[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church released a letter May 15 from Southern Africa Archbishop Thabo Makgoba thanking the U.S.-based church for declining the Trump administration’s request to help resettle white South Africans in the United States – a policy that Makgoba said is based on false assumptions about his country. Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump had suspended the United States’ 45-year-old refugee resettlement program, but he later reversed himself to make a narrow exception for white South Africans, known as Afrikaners, whom he said were “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced May 12 that the church’s Episcopal Migration Ministries, would end its federal contract to provide refugee resettlement services rather than participate in the Trump administration’s plan to let “one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.” Rowe made the decision a day after consulting by phone with Makgoba, the bishop of Cape Town and primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. In his letter, Makgoba thanked Rowe for the call and expressed “our gratitude for the stand you have taken.” “What the [Trump] administration refers to as anti-white racial discrimination is nothing of the kind,” Makgoba said. “Our government implements affirmative action on the lines of that in the United States, designed not to discriminate against whites but to overcome the historic disadvantages black South Africans have suffered.” Afrikaners, who number about 3 million people in a country of 63 million, formerly were part of the governing white minority under South Africa’s extreme racial segregation of apartheid, until its end in 1994 allowed newfound enfranchisement of the country’s Black majority. Even more than 30 years later, however, Black South Africans still struggle under the weight of their country’s historical disparities, Makgoba said. “By every measure of economic and social privilege, white South Africans as a whole remain the beneficiaries of apartheid,” Makgoba said. By some measures, “we are the most unequal society in the world, with the majority of the poor black, and the majority of the wealthy white.” Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order on South Africa pledged “humanitarian relief” to Afrikaners and criticized a South African law allowing the seizure of property without compensation in certain circumstances. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected what he calls the “completely false narrative” about the law, which was intended to address the lingering disparities that Makgoba wrote of in his letter to Rowe. For example, white South Africans, who make up about 7% of the country’s population, control an estimated 72% of the country’s farmland. Rowe’s May 12 announcement also lamented the harms that Trump’s executive order restricting refugee resettlement have caused for many of the millions of other people around the world fleeing war, persecution and other hardships in their home countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are more than 32 million refugees worldwide, and tens of millions more have been displaced within their home countries. EMM has resettled nearly 110,000 such refugees over nearly 40 years, following of the Gospel call to “welcome the stranger.” Until this year, it was eager to continue that work as one of the 10 agencies with contracts to facilitate refugee resettlement on behalf of the federal government, a program that has long had bipartisan support. Trump, in halting the refugee resettlement program, claimed without evidence that refugees had become a costly burden on American communities, yet his administration expedited the resettlement of an initial group of 59 Afrikaners, who arrived in the United States on May 12. After The Episcopal Church declined to participate in the resettlement of Afrikaners, the White House responded by questioning The Episcopal Church’s “commitment to humanitarian aid.” “Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a May 13 statement. “The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration.” Makgoba pushed back against such depictions of the Afrikaners as refugees. “We cannot agree that South Africans who have lost the privileges they enjoyed under apartheid should qualify for refugee status ahead of people fleeing war and persecution from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Afghanistan,” he said. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Christ Episcopal Church in Toms River and the Diocese of New Jersey are ramping up efforts to defend the church against the mayor’s effort to seize its 11-acre property downtown and turn it into a park. A Change.org petition, started by the Rev. Lisa Hoffman, Christ Church’s rector, and posted on Facebook May 13 by New Jersey Bishop Sally French, had garnered close to 2,900 signatures by midday May 15. French told Episcopal News Service she hopes that the strong public response can demonstrate that taking Christ Church’s land “is not the will of the community and that those in government in Toms River might notice that and respond.” The congregation, with the blessing of the diocese, opened a GoFundMe page on May 14 to go toward legal fees to oppose the Toms River mayor and township council. Eighteen hours later, the appeal had raised more than $2,900 of its $3,500 goal by midday May 15. If any money remains after any legal action is concluded, the appeal says, it will go toward Christ Church’s outreach ministries. To raise the church’s visibility, Hoffman plans to be at the church’s tent during the town’s May 17 Founder’s Day celebration, to be held on the same street as the church. That evening, she will open a “Voices for the Voiceless” rally with prayer. The rally was organized by other activists after the town council on April 30 approved the first reading of the land-seizure ordinance. Hoffman told ENS that the rally’s purpose is “not going tit for tat with the mayor over homeless policies” but to tell people experiencing homelessness that “we are there to support them, to lift and encourage the people that find themselves in that situation and advocate for them.” Christ Church also has been posting information on Facebook about its upcoming events to show its other contributions to the community. They include its annual rummage sale on May 16 and 17, a comedy show, a strawberry social fundraiser, a Christmas in July vendor event, the annual Pipes and Drums of Barnegat Bay event and a car and truck show. The congregation is also posting an updated list of its food pantry needs. The efforts come ahead of the town zoning board’s anticipated final vote May 22 on the church’s application to allow for a 17-bed overnight homeless shelter on the church property. Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick opposes the shelter, as do some of the church’s neighbors and others. He is behind the effort to buy the church’s land or seize it through eminent domain. The council is scheduled to take public comment and make a final decision on the land-seizure ordinance on May 28. The shelter proposal calls for updating the church’s circa 1882 parish house while adding 949 square feet to it. Since 2023, the building has hosted staff from the Affordable Housing Alliance and the Toms River Housing and Homeless Coalition. Conversations about some sort of shelter began that year, Hoffman said. The Affordable Housing Alliance would run the shelter with a grant from Ocean County. Seventeen women and men who are experiencing homelessness would receive help accessing social services and finding permanent housing, as well as a safe place to eat, shower and sleep between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. “The basic premise is to bring in people that are in the best position to get into permanent housing, give them 30 days [overnight housing] to gather resources and work with the AHA and other social service agencies to get them into permanent housing,” Hoffman said. In the morning, the Affordable Housing Alliance will provide transportation to social services, jobs and to any other agencies that the alliance has connected them with. People will have to apply for a spot in the shelter and undergo a criminal background check and an assessment of whether they could move into more permanent housing, she said. French told ENS that this approach is rooted in the “fulfillment of our understanding of the Scripture and our call to be with the poor, the homeless and those who are in need, just as Christ asks us to.” Christ Church tries to help immediate needs, she said, but church leaders are “not looking just for the quick fix, they’re looking for the long-term opportunity, and they’re trying to be good neighbors and good and faithful citizens. And that’s what we need our churches to be doing.” The shelter plan requires a land zoning variance. Its current designation does not allow for a homeless shelter, but it does permit group homes for people with developmental and other disabilities, victims of domestic abuse, the elderly and the terminally ill. None of Toms River’s zoning categories allows for homeless shelters, and there are no homeless shelters in Toms River or Ocean County. Christ Church’s outreach ministries bring many people onto the campus during the day. In addition to the help offered by the two housing agencies in the parish house, it has a weekly food pantry. Fourteen different Anonymous groups host 160 monthly meetings in the church’s buildings. Plentiful Plates of Ocean County uses its kitchen weekly to cook hot meals to distribute to local people experiencing homelessness. Ocean Christian Community, which meets in the 1882 church on the property, offers twice-monthly meals, food and clothing distribution events. The mayor has been highly critical of the presence of people experiencing homelessness in Toms River, accusing Ocean County of exaggerating the homeless issue and “dumping” homeless people into the township. He has criticized rock star Jon Bon Jovi’s pop-up JBJ Soul Kitchen at the downtown library, claiming it attracts people who are homeless. If Rodrick succeeds in his effort to seize the land and shut down the church, “Toms River will lose a vital source of support for vulnerable residents,” the Change.org petition says. Rodrick, who did not reply to Episcopal News Service requests for comment, recently told CBS 2 News New York that the land

[Episcopal News Service] Earlier this year, the Rev. Christopher Easthill, rector of St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican-Episcopal Church in Wiesbaden, Germany, was elected chair of the Council of Churches in Germany, becoming the first Episcopal priest to hold that position. Founded in 1948 and reconstituted in 1992 following Germany’s reunification, the council represents 25 churches and denominations countrywide. Its members include the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church in Germany (the main Protestant denomination), the Moravian Church, the Syrian and Coptic Orthodox churches, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, the Council of Anglican Episcopal Churches and many others. It focuses on shared witness, is committed to justice, peace and upholding the integrity of creation, and advocates for the rights of persecuted Christians worldwide. Easthill, who’d served nine years on the council’s five-member board, was elected chair by the council’s membership during its General Assembly in Augsburg on March 19. He succeeds Greek Orthodox Archpriest Radu Constantin Miron, who served for six years. Born in Singapore to British nationals, Easthill, a lifelong Anglican, worked for a German insurance company for 30 years and was an active member of the Church of the Ascension in Munich before pursuing ordained ministry. He attended the now-closed St. John’s Theological College in Nottingham, England, and is a 2013 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. He speaks fluent German and has both U.K. and German citizenship. He was ordained a priest in 2013 and first served as a curate at Ascension in Munich before relocating to St. Augustine of Canterbury in Wiesbaden. Easthill also chairs the Council of Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany, a 15-member organization enabling mission and ministry cooperation among the parishes in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe and the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe. The interview has been edited for clarity. ENS: What is the Council of Churches in Germany and why is it important? EASTHILL: It’s a very broad body (like the National Council of Churches in the U.S.) that includes almost all churches present at a national level. The Roman Catholic Church is a full member, which is not the case in every country, just as, for example, the Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches. It includes evangelical free churches, although “evangelical” doesn’t mean the same thing as it does in the U.S. context. They are evangelical in the sense that they are Bible-oriented, and they can sometimes be more theologically and socially conservative on issues like abortion, for example. But they are more politically liberal than American evangelicals, and we have a lot in common on things like creation care and peace and justice, and they’re willing and want to work with other churches. Today, just under 50% of Germans – 20% in what was the formerly communist East Germany – identify as Christian, and it’s important that we speak in a common language. ENS: In the U.S., mainline Protestant churches come together as the National Council of Churches and often speak in one voice on immigration reform, gun safety, climate change and other advocacy priorities, like those of the Council of Churches in Germany. In the U.S., though, the Christian right speaks louder and has its own unique voice. What does Christian public witness and advocacy look like in Germany? EASTHILL: In Germany, most people have the [shared] language to understand what we’re talking about. The most recent criticism we received was from a conservative politician telling us that churches should stick to theological themes rather than acting like an NGO and that we should stop making recommendations on political topics. So, if anything, the overall perception is that the churches in Germany are center-left, which is really not correct. We don’t back political parties. The issues we speak up on, like looking after refugees, poverty, social justice, racism, creation care – these are all Christian issues. And yet some people think our responses are particularly left-wing. Personally, I think that says more about the people criticizing us than about us. But if anything, I would say that’s a different perception. If you say Christian here, the reaction is not going to be, oh, that’s somebody who’s very conservative and doesn’t accept my lifestyle, say if I was LGBTQ. Instead, if you’re coming from the left, you are more likely to say, “Oh, they’re good, they’re on the same page.” ENS: One thing I didn’t realize is that three different Protestant denominations make up the broader Protestant Church in Germany. And of the 48% of the population who identify as Christians, just under half, about 24%, are Catholic. Can you briefly shed some light on this part of history?   EASTHILL: It’s complicated! Germany only became a unified state in the 19th century. After the [Protestant] Reformation, some parts of the country remained Catholic, and where the Reformation took effect, it was also the local ruler’s decision which Protestant denomination – Lutheran, Reformed or later United – was recognized. The main Protestant church now unites all three different “flavors” at a national level. Regionally, like our partners in Bavaria, the church will usually just identify with one denomination. On top of that, 40 years of communism in the East [East Germany] had a significant negative impact on church membership. ENS: In early June, The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria are poised to sign a full-communion agreement. What is its significance? EASTHILL: On a practical level, it allows for exchange of clergy. We have a big church in Munich and two smaller mission churches in Augsburg and Nuremberg; if there’s an English-speaking pastor, we now have interchangeability we didn’t have before. The wider impact is, it’s the first full-communion agreement that an Anglican church has reached with a German Lutheran church, with their very different history and understanding of the office of bishop. We have full communion agreements, of course, in the United States with the Evangelical Lutheran

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will join other leaders from across the Anglican Communion as part of an Anglican delegation attending a May 18 worship service in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square inaugurating Pope Leo XIV as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The inauguration service will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday. Other members of the Anglican delegation include Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop Thabo Makoba of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop John McDowell of the Church of Ireland and Archbishop Leonard Dawea of the Anglican Church of Melanesia. Dawea, a member of the standing committee of the Anglican Primates’ Meeting, also serves on the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission and will lead the delegation. Bishop Anthony Ball, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See, also will attend. “The delegation will represent the prayers and support of Anglicans around the world as Pope Leo is inaugurated,” the Anglican Communion Office said in a news release. “The delegation will also embody the commitment of the Anglican Communion to walk in friendship and partnership with the Catholic Church.” The Anglican Communion is a network of 42 autonomous, interdependent provinces worldwide, including The Episcopal Church, each with historical ties to the Church of England. An Anglican delegation also attended the April 26 funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected May 8 by the conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals. A native of Chicago, Illinois, the 69-year-old Leo is the first U.S.-born elected pope, though he has spent much of his career in ordained ministry outside the United States, including Peru. In 2023, Francis brought him to the Vatican, where he served as prefect of the church’s Dicastery for Bishops. The Anglican delegation will be hosted in Rome by the Anglican Centre, which has worked since 1966 to strengthen ties between the Anglican Communion’s provinces and the Roman Catholic Church. “On the day of his election, Pope Leo reminded us that Christ helps to build bridges with dialogue and encounter as we strive to be one people living in peace,” Ball, who also attended Francis’ funeral, said in the Anglican Communion Office’s news release. “At the Anglican Centre in Rome we renew our commitment to the ongoing dialogue between our traditions and our shared work, so that Christ may be known and glorified.” Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, also issued a statement about the inauguration. “We pray for Pope Leo as he prepares for his inauguration,” Poggo said. “Along with representatives of other Christian world communions, we express our support and encouragement.”

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, announced May 13 it is selling its diocesan headquarters to a nonprofit founded partly by the diocese in the 1980s that in recent years has expanded its ministry of serving people experiencing poverty, hunger and homelessness. The nonprofit, New Bethany, was founded through a partnership with the city of Bethlehem and Cathedral Church of the Nativity. Since 2022, the diocese has allowed New Bethany to use space at Diocesan House in Bethlehem for volunteer housing, meeting rooms and offices. “New Bethany ministries was a vision of a reimagined Wyandotte Street where the spiritual and outreach needs of Southside Bethlehem and beyond would be embraced with the love of Jesus,” Bethlehem Bishop Kevin Nichols said in a news release announcing the sale. “In so many ways, this dream has been realized.” The two-story building includes more than 6,000 square feet of space. Transfer of the property’s deed to New Bethany is scheduled for late May, and diocesan staff will relocate to space in the adjacent Nativity Cathedral. Nichols declined for this story to specify the amount of the sale but told Episcopal News Service that New Bethany agreed to pay the appraised value of the property. Nichols also emphasized the productive conversations between his diocesan staff and the staff of the cathedral for shared use of its space. “We have really kind of walked into a new moment of collaboration,” he said. Taking ownership of the former diocesan headquarters “directly responds to New Bethany’s need for expanded facilities to carry out our mission and better serve our neighbors effectively,” New Bethany Executive Director J. Marc Rittle said in the diocese’s news release. “Although we have tripled our budget and doubled our staff to meet the increasing demand for our services, we are simply out of room to accommodate everyone. We are deeply grateful for the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem’s collaboration and vision in facilitating this acquisition.” The property transfer is the latest development in a time of change in the Diocese of Bethlehem, which is in the process of merging with the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. The two dioceses voted to reunify in October 2024 at their diocesan conventions. They are following a canonical process known as reunion because the two were once part of the same diocese. Under their current timeline, they expect to reunite on Jan. 1, 2026, as the Episcopal Diocese of the Susquehanna, named after the river that runs through the center of Pennsylvania. In February, the dioceses announced plans to experiment with a “sibling parish” program, connecting congregations from one diocese with counterparts from the other to help smooth the transition to one diocese by next year. Nichols also told ENS that he and Central Pennsylvania Bishop Audrey Scanlan plan to begin conducting congregational visitations in each other’s dioceses this summer. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The central members and Anglican Communion representatives of the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission were announced on May 13. This commission works prayerfully and collaboratively to discern and nominate the next archbishop of Canterbury. The Crown Nominations Commission for the archbishop of Canterbury nomination is larger than that for other diocesan bishops, with 17 voting members in a wider commission made up of 20 members. In 2022, General Synod approved changes to the CNC’s Standing Orders that increased the number of representatives from the Anglican Communion from one to five for the Crown Nominations Commission of the See of Canterbury. They are nominated by the Anglican Communion, one from each of the five regions and include primates, clergy and lay people. Voting members Chair: Lord (Jonathan) Evans of Weardale (appointed by the prime minister) Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell Bishop of Norwich Graham Usher (elected by the House of Bishops) Anglican Communion representatives (nominated by the 5 regions of the Communion): Americas –  Mr. Joaquín Philpotts. Oceania – The Rev. Canon Isaac Beach. Africa –  The Rev. Professor Grace Nkansa Asante. Asia – The Most Rev. Hosam Naoum. Europe – The Rt. Rev. Mary Stallard. Central Members (drawn from the Crown Nominations Commission Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them): Ms. Christina Baron Miss Debbie Buggs The Rev. Canon Paul Cartwright The Rev. Lis Goddard The Rev. Canon Claire Lording Mr. Clive Scowen Canterbury Diocesan representatives: To be announced on the conclusion of the Canterbury Vacancy in See process. Non-voting members Secretary to the Commission: Stephen Knott (Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments) Jonathan Hellewell (Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary) The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo (The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion) Following a public consultation that saw thousands of people share their views on the qualities needed in the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Commission will convene for its first meeting later this month, followed by at least two further meetings – one in July and another in September. Through these, the Commission will agree the ‘Role Profile’ and ‘Person Specification’ for the next Archbishop of Canterbury, discern the longlist, shortlist and interview candidates. Under the Standing Orders of the General Synod, a nomination cannot be made to the crown unless it has received the support of at least two-thirds of the total number of the voting members of the Commission in a secret ballot. The Chair of the Canterbury CNC, Lord (Jonathan) Evans said: “Helping to choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury is both a great responsibility and a privilege. The Crown Nominations Commission understands the weight of this important decision and we pray for God’s hand on the process. “I thank those who have taken part in the public consultation across the country and the Anglican Communion, helping us to establish the gifts, skills and qualities required in the next archbishop. Do please keep the CNC process in your prayers as we seek to discern who God is calling to this important ministry.” For more information You can also read this announcement on the Church of England website.  Learn more about the nominations process for the next Archbishop of Canterbury on the Church of England website.

[Episcopal News Service] For Episcopalians in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, caring for creation includes animal welfare because “the Lord God made them all.” That’s why, since 2023, the diocese’s Animal Ministry has been connecting owners to pets through adoption and foster events, providing access to free and low-cost vaccines and pet food and much more. Pennsylvania Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview that he was inspired to launch the ministry after observing people and their pets interact in public. “It got me thinking, what if a person passes away, or a veteran or enlisted person in the Armed Services gets deployed, what happens to the animal? What about the elderly who need help?” Gutiérrez said. “We have a responsibility to be caretakers – stewards of God’s creation – whether it’s animals, the land or the sky … everything.” Several parishes have answered the diocese’s call to care for animals. The Free Church of St. John hosted a free animal vaccine event in Philadelphia. St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Roxborough offers blessings for veterans’ pets and pets belonging to residents in a nearby retirement community. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia has established a pet food pantry and provides free animal vaccines. In Whitemarsh, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church’s animal ministry offers short- and long-term fostering assistance, pet supplies and vaccines. The church has hosted five dog adoption events for local animal organizations, and 45 dogs have been adopted so far. St. Thomas’ has also hosted a cat adoption event. The occasional social “Yappy Hours” events have broadened local foster networks. The diocese is in the early stages of building a network of churches that will train volunteer parishioners as fosters and provide 24/7 support to fosters by providing expense assistance and other resources. Fostering animals frees up space in the shelters, meaning fewer animals are euthanized. It also reduces the animals’ stress and increases the likelihood of adoption. About 6.5 million dogs and cats nationwide entered shelters in 2023, often because their previous owners abused them. “Domesticated animals are inherently dependent on us,” Gutiérrez said. “It’s hard for me to grasp … anyone who would intentionally injure a child or an animal. It just doesn’t speak to who we are as God’s beloved.” Jennifer Tucker, the diocese’s canon for communications, serves on a Philadelphia pet shelter’s board and is training to become a chaplain for veterinarians. She also helps run the Diocese of Pennsylvania’s Animal Ministry, including the ministry at her home parish, St. Thomas’. “The power of being around animals and the love they bring, it’s a gift that I can’t even put into words,” Tucker told ENS. “There are so many studies about how loneliness is a problem, and having pets helps reduce that because they give us love and acceptance, sometimes exercise, a lot of wonderful benefits.” Tucker co-leads St. Thomas’ animal ministry with Anne Anspach. They met while volunteering at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter in Abington. “I’m not sure if animals love you unconditionally, but, for example, I’ve seen dogs who’ve been severely mistreated and starved – skin and bones – yet they’ll still trust people to help turn their lives around,” Anspach told ENS. As of 2024, 66% of U.S. households include a pet, and 97% of pet owners consider pets a part of the family, according to data compiled by the American Pet Products Association and Pew Research Center. Because pets are important to many people, a certified animal chaplain at St. Thomas’, Donna Mosebach, is available to serve families through all stages of their pets’ lives for free, from blessing a new pet to leading memorial services for deceased pets. Tucker said she chose to become a chaplain for veterinarians because suicide rates are high among veterinarians due to burnout, compassion fatigue and access to euthanasia drugs. Ending an animal’s life can take a psychological toll on veterinarians, who also must console owners who are grieving the loss of their pet, a family member. “Veterinarians are supporting the animals [and their owners], and they need to be supported, too,” Tucker said. Tucker also has worked with the diocese’s Clare Project – named after St. Clare of Assisi, a companion of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals – which assists unhoused people and their pets in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, a “ground zero” of the United States’ opioid crisis. An estimated 12% of people who are homeless have pets, which provide emotional support and reduce loneliness. Homeless shelters usually lack pet-friendly accommodations and often must decline services to pet owners, according to the ASPCA. St. Thomas’ also encourages volunteers to provide daylong or hours-long respite for shelter animals and bring them to the church, where dog walking is welcome on its 42-acre campus. Sharing pictures on social media and tagging the church is especially welcome. St. Thomas’ provides resources for pet owners and foster parents to receive low-cost or free food, medical supplies and veterinary treatment, including spay and neuter services. To help encourage dog fostering and bonding, St. Thomas’ is building a “canine cottage” on campus where volunteers can bring dogs to play and rest indoors and outdoors. When built, the facility will serve as the animal ministry’s headquarters. Many Episcopal churches nationwide offer a blessing-of-the-animals worship service on or around St. Francis’ feast day, Oct. 4, which is also known as World Animal Day. At these services, everyone is welcome to bring their pets for a special blessing. In October, St. Thomas’ will have a traditional blessing-of-the-animals worship service, but with a twist: An animal fair will also take place. Veterinarians and dog trainers will offer advice for pet owners and answer questions. Family-friendly activities will include making cat toys and an agility display from a dog training club. “Every animal has their own personality, and they’re so attuned to the world. … They live for the moment – something we humans have forgotten. Animals,

[Episcopal News Service] When a small group of white South Africans, whom the Trump administration has deemed refugees, arrive in the United States this week, they will be assisted by some nonprofit agencies that historically have contracted with the U.S. government to do that resettlement work. Episcopal Migration Ministries will not be one of them. The Episcopal Church, according to a letter issued May 12 by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, has declined the Trump administration’s request to participate in the fast-tracked immigration of Afrikaners, part of the white minority in South Africa that formerly governed the country until the end of the extreme racial segregation of apartheid in 1994. EMM has not assisted any new arrivals since early this year, when the Trump administration halted the broader federal resettlement program indefinitely. Millions of people worldwide are identified by the United Nations as refugees escaping war, famine or religious persecution in their home countries. EMM has resettled nearly 110,000 such refugees over nearly 40 years, but “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step” of assisting the Trump administration in resettling Afrikaners, Rowe said after consulting with Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town. Instead, The Episcopal Church will formally end all federal resettlement work when its contract expires at the end of this fiscal year, on Sept. 30. EMM, after further reducing its staff, will continuing operating as a church-based ministry to serve the needs of refugees already in the U.S., as well as asylum-seekers and other migrants. EMM had been one of 10 nongovernmental agencies, many of them associated with religious denominations, that facilitated refugee resettlement through the federal program created in 1980. Refugees traditionally have been among the most thoroughly vetted of all immigrants and often waited for years overseas for their opportunity to start new lives in the United States. The Afrikaners, about 50 of whom were scheduled to begin arriving in the United States as early as May 12, were screened and cleared for travel in the three months since Trump signed a Feb. 7 executive order accusing South Africa’s Black-led government of racial discrimination against the white minority group. Afrikaners number about 3 million in a country of 63 million people. “It has been painful to watch one group of refugees [the Afrikaners], selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said in his letter. When Trump took office, some refugees who had waited their turn to be resettled and received clearance to travel to the United States had their travel plans revoked after the president signed his executive order halting the resettlement program. Trump said the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities” despite successful efforts by EMM and the other resettlement agencies to ramp up their resettlement operations during the Biden administration. Until the program was suspended, the United States had opened its doors to up to 125,000 refugees a year, with the largest numbers originating from the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela and Burma. Many had fled war-torn regions like Sudan, while others came from countries where citizens now face persecution for their past support of the United States military. “I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country,” Rowe said. “I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.” The federal refugee resettlement program has long had bipartisan support. EMM and the other contracted agencies have provided a range of federally funded services for the first months after the refugees’ arrivals, including English language and cultural orientation classes, employment services and school enrollment, and they helped covered costs such as food and rent as the refugees began to establish new lives and contribute to their adopted communities. Trump’s executive order suspending the program was one of the first actions he took after returning to office on Jan. 20. In the order, he claimed without evidence that refugees had become a costly burden on American communities. On Jan. 31, EMM responded by announcing plans to wind down its core resettlement operations and lay off 22 employees while shifting its focus to other efforts. “While we do not know exactly how this ministry will evolve in our church’s future, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with migrants and with our congregations who serve them,” the Rev. Sarah Shipman, EMM’s director, said at the time. Trump’s order gave no indication when, if ever, the congressionally enacted program would resume, other than “such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” Less than three weeks later, the president’s executive order on South Africa pledged “humanitarian relief” to Afrikaners but it did not specify how the interests of the United States would be served by granting refugee status to white South Africans and expediting their resettlement in the United States. The executive order accuses the South African government of “rights violations” toward Afrikaners, specifically a law allowing the seizure of property without compensation in certain circumstances. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected such claims. “We should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution,” Ramaphosa said in a March message. Global resettlement needs have only increased in recent years. The refugees who are resettled in the United States typically are fleeing war, persecution and other hardships in their home countries. The United Nations High

[Office of the Archbishop of York] On May 9, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell offered his thoughts in the Yorkshire Post on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe over the Nazis, which took place on May 8. In it he called for the active defense of international law and the rules-based order that followed the end of World War II. His remarks are printed below. Maybe it was for a school project, or maybe it was just over Sunday lunch, or on a family holiday. But I imagine most of us who did not live through the privations and suffering of WWII asked our older family members the same question: “What was it really like during the war?” My parents had been evacuated as children, my uncle had fought in Burma, and my grandmas had lived through two world wars. I knew that, to all of them, VE Day meant something. It wasn’t just the remembrance of an historical event, something confined to the past. To them, it was an ongoing celebration of a new, and present, reality. For they knew that Victory in Europe, 80 years ago, had given birth to a new world. We had fought, in the words of my wartime predecessor Archbishop Temple, against “an evil the magnitude and horror of which it is impossible to describe in words.” We fought to uphold the values that Nazism had sought to destroy – the idea that we are one humanity, that we belong to each other, and have responsibilities to each other, whatever our class, race, religion or nation – values which are deeply rooted in our Judeo-Christian tradition. But this struggle did not end with the defeat of Nazism. The fight for our neighbor continued, no longer on the battlefields of Europe, but on the political front. In the hope of creating a society that was better than before, a new world was born out of the rubble of war. At home, we established the modern Welfare State: the NHS, social housing, social security, child benefit and free legal aid, among many other things. As William Beveridge wrote in his famous Report, “a revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.” Globally, the rules-based international order took shape, so that law, not raw power, would govern relations between states. The United Nations was set up as a cornerstone, its goal to promote peace, defend human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development and uphold international law. Without Victory in Europe, this new world would never have been born. Of course, it is not perfect – structures created by humans never are – but it is nevertheless a world founded firmly on the ideals we fought for. And I shudder to think what world we would be living in if victory in Europe had not been ours, but Hitler’s. In our opposition to what was worst in us, we discovered what is best. That is what VE Day was about for my family – and it is what it means to me. Not a mere memorial, but a living legacy. In routing darkness, it gave birth to a new day, full of joy, peace and hope, which still shines on us today. But, 80 years on, this legacy is increasingly under threat. Our government must actively defend international law and the rules-based order – whenever it is broken, whoever breaks it, whether friend or foe. If we don’t, the laws will lose all power to curb humanity’s worst excesses, and we will once again be shrouded in the darkness where only one law matters: Might is Right. VE Day is not simply a day of remembrance. It is a call to action.

[World Council of Churches] Churches in Haiti are communicating with hearts overwhelmed by the growing suffering of their people, according to the Rev. Eliner Cadet, president of the National Coalition of Haitian Pastors. Cadet appealed for Christian solidarity and support, for united prayer for the Haitian people, and for the return of peace, justice and human dignity. Cadet also urged “diplomatic support to encourage serious and coordinated international initiatives to put an end to the violence perpetrated by criminal gangs in Haiti,” as well as “intervention with international organizations: to call on the Dominican authorities, particularly the current president, to respect the fundamental rights of Haitians, even within the framework of a repatriation process.” Read the entire article here.