Episcopal News

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  • Olympia’s historically Japanese parish to commemorate 83rd anniversary of World War II internment camps

    [Episcopal News Service] This weekend, St. Peter’s Episcopal Parish, a historically Japanese church in Seattle, Washington, will commemorate the 83rd anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order to authorize the incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II. 2025 also marks 80 years since the camps closed. “So much intergenerational trauma came from my grandparents and my parents, who met and had gotten married in Minidoka [War Relocation Center in Jerome, Idaho], and passed on to my cousins and me,” the Rev. Polly Shigaki, a retired deacon of St. Peter’s, told Episcopal News Service. She will answer people’s questions during the “Weekend of Remembrance: Never Again is Now,” which will take place Feb. 8-9. “Now we’re at a big juncture with the urgency to capture the stories of the few living survivors,” said Shigaki, whose husband was born in Minidoka. A horse veterinarian assisted with his birth because health care was extremely limited in the camps. The Weekend of Remembrance will include historic tours, a luncheon and a livestreamed worship service. Click here to view the livestream from the Diocese of Olympia’s YouTube channel beginning at 10:30 a.m. Pacific. This year will mark 37 years since the U.S. government formally apologized for incarcerating Japanese Americans during World War II, after a decades-long redress movement for restitution for survivors. Most of the people ENS interviewed for this story said they saw “a lot of parallels” between what happened to their relatives immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor and anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment right after the Sept. 11 attacks. They also said they’re seeing the same parallels – fear of the other – today with ICE arresting and deporting more than 8,000 migrants since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. “We haven’t learned our lesson yet; we can’t let history repeat itself,” the Rev. Irene Tanabe, rector of All Souls Anglican Episcopal Church in Okinawa, Japan, told ENS. Tanabe’s father and grandparents were incarcerated at Minidoka. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, in response to the Empire of Japan’s Dec. 7, 1741, attack on Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawai‘i, and the resulting growing fear and distrust of Japanese Americans compounded by long-standing anti-Asian racism. At that time, about 275,000 people of Japanese descent were living in Hawai‘i and the mainland United States. Over the next six months, about 125,000 of them – including 70,000 U.S. citizens – were forcibly moved to “assembly centers” in 10 remote areas in seven mainland states. Those living in the Seattle area at the time, like Shigaki and Tanabe’s families, were sent to Minidoka. Proponents of internment justified it as a military precaution, guarding against Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese descent who might secretly work to support Japan in the war’s Pacific theater. Defenders of internment also argued that it also would protect those detained from racial attacks, though such arguments were undercut by conditions at the internment camps, which resembled prisons more than safe havens. Very few people were permitted to temporarily leave the camps, such as for conscription into U.S. military service. “We spend so much time talking about how the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor and how we retaliated by dropping the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in schools, but we don’t spend the same amount of time talking about how we retaliated by setting up internment camps for Japanese Americans right here on our own soil,” the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, missioner for The Episcopal Church’s Office of Asiamerica Ministries, told ENS. “[It’s an erasure] I think that’s consistent with how Asian Americans are perceived in our society presently, that we’re invisible. …But history must never be erased.” The Weekend of Remembrance’s first day will include gathering at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup to view the Puyallup Remembrance Gallery, which showcases photos and personal stories, and a documentary. Most Japanese Americans then living in the Seattle area spent the first few months of detention at the Puyallup Assembly Center, where the Washington State Fairgrounds stands today, before settlement at Minidoka for the remainder of the war. St. Peter’s was formed in 1908 by a group of Japanese Anglicans who gathered in houses until raising enough money to buy property in 1932 and build a church. When the congregation’s families were forced to relocate to internment camps, the church boarded up and closed on April 26, 1942, and didn’t reopen for more than three years. During that time, St. Peter’s served as a storage site for parishioners’ belongings while they were interned. “Everybody literally got a 4-by-4-foot square space in the church where they could stack their belongings as high as they could,” Jay Shoji – whose grandfather, the Rev. Gennosuke Shoji, was vicar of St. Peter’s at the time and when the church was built – told ENS. “Obviously, 4-foot-by-4-foot is not very big, but you could at least store a few things. …Not everyone came back to Seattle after they were freed, so some items were not claimed.” Click here to read Gennosuke Shoji’s ordination speech from Jan. 15. 1918. Shoji’s grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles were incarcerated at Minidoka. After the war, they temporarily lived at St. Peter’s, which was converted into a hostel to house other parishioners who returned homeless to Seattle. When survivors were released from the internment camps after the war ended in 1945, restarting their lives was difficult. Many were left homeless because their properties were occupied or sold off, leaving them no choice but to temporarily stay in hotels, hostels or trailer installations. They also faced discrimination and hostility from their former neighbors, limiting their job prospects. On Feb. 9, St. Peter’s will host a special commemoration service that will incorporate history, music, dance, art and shared storytelling from parishioners and members of the Seattle community. Tanabe will preside. She told ENS that she will reflect on her own inherited trauma and

  • Episcopal Church’s resolutions support rebuilding Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian self-determination

    [Episcopal News Service] Several resolutions passed in June 2024 by the 81st General Convention speak to current events in Gaza, where Israeli hostages are being freed as part of a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel and where Palestinians are returning to Gaza communities that were leveled by Israeli bombardment during the 15-month war. The Episcopal Church has long supported Middle East peace efforts and justice for Palestinians, and General Convention’s most recent actions also strongly urged the international community to take responsibility for rebuilding Gaza. Those policy actions, however, didn’t anticipate the proposal introduced this week by U.S. President Donald Trump. On Feb. 4, during a White House visit from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said he favored relocating about 2 million Palestinians elsewhere rather than allowing them to return and remain in the densely populated Gaza Strip. The proposal of a sweeping displacement of Palestinians has drawn comparisons to Israel’s displacement of Palestinians from their homes starting in 1948 during the first Arab-Israeli war that followed the creation of Israel. The inability of many Palestinians to return to their ancestral homes in Israel has been a major roadblock in peace talks for decades. Trump expressed a willingness to aid in rebuilding Gaza but, in an unexpected twist, he suggested it should become a U.S. interventionist project – an idea that was quickly rejected by Palestinians and many of Israel’s Arab neighbors. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.” It remains to be seen exactly what such a plan would look like in execution, if it ever advances beyond the proposal stage. Critics have noted that such a displacement of Palestinians, if it were even possible logistically and diplomatically, would run counter to international laws and agreements. And even some of Trump’s supporters have questioned why a president who campaigned against dispatching troops and money in foreign interventions would now be willing to occupy a disputed territory far from home, potentially requiring a U.S. military presence. Episcopal Peace Fellowship released a statement condemning Trump’s proposal as “unlawful, immoral and completely irresponsible,” echoing similar comments from a United Nations official. “We call upon communities of faith, human rights advocates, and all citizens who cherish peace and justice to join us in condemning this proposal,” Episcopal Peace Fellowship said. “It is imperative that we hold our elected representatives accountable and demand that our governments work diligently to uphold international law, protect the rights of the Palestinian people, and pursue diplomatic solutions that honor the dignity of every person.” Churches for Middle East Peace, of which The Episcopal Church is a member, also issued a statement opposing any attempts to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza. “The Palestinian people have endured 76 years of occupation and dispossession,” Churches for Middle East Peace said. “For the past 15 months, they have faced relentless bombardment and mass killings, yet many have demonstrated the intention to remain in their homeland. … The implementation of such forced expulsion would not bring stability or peace to the region. Instead, such actions would further disenfranchise Palestinians, deepen their suffering, and strengthen ideologies that support armed resistance. The Episcopal Church’s official policies toward the Middle East outline the church’s continuing support for a durable peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinian statehood The church has long supported a two-state solution to the conflict and opposed Israel’s continued control and occupation of Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank. The 81st General Convention passed Resolution D013 affirming this position while emphasizing “our hope for all the people of Israel and Palestine to enjoy freedom, peace, justice, and national self-determination.” Rebuilding Gaza Resolution D013 also addresses the future of Gaza. “Rebuilding Gaza, continuing to build up the economy of the West Bank, and promoting security for both Palestinians and Israelis are the responsibility of the United Nations, Israel, the U.S., Israel’s other allies, and Israel’s Arab neighbors, all of whom should be prepared to join in historic levels of aid and investment,” the resolution says. Another resolution, D009, focused more directly on the need to rebuild Gaza and the United States’ “moral obligation” to Gaza’s people. It calls on the U.S. government “to join with the United Nations, Israel, the European Union, Israel’s other allies, and Israel’s Arab neighbors, all of whom should be prepared to join in historic levels of aid and investment to fund the restoration and rebuilding of Gaza.” It also indicates the need for “the restoration and rebuilding of homes, hospitals, schools, universities, libraries, factories, and farms; basic infrastructure such as roads, seaports and airports, along with water, sewage, and electricity systems.” Sarah Lawton, the Diocese of California deputy who proposed D009, told Episcopal News Service she wrote the resolution in response to reports that the devastation in Gaza “was among the worst the world has witnessed in modern warfare.” She called Trump’s proposal for the territory’s future “twisted and malignant.” “The Episcopal Church’s position has been clear.” Lawton wrote in an email. “We pray for permanent ceasefire and the return of all hostages and unjustly held prisoners. We plead for a negotiated political solution to the conflict, in whatever form the parties can agree, but certainly based on self-determination for both Jewish Israelis and for Palestinians, with human and civil rights for every person, and a chance for the flourishing of all peoples in the land.” Ending Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories Israel first occupied the Palestinian territories as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War, in which Israel fended off an attack by neighboring Arab nations and took control of Gaza, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2005, Israel withdrew

  • Alabama bishop calls for election of new bishop as she prepares to retire

    [Diocese of Alabama] The Rt. Rev. Glenda Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has announced her intention to retire later this year when she turns 72, the mandatory retirement age for Episcopal clergy. Curry made the announcement and called for the election of a new bishop last weekend during the opening session of the 194th Diocesan Convention, held Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Decatur. Addressing the over 400 gathered clergy and lay delegates, she reflected on her tenure and the spirit of reconciliation that has defined her episcopacy. “Six years ago, I read the bishop’s profile as you searched for the 12th bishop of Alabama,” Curry said. “High on your list of priorities was living in the reconciling love of Jesus and being reconciled to each other and Christ in our ministry and common life. God has truly granted us that great gift of reconciliation—marked by mutual respect and deep love. I have found incredible partners in all our parishes, particularly at the cathedral, among our dedicated lay leaders and talented clergy.” In a video message to convention participants, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe described Bishop Curry as a “wise and valued colleague who is concluding her episcopacy with strength and grace.” He also highlighted the Standing Committee’s “innovative plan to ensure a healthy and thriving future for the diocese.” Curry turns 72 on June 20. She has offered to continue serving the diocese until it can elect and consecrate a new bishop based on a timeline this year established by the standing committee. The full announcement can be found here.

  • Minnesota couple relies on their Episcopal faith as they serve their local wrestling community

    [Episcopal News Service] Jayne and Nick Kinney are sometimes a bit late for Sunday services at St. Martin’s by the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota. When they are, fellow parishioners can tell it’s because Nick spent the previous evening in the ring and still sports remnants of the colorful, glittery makeup he wears as his professional wrestler persona, Nick Pride. Pride is a bad guy (a “heel” in wrestling lingo) whose name exemplifies the worst of the seven deadly sins. The Kinneys have been members of St. Martin’s for four years, Nick told Episcopal News Service, after being drawn to a Christmas Eve service they found so compelling that he wondered aloud if the service was always that good. They returned on Christmas Day just to see, “and sure enough, it was that good,” he said. “I thought, I kinda want to make this our church.” They’ve been attending regularly ever since. Their faith also has moved the couple to make a difference in the lives of others in the Minnesota wrestling community, making themselves available to offer a prayer, a friendly word or even a place to sleep. Nick and other local wrestlers are professionals and get paid for their matches, though most need to keep their day jobs. They are booked through some of the 13 local wrestling companies within a four-hour drive of Minneapolis. The goal for many is to get to the pinnacle of pro wrestling, the WWE – formerly the World Wrestling Federation – which launched the careers of the likes of Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena. As in the WWE, which describes what it offers as “sports entertainment,” the physicality in the local circuit is real, but the outcome of matches is determined in advance. Jayne told ENS they don’t consider what they do within the wrestling community a ministry. “We’re just being servants where God puts us, and for us it’s wrestling,” she said. She said the wrestlers they know are “a hodgepodge of people from every walk of life” – people who are getting a master’s degree, battling addiction, having their career funded by a wealthy relative or sleeping in their car. One thing many have in common, she said, is having been burned by a church. And that’s where Nick saw how his faith could make a difference to them. “He quickly became intentional about how he used his time, becoming the person that people could talk to about literally anything,” she said. Sometimes that means listening over a cup of coffee or cat-sitting when someone is on the road. The guest room in their new house became a place where people could stay for a few nights. St. Martin’s rector, the Rev. Jeff Hupf, told ENS he knows the couple “are true believers in the redemptive power of Jesus active in the world, and it just spills out of them,” and that’s what fuels their care for the people in their community. Jayne, who grew up the daughter of a Methodist pastor, said it was an ironic contrast between the wrestler with a name boasting about the deadly sins and the man in the locker room willing to listen to people for hours after a show. “He offers to pray for them if that’s OK, or offers to think about them if being prayed for isn’t something that they’re comfortable with,” she said. She joins in the conversations when that’s helpful. She added, “There have been a couple of guys that we’ve been talking to for years that excitedly told us they started going to church again.” They all text each other about things they heard in Sunday sermons or how they see God working in their lives, she said. Nick’s fascination with wrestling goes back to his childhood, where he found in it “classic stories of good versus evil,” he said. As a young adult, he started to study wrestling and discovered the power of storytelling that takes place. In 2021, Nick decided to give wrestling a try – at 28 he felt it was then or never – and started studying and training with The Academy of Pro Wrestling in St. Paul, Minnesota. They taught him wrestling basics, including what Nick called the most important one – how to fall and not break anything. Wrestlers fall all the time, he said, and it hurts, but they learn how to minimize injuries. But importantly, he also learned how to make it a show. He had studied karate, where moves are compact, so he had some things to unlearn. “In wrestling, you have to make it big, to move in a way that the people sitting in the back row can tell what you are doing. It’s very much like stage acting,” he said. Wrestlers also try to make their actions, which aren’t meant to hurt an opponent, look as believable as possible. “It’s like how a magician doesn’t show where they pull the rabbit out of the hat,” he said. Nick said he always had envisioned himself as a wrestler good guy, known as a “face,” and adopted that persona early on. He thought he was doing well in that role until a local wrestling promoter came up to him after a match. “He said your wrestling is fine, but your character is boring, so we’re going to turn you into a bad guy.” He told Nick to come up with a “fun bad-guy character,” with a long-term potential plan of turning him into a good guy later when the time was right. The bad Nick took off, and eventually, the companies that arrange wrestling events and hire wrestlers for matches only wanted to book him as a heel. “They told me I was much more interesting and marketable as a bad guy,” he said. He now wrestles almost every weekend, and sometimes more than one match a day. When asked about the contradiction of

  • World Council of Churches calls on Trump to follow international law for a just peace in Gaza

    [World Council of Churches] World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of President Donald Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.” Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the U.S.– for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would, if implemented, constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind.  “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. Read the entire article here.

  • Church in Wales continues discernment on the future of same-sex blessings

    [Church in Wales] The Church in Wales is preparing to revisit its stance on same-sex blessings as the time-limited provision introduced in October 2021 nears its expiration in September 2026. In a message to members, the archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev. Andrew John, has called for a period of prayerful discernment and open dialogue as the church explores potential paths forward. Options include allowing the provision to lapse, extending the current blessings, or taking the significant step of introducing a formal service of marriage for same-sex couples. Here is John’s statement: I’m wanting to address you about an issue with which the Church in Wales needs to engage through its Governing Body. The decision taken in October 2021 to provide a service of blessing for same-sex couples was a time limited provision. This will lapse at the end of September 2026 unless some further provision is made, and it is this to which we now need to turn our hearts and minds in prayerful and honest discernment. The bishops of the Church in Wales have agreed that the options open to us ought to engage us afresh and are seeking to bring us together in conversation this spring. The details of these meetings have now been agreed in each archdeaconry. I wish to stress the purpose of these meetings is to listen – respectfully and attentively. We believe there is wisdom in this kind of approach, which allows different voices to be expressed and heard without comment or censure. We don’t expect these voices to be pilloried or applauded. Our task is to hear from each other and to seek, as best we can, the wisdom of God in our conversations. The options open to us might see the provision we made in October 2021 simply lapse and nothing further. There would be no authorized liturgy or facility for blessing couples in same-sex unions. We could, of course, extend this provision and continue with our current practice. It is also open to us to offer a service of marriage for same-sex couples, and this would be a significant step for the church to make. My invitation to you all is to participate. Whatever kinds of reflection these meetings might offer and whatever decision the Governing Body might take, it’s our engaging with each other, with Scripture and tradition in a respectful way to which we must now give ourselves. Please do attend one of the sessions in your locality, and may God give us grace and peace to hear his voice.

  • Archbishop of Southern Africa responds to panel of inquiry report on John Smyth

    [Anglican Communion News Service] In a statement about safeguarding in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), the archbishop of Southern Africa, the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, has called the church to “redouble our efforts to eradicate all forms of abuse in the church and to campaign more vigorously for its abolition in wider society.” His Feb. 4 statement was made in response to the report of a panel of inquiry that investigated the contact of the British serial abuser John Smyth with the ACSA between 2001 and 2018. The Farlam-Ramphele Panel of Inquiry report on Smyth’s abuse was published on Feb. 3. The archbishop’s statement outlined proposals for action that relate to safeguarding in the Anglican Church of South Africa and to Anglican schools. Makgoba appointed the inquiry panel on Nov. 22, 2024, following the Church of England’s  Makin Review of 2024, which reported on Smyth perpetrating abuse of young men in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. As Smyth had also spent time in South Africa, the inquiry panel was set up to explore what the Diocese of Cape Town had done to respond to warnings about his conduct and the potential risk he posed. In his statement the archbishop said, “I asked the panelists a very specific question: to examine our failure to respond adequately to a letter of warning received from the Church of England in 2013, and to make recommendations on our safeguarding process.” The inquiry panel said although no cases of abuse in South Africa had been reported to it, “the risk of a repetition of abuse by Smyth in his time in South Africa (2001-2018) was at all times clearly high.” The report refers to several areas for improvement in ACSA’s safeguarding processes. ACSA also published a seven-page summary of the report on its website. In responding to the report, Makgoba emphasized the need to effectively progress safe church processes and campaign about issues of abuse and gender-based violence in society as a whole. His statement also refers to research by the Human Sciences Research Council that reveals that one in every three South African women report experiencing physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. Makgoba’s full statement is available here. The Church of England offered a response to the report from the ACSA Panel of Inquiry; that is available here.

  • ELCA presiding bishop debunks Elon Musk’s claims of ‘illegal’ federal funding

    [Religion News Service] A prominent Lutheran leader invoked the story of a martyr while defending work to help the needy after Elon Musk, a billionaire who runs a Trump administration government efficiency task force, described federal funding for Lutheran aid organizations as “illegal” over the weekend. Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country, posted a video debunking comments by Musk and others on Feb. 2. “Despite misinformation and baseless doubt cast today on funding that supports Lutheran organizations across our country, the ELCA remains steadfast in our commitment and work with our many Lutheran partners and expressions of our church,” Eaton said. “The ELCA is also concerned for other faith-based communities and organizations who have similarly come under attack.” Eaton recounted the story of Saint Lawrence, a deacon in Ancient Rome. In the presiding bishop’s retelling, the Roman emperor demanded the Christian church turn over its riches, but Lawrence responded by selling the church’s possessions and giving the money to the poor. When the emperor finally confronted him and demanded the riches, Eaton said, Lawrence pointed to the “hungry, the poor, the naked, the stranger in the land, the most vulnerable.” He then declared: “These are the treasures of the Church.” “He was martyred for that,” Eaton concluded. “Be of good courage, Church, and let us persevere.” The controversy began late Feb. 1, when Michael Flynn, a Catholic and retired Army general who previously served as an adviser to President Donald Trump, published a post on X alongside screenshots of a spreadsheet detailing federal funding dispersed to Lutheran groups in the last two years. The spreadsheet — which also included organizations that were not Lutheran — listed groups such as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (now Global Refuge), one of several organizations that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees; Lutheran colleges such as Pacific Lutheran University; and various local chapters of Lutheran Social Services. Without citing evidence, Flynn accused the groups — who have longstanding funding agreements with the government — of “money laundering,” a federal crime. He also insisted the numbers amounted to “billions” of American taxpayer dollars, a claim not supported by the attached spreadsheet. Musk, who describes himself as a “cultural Christian,” quote-posted Flynn’s claims, saying his so-called Department of Government Efficiency “is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.” Global Refuge was quick to respond to the post, with CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah saying in a statement she “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the false accusations being lodged against our humanitarian work.” “As a faith-based nonprofit, we have proudly served legally admitted refugees and immigrants for more than 85 years,” she said in a statement to Religion News Service. “This includes Afghan Allies who risked their lives to protect U.S. troops, as well as persecuted Christians, all of whom have been extensively vetted and approved by multiple U.S. government agencies before traveling to our country. We also remain committed to caring for legally admitted unaccompanied children forced to flee to the United States.” She added: “Across Democratic and Republican administrations, we have partnered with the U.S. government to ensure vulnerable children are safe from human trafficking and can be safely reunified with their parents or guardian.” Flynn’s post also noted funds granted to Lutheran Social Services of the South, the legal name of a Texas-based group that does work under the name Upbring such as assisting parents who wish to adopt a child. Efforts to reach DOGE — also known as as the U.S. DOGE Service, which is the new name of the U.S. Digital Service — were unsuccessful. The targeting of Global Refuge comes after Trump already all but froze the United States Refugee Admissions Program in one of his first executive orders, shutting down the entry of refugees into the country aside from rare exceptions. Seven of the 10 groups that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees are faith-based, including Global Refuge and Episcopal Migration Ministries. Several of the groups condemned Trump’s executive order at the time and have since vowed to aid refugees in whatever ways they can. In addition, Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, recently accused U.S. Catholic bishops of “resettling illegal immigrants” — a claim made without evidence — in an interview with CBS, as well as accusing prelates who defend the work of only being concerned with their “bottom line.” Over the weekend, the Trump administration also began dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, with Musk saying on X early Feb. 3 that his DOGE team “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” In the past, USAID has partnered with religious groups that do international work, such as Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Relief Services.

  • Office of Government Relations releases summary of church’s immigration policies, ‘action toolkit’

    [Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations released an “Immigration Action Toolkit” on Feb. 4 with information, resources and suggestions for engaging on immigration issues in response to the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration. That resource page can be found here. “The Trump administration has made sweeping policy changes on immigration that are already having an impact on millions of people,” the office said in an introduction to the toolkit. “Many of these new policies have been — and will be — challenged by the courts, and we anticipate continued shifts. In our ongoing support of migrants, and those living in our communities who face uncertain futures, obtaining and sharing accurate information is critical.” The toolkit also includes a link to an updated summary of the dozens of immigration-related policies that have been adopted by The Episcopal Church through General Convention resolutions and actions of Executive Council since the 1980s. That summary can be found here. Trump, in the hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration to a second term, issued a barrage of executive orders, many of them aiming to limit both legal and illegal immigration in the United States. Episcopal Migration Ministries has gathered information here on the immigration orders and the church’s response.

  • Trump’s foreign aid freeze halts Episcopal-affiliated humanitarian aid program in Central America

    [Episcopal News Service] Cristosal, an Episcopal-affiliated organization committed to defending human rights and promoting democratic rule of law in Central America, was forced last week to cut its staff and terminate its humanitarian assistance program in response to the U.S. foreign aid freeze. Cristosal provided protection and reintegration services to 1,600 internally displaced people through its humanitarian aid program. “Essential legal and security assistance for human rights defenders and community leaders facing oppression has been drastically reduced, while Cristosal’s ability to represent thousands seeking justice for grave human rights violations is now at serious risk,” Noah Bullock, the organization’s San Salvador, El Salvador-based executive director, wrote along with Flor de María Salazar, Guatemala country coordinator, and Karen Valladares, Honduras country coordinator, in a Jan. 30 letter to supporters. “These leaders and families partnered with us in courage, trusting we would stand with them—and we refuse to abandon them in their fight for justice and human rights.” Cristosal was founded as a partnership between clergy in El Salvador and the United States in 2000. It has since become an independent nonprofit, with continued Episcopal support, and has expanded operations to Guatemala and Honduras. Over the past two and a half years, its staff has assisted over 7,500 internally displaced people in the Northern Triangle, where violence is driven by organized crime, narco-trafficking, and, increasingly, political instability. “Family networks are the first protection response for Central Americans fleeing violence; most internally displaced people come from poor communities and cannot sustain themselves through prolonged crisis. Without humanitarian assistance [from organizations like Cristosal] victims are forced to choose between the risks of suffering new violence at home or the violence on the migratory routes,” Bullock told Episcopal News Service when asked about the cut’s broader implications. Among the many executive orders signed during his first week in office, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on more than $60 billion in foreign aid to evaluate it against U.S. foreign policy goals. The administration’s cuts have decimated nongovernment and grassroots organizations serving migrants and other vulnerable populations across Latin America. U.S. foreign assistance agencies have recognized Cristosal as a regional leader in the defense of human rights. In 2016, Cristosal received its first federal grant from USAID to assist people forcibly displaced by violence in El Salvador and it then expanded assistance to people in Guatemala and Honduras. Between 2016 and 2024, Cristosal’s staff increased from 30 people to 150. Since Trump’s election in November, Cristosal has laid off 70% of its staff in Central America. “The work of a human rights organization is a partnership between courageous victims seeking justice, defending rights and rebuilding lives and the committed professionals who accompany them, often at great risk to themselves,” Bullock told ENS. “Laying off human rights defenders is uniquely painful because both victims and defenders are left unprotected.” In addition to assisting people who’ve been internally displaced, Cristosal provides legal and accompaniment services to individuals and families whose human rights have been violated by the state, due to the absence of the rule of law imposed by the “state of exception.” In late March 2022, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, suspending citizen’s fundamental rights by giving authorities the power to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of gang activity without due process (the “exception”). On Feb. 4, Bukele reportedly offered to jail convicted criminals deported by the United States. “Cristosal has a register of about 4,000 families who have made human rights violations complaints during the state of exception. We’ve investigated and confirmed at least 350 people have died by torture in prisons,” Bullock said, adding that Cristosal represents some 40 families whose loved ones have been killed in prisons, who have disappeared or, in the context of the militarization of communities, whose daughters have been raped, disappeared or murdered. In the wake of the Trump administration’s cuts, Cristosal continues to receive support from private philanthropic organizations like the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and from Episcopal churches and Episcopalians, to aid victims of violence, to investigate and seek accountability for human rights violations and to combat corruption. “Our priority in this moment is to sustain our legal representation and support of victims seeking justice in cases of corruption, torture, rape and trafficking, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killing, forced disappearances and war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Bullock said. “We will also maintain a team of investigators to continue to document abuses for historic memory and future justice.” To continue this work, Cristosal must sustain its human rights work independent of government grants, which are subject to political will, Bullock, who also serves as an Episcopal Church missionary, told ENS. “The original seed capital to start what is now the largest human rights organization in Central America came from different churches’ mission outreach funds and the personal relationships with church members and those networks within The Episcopal Church,” he said. “That support continues to be an important source of funding for Cristosal. Episcopalians’ unrestricted support allows us to respond quickly to emerging problems and to make sort of bridges between funding gaps from bigger grants.” Click here to learn more about Cristosal and support its work. -Lynette Wilson is a reporter and managing editor of Episcopal News Service.

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