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[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,” Cadet said, 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.

[Episcopal News Service] May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and some Episcopal dioceses are celebrating the contributions of people of Asian descent in The Episcopal Church and throughout the United States. “The Episcopal Church should celebrate the fact that Asian congregations and members have been around for a long time in The Episcopal Church, and they have contributed to the church,” New York Bishop Suffragan Allen K. Shin, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, grew up in Daegu and immigrated to the United States in 1972, told Episcopal News Service. “We are celebrating the fact that the body of Christ reflects God’s image of diversity of creation,” Shin said. “We human beings are created in the image of God, and that image is very diverse, not just one race.” The heritage month was originally observed beginning in 1979 as a weeklong celebration, based on a resolution signed by President Jimmy Carter. The choice of May originates in the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States in May 1843 and the use of Chinese labor to build the first transcontinental railroad, completed in May 1869. President George H.W. Bush signed a bill in 1990 extending the observance to a full month. Shin will preach May 11 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan in a worship service honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. New York Bishop Matthew Heyd will celebrate. The livestreamed service will feature elements from various Asian cultures. The Columbia University Lion Dance Club will perform a traditional lion dance during the procession. On May 17, the Diocese of Massachusetts will host a special celebration and Eucharist at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. Shin will deliver the keynote speech there as well. The Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica Ministries, and Eunil David Cho, associate professor at Boston University School of Theology and an ordained Presbyterian minister, will share what it means for them to be Asian Americans in the church and in society. “As an Asian American person, being aware of my identity and of my histories, my contexts, my family, my communities and my call all intersect,” Lagman told ENS. “It means that my lens will point me toward what it’s like to be on the margins, but also aware of my own privilege, like my education.” Lagman, who is of Philippine descent, oversees nine ethnic convocations in The Episcopal Church: Arab/Middle East, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and youth and young adults. On May 28, Faith Christian Church of India in Ballwin, Missouri, a missional congregation based in the Diocese of Missouri, will host a gathering for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson will speak. Even though The Episcopal Church is slowly becoming more diverse, as of 2024 just 2% of Episcopalians are of Asian descent, according to the Pew Research Center. Still, Lagman and Shin both expressed the importance of learning about Asian and Pacific Islander history in the United States and in The Episcopal Church. Asian Americans have been members of The Episcopal Church for more than 150 years. The first recorded Chinese-Anglican service in North America took place in 1871 in Virginia City, Nevada, after a Chinese convert named Ah Foo ministered to Chinese miners and railroad workers in Virginia City and Carson City. Three years later, he and Pennsylvania Bishop Ozi William Whitaker – then-missionary bishop of Nevada and Arizona – established the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in Carson City, a missionary church for Asian railroad workers.  Last month, Shin and Lagman joined fellow Asian American Episcopalians at the annual Asian American Pacific Islander Clergy and Lay Leadership Retreat in Kansas City, Missouri, to share their hopes and desires for The Episcopal Church. The retreat centered around the importance of storytelling, especially now amid federal government entities’ attempts to whitewash U.S. history in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion. Because of the executive orders, the Asian American heritage month is no longer federally recognized, and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders was dissolved after working to connect those communities to federal resources since 1999. Prior to the executive orders, racism and violence against people of Asian descent nationwide had been growing in recent years, in large part because the COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China.  Cho, who is Korean American, told ENS that many Asian Americans are “still grieving” and “traumatized by the whole pandemic experience and the mass shooting of Asian women at the spa” in 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. “The whole country went back to the Yellow Peril stereotype … and that continues to be a huge point of suffering and pain,” Cho said. “At the same time, a more social-based activism has emerged, and we’ve been challenged to break the silence and be more open and bolder about raising our voices.” Lagman echoed those sentiments. “When people want to bury or oppress us, it becomes more and more important for us to make our voices heard and to engage our allies to amplify our voices even further,” Lagman said. Shin and Lagman said they hope that Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month observances will be informative and encourage The Episcopal Church to work to recruit and foster clergy and lay leadership. “Even though we represent a small number of Episcopalians, we are still part of The Episcopal Church,” Shin said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.