Christopher Lacovara hired as Episcopal Church’s chief financial officer

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church has named Christopher Lacovara as its new chief financial officer, replacing Kurt Barnes, who is retiring from the top churchwide leadership position after 21 years. Lacovara, a longtime Episcopalian with decades of financial management experience, was nominated by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala…

Rio Grande bishop ‘insulted’ by Trump DHS letter implying migrant shelter may have broken laws

[Episcopal News Service] The Trump administration, in its escalating crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration, has halted government funding for migrant shelters, including one operated by the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande’s Borderland Ministries, while suggesting without evidence that the diocese and other organizations sheltering migrants may have broken the law. Rio Grande…

70 years after being destroyed by fire, Australia church helps burned synagogue

[Melbourne Anglican] St. John’s in Camberwell, Australia, commemorated the 70th anniversary of a fire that destroyed the church by supporting a synagogue that recently suffered a similar fate. The church directed its offering from a March 16 commemorative service to Congregation Adass Israel, whose Ripponlea synagogue was firebombed in December 2024. The gesture recognizes a shared…

Welsh families to get baby supplies thanks to grant to diocesan project

[Church in Wales] Hundreds of young families from across the counties of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire will receive essential supplies for their children thanks to a grant from West Wales Freemasons to the Plant Dewi charity. Plant Dewi is the Diocese of St Davids project supporting families in their communities. The £60,000 grant — or nearly $78,000…

Angela Maria Cortiñas ordained and consecrated West Texas’ seventh bishop suffragan

The Rt. Rev. Angela Maria Cortiñas was ordained and consecrated bishop suffragan of the Diocese of West Texas on March 15, 2025, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in McAllen. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe served as chief consecrator. Photo: Lauren Vreen [Diocese of West Texas] The Rt. Rev. Angela Maria Cortiñas was ordained and consecrated bishop…

South Carolina Episcopalians embark on civil rights pilgrimage commemorating Selma to Montgomery marches

Members of the Diocese of South Carolina embarked on a racial justice pilgrimage March 7-10, 2025, to Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. They marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches that led to the adoption of the landmark Voting Rights Act of…

Nestor Poltic installed as prime bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines

[Episcopal News Service] The Most Rev. Nestor Dagas Poltic Sr. was installed March 12 as the eighth prime bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John in Quezon City, succeeding retired Prime Bishop Brent Harry Alawas. The Most Rev. Nestor Dagas Poltic Sr. was installed March…

Affordable senior housing complex opens at Los Angeles-area Episcopal church

Orchard View Gardens, an affordable 66-unit senior housing complex at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Buena Park, California, opened in March 2025. Photo: Diocese of Los Angeles [Diocese of Los Angeles] The March 12 opening of Orchard View Gardens, the affordable 66-unit senior housing complex at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Buena Park, California, marked…

New York bishop condemns Trump administration’s attempt to deport Palestinian protester

[Episcopal News Service] New York Bishop Matthew Heyd has issued a statement condemning the attempted deportation of a lawful permanent U.S. resident for his involvement last year protesting the war in Gaza while he was a graduate student at Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil, who is Palestinian, was arrested March 8 by immigration agents and is…

New Jersey church seeks approval to open 17-bed homeless shelter on property

[Episcopal News Service] A church in the Diocese of New Jersey is seeking authorization to build a 17-bed homeless shelter next to an existing outreach facility on its property, and the plan is facing local resistance. Christ Episcopal Church in Toms River, a coastal town of about 100,000, is seeking approval of the plan from…