ECW Women in the News

Los Angeles-area Chinese Episcopalians to celebrate Lunar New Year

This year’s celebration will include live music featuring Chinese instruments and a traditional lion dance.

City makes a key church suffer

Grace Episcopal Church in Jamaica was built when Abraham Lincoln was president. New York, NY

The Safety and protection of the red doors

The centuries-old practice of painting church doors red, adopted by several Christian denominations, began in remembrance of Christ’s…

Mississippi makes history with new Episcopal bishop

The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells was elected by the 197th Annual Council of the Mississippi Episcopal Diocese to be the church’s next leader.

Finding Support After Fleeing Ukraine

“The week after the war started, a rocket landed in our yard, wounding a woman… We were so scared we could not sleep.”

San Diego’s oldest African-American church

While the times have changed over the past 137 years, the mission of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) has not.

Health, work update on Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

Bishop Curry will be keeping a modified work schedule of light-duty tasks, and he will not be traveling.

St. James’ Thursday Thrift Shop raises $100,000 for organizations

“We’re only open one day a week — and just in the morning — so these sales are really phenomenal,” says co-manager Elaine McElhinney. – Hendersonville, NC

Wisconsin campus with deep Episcopal roots considered for new home of Episcopal Church Archives

The DeKoven Center occupies an 11-acre campus overlooking Lake Michigan about a half hour south of Milwaukee.

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‘Sleeping Bag Ministry’ completes 50 sleeping bags for the homeless

“The Sleeping Bag Project,” a national initiative, started in the 1980s as a way to combat homelessness and has since spread across the country.

Church Divinity School of the Pacific to withdraw from Graduate Theological Union

A year ago the seminary described plans for the new hybrid educational model in a joint announcement with Trinity Church Wall Street.

Got a hankering for gumbo? This Hattiesburg church sells one of the best

“People love it,” Rev. Jenny Newman said. “It’s a really good gumbo.” – MS

No Reduced Assessments in Church Center Draft Budget

“The Episcopal Church is sitting on a trust fund well in excess of $500 million,”

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‘A Case for Love’ screening draws praise, commitment from Episcopalians

“Yes, saying yes and choosing to be kind makes you kinder all the time,” said Serena Beeks, retired executive director of the diocesan Commission on Schools.

Episcopal recipients of $6 million in Lilly grants focus on lay leadership, community engagement, digital growth

Four Episcopal dioceses and one Episcopal parish are launching new initiatives focused on congregational vitality and leadership…

Telling the Story of Our First Deaconesses

…researched the life and ministry of Adeline Blanchard Tyler — Civil War nurse, teacher, and one of the four original deaconesses in the Episcopal Church.

New leadership at Sisters church

Reverend Liliana Stahlberg has been called to fill the position of Rector at the Episcopal Church of The Transfiguration in Sisters. – OR

ECW of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church  awarded $120,500 in grants to 27 local non-profit organizations

ECW grant funds come from the proceeds of The Shop of St. Philip’s located at 219 S. Caldwell St. in Brevard. – NC

Diocese of Florida Episcopalians, in written feedback, lament ‘culture of acrimony and distrust’ in diocese

The four-page summary was drafted by the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, who is trained in conflict mediation and was retained as a consultant by the Diocese of Florida

Indigenous boarding school research and advocacy groups meet in Texas to establish 81st General Convention priorities

Hundreds — or as many as tens of thousands — of Indigenous youth are estimated to have died during the 19th and 20th centuries while attending boarding schools.

Exhausted by Title IV, Parish Quits Connecticut Diocese

After years of unresolved disciplinary charges against their rector,  the members have voted to disassociate themselves from the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) – Shelton, CT

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Presiding bishop nominating committee chooses bishops to invite to discernment retreat

The Rev. Maureen-Elizabeth Hagen, a deacon who chairs the nominations subcommittee, noted: “The committee is grateful to the bishops who have joined us in discernment…”

Presiding bishop recovering at home following medical procedure to prevent recurrence of brain bleeds

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is recovering at home following a successful Jan. 18 medical procedure

Indigenous Episcopalians gather in Texas for annual Winter Talk conference

This year’s Winter Talk theme was “Indigenous Ways of Learning, Knowing and Relating.”

New web-based app automates Episcopal parish register portion of the annual parochial report

The parish register app allows users to track aspects of every liturgy that takes place in their congregation

Lent Resources

Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent

Leading with Heart – Province VIII ECW

In these times of change, adaptive leadership provides the tools we need to find our voices and calling. Using the circular leadership model we build reciprocal relationships that honor diversity of culture, race, age, gender, personality, and ministry.

Our interactive workshop(s) with break-out rooms discuss the qualities, critical thinking, and behaviors of Circular Leadership that replace domination and greed. This is about reconciliation with creation and each other, listening to what is and is not shared.

Visit the website for more information about the Leading With Heart Program https://ecwprovinceviii.org/leading-with-heart-resources/

The School of Religious Literacy: Press Release

The Episcopal Church Women of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, South Hill, Virginia, are proud to announce the founding of The School of Religious Literacy at 201 Franklin Street. This graduate school will award a professional doctorate, the Doctor of Religious Literacy (D.R.L.). This program consists of two to five years of graduate coursework taken from leading universities in the U.S. and the UK. All courses, except for a week-long course in the UK, are taken online.

Perspective students who are interested in taking up the challenge of this course of study are asked to contact the School at the following address: thestudium2023@gmail.com

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Episcopal dioceses, parishes to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with events and services

King, who would have turned 95 this year, was the key leader in the nonviolent equality movement for Black Americans in the 1950s and 1960s.

Recuperating Presiding Bishop Faces Title IV Investigation

As the Episcopal Church girds for an important leadership transition in 2024, the current hierarchy is being roiled by a series of secular crises.

80th anniversary celebration planned to honor first Anglican woman priest

The Rev. Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained on Jan. 25, 1944. She was ordained deacon on Ascension Day in 1941

Health update: Presiding Bishop Michael Curry released from hospital

Read all health updates.

Draft $143 million churchwide budget plan for 2025-27 advances with no change to assessments on diocesan income

Plan now heads to Executive Council for review, approval

Trans parents say they may leave state after Ohio House overrides veto

Reverend Alice Connor of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church is a member of Transform Cincy. – Cincinnati, OH

With clean water in southern Utah in short supply, a Navajo mission plays crucial role

“It’s pretty typical,” Sampson said. “No one contacts us about anything until it’s too late or until right close to the deadline.” – UT

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Biden to speak at South Carolina church where Black worshippers were murdered

President Joe Biden  will visit a church in South Carolina where Black churchgoers were murdered by a white supremacist in 2015

Press release concerning the reception of Fiducia supplicans

by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández

Fraud Indictment Leaves Episcopal Charity Feeling Betrayed

Court documents indicated Miller was arrested by the FBI on December 21, 2023, on charges of wire fraud.

Hawai‘i bishop thanks supporters for Maui wildfires relief effort contributions

“I have been moved to tears by all of the love and generosity,” Hawai‘i Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick said in a Dec. 28 thank you to donors.

Common Grounds cafe in Taos, New Mexico, to open as ministry run by and for teens, young adults

She was 16 in 2021 when she first learned about St. James Episcopal Church‘s youth-led Common Grounds ministry and began attending peer support group meetings at the church.

St. Peter’s Del Mar donates more than $2,000 to Showers of Blessings Program

The Showers of Blessings program not only provides showers, hygiene, and haircuts for the homeless community, but increasingly offers other services… Delmar, CA

Neighbor’s bequest helps Diocese of Olympia church tackle region’s student lunch debt

Members of St. Timothy Episcopal Church in Chehalis, Washington, decided last year to pay off the lunch debt for every student in Lewis County.

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A Conversation With Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde: How we learn to be brave

Bishop Budde explores the decisive moments in life when we are called to push past our fears and act with strength.

‘Racism and prejudice have no place in Kansas’: Kwanzaa celebrated at Kansas Statehouse

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly hosted St. Mark’s African Methodist Episcopal Church and community leaders for a Kwanzaa celebration.

The glory of Epiphany

“It is arguably the least understood and least appreciated church season,” says Fleming Rutledge.

Episcopal, religious leaders participate in Global Refugee Forum

The forum’s purpose is to continue advancing the goals of the Global Compact on Refugees.

The first female Episcopal priests were ordained in a North Philly church

The 1974 ordination of the “Philadelphia Eleven” defied centuries of tradition and was initially rejected by church officials.

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TAYLOR SWIFT, BEYONCE’ AND LASTING CHANGE

What do the Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Tours Tell Us About Creating Lasting, Positive, Change in Our World?

Christmas at Sea knitting ministry has brought warm clothes and cheer to seafarers for 125 years

The program is celebrating its 125th year of service to the maritime community.

Sandra Day O’Connor honored at Washington National Cathedral funeral

In 1982, O’Connor was part of a panel discussion on women’s issues during General Convention…

VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AWARDS THE DEAN’S CROSS TO ELLEN WOFFORD HAWKINS

The citation read: “Ms. Ellen Hawkins for being a shining star of love and grace, for your service at the Butterfly House, Kanuga, Clemson University…

A quarter of Methodist congregations abandon the church as schism grows over LGBTQ issues

“It’s the biggest schism in any American denomination in the history of our country.”

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LGBTQ+ church leaders share reflections on service

Why would you want to be a part of a religious group that has oppressed folks? – Biltmore Village, NC

Small Church in Upstate NY Raises Millions to Meet Town’s Food-Insecurity Needs

So far, the church – which has an average Sunday attendance of about 100 – has raised $2 million…

The Burn Bag – National Security and Foreign Policy Redefined

Andrew is joined by Rebecca Linder Blachly, director of the Office of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church, to talk about the role of faith advocacy in shaping American foreign policy

Episcopal congregation resumes worship services months after Maui wildfires destroyed church

“Parishioners were happy to be together, to see each other and to give hugs…”

Little Rock church to screen film on first women ordained as Episcopal priests

For nearly 2,000 years, the priesthood was a vocation for men only. That changed, for Episcopalians, at least, on July 29, 1974.

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EES announces 2023 Directors’ Award winners

The Episcopal Evangelism Society Board of Directors is pleased to announce the recipients of the Morgan Directors’ Award for 2023…  Ms. Kaitlin Reece, a student at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, is honored for her work developing faithful witnesses to criminal justice reform in Nebraska through Balancing the Scales of Justice.

Update: Presiding Bishop Michael Curry recovering well in hospital

Following his Dec. 4 surgery for a subdural hematoma, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is alert and talking, and his surgeon reports being happy with his progress.

Donna Ashley named Episcopal Church canon to the bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries

In this full-time position, Ashley works with the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries.

THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL DEBACLE

Washington National Cathedral recently gained some unpleasant attention when it came to light that there was an admission fee associated with its Christmas Eve liturgy. Online chatter included accusations of simony.

Sandra Day O’Connor’s ancestor founded the first Episcopal church in Wichita, Kansas

O’Connor honored her Kansas Episcopal roots when she visited St. John’s in 1988 for a service marking the church’s 120th  anniversary.

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