Summary

Nashville Scene – Nashville, TN – The Rev. Kira Austin-Young on Faith Amid Tornadoes and a Pandemic – “Um, it’s been hell,” she says, laughing.

Homewood Star -Homewood AL – Embracing her call to lead: Homewood rector to become 1st female bishop in Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

Place NOLA – WGNO/ABC – New Orleans, LA – Anna’s Place NOLA continues to provide for Treme children and families during quarantine  –  The COVID-19 quarantine has not stopped Anna’s…

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Nashville Scene

The Rev. Kira Austin-Young on Faith Amid Tornadoes and a Pandemic

Nashville, TN

hen I ask the Rev. Kira Austin-Young, who leads St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in East Nashville, what the past month-and-a-half or so has been like, she goes immediately to the supernatural.

“Um, it’s been hell,” she says, laughing.

“The last kind of normal day I remember was, like, March 1,” says Austin-Young. “We had church, my fiancé and I went for a walk in Shelby Bottoms, and the sun was shining and we went out to dinner. It was just a normal day. And then, Tuesday morning.” […]

Homewood Star

Embracing her call to lead: Homewood rector to become 1st female bishop in Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

Homewood AL

The Rev. Glenda Curry didn’t set out to pursue becoming the first female bishop-elect for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama — but through the years, people persistently told her to think about it.

At first she dismissed these comments, she said. Then, out of the blue, she decided to pursue it.

She had already hit a “first female” mile-stone earlier in her life when she became the first female in Alabama history to lead a four-year university. She was president of Troy University in Montgomery for more than eight years. She then became a rector leading one of the larger parishes in the diocese — there are about 1,800 people at All Saints Episcopal Church in Homewood, she said.

“I had a lot of administrative experience and had led a big parish,” she said. “I think that’s what motivated a lot of people to say, ‘Hey, you’d be a natural at this.’”

She prayed about it, she said, and decided to let the church nominate her. She would just see how it goes, she said — she would need a majority vote from both the clergy and lay delegates to be elected.

When she received the majority vote, she said she was shocked and humbled. […]

WGNO/ABC

Anna’s Place NOLA continues to provide for Treme children and families during quarantine

New Orleans, LA

The COVID-19 quarantine has not stopped Anna’s Place NOLA, proving that the “little church that could” is still providing much-needed food for Treme residents via its Food Pantry and continuing its groundbreaking after-school program, ensuring all of its students have access to a computer.

Over the past 3 weeks, Anna’s Place has given laptops and iPads to every student in its program who did not have access to technology, working with the child’s school and parents to continue instruction and even deliver instructional packets when necessary.

“When quarantine was mandated we worried that many of our students would fall behind,” said Brianna Carr, Anna’s Place NOLA Director .  “We really miss our kids and the technology also allows us to keep them participating in our programs.” […]