Author: wwedderburn

Bishop Yehiel Curry. Photo: Courtesy of Metropolitan Chicago Synod [Religion News Service] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected its first Black leader on July 30 at its churchwide assembly meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. The Rev. Yehiel Curry, bishop of the ELCA’s Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 2019, will serve a six-year term as the denomination’s…

[Episcopal News Service] The Church of England Newspaper, believed to be the world’s oldest Christian newspaper, has suspended indefinitely its print production following the death of its owner and key financial backer. “I’m sorry to inform you … that the Church of England Newspaper has had to review its operations following the passing of Keith…

A portrait of Cardinal John Henry Newman made by Sir John Everett Millais in 1881. Photo: Courtesy of Creative Commons [Religion News Service] Pope Leo XIV named St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the church on July 31, recognizing the lasting impact the 19th-century convert’s writings on conscience and the development of doctrine have had…

After a mass shooting on July 28, 2025, in New York’s Midtown Manhattan left five people dead, including the shooter, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church put up signs around its building offering support and pastoral care to the community. The church is located across the street from 345 Park Avenue, where the shooting occurred. Photo: Peter…

St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Hawaiian Ocean View on Hawai’i’s Big Island permanently houses a medical van on its campus that’s operated by the Hawai’i Community Health Center system. Photo: St. Jude’s Episcopal Church [Episcopal News Service] For the 3,800 or so residents of rural Hawai’ian Ocean View –  more commonly called Ocean View –…

[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem] The following statement was issued July 29 by the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem. We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, express our profound concern and unwavering condemnation following yet another violent assault that targeted the West Bank Christian town of Taybeh. Several vehicles were…

[Episcopal News Service] Fifty churches throughout the Omaha-based Diocese of Nebraska are raising $25,000 this summer through Sept. 15 to erase $2.5 million in medical debt, according to a press release shared by the diocese. “As Christians, we are to aid those in need and do forgive not just sins, but debts as well,” the…

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in a July 25 statement signed jointly with the family of former Rochester Bishop Prince Singh, said that they had reached an agreement to resolve the family’s remaining concerns about the church’s handling of their allegations of domestic abuse against Singh. “While the terms of our agreement are…

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of the Great Lakes, which formed in 2024 through the merger of the former dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan, has announced that the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple will be joining the diocese as an assisting bishop. Hodges-Copple formerly served as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of North Carolina….

Right: The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn, who served as bishop suffragan in Connecticut from 1987 to 1993 and then as bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe through 2001, right, and his wife, Anne Long Wheeler Rowthorn, left. Photo: Yale University Institute of Sacred Music [Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn,…