she said. “Some also affectionately like to call me ‘Chaps.’” Tall ships are large, traditionally rigged sailing vessels. They are categorized into four classes, A-D, based on length and other criteria. The Eagle, known as “America’s Tall Ship,” is one of the United States’ two active commissioned tall ships. Commissioned and built in 1936, the three-masted barque Eagle was initially owned and operated by Nazi Germany as the Horst Wessel – named after the Sturmabteilung paramilitary member whose murder made him into a martyr for the Nazi Party. After World War II ended in 1945, the United States assumed ownership of the Horst Wessel as a war reparation. In May 1946, the ship was recommissioned as the Eagle. Today, the Eagle, a Class A vessel, is used for training Coast Guard cadets and officer candidates. The ship also occasionally serves a public relations role for the Coast Guard and the United States, as in this year’s 250th anniversary celebrations. “Every summer, the Coast Guard Academy’s sophomore class, or third class, divides into two phases and spends one phase training on the Eagle for a few weeks and another phase doing field work. Those who are part of the Eagle phase in July will have a particularly special time because they will be a part of the Independence Day festivities in New York City on this significant anniversary,” Carter said. “That’s an experience that can’t be replicated.” The weeklong celebration will begin on July 3 with Class B tall ships sailing down the East River from Hell Gate Bridge to Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn, followed by a military history boat tour that will highlight strategic uses of New York harbor from the Revolutionary War through today. The July 4 parade route includes sailing up the Hudson River from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, passing the Statue of Liberty, to the George Washington Bridge. After the parade, some of the participating tall ships will berth in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey, and will open for free public tours through July 7. One of those ships is Italy’s Amerigo Vespucci, which is named for the explorer and navigator for whom America is named. The celebration will culminate with the “Five Sisters Cup,” a regatta, or race, between the Eagle and three of its four identical sister ships: Portugal’s Sagres, Romania’s Mircea and Germany’s Gorch Fock. They will race from New York to Boston, Massachusetts. They last raced in 1976 for the United States’ bicentennial celebrations, which resulted in a Gorch Fock victory. “It’s all fascinating history,” Carter said. “People will be pumped because a lot of us remember when the tall ships did the same parade and race for the 200th anniversary celebrations.” After the festivities end in Boston, the Eagle will sail to Portland, Maine, where Carter will disembark.  Even though she’s looking forward to witnessing this celebration as a chaplain aboard the Eagle, Carter said she’s most looking forward to watching the cadets gain confidence operating the ship over the coming weeks. “Their skills and their confidence just grow immensely during that time period,” Carter, who was a journalism professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing for 28 years, said.  Carter and the cadets won’t stay on the Eagle the entire time. On July 5, for example, some will join her in attending a festive worship service at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, celebrating the United States’ 250th anniversary. The Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, will preach. Earlier this year, Ritonia reminded Carter and other Armed Forces and Federal Ministries chaplains during an in-person gathering why their roles are necessary.  “As chaplains, we’re there for [cadets and active service members] in any capacity at any time, whether it’s a typical year or a special commemorative year like this one,” Carter said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Episcopal News Service] If you ask New York Bishop Matthew Heyd for his two cents on how The Episcopal Church should mark the United States’ 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, you might well get 25 cents’ worth — as in one of the Pauli Murray commemorative quarters he keeps in a bag near his desk. “Pauli Murray is this extraordinary expression of all the things we’re talking about in terms of moving toward her ideals, both as a church and as a country,” Heyd explained. “Her life embodied this dialogue that we’re having [now] between our faith and our civic ideals.” This year, as the nation celebrates America 250, Heyd and other Episcopal leaders say the anniversary is a time to examine the nation’s and the church’s origin stories; a time for truth-telling and accountability, and for the church and the nation to live into their founding principles of liberty, justice, equality and respect for the dignity of every human being. “There’s no time better than this time for the church to claim who it is as church and to be that voice that holds the nation accountable to its lofty vision of appreciating the equality and dignity of every human being,” the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, Washington National Cathedral’s canon theologian, said. The 2024 commemorative quarter, issued as part of the American Women Quarters program, depicts the Rev. Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, co-founder of the National Organization for Women and the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest, on the reverse side. The obverse side depicts George Washington, the first president of the United States of America, who was also an Episcopalian. The quarter is a potent pocket-sized symbol that not only references the nation’s and church’s shared histories but also hints at what the church is being called to do moving forward – and who will do it – at this particular moment in time. Like Heyd, Brown Douglas and Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe mentioned Murray and her legacy, as well as those who engaged in similar work, when asked which part of the church’s past gives them hope for the future. The front side of the coin: Change was made First, though, what exactly is that past? Here’s a brief primer on the early years of The Episcopal Church in the context of America’s beginnings, drawn from both “A History of the Episcopal Church,” by Robert W. Prichard and the online Archives of The Episcopal Church. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, officially severing ties with Great Britain. Thirty-four of the 56 signers were members of the Church of England, from which The Episcopal Church would split after the American Revolution. Among the points of contention: Clergy were required to swear loyalty to the king in their ordinations, and the Book of Common Prayer in use at the time included prayers for the British monarch. These expressions of support, and the deep divisions they caused, made it clear that the church, like the country, needed to make a formal break. In 1782, William White, rector of St. Peter’s and Christ Church in Philadelphia, who had been serving as chaplain to the Continental Congress since 1777, published “The Case of The Episcopal Church in the United States Considered.” It laid out a plan for the new Episcopal church though with a unicameral legislature, the bicameral legislature, similar to the way U.S. Congress is organized, would follow in 1789. On Sept. 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the U.S. as a sovereign nation by signing the Treaty of Paris. A group of 10 clergy in Connecticut elected the Rev. Samuel Seabury their bishop, but Church of England bishops refused to ordain him because English law would require him to take an oath of allegiance to the crown. Seabury was consecrated the first bishop of The Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, by three nonjuring Scottish bishops on Nov. 14, 1784, establishing the American episcopate. The first General Convention of The Episcopal Church took place in Philadelphia from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7, 1785. Among the agenda items: officially adopting the name “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America,” authorizing the preparation of an American Book of Common Prayer and drafting a General Ecclesiastical Constitution. In June 1786, British Parliament passed legislation that provided for the consecration of three bishops for the American church. The following February, William White and Samuel Provoost were consecrated bishops in Lambeth Palace Chapel by the archbishop of Canterbury. At its third General Convention, July 28 to Aug. 8, 1789, The Episcopal Church approved its Constitution, setting in place the organizational framework that still exists today and marking its formal split with the Church of England. For much of the next two centuries, the church and the U.S. government – forged in the same crucible of liberty – grew in parallel, facing the challenges of the day, including slavery, equal rights for women and LGBTQ+ rights. And, as exercises in representational government often do, The Episcopal Church made its share of missteps, including, but far from limited to, failing to take a stand against slavery in the run-up to the Civil War and refusing to ordain women priests until the Philadelphia Eleven forced the issue in 1974. A formal apology for slavery would not be issued until the 2006 General Convention. “Yes, we were at the table,” Rowe said, regarding the intertwined origin stories. “We have 11 presidents, 34 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington was an Episcopalian. That ultimately became an important force in our development. At one point, it was our goal and part of our mission strategy to be the national church.” That, Rowe explained, was how Washington National Cathedral, chartered in 1893, came to exist. “Our idea was that we would sort of represent the Christian ideals of […]

[Diocese of Alabama] The Diocese of Alabama ordained and consecrated the Rt. Rev. Richard T. Lawson III as its 13th bishop on June 27 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham. Lawson succeeds the Rt. Rev. Glenda S. Curry. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe served as chief consecrator. Co-consecrators included Curry, the Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley Jr., 10th bishop of Alabama; the Rt. Rev. John McKee Sloan, 11th bishop of Alabama; West Tennessee Bishop Phoebe Roaf; Louisiana Bishop Shannon Duckworth; and the Rev. Kevin Strickland, bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Duckworth preached. Ahead of the consecration, Lawson shared, “I am overjoyed to be called to serve alongside you. After every baptism, the priest says, ‘You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.’ If you are longing for this kind of love and a spiritual home, I invite you to visit one of the 86 parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.” Lawson was elected bishop on the first ballot during a special electing convention held Jan. 31 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent. Prior to his election, Lawson served as dean and rector of St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado. Before moving to Colorado, he served as rector of Grace–St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School in Memphis, Tennessee. He also served as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Decatur, Alabama. A native of Guntersville, Alabama, Lawson has served as a priest since 2001. Throughout his ministry, he has been recognized for his commitment to parish vitality, pastoral leadership and the proclamation of the Gospel. He earned a Master of Divinity from General Theological Seminary and a Master of Sacred Theology from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Lawson is married to Katherine, a Birmingham native, and they have two adult children. As bishop of Alabama, Lawson will provide pastoral and episcopal leadership to 86 parishes, two worshiping communities and eight college ministries across seven convocations that serve more than 29,000 baptized members throughout the diocese.

[Episcopal News Service – Belfast, Northern Ireland] The Episcopal Church is one of 42 member provinces in the worldwide Anglican Communion. But what is the Anglican Communion, and what binds its provinces together? Those foundational questions are up for debate this week at the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, and disagreements over the definition – down to specific word choices – have already created uncertainty about how the ACC might reach consensus on a resolution that could bring significant structural changes to the communion. The potential changes, known as the Nairobi-Cairo proposals, are scheduled for more discussion time than any other issue or resolution at ACC-19’s June 28-July 4 meeting. The proposals’ central issue relates to the archbishop of Canterbury’s role as a leader of both the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. The proposals would move the communion toward a shared leadership model that could diminish the archbishop of Canterbury’s traditional and historical role as “a focus for unity” and as a link to all Anglican provinces. On June 29, the commission that developed the proposals officially presented them to ACC members, representing 37 of the communion’s autonomous, interdependent provinces. The members then engaged in table discussions on the proposals on June 30. Another discussion is set for July 2 before scheduled votes on the final day of the meeting. “We want to remain in communion with one another,” the Rev. Anastasia Huntley, an ACC member from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, said during the June 30 discussion. “We are a family, and families can fight and families can have disagreements and have all those spats, but [that] doesn’t break them.” ACC members generally share the desire for the provinces to remain connected, but they have expressed a wide range of views on how best to structure those relationships. The leaders of some theologically conservative provinces, for example, have said they can no longer give deference to the archbishop of Canterbury because of the Church of England’s moves in recent years toward greater LGBTQ+ inclusion. On the other hand, leaders from other provinces, including  The Episcopal Church, have raised concerns about changing the role of the archbishop of Canterbury without thoroughly considering the potential consequences. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, who also serves as president of ACC, alluded to those tensions in her opening day speech on June 28, emphasizing that restoring trust is a paramount goal. “What unites us is greater than what divides us,” Mullally said. “God has chosen to work through our messy body to love the world he saved. For me, that is hope. But hope cannot grow without trust.” The Anglican Consultative Council meets about every three years, bringing together up to three representatives from each of the Anglican Communion’s member provinces for a week of inter-Anglican fellowship, presentations on global Anglican initiatives and discussions and votes on a range of resolutions proposed by Anglican commissions and ACC members. The more than 100 bishops, other clergy and lay leaders form one of the four “Instruments of Communion,” a leadership structure that also includes the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, the Primates’ Meeting of provincial leaders and the office of the archbishop of Canterbury. 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. ACC-19 is meeting in the Presbyterian Church’s Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in central Belfast. The theme of ACC-19 is “Called to One Hope.” “If hope is the fruit, trust is the root,” Mullally said in her opening remarks. “Lasting unity is built by trust. That is why our task this week is not simply to determine what changes we may wish to make. It is first to listen, to learn, to pray, to deepen our understanding of one another, to create the conditions in which trust may grow and hope may flourish.” Rethinking the role of the archbishop of Canterbury On June 29, leaders from the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order, or IASCUFO, introduced the Nairobi-Cairo proposals with a presentation that invoked the history of the Anglican Communion over the past century. Andrew Khoo, a commission member from the Province of South East Asia, explained that the Anglican Communion’s existing definition – some prefer the term “description” – dates to 1930, when the Lambeth Conference adopted the following language: “The Anglican Communion is a fellowship, within the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury.” ACC, at its last meeting in 2023, instructed IASCUFO “to explore theological questions regarding structure and decision-making to help address our differences in the Anglican Communion.” Khoo said the commission kept coming back to the communion’s 1930 description, but only as a starting point. “How might it need to be adjusted to describe the Anglican Communion of today?” Khoo said. “What was or what is missing from that, and what should be added or revised?” The commission’s discussions produced one proposal that would change the language that, Khoo said, currently frames the office of the archbishop of Canterbury as the provinces’ “gateway to membership” in the communion. The proposed change, rather than requiring provinces to be “in communion with” Canterbury, would affirm the provinces’ “historic connection with the See of Canterbury,” as well as their “shared inheritance, mutual service, [and] common counsel in conference.” The second principal proposal seeks to broaden the geographical diversity of Anglican Communion leadership. Under it, the Anglican Communion could empower the provincial leaders on the Primates’ Standing Committee to fulfill some global obligations that previously had fallen to the archbishop of Canterbury, such as attendance at the inauguration of a new province or the installation of a new primate. IASCUFO also initially suggested that the role of ACC president could be […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The death toll in this story was updated on July 2. [Episcopal News Service] Venezuela is still in the early stages of recovering from back-to-back earthquakes that devastated the northern state of La Guaira and Caracas, the nation’s capital, last week. At least 2,295 people have died, and nearly 50,000 people remain missing. All Episcopalians in the Diocese of Venezuela are accounted for and safe, and some of them are helping with recovery efforts. The diocesan center in Caracas, which sustained minor infrastructure damage, reopened as a collection center primarily with supplies for rescue personnel and anyone in need. Episcopalians have volunteered to drive around the city on motorcycles to distribute some of the supplies. “Right now, we are addressing high-priority needs,” Pragedes Coromoto Jiménez de Salazar, the diocese’s communications director, told Episcopal News Service in a WhatsApp message. She also serves as secretary of the diocesan standing committee and diocesan convention. The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck Venezuela northwest of Caracas 39 seconds apart on June 24. They caused widespread damages to buildings and structures and cut off running water and gas services in many homes. The Iglesia Anglicana Episcopal La Reconciliación in Caracas and the Iglesia de San Andrés in Catia sustained minor infrastructure damage. The Rev. Ana Graciela Anthony, president of the standing committee, will inspect the diocesan center and the damaged churches’ structural integrity once transportation is available, Jiménez de Salazar said. The Rev. Jose Francisco Salazar, a priest in the Diocese of Venezuela, is now leading a diocesan earthquake response team. The Rev. Rodolfo Albarran, a deacon who leads the Misión Santos Ángeles Custodios, is co-coordinating pastoral, medical and community responses with public and private organizations. The Diocese of Venezuela, which is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX, has nine clergy serving 15 organized missions throughout the South American country’s 23 states and Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island country located about 40 miles north of Venezuela’s coast. The earthquakes didn’t affect All Saints Episcopal Church in Willemstead, Curaçao’s capital. Nevertheless, “We offer our sincere prayers for our brothers and sisters,” the Rev. Joe Parrish, a priest serving All Saints, and senior warden Ivy Doorstam told ENS. Litoral Ecuador Bishop Cristóbal Olmedo León Lozano serves as the provisional bishop of Venezuela. Salazar, Jimenez de Salazar and other church leaders have been communicating with the bishop and the Rev. David Ulloa Chavez, The Episcopal Church’s partnership officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, to provide updates. Episcopal Relief and Development launched a disaster fund to support on-the-ground immediate and long-term recovery support led by partners in Venezuela. “We are working here for the good of the community,” Jiménez de Salazar, who is part of the diocesan response team, said. “Please pray for us.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

[Episcopal News Service – Belfast, Northern Ireland] Anglican leaders on June 28 opened the weeklong meeting here of the Anglican Consultative Council, or ACC, with repeated references to hope and unity in the face of persistent divisions. It is the first major Anglican Communion meeting attended by Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally since she took office in January. Mullally, in her introductory remarks as president of the ACC, joined others in underscoring this meeting’s theme, “Called to One Hope,” taken from Ephesians 4:4. “We have this hope because we make this journey with God,” she said. Representatives from 37 Anglican provinces, including The Episcopal Church, are attending this 19th meeting of the ACC, one of four “Instruments of Communion” that connect Anglicans worldwide in a shared mission through their theological beliefs and historical roots in the Church of England. The other Instruments of Communion are the Primates’ Meeting of provincial leaders, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, and the office of the archbishop of Canterbury as a “focus for unity.” “Gathered here in fellowship, we embody the witness of God’s family,” Mullally said during the opening session underway at the Assembly Buildings Conference Centre in central Belfast.  Anglicans from the 42 autonomous, interdependent provinces may have different cultures, languages and local contexts, yet they are “drawn together by the same Gospel and the same lord, Jesus Christ,” she said. The show of unity, however, could not alleviate evident divisions familiar from past Anglican Communion meetings. For years, leaders from the provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda have not sent representatives to ACC meetings, reflecting their objection to the more progressive positions on women’s ordination and LGTBQ+ inclusion taken by The Episcopal Church and several other provinces. Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are again absent from this ACC meeting. The other provinces absent from ACC-19 are Sudan, whose country in recent years has been besieged by war and violence, and Congo, now dealing with an Ebola outbreak that has prompted travel restrictions. Uganda is also at the center of Africa’s Ebola crisis. ACC Chair Maggie Swinson, a lay leader from the Church of England, opened the June 28-July 4 meeting with a call for prayers and a moment of silence for Venezuela, where the death toll from two major earthquakes has topped 1,400. The Diocese of Venezuela is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX. Anglicans are called to gather this week as the ACC “not simply to transact business,” Swinson said. “We gather to listen, to consult and discern together.” Conversation across differences is possible because Jesus has shown the way, she said, and the Anglican Communion’s structures provide “a basis on which to meet, listen and remain in relationship with each other.” “We have important work before us,” she said. “May we undertake it carefully, constructively and with attention to one another and the communion we are here to serve.” Each Anglican and Episcopal province may send two or three representatives to the Anglican Consultative Council, which typically meets once every three years. Although its resolutions are not binding on individual provinces, they can offer a framework for dialogue on issues of relevance to all provinces, as well as collaborative approaches to bolstering the provinces’ mission and ministry. The ACC is also the only Anglican Communion body that gives an equal voice and vote to lay leaders. 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. O’Neal is proposing a resolution at this ACC, signed by members from several other provinces, to raise awareness and call for a common witness about domestic violence, sexual violence, gender-based violence and other forms of abuse. The resolution builds on O’Neal’s work in New York and the wider Episcopal Church to promote “Break the Silence Sunday” and similar observances lamenting violence and abuse. Such violence is “all around us,” O’Neal told Episcopal News Service during a break in the June 28 meeting. ACC is scheduled to vote on all resolutions on its last day, July 4. Another central topic for discussion at this meeting will be the Nairobi-Cairo proposals, named for the cities where they were drafted by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order. Under the two principal proposals, the ACC would consider a revised definition of the Anglican Communion to reframe how the provinces relate to each other and changes to the communion’s leadership structure that could diminish the role of the archbishop of Canterbury. O’Neal said she welcomes the discussion but is not eager to adopt the proposals yet at this meeting. “They need more refining. They need more thought,” she said. The potential changes to the role of the archbishop of Canterbury, in particular, “don’t sit well” with her, given that Mullally is still getting started as the first woman to hold that office. O’Neal, who attended Mullally’s installation in March, said she feels a connection to the archbishop and looks forward to working with her as the ACC helps plan for the communion’s future. Other activities scheduled for this week range from daily Bible studies and Holy Eucharist – an opening service was celebrated June 28 at Belfast Cathedral – to informal table discussions that will give ACC members from different parts of the world opportunities to share the “good news” and the “tough challenges” experienced by their churches. Another series of discussions will engage the ACC members in “global conversations” on some of the major issues that are shaping local ministries, including migration, the environment, education and interfaith relations. And on July 2, the members are scheduled to board buses for a daylong pilgrimage to Londonderry. The city near Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland had been a flashpoint for conflict during the decades of Catholic-Protestant fighting known as The Troubles.  Since a landmark […]