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[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Florida is calling for prayer after a gunman shot multiple people at Florida State University in Tallahassee, the state’s capital, this afternoon. At least two people are reported dead and at least five are receiving treatment at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. A suspect is in custody. The campus is closed as several buildings are still an active crime scene, though law enforcement “has neutralized the threat,” according to the latest alert from Florida State. The Jacksonville-based Diocese of Florida’s Episcopal University Center of FSU at Ruge Hall serves Florida State and the Tallahassee community. Anyone in need of pastoral support may contact the ministry center at jacob@rugehall.org. As of April 17, 4,064 people have died from gun violence nationwide this year, including 81 from mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an American nonprofit that catalogs every gun-related death in the United States. The organization defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot either fatally or non-fatally, excluding the shooter. The Episcopal diocese shared a prayer April 17 in response to the day’s violence in an email newsletter and on Facebook: “Gracious God, our strength and consolation, be present with all students, faculty and staff that are part of the Florida State University community and their families. Dispatch your angels to any families whose loved ones have been affected; help them to feel your love and care even at this dark hour. Heal those who have been hospitalized through the care of skilled professionals and restore them to health. Bless the first responders and law enforcement officers who run towards danger on our behalf.  And finally, we pray for the one who committed this violence that they would repent and live the rest of their days as your healing instrument, this we pray in the name of Jesus, Lord and friend. Amen.” St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, located less than a mile east of Florida State’s campus, announced on Facebook that it will remain open April 17 into the evening for anyone in need of a quiet space. A priest will be available in the sanctuary for pastoral care until 6 p.m. Eastern and from 8 p.m. to midnight.  St. John’s Maundy Thursday service will take place this evening at 6:30. Security will be at the church beginning at 8 p.m. “You do not have to walk through this night alone,” the Facebook post says. “Come find peace, light a candle, or sit in stillness. You are welcome here.”

[Episcopal News Service] April 19 marks 30 years since 168 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in a truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. The explosion extensively damaged St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral two blocks away, causing a two-year closure and $7.5 million in renovations. The congregation, however, remained close. Parishioners worshiped in the parish hall as they collectively grieved and healed physically, emotionally and spiritually. Because the bombing anniversary falls on Holy Saturday this year, St. Paul’s will dedicate its Easter Vigil service to commemorating the victims and survivors. The service will begin at 8 p.m. Central. “There are years that the anniversary comes and slips up on me, and some years are smoother than others. But I have noticed that I’m feeling a little more tender [this year] with it being the week of Easter,” Dianne Dooley, a survivor and co-director of St. Paul’s altar guild, told Episcopal News Service. Dooley was working at the Department of Veterans Affairs office in the Murrah Federal Building when the bomb went off three days after Easter, and suffered a compound fracture to her right wrist. “Thirty years is a lifetime that a lot of people didn’t get when they passed away in 1995, and I’ve had a second lifetime,” Dooley said. “I think back on all that transpired in those 30 years, and it just reminds me how fragile life is.” Dooley and her husband learned about and later joined St. Paul’s and The Episcopal Church after attending a grief workshop following the attack for survivors at St. Crispin’s Conference Center + Camp in Wewoka, which is owned by the Diocese of Oklahoma. St. Paul’s Easter Vigil service will commence at the Survivor Tree within the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, where the Murrah Federal Building once stood. The Survivor Tree is an American elm that survived the bomb’s blast; it stands in what was the parking lot between the Murrah Federal Building and the Journal Record Building – now named The Heritage – which houses the museum. The congregation will light a Paschal candle and 168 luminarias with the names and pictures of those who died in the bombing. They will then process to the cathedral with the luminarias and candle. The rest of the service will be livestreamed once everyone is inside the cathedral. Susan Urbach – a verger, Eucharistic minister and assistant treasurer of St. Paul’s, as well as the president of the Diocese of Oklahoma’s Standing Committee – was working as director of the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center on the third floor of the Journal Record Building when the bomb exploded. She suffered injuries throughout her body and spent several hours in surgery. “Whenever a tragedy happens, everybody wants life to go back to normal, the way it was before that bad event happened. But it can’t, and that’s probably one of the hardest things to begin to say,” Urbach told ENS. “Ultimately, there will be a new normal, and it won’t be the same. … Healing is different for everyone. We would like for healing to come quickly, but it doesn’t happen that way.” Urbach said St. Paul’s was crucial to her physical, spiritual and emotional recovery. After she was discharged from the hospital, parishioners provided food, took care of her cats, helped change her dressings and washed her hair. “I am just so grateful for my church family,” said Urbach, who previously served as senior warden of St. Paul’s. Immediately after the bombing, at least 100 volunteer clergy and lay leaders from St. Paul’s worked together to feed first responders and rescue workers as they cleaned debris and recovered bodies from the rubble. That sense of helping people affected by the bombing remains instilled in cathedral members today. For example, many of them volunteer every year at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, the largest fundraiser for the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. Their actions abide by the “Oklahoma Standard,” a statewide initiative borne from the bombing to promote a culture of service, honor and kindness.  For Oklahoma Bishop Poulson Reed, “that just sums up the Christian faith of the cathedral.” “As bishop, I have been so impressed in the five years that I have been here with the deep faith of our cathedral members, and I believe that, in some respects, it is due to how faithfully they responded to that incredible tragedy,” Reed told ENS. “We had members of our cathedral community who were directly impacted by that horrible day – by that violence – and yet they were able to rely on their faith to overcome the trauma of that day to bring healing and hope not only to the cathedral, but to the city.” Reed and St. Paul’s clergy will lead the cathedral’s Easter Vigil service, when 14 people will be baptized. Forty people will be confirmed, including Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt’s children, George and Margaret. A lifelong Episcopalian and a member of the Osage Nation, Holt and his family are parishioners of St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City. “Like all members of the OKC faith community, The Episcopal Church stepped up in 1995 to help our community heal,” Holt told ENS in an email. “We all continue to work together in OKC to support those who lost a loved one and those who survived, while also working to make sure that the lessons of April 19th are never forgotten. Christian love is the purest answer to hatred, dehumanization and violence.” On the morning of the anniversary, Holt will speak at the annual memorial service downtown. Since he took office in 2018, Holt has addressed the direct challenges of extremism in every speech. In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, two anti-government extremists – mastermind Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols – retaliated against the federal

[Religion News Service] American organized religion is a bit like a scene from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” It has been on the decline for decades, but churches aren’t dead yet. A new survey from Nashville-based Lifeway Research found that 94% of Protestant pastors believe their church will still be open in 10 years, with 78% strongly agreeing that will be true. Four percent of pastors say their church will close, with the other 2% saying they don’t know, according to the survey released April 15. Conducted over the phone, it surveyed 1,003 randomly selected Protestant pastors between Aug. 8 and Sept. 3, 2024. Those pastors may be right, say researchers who study the American religious landscape. Duke University sociologist Mark Chaves, who runs the National Congregations Study, said past studies found that about 1 in 100 churches close each year. So, the idea that most churches will be around in 10 years isn’t surprising. “An interesting thing about churches as organizations is that they have ways of staying alive in a very weakened state,” Chaves said in an email. “Other organizations would close, but weak churches have ways of staying alive.” Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, said the long-term trends for congregations are more worrisome. But in the short term, congregations have become more optimistic. In a 2021 study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on congregations, 7% of church respondents reported their existence was threatened, and 5% said their church was in serious financial difficulty. By 2023, 3% of churches surveyed said they were in serious financial difficulty. That same year, in a study about how the pandemic has affected churches, 2% of church leaders said they were feeling very negative about their church’s future, while 9% were somewhat negative. Lifeway’s findings that few pastors thought their churches would be closing, Thumma said, were “within the ballpark.” He also said small churches that have few staff members and have paid off their building can keep going for a long time. They may have already seen some decline and know how to cope with it. Things are harder, he said, for midsize churches that no longer have enough people or money to sustain themselves. “Small churches can be resilient for a long time, especially when their building is paid for,” said Scott McConnell, director of Lifeway Research. While many churches may survive the next decade, the 20-year outlook is bleaker. “People who are in their 70s now won’t be gone in 10 years, but they will be gone in 20 years,” Thumma said. “That’s where you’re going to see the real drop.” Count the Rev. Nic Mather of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Longview, Washington, among the pastors who are optimistic for the future. The church has seen a slow but steady stream of newcomers in the last few years, mostly people who are seeking spiritual meaning and the kind of close-knit community the church offers. “There’s a power of being in community with others,” he said, “and that ethos and sense of community is so strong here that it continues to attract people.” Mather said his congregation is aware that people don’t come to church in the way they did in the past. That’s made it focus more on reaching out to neighbors. The church also allows a number of community groups to use its building, seeing it as a resource for those neighbors. “We are truly hub for our community. So many people come into our building for things that aren’t church that I can’t imagine this place not being here,” he said. Bob Stevenson, pastor of Village Baptist Church in Aurora, Illinois, is also optimistic about his congregation’s prospects. “We’re 40 years old and we have weathered quite a bit, and so unless there is some scandal or some major change socioeconomically in our area, I don’t see anything changing in terms of the church itself,” he said. Stevenson said the church, which draws about 120 worshippers and is ethnically diverse, has taken steps to “future-proof” itself. That includes paying attention to the integrity of its leadership, something some churches have ignored to their peril. He also said the church has a strong, committed core of members, which will help it continue for the long term. Still, he said, COVID-19 taught him and other church leaders that no one can predict the future. Ryan Burge, a former pastor and author of “The American Religious Landscape,” said it’s hard to know when a church is ready to close. Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University, was the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in downstate Mount Vernon, which closed last summer. His church, which was more than 150 years old when it closed, had been on the decline for years but rallied more than a few times. Eventually, as older members of the congregation died, there were no young people to take their place. “All it takes is two or three people to die in close succession, and it’s game over for a lot of those churches,” he said. The new Pew Religious Landscape Study found that 85% of Americans ages 65 and older identify with a religion, and 78% identify as Christian. However, only 54% of Americans under 30 identify with a religion, including 45% who say they are Christian. Lifeway Research found some indication that the rate of churches closing might have increased. The survey includes a look at data from the Southern Baptist Convention showing that 1.8% of congregations disbanded or closed in 2022, the last year with data available. If that annual percentage were to hold steady over the next decade, it would mean about 18% of churches would close during that time, which is more than than pastors surveyed would have predicted. McConnell also said some of the churches that closed may not have had a pastor, which could explain the difference between how pastors feel and the statistics. “But if we assume the

[Melbourne Anglican]  Zaki Haidari was only 17 when he fled persecution in Afghanistan. He is now a refugee rights campaigner with Amnesty International Australia, a key contributor to Melbourne’s Palm Sunday March for Refugees. Zaki sought asylum by sea in 2012. He was trying to find a safe country. The Taliban was committing mass murders among the Hazara community to which Zaki belonged. Hazara voices were silenced, and there was no freedom of movement. “The decision wasn’t easy,” he said. “Leaving your country, your family and friends, the place you grew up.” On arriving in Australia, Zaki was denied work rights for three years. There was no funding for him to study or learn English. “It was a bit harsh on me being that age and not having any rights…rights I strongly believe every human being deserves, rights to education…to have freedom to find employment and sustain yourself,” he said. Zaki said refugees were required to sign a contract with the immigration department not to speak publicly about their experiences. He said this silencing was similar to the silencing of the Hazara people in Afghanistan. But Zaki chose to speak out. As a result, he received a scholarship to study English and went on to complete diplomas in information technology and graphic design. On a surprisingly warm Palm Sunday, masses of people gathered to march in support of asylum seekers like Zaki. Led across Princes Bridge by Riff Raff Marching Band, grandparents, students, children, and faith and community organizations made their voices heard, calling on Australia to welcome refugees with justice and kindness. Grandmothers for Refugees member Sue was thinking of the refugees stranded in Papua New Guinea. “They have done nothing wrong except claim refugee status,” she said. Medical Students for Refugees representatives Farah and Julia were marching to call out the poor healthcare available to refugees. “As future healthcare professionals we’re taught not to do any harm, and healthcare is a human right,” Farah said. “As medical students we’re here to rally for the rights of refugees.” Julia said they represented a body of medical students who supported health equity for all refugees and asylum seekers. St. Mary’s North Melbourne parishioner Michael said he believed in justice for refugees. “If you want to make things better…first you pray for it, and then you act on it,” he said. “That’s how prayer works.” The dean of Melbourne, the Very Rev. Andreas Loewe, reflected in his address to the march that St. Paul’s Cathedral’s commitment to welcoming refugees had transformed the community. “Our congregation grew more international, with members from across the globe, displaced people, migrants, those who fled persecution for their faith,” he said. Loewe said the congregation changed and grew from listening to the stories from the refugees, hearing their traditions and supporting one another with their gifts. “As a cathedral we’re significantly enriched,” he said. “This exchange is something we want to see in our nation as well.” Former United Nations assistant secretary-general Gillian Triggs said she was pleased to be a part of the Palm Sunday march, which emphasized welcoming the stranger. She said there was an increased global willingness to deny the legal standards of the Refugee Convention. Triggs said faith groups were vital to the U.N.’s work with displaced people. “They don’t go away when the money runs out,” she said. “They’re always there in the community, and they’re the ones that deliver a lot of the humanitarian responses.”

[Church in Wales] Two ministry areas in Mid Wales are working together to bring the Easter story to their communities. A joint project by the Black Mountains and St. Catwg ministry areas is taking modern art paintings that tell the Easter story, usually seen in art galleries or cathedrals, and placing them in shops, cafés and pubs in towns and villages along the rivers Usk and Wye. The paintings tell the traditional Easter narrative but with a twist – every picture is set in modern London. By taking part in the project, businesses in Crickhowell, Talgarth, Llangors and Hay-on-Wye are enabling the public to see these dramatic Passion pictures in everyday settings. Locations for the 15 pictures, painted by Mark Cazalet, include London Underground tube stations, a scrap yard and the streets outside Wormwood Scrubs prison. The works depicting the trial, humiliation, torture, crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus can be seen until Good Friday in two pubs, two butchers’ shops, cafes, a bookshop, a college office, a petrol station forecourt and an architectural salvage yard. Fr. David Wyatt, priest at Hay-on-Wye, has four paintings in the busy market town, including the opening scene depicting the trial of Jesus. This picture is hanging in one of the town’s barbershops, another painting is in a butcher’s window and one is shown in a local pub. “The placing of the Passion of our Lord into contemporary backdrops, familiar to many, is quite striking and effective. Being offered an opportunity to reflect is an important part of a good Lent,” he said. The project is the initiative of the same team who brought camels to Brecon on Christmas Eve in 2023 in a live public nativity. “We’re hoping that people will see Jesus and the traditional Easter story in a clear and fresh way while out shopping and relaxing in their local towns and villages,” said the Rev. Anna Bessant, who has helped to bring the Easter paintings project to life and looks after churches around Llangors Lake. “The paintings are very immediate and shocking and, because the scenes are set in modern Britain, we hope it will move people to think about the relevance of Easter today and encounter the story of God’s transforming love.” The project also offers a re-telling of the traditional Easter story in a simple way, to allow people who are not familiar with Jesus’s journey an opportunity to discover more about the Christian faith. In Talgarth, the window of the butcher W. J. George’s is displaying one of the paintings until Good Friday. Georgina George, who runs the Deli Pot in Talgarth’s village butcher shop, said, “It’s a privilege to be hosting one of these important pictures. We’re delighted to be telling part of the story here in Talgarth, and people can see some of the other paintings just a few yards away at the Black Mountain College office and in the cafes.” The 15 paintings together are called “West London Stations of The Cross.” The picture called “Women of Jerusalem Weep” shows Jesus travelling to his death surrounded by soldiers among market stalls on Portobello Road in West London. Until Good Friday it is on display at Llangynidr’s Walnut Tree Café. “Our business is mainly run by women, so it’s very apt for us to be hosting this painting,” Claire Preece, who runs the café, said. “It’s a pleasure to be taking part in telling the Easter story in the area, collaborating with local businesses and churches. Walnut Tree Café customers are intrigued by this painting and the meaning behind it. It’s certainly different from lots of the artwork usually found in cafes in the Usk Valley.” The paintings have been loaned to the project by John and Liz Gibbs. Richard Parry from the New Library, Llantwit Major, who is working with the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon ministry areas this year to bring the project to life, organized a similar project last year in pubs and cafes on the south Wales coast. Richard said, “These paintings in Powys are very important. They remind us of the everyday compassion of people on pavements in the face of cruel violence in the world. As we re-visit the Easter Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, we look directly into the heart of the Christian faith. This project deals with our modern predicament today and links it to the Passion, degradation and transformation of the Easter story.” All the paintings remain on display in Powys cafes, pubs and shops until Good Friday, April 18, when the full 15 will be brought together for public viewing as a public offer at the small Celtic church at Llanywern, near Llangors Lake, starting on Saturday, April 19. A full list of the pubs, shops and cafes displaying the paintings can be found here.

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Sandye Wilson, interim dean of the Cathedral of All Saints in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, died on April 15. An announcement of her death was made by the cathedral on its Facebook page on April 16. Wilson, who was also vice chair of the Church Pension Fund board of trustees, announced on March 19 via Facebook that after two surgeries, she had been diagnosed with stage 3 serous endometrial cancer and would undergo about six months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. On April 4, she posted that she had completed her first round of chemotherapy. Serous endometrial cancer occurs in about 10% of all cases of endometrial cancer but represents 40% of deaths. “Sandye will be remembered for her unwavering service and commitment to The Episcopal Church. She was a dedicated member of The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees and held many roles over the past decade, most recently as a Vice Chair of the Board. We will dearly miss her leadership, witness, intelligence, passion, humor, and friendship,” Mary Kate Wold, CEO AND president of The Church Pension Fund, said in a statement. Wilson was elected to the fund’s board at the 78th General Convention in 2015 and was reelected to a second term in 2022. In addition to serving as a vice chair, she served as a member of the Benefits Policy Committee, the Compensation, Diversity, and Workplace Values Committee and the Executive Committee. Wilson’s ministry in The Episcopal Church spanned more than 40 years. Ordained as a priest in 1980, she served congregations in the dioceses of Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Newark and New Jersey. She also served as chief operating officer of Saint Augustine’s University, a private historically Black university in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of two HBCUs still associated with The Episcopal Church. She was a longtime deputy to General Convention, a member of Executive Council and former president of the Union of Black Episcopalians. Tributes to Wilson quickly appeared across social media. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson on Facebook described Wilson as someone “whose indelible mark on countless lives will long be cherished.” He added, “She has been a guiding light, a faithful friend, a dedicated companion and a catalyst for good trouble to so many in this church and beyond. She now rests with the ancestors and saints in the realms of eternal light.” Notice of her death also was shared by the Union of Black Episcopalians, who called Wilson a “UBE pioneer.” The Rev. Susan Russell, canon for engagement across difference for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, California, posted, “If you Google ‘force of nature,’ Sandye Wilson’s photo would rise to the top.” Russell said that like others she was grieving Wilson’s death “while giving thanks for her bright light and powerful witness to a church she loved too much not to challenge it to be better than it was willing to settle to be.” No announcement has yet been made regarding funeral arrangements.