[Episcopal News Service] Alaska Bishop Mark Lattime announced in an Aug. 25 message to his diocese a call for the election of his successor, saying he plans to retire on Feb. 26, 2028, when the new bishop is installed. The diocese’s standing committee will soon initiate a process to elect the ninth bishop at the October 2027 diocesan convention. “I have had the extraordinary joy and honor of serving as your bishop for 16 years – Sept. 4 marks the beginning of my 17th year,” Lattime said. “After much prayer and discernment with my wife, Patricia, and our family, I have come to understand that it is now time for me to begin a new chapter of my life, a chapter devoted to living more fully into the calling of husband, father and grandfather.” Lattime has been serving the Fairbanks-based Diocese of Alaska as its eighth bishop since 2010. He was ordained a deacon and then a priest in 1997 after earning a Master of Divinity degree from Bexley Hall seminary in Gambier, Ohio, which has since federated with Seabury-Western Theological Seminary to form Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Before serving the Diocese of Alaska, Lattime served in parish ministry in Lexington, Virginia, and Geneseo, New York. As a member of The Episcopal Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Commission on Native Schools, Lattime has dedicated much of his episcopate to justice and reconciliation over the Doctrine of Discovery and the church’s role in operating and supporting Indigenous boarding schools. When he retires, Lattime plans to live in Juneau, Alaska’s capital, with his wife, whom he married in 2022 at Church of the Holy Trinity  in Juneau. He said they look forward to traveling, spending time with loved ones, worshipping in the same pew and “growing old together in the peace and joy that comes with knowing that we are walking together in the light of God’s love.” Lattime ended his message expressing his love for his fellow Alaska Episcopalians: “When I first started as your bishop, one of our many wise Alaska elders said to me: ‘All folks really want from their bishop is to know he loves them,’” Lattime said. “I do love you and this land recognizing that both are knit together. I pray my love for you has never been in question. It has been the easiest part of my ministry. It also has been the greatest joy of my calling as your bishop.”

[World Council of Churches] Church leaders from Nigeria gathered Aug. 26 at All Saints Anglican Church in Abuja for an ecumenical prayer service calling for peace and stability in the West African country. During the service, the Rev. Jerry Pillay, World Council of Churches’ general secretary and a pastor in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, shared how Christian witness can help promote justice, peace and unity in Nigeria. “Justice must be at the heart of Nigeria’s democratic life,” Pillay said. “We must refuse every attempt to turn ethnic or religious differences into sources of hatred.” Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] For many Episcopalians, baseball is a beloved summer tradition best enjoyed with both loved ones and fellow churchgoers. It’s so popular that several dioceses with cities that have Major League and Minor League Baseball teams host annual group outings to games.  Southwest Florida Bishop Douglas Scharf, who as a child played baseball, looks forward to his diocese’s annual “Baseball with the Bishop” gathering at a Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. For him, it’s an intergenerational opportunity for Episcopalians from different congregations to meet and form new relationships. “It’s really wonderful to have people from across the diocese and from different small churches, big churches – all ages. ‘Baseball with the Bishop’ really brings a lot of different people together,” Scharf told Episcopal News Service. “It’s great to see … kids bring their baseball gloves ready to catch a foul ball.” “Baseball with the Bishop” started in 2012, when the Rt. Rev. Dabney Tyler Smith was bishop of Southwest Florida. Between 300 and 400 Episcopalians attend annually. More than 350 have so far registered to attend this year’s gathering during the Aug. 28 game against the San Diego Padres. During the game, they will lead the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the seventh inning after the diocese is introduced on the jumbotron. “It’ll be a big moment of recognition for us,” Scharf said. “People who aren’t with the diocese don’t usually recognize me as the bishop right away because I’m not wearing a purple shirt at the game, but when they do, several of them will ask me about The Episcopal Church or the diocese. It happens almost every year.” “Baseball with the Bishop” is also a small fundraiser. The diocese works with the Rays and FEVO Enterprise, a digital platform, to sell group tickets at a discounted rate. Proceeds from tickets sold through FEVO’s designated sales page for the diocese support the Episcopal Charities Fund of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, which provides financial grants to parish-based outreach and special needs ministries. The Diocese of Arizona also uses its annual Arizona Diamondbacks outing in Phoenix to support a ministry. At this year’s outing at the Diamondbacks’ Aug. 21 game against the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field in Phoenix, which was Faith and Family Night for members of religious organizations, the Diocese of Arizona dedicated proceeds from its ticket sales to the diocesan LGBTQIA2S+ Pride Ministry. The Diocese of Arizona has been participating in Faith and Family Night since at least 2018, when the Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith was bishop. The earliest known diocesan baseball event is believed to have started in 1986, when the Diocese of Ohio hosted its first Bishop’s Baseball Bash event with then-Bishop James R. Moodey. Some 700 Episcopalians gathered at the now-demolished Cleveland Stadium to cheer for the Indians, who are now called the Guardians. The event is no longer active. The oldest known continuous annual diocesan baseball gathering began in 1993 in the Diocese of Los Angeles in California, when the Rev. Greg Larkin started “Episcopal Dodgers Night.” Larkin, who retired in 2022 after serving as rector of St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Camarillo, continues to organize the event annually and is affectionately known around the diocese as “Canon Baseball.” Today, the tradition is called “Episcopal-Lutheran Dodgers Night” because it has been a joint event with the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in recent years. More than 1,000 Episcopalians and Lutherans have so far registered for this year’s outing at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which will take place Sept. 3, when the Dodgers play the St. St. Louis Cardinals. Scharf said he thinks baseball games are an appealing environment for fellowship outside of traditional church settings because it’s more laid back and slower-paced than other sports. Larkin agrees but believes there’s more to the mass appeal. “Well, obviously, baseball is God’s sport,” Larkin, who also grew up playing baseball, jokingly told ENS. But in seriousness, “at the risk of waxing poetic, there’s something about a summer evening at a ballpark that’s a little more relaxing than, say, a winter’s evening at a hockey rink or at a basketball stadium.” Beyond fellowship and charity, Larkin and Scharf are excited for the competition. The Dodgers and the Rays are both first in their respective divisions as of Aug. 27. “We had a couple of rough patches, but we’re back on track, and I’m predicting a Rays win on ‘Baseball with the Bishop’ night,’” Scharf said. “We got this.” In Pennsylvania, the Diocese of Pittsburgh will host “Episcopal Night” at PNC Park during the Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 15, which is also Roberto Clemente Day. They will join fellow Pirates fans in honoring the Puerto Rican right fielder and humanitarian who died in a plane crash in 1972 while delivering emergency relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He had played for the Pirates his entire professional baseball career. Earlier this season, the Diocese of Texas hosted two “Episcopal Night at the Ballpark” events to cheer for the Texas Rangers in Arlington and the Houston Astros. Episcopal gatherings aren’t just for Major League Baseball teams but also extend to the minors. On Aug. 30, Episcopalians in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina are invited to watch their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Daniel P. Richards, throw the ceremonial first pitch at Segra Park in Columbia, when the Columbia Fireflies will take on the Charleston RiverDogs. During the Diocese of Albany’s “Baseball with the Bishop” outing in July, Albany Bishop Jeremiah Williamson threw the first pitch at the Tri-City ValleyCats game against the Trois-Rivières Aigles at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, New York. The Episcopal Church in Minnesota embraces both major and minor league teams. The Minneapolis-based diocese has hosted gatherings at both Minnesota Twins and St. Paul Saints games. At this year’s gathering

[Episcopal News Service] Interfaith leaders gathered this week inside an Episcopal church in Dearborn, Michigan, in a show of solidarity after recent incidents of anti-Muslim hatred and to rally the community against a rising trend of religious bigotry that has coincided with this year’s midterm elections. The “Hate Has No Home in Michigan” event was hosted Aug. 25 by Christ Episcopal Church and Mother of the Savior Church, an Arabic-speaking congregation that worships at Christ Episcopal Church. The event’s news conference featured speakers from several different faith traditions, including Muslim and Jewish, as well as the Rev. Halim Shukair, the two Episcopal congregations’ priest-in-charge. In his remarks, Shukair emphasized that his church also is home to the Intercultural Community Center in Dearborn, of which he serves as president. “This building is more than a church building. It is a sacred and community space where people from different cultures, languages and backgrounds come together,” Shukair said. “Here, people worship God in Arabic and English. Here Christians from different traditions share the same space, and through the Intercultural Community Center, neighbors from many faiths come together to serve the community.” The show of support for Dearborn as a diverse, welcoming and inclusive city comes as hate groups target the city, known for its large Muslim population. A group of right-wing activists staged a protest last week criticizing Muslims and Islam, and similar rhetoric targeting Muslim groups has raised alarms after a Muslim candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, earned the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s November election for U.S. Senate. El-Sayed, a Muslim of Egyptian heritage who was born in Michigan, attended the “Hate Has No Home in Michigan” event at Christ Episcopal Church and spoke during the news conference there. This was a conversation, El-Sayed said, “that we unfortunately have to have yet again, about what it means to be American in a place that could not be more American.” “This country has always been about bringing people across our differences together,” El-Sayed said. The organizer of last week’s anti-Muslim demonstrations wasn’t motivated to target Dearborn “because he hates a particular group of people,” El-Sayed said. “It’s because he hates that thing about America, that America is bigger than the small version of it that he wants it to be. He hates the idea that he doesn’t get to define America to be so small that it only includes a few people who look and think and act just like him.” Nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union warns that attacks on Muslims are increasing at a time when overall hate crimes are down. Much of the anti-Muslim rhetoric this year has originated in right-wing circles online and has been amplified more publicly by some Republican lawmakers, such as Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who suggested earlier this year that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was a terrorist. Dearborn has long been targeted for such xenophobic vitriol because of its large Arab American population. People of Arab descent now make up a majority of Dearborn’s 110,000 residents, including Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who spoke Aug. 25 at Christ Episcopal Church. “We have to stand with one another and lift one another up,” Hammoud said. He invoked the example of Dearborn’s children. “When they’re on the playground making new friends, they have no preconditions on those friendships. They’re not asking a young child, what direction do you pray or where did your father come from? … They’re learning about one another and playing with one another, because kindness leads.” Christ Episcopal Church also has been an example of that spirit in action. It partnered with Mother of the Savior, an Episcopal-Lutheran congregation, to launch the Intercultural Community Center with the backing of a $260,000 grant from Trinity Church in New York in 2022. The center’s mission is to serve as a “networking hub in Dearborn for nonpartisan social justice action which gathers individuals and groups from various cultural backgrounds.” “Dearborn and Metro Detroit represent something beautiful about Michigan,” Shukair said during the Aug. 25 news conference. “We are Muslims, Christians and Jews and people of other faiths and traditions. We speak Arabic and English and many other languages. We come from many parts of the world, but we share one community and one home. And when one part of our community is targeted by hate, all of us must stand together.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[World Council of Churches] The World Council of Churches will observe the Season of Creation, a worldwide ecumenical Christian observance that begins with the Feast of Creation on Sept. 1 and ends with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, Oct. 4. This year’s Season of Creation theme, “Living Water,” draws from Ezekiel 47:1-12, which depicts a life-giving river flowing from the Temple in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. “The Season of Creation … is a time to witness God’s love and our human responsibility. Confessing God as the creator means a commitment for us as human beings to ‘tilling and keeping the earth,’” Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, World Council of Churches moderator of the central committee, said in reference to Genesis 2:15. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] South Dakota Bishop Jonathan H. Folts announced in an Aug. 21 message to his diocese his plan to retire on Oct. 31, 2027. “To the diocesan staff, clergy and dedicated lay members across our diocese … You have welcomed me into your family, taught me new lessons and skills and have forged me into the Christian person that I am today,” Folts said. “I am immensely grateful.” Folts, 58, has been serving the Pierre-based Diocese of South Dakota as its 11th bishop since 2019. The Diocese of South Dakota is home to the largest Indigenous ministry in North America, serving the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people, according to the diocese’s website. Before serving the Diocese of South Dakota, Folts served as rector and vicar of several churches in Texas, his home state, and Connecticut. He was ordained a deacon in 1996 and a priest in 1997 by his father, former West Texas Bishop James E. Folts. As a member of The Episcopal Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Commission on Native Schools, Folts has dedicated much of his episcopate to justice and reconciliation over the church’s role in operating and supporting Indigenous boarding schools. Research shows that most boarding schools with Episcopal ties were in South Dakota, including the Crow Creek Dormitory. In 2025, Folts formally apologized to the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe for the diocese’s role in operating Indigenous boarding schools. In his message, Folts credited working closely with clergy and laypeople to make several improvements in the Diocese of South Dakota, including making diocesan finances “stronger” and revitalizing Thunderhead Episcopal Center, the diocese’s camp and retreat center located in Lead.  “Together, we have worked hard over these years to renew and strengthen the life and ministry of our diocese in many ways, and I am filled with gratitude to God and to you for the ministry we share and for the relationships we have forged,” Folts said. “Many of our congregations have grown in courage and are embracing new and faithful ways of serving their communities.” Improvements have been made throughout the diocese, Folts said, but “there is still work to be done and faithful ministry to do,” including addressing “dilapidated” church buildings and supporting struggling congregations. Folts did not call for the election of his successor in his message.

[Episcopal News Service] A planned joint replacement, a traumatic accident, a terminal diagnosis or the challenges of an aging body can be life-changing, as well as costly. The cost of needed equipment and supplies can be a nightmare for many people. Durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, commodes, canes, crutches and shower chairs cost hundreds of dollars, yet once people recover, most no longer need the equipment. Enter Episcopal medical equipment loan closets, operated by churches. Their goal is to provide people with the equipment and, at times, the supplies they need. Everything is free, and the equipment is returned when it’s no longer needed. The St. James Medical Equipment Ministry in Eatontown, New Jersey, loans durable medical equipment and also gives out supplies such as wound-care bandages and ointments, adult diapers, catheters, feeding tubes and ostomy bags. Donors who give equipment and money have been so supportive of the ministry at St. James Episcopal Church that it also can help other groups as near as Pennsylvania and as far away as Ukraine, according to Jeff Hughes, one of the nine volunteers who run the ministry. “You ask for it; I can probably find it for you,” said volunteer Kathy Braun, motioning to the rooms and hallways at St. James stacked high with equipment and supplies. Nancy McCormick, from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, learned about the ministry when a friend’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer and needed help. McCormick recently came to St. James to pick up a shower chair for her 97-year-old mother. “It’s been helpful to come and get all the equipment I need,” she said, adding that she returns equipment and gets other equipment as her mother’s needs change. The St. James ministry began in 2022 when parish member and retired engineer Brian Meagher met an unhoused man confined to a motorized wheelchair with battery troubles. Meagher wanted to help fix the equipment and learned about the Pluckemin Medical Equipment Ministry, operated by the Presbyterian church in Pluckemin, New Jersey, since 2010. The ministry helped Meagher get the man a newer, better motorized chair at no cost. The Presbyterian group encouraged Meagher to start the St. James ministry in partnership with them. Judy Jackson, the founder and coordinator of St. John’s Medical Loan Closet in Bandon, a town in rural southwestern Oregon, found inspiration from a different source. St. John’s Episcopal Church did not have a permanent priest in 2017 and lacked an outreach ministry. A supply priest mentioned that she had heard about medical loan closets and suggested that the small congregation consider the ministry. St. John’s started with one wheelchair and put out a call to the community for donations. Today they have close to 200 pieces of mobility equipment to loan, she said. The ministry also got some start-up money from the church and the diocese, and from a local women’s charitable organization. The ministry does not solicit financial donations, but many people want to give something in return for the help they’ve received, Jackson said. Pastoral care often comes with the equipment. Volunteers say some people cry when they come to donate items that a family member or friend no longer needs. The donors, they say, are gratified that the equipment they bring can help others, as their loved ones were helped. Laurie Friedman, who volunteers at the St. John’s loan closet, said it recently felt like “most of what I was doing at the loan closet was listening to people’s stories and holding space for what they wanted to share.” “It seemed like everyone had a story to tell about why they were there seeking some kind of medical equipment. So much of what we do is to provide needed equipment, but just as important is that we offer kindness and a way to help folks deal with their stressful situations in a concrete way.” – The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is a freelance writer who formerly was a senior editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.

[Episcopal News Service] Many congregations have outreach programs that connect with their communities. And The Episcopal Church encourages environmental ministries to fulfill the Christian call to care for God’s creation. Combining the two, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, launched an initiative two years ago called Sprout Reach, to grow community engagement by emphasizing conservation and other forms of creation care. Now St. Peter’s is expanding those efforts with the launch of a new project centered on birdwatching called Sproutsiders that is backed by a $49,000 grant from The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering. To qualify for the UTO grant, St. Peter’s has partnered with a local conservation group, Green Valleys Watershed Association, to develop an educational curriculum around nature journaling that will be offered at community events and summer programs for children. In addition, bird feeders and bird houses in the church’s garden will be equipped with smart cameras so the public can view photos online of the wildlife that inhabits the suburban Philadelphia environment. Their mission is “making nature accessible to people, especially people who might not have access to it,” Ashley Solo, a ministry leader from St. Peters’, told Episcopal News Service. The practice of nature journaling also encourages participants to appreciate that they always have access to at least a little bit of nature, even if it is just in their backyard or on the sidewalk in front of their home. Solo explained that this kind of journaling is essentially observing and recording data, starting with the most basic details, such as time, temperature and location. Then, participants record what they see: A robin perched on a fence. A squirrel dancing around a tree branch. Even bugs on the ground, and kids love bugs, Solo said. The original Sprout Reach ministry leveraged about $14,000 in funding from the Diocese of Pennsylvania and the local Episcopal Church Women to experiment with nature journaling for an initial pilot period. The response from community participants was encouraging. “I just saw how people took to it,” Solo said. Building on that pilot phase, Sproutsiders will formalize this approach to nature education in the new curriculum, which also will incorporate STEM programing, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. By partnering with Green Valleys Watershed Association, the curriculum will be available for use in the association’s programming, and the community St. serves will be connected to Green Valleys’ 224-acre nature preserve, Welkinweir. “You can’t always bring kids to the forest, but you can bring the forest to the kids,” Solo said, referring to the nature cameras at Welkinweir. St. Peter’s also maintains a cloister garden on its property and would like to designate space as a “bug garden,” so neighbors won’t have to travel far to see creepy-crawlies up close. Once the nature journaling curriculum is finished, Solo expects Sproutsiders to be incorporated into two local youth camp programs in 2027, and organizers also plan to showcase the materials at major conservation-themed events in Phoenixville, including Floctoberfest in October. Sproutsiders is one of 25 projects in the United States and worldwide that were awarded nearly $1 million in the latest round of UTO grants, announced in June. – 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] Archbishop Eraste Bigirimana was installed as the sixth primate of the Anglican Church of Burundi on Aug. 23 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Bujumbura. Bigirimana was elected on May 21. He succeeds Archbishop Sixbert Macumi, who had led the province since 2021. “My hope is that [my installation] will mark a new season of unity, spiritual renewal and faithful service to the people of God,” Bigirimana said ahead of his installation. “I ask for your continued prayers as we work together to advance Christ’s mission in Burundi and beyond.” Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally preached at the installation service. Also present were Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, Maggie Swinson, chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, and bishops and representatives from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Uganda. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] An Episcopal church located near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is paying tribute to Black Americans, women and people from underrepresented groups who were pioneers in the United States’ space exploration program. EarthRise, a new public art display outside St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, takes its name from the famous 1968 photo of Earth captured by the Apollo 8 crew as they orbited the moon. The sculpture’s parabolic canopy is intended to resemble the edge of a wing, with about 50 people of color depicted in the structure’s stained-glass mosaic. Below, eight plaques form the sides of a miniature space capsule and feature photos and text honoring the real-life accomplishments of individuals “whose courage, innovation and perseverance helped expand humanity’s reach into space.” The sculpture, funded largely through a Diocese of Texas fund for racial reconciliation projects, was dedicated in a ceremony Aug. 16 attended by an estimated 400 people, including former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., a longtime member of St. Thomas. “I hope every young person who visits EarthRise will be inspired,” said Bolden, whose short biography is one of the eight incorporated into the sculpture. “You can do whatever you want to do. Don’t ever let other people define you, tell you who you are,” Bolden said in a diocesan article about the dedication. “Particularly, for women and people of color, you can do whatever you want to do, but you’ve got to study. You’ve got to work hard.” The stories of all eight EarthRise honorees also can be found on the sculpture page on the church’s website. Texas Bishop Andy Doyle also spoke at the dedication. “EarthRise reminds us that history is strongest when every story is told,” Doyle said. The idea for the EarthRise sculpture was inspired by the Houston-based diocese’s interest in creating historical markers as part of a major racial reconciliation effort it launched in 2020. That year, its diocesan council approved $13 million for the newly created Missionary Vision for Racial Justice Initiative, which established several funds, endowments and scholarships, including the Joseph and John Talbot Fund for Racial Reconciliation. One goal of the Talbot Fund has been to install physical markers and memorials sharing the untold stories of historical violence and other episodes of injustice toward communities of color. At St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, parish leaders considered how they might participate. The Rev. Mike Stone, St. Thomas’ rector, told Episcopal News Service the congregation envisioned a historical marker focused on positive achievements. “What if we did something celebratory?” Stone said. Parish leaders suggested highlighting Black contributions to the space race, and diocesan leaders gave the green light. In 2022, with a Talbot Fund grant of $116,000 and an additional $15,000 raised by the congregation, they chose a design by the Genesis Art Collaborative out of three finalists. Over several years of engineering work, permitting approvals and construction, EarthRise took shape. Alongside the Genesis Art Collaborative’s work on the sculpture, the congregation recorded video footage of the project and interviews with some of the NASA pioneers that will be turned into a documentary overseen by a member of the congregation. The sculpture is illuminated at night and open for viewing by the public anytime. People from all walks of life can take inspiration from the words displayed across the top of the sculpture’s model space capsule: “We can do more together.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.