Author: wwedderburn

[Episcopal News Service] Two bishops from nearby dioceses will begin assisting the Diocese of Florida on Oct. 1 as it continues a prolonged leadership transition and seeks a new diocesan bishop. The Jacksonville-based Diocese of Florida announced recently that Central Florida Justin Holcomb and Southwest Florida Bishop Douglas Scharf have agreed to serve as assisting…

People from across the Diocese of Alabama gather at St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church in Birmingham on Sept. 25 for a celebration Eucharist honoring the success of the “Equipping the Saints” capital campaign. Photo: Courtesy of Nana Afia Tenkoramaa [Diocese of Alabama] The Diocese of Alabama has surpassed its goal of $7.5 million for the “Equipping…

Worshipers at a recent Sunday afternoon service of Water and Wilderness Church, which meets at Fletcher’s Cove on the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., are led in song by (from left) Deacon Melissa Sites, the Rev. Pete Nunnally, Mike Bass and Gariné Adams. Photo: Courtesy Pete Nunnally [Episcopal News Service] For four…

[Office of the Archbishop of York] A Celebration of Lay Ministries Service took place Sept. 27 in York Minster to recognize and affirm the ministries of lay people in the Diocese of York. The Eucharist service celebrated the breadth of lay ministries across the diocese. It included the authorization of Authorized Lay Ministers, the admission and…

[Diocese of Western Massachusetts] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts on Sept. 29  announced a slate of three candidates to serve as the 10th bishop diocesan. The candidates are: The Rev. Susan B. Fortunato, rector, Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie, New York; The Very Rev. Marcus George Halley, college chaplain and dean of…

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes and Assisting Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple issued a statement calling for prayers after a Sept. 28 mass shooting and arson attack at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, a suburb of Flint, left four people dead and eight…

[Episcopal News Service] West Tennessee Bishop Phoebe Roaf, whose diocese is based in Memphis, issued a statement Sept. 29 responding to the Trump administration’s deployment of troops to the city to combat crime. Residents want safe communities, Roaf said, but she emphasized the need to trust local leaders and instead address the root causes of…

The Rev. Daramali Abudigin. Photo: Courtesy of Daramali Abudigin [Religion News Service] A priest of the Anglican Church of Sudan who stayed in El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur, to serve Christians remaining there, is now homeless after paramilitary violence forced him out of his church. The Rev. Daramali Abudigin, 44, kept his St. Mathew…

descendants and members of the VTS board break ground for the Reparations Memorial. Photo: VTS [Episcopal News Service] Virginia Theological Seminary held a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 25 for a memorial on its campus in Alexandria that will honor African Americans, enslaved and free, who labored at the seminary from 1823 to 1951. The memorial, to…

A hiker walks in the Los Padres National Forest in California. Photo: U.S. Forest Service [Episcopal News Service] The Green Team, a creation-care ministry at All Saints by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito, California, is environmentally active in ways you might expect, and some you might not: beach clean-ups, outdoor choruses at dawn, birding trips, boat…