Americans United for Separation of Church and State had asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for permission to defend the so-called Johnson Amendment, an IRS rule that bars nonprofits from taking sides in political campaigns, in the case filed by religious groups opposed to the amendment. In its motion to join the suit, Americans United said a proposed settlement to the lawsuit, which would allow churches to make political statements during services, violates federal law and would give religious nonprofits rights that secular groups don’t have.

The group also argued that the federal government has refused to defend the Johnson Amendment in court.

In mid-December, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Baker turned Americans United down, saying the lawsuit in question was not the right place to air the group’s concerns. But, he added, “[I]f a nonprofit has an equal-protection challenge to its own anticipated treatment under the Johnson Amendment, that separate dispute as to a separate transaction can be litigated in an appropriate forum.”

For years, conservative legal groups have sought to challenge the Johnson Amendment in court, organizing groups of pastors to endorse candidates during services and then mailing recordings of the endorsements to the IRS in hopes of provoking a legal battle. The IRS had long declined to respond. President Donald Trump has claimed from early in his first presidency that he wants to get rid of the Johnson Amendment, saying it harms pastors.

In a court filing last summer, the IRS said that the Johnson Amendment ban on nonprofit political endorsements does not apply to comments made during religious services. That filing came in response to a 2024 lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and two religious nonprofits — the National Religious Broadcasters Association and Intercessors for America — which claims that the bar on endorsements during sermons was unconstitutional. The IRS hopes to settle the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Groups like Americans United for the Separation of Church and State oppose the settlement that would allow endorsements during sermons, saying it will open the door for so-called dark money to flow between campaigns and churches.

“Christian Nationalists, with help from the Trump administration, are attempting to eviscerate the popular Johnson Amendment so that they can misuse charitable donations for partisan political campaigns,” Americans United said in a statement. “We’re disappointed that the court didn’t allow Americans United to intervene to defend this federal law since the Trump administration will not.”

The settlement needs final approval from a judge in order to take effect. Americans United has not decided whether to appeal, it said.

“We remain hopeful the court will reject the proposed settlement agreement that attempts to usurp Congressional power to write our laws,” Americans United said in its statement.

In a response to the concerns raised by Americans United, the plaintiffs said the settlement applies only to speech during religious services. Other bans in the Johnson Amendment, the plaintiffs argue, such as those barring financial contributions to campaigns, remain in place.

“While the consent decree addresses only worship services, it is inaccurate to claim that the line drawn by the decree is between religious and secular organizations,” the plaintiffs wrote in a December court filing. “All nonprofits, religious and secular alike — including churches in other contexts — must still adhere to the Johnson Amendment.”

The proposed settlement makes no mention of allowing churches to spend money on political campaigns. However, critics argue the settlement would result in a flood of partisan donations to churches, with no way of tracking the donations or how those funds are spent.

“Liberal and conservative churches alike would be pressured to accept partisan contributions, and their leaders would be incentivized to act as campaign operatives rather than spiritual guides,” lawyers for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center argued in an amicus brief filed in the case.

Alexandra Zaretsky, litigation counsel at Americans United, said that while the proposed settlement doesn’t allow for political contributions, the settlement could open the door to such contributions in the future.

“One of the many problems with the proposed settlement agreement is that it is unclear,” Zaretsky said in an email. “The parties themselves don’t seem to agree on the parameters of precisely what speech the settlement agreement covers. While the decree does not facially authorize political contributions, we’re concerned that the parties — or others — could try to interpret this language broadly.”

The Campaign Legal Center also filed an amicus brief opposing the settlement. Kevin Hancock, the group’s director for Campaign Finance Litigation, argues that if approved, the settlement could turn video feeds from worship services into ads for campaigns—especially if a service containing an endorsement was broadcast online.

“The sermon isn’t just taking place live, but they’re publishing it later over on their website,” Hancock said. That could be considered a contribution to a campaign, in the same way that taking an ad in the newspaper or on TV would be.

Under the terms of the settlement, comments about politics or candidates — if they take place in service or through a church’s “customary channels of communication on matters of faith” — would not be considered a violation of the Johnson Amendment.

That phrase, “customary channels of communications,” leaves a lot of wiggle room, said Hancock.

“The language of this consent decree, I think, is not actually that narrow,” he said.

Endorsing candidates during worship services has long been controversial among Americans. Most — 77% — disapprove of political statements during services, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found. And few Protestant pastors say they have endorsed candidates at church, according to Lifeway Research.

While the IRS has investigated churches for political statements — including a church led by Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Trump ally — those investigations are rare. In 1992, the Church at Pierce Creek, a congregation in New York, lost its tax exemption after taking out an anti-Bill Clinton ad. It remains the only congregation to lose its tax-exempt status for violating the Johnson Amendment.

If the court does approve the proposed settlement, Americans United said it might push for the right to make political endorsements as well.

“AU views endorsing or opposing political candidates as a valuable benefit and would begin conversations about doing so if other nonprofits were permitted to engage in these activities,” the group said.

“This project is a Jesus project,” the church’s rector, the Rev. Anna Woofenden, said. “We are called to see the image of God in each and every human being, and no one — no one — should freeze to death in the winter.” 

The church’s 12-bed shelter was created to fill a gap in the city’s cold weather housing, operating on cold nights when the city’s shelter reaches its 70-bed capacity. Every winter in Northampton, some 20 nights reach temperatures of 15 degrees Fahrenheit or below, which can pose severe or even fatal risk to those without shelter.

“While we can’t solve all the suffering in the world, we can do our part to re-spin this part of the broken web in our community,” Woofenden said.

Trained volunteers run the shelter at St. John’s, which is fully funded by donations. Many of the area’s unhoused neighbors already are familiar with the church through its Manna Community Kitchen and Community Center.

The shelter will be blessed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 8. Western Massachusetts Bishop Douglas Fisher and Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra will take part, along with Woofenden.

The boy, Johnathan Everet Boley, was last seen alive walking into some woods with his dog Dec. 31 in Jasper, Alabama, about 40 miles northwest of Birmingham. Authorities launched a search of the area and found his body on Jan. 2, with the dog still alive.

Johnathan had been staying at his father’s Jasper home. After the boy went missing, the father, Jameson Boley, was arrested on charges unrelated to the boy’s disappearance and death.

Johnathan’s mother, Angel Boley, works as director of guest services at DaySpring Camp & Conference Center in Parrish, Florida. She previously worked at Camp McDowell in Nauvoo, Alabama.

During the search, DaySpring called for prayers as it provided updates on its Facebook page. Camp McDowell also posted updates.

On Jan. 2, DaySpring Executive Director Brad Thompson announced Johnathan’s body had been found, and Thompson called on the camp community to support the Boleys as they confront tragedy.

“Dancing in the hallway as our guests entered DaySpring these last 12 months has been Johnathan Boley,” Thompson said. “The entire DaySpring staff is heartbroken at the loss of this amazing little boy and wonderful blessing to our community.”

The camp and conference center invited donations through its website to support Angel Boley through this time of loss.

“DaySpring is and will remain always a place to feel cherished. We lost someone we cherish today. Thank you for being there for the Boleys.”

The circumstances of Johnathan’s initial disappearance remain unclear, though Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told local reporters that the 4-year-old “was an adventurous boy and loved the outdoors.”

“Like so many of you across our community, we’re devastated by this news,” Smith said.

Former Ohio Bishop J. Clark Grew II/ Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew II, who was bishop of the Diocese of Ohio from 1994 to 2004, died Dec. 22, 2025, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was 86.

The diocese said in announcing his death on its Facebook page, “We in the Diocese of Ohio are grateful for his faithful ministry with and for us during his episcopacy. He will always be remembered and honored here.” It added, “In our prayers, we surround the family with love and commend Bishop Grew to God’s eternal care.”

Grew was born in New York City on Dec. 20, 1939, and was named after his great uncle, Joseph Clark Grew, who was the U.S. ambassador to Japan during World War II.

After graduating from Harvard in 1962, he served in the U.S. Navy for five years, including as the 52nd commander of the U.S.S. Constitution, which was first launched in 1797. He then taught in private schools until entering Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1978.

He served churches in Westwood, Massachusetts, and Lake Forest, Illinois, before his election as bishop of Ohio in 1993 and his consecration in 1994. During his tenure as bishop, he was known for his support for greater inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people in the church.

He also served as head of Episcopal Divinity School’s board, and he received an honorary doctorate from the seminary in 1997 for his pastoral and prophetic leadership

In retirement, he returned to Boston and was involved with Epiphany School and with St. George’s School in Newport, Rhode Island.

He is survived by Wendy, his wife of nearly 53 years; three children; eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a sister and a brother.

His funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. on Jan. 31 at Emmanuel Church in Boston.

“Sunday in Palm Beach” is a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle by Michael Storrings for Galison. The puzzle depicts the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: Shireen Korkzan/ENS

[Episcopal News Service] The holiday season is a time for loved ones do fun activities together, like completing a jigsaw puzzle.

For dissectologists, or jigsaw puzzle lovers, who happen to be Episcopalian, an ideal puzzle to complete may be Galison’s new 500-piece “Sunday in Palm Beach” puzzle. The image depicts the Gothic Revival exterior of the historic Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Diocese of Southeast Florida, on a sunny day.

“I think Michael Storrings created a wonderful, whimsical depiction of Bethesda-by-the-Sea that really captures the beauty of the architecture and the whole vibe of Palm Beach,” the Rev. Tim Schenck, the church’s rector, told Episcopal News Service. “The other thing I love about this puzzle is that it’s not just a puzzle of the building, as beautiful as that is, but that the puzzle is full of people. To me, that’s a reflection of this vibrant, welcoming, diverse community here in Palm Beach. It’s an amazing community.”

In Galison’s 500-piece “Sunday in Palm Beach” jigsaw puzzle depicting the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, the Rev. Tim Schenck, rector, can be found among the people gathered in front of the church. Photo: Shireen Korkzan/ENS

The puzzle’s art is an original Caran d’Ache watercolor crayon and ink painting made for Galison by Storrings, a New York-based artist whose work is featured on home accessories, housewares, gifts, book covers and more and sold in stores worldwide.

Galison President Bill Miller is a Bethesda-by-the-Sea parishioner in the winter. The rest of the year he’s a member of  St. James’ Church on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The New York-based company has been selling gifts since its founding in 1979. Today, the company is best known for its jigsaw puzzles and for its commitment to employing real artists in a market that’s becoming increasingly saturated by artificial intelligence-produced images.

Miller told ENS that plans to design a puzzle depicting the church began in the spring. He commissioned Storrings, Galison’s bestselling artist, to paint it because he’s previously painted images of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Notre-Dame de Paris and Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre in Paris, France.

“Bethesda not only has the gorgeous Gothic exterior, but it also has the grounds around it and the gardens that are just so beautiful,” Miller said. “We wanted to build a whole community gathering and show that the church is active and alive. …I thought Michael would connect better with the image we had in mind, and he did a great job.”

Storrings, who’s also executive art director at St. Martin’s Press, a subsidiary of Macmillan Publishers, is known for painting colorful scenes, in different seasons, of cities and everyday life. 

“Sunday in Palm Beach” is no different. In the image, which is mostly made with blue and green hues, intentionally faceless people are gathered on the church’s front lawn and engaged in various activities. Some people are listening to a chamber ensemble perform while others are running with dogs. Some people are having a picnic while others are walking into the church. A child is playing hopscotch. Schenck, in his clerical collar, stands center-bottom on the sidewalk. Palm trees stand tall from the lawn and surround Bethesda-by-the-Sea’s building. Behind the white building, boats are out in the ocean and birds are flying.

Michael Storrings’ artist statement on “Sunday in Palm Beach,” a jigsaw puzzle depicting the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, that he designed for Galison. Photo: Shireen Korkzan/ENS

While researching the church and designing the puzzle’s image, Storrings “was drawn to the sense of community and friendship that has brought people together in this historic building over the years.”

“I just loved the fact that [Bethesda-by-the-Sea] was near the ocean, under a vast big open blue sky and surrounded by palm trees,” Storrings told ENS in an email. “Through drawing this visual and sensory location, I felt a genuine connection to the sacred. The creative act itself became a form of spiritual expression, deepening my sense of faith and presence.”

The box Galison’s 500-piece “Sunday in Palm Beach” jigsaw puzzle depicting the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, comes in. Photo: Shireen Korkzan/ENS

“Sunday in Palm Beach” went through a few revisions between Storrings, Schenck and Miller before it was finalized. A copy of the painting was then sent to Package Right, a jigsaw puzzle and board game manufacturing company in Tipton, Indiana, to make and distribute the puzzle.

Storrings, Schenck and Miller all described the collaboration as “wonderful.”

“By virtue of this puzzle, it feels as if people are able to take a little piece of Bethesda home with them, and that’s pretty special,” Schenck said.

“Sunday in Palm Beach” is now available for purchase on Galison’s website, in Bethesda’s giftshop and in retailers like Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Puzzle Warehouse and Puzzledly. A small portion of sales will support Bethesda’s outreach ministries, most of which address food insecurity in Palm Beach County.

Galison puzzles are manufactured and sold for about three years before they are discontinued, Miller said. 

Professional bias aside, Miller said jigsaw puzzles are ideal Christmas gifts because they “bring families and friends around the table to work on something special together.”

“There’s nothing better during the holidays than pulling your loved ones together and having them around the table,” he said. “Completing a puzzle together is a great opportunity for bonding and creating new, happy memories.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Volunteers work to distribute food and toys Dec. 16 through an annual holiday outreach ministry launched more than a decade ago by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Jasper, Alabama. Photo: Diocese of Alabama

[Diocese of Alabama] For more than a decade, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Jasper, Alabama, has marked the Advent season by serving families across three north-central Alabama counties through its annual Food Drive and Toy Giveaway. This year’s event, held Dec. 16, reached nearly 900 families from Walker, Winston, and Cullman counties.

Organized in partnership with The Trace Church and supported by more than 30 local organizations, including the Walker Area Community Foundation and the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, the drive distributed bags filled with a variety of food items and toys for children up to age 12. More than 1,200 families registered for the event, underscoring the ongoing need for food assistance in the region.

“The Christmas giveaway is what Christmas is really about, people and churches coming together,” said the Rev. Corrie Cabes, rector of St. Mary’s. “This is what the Kingdom of God looks like. People come wondering if there will be enough, and they leave with abundance.”

Cabes attributes the ministry’s impact to the generosity of grants, partners and both named and anonymous donors, as well as to volunteers who return year after year. She emphasized that inclusion is central to the outreach, highlighting the involvement of diverse organizations and individuals, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

According to Mike McClendon, a parishioner involved since the ministry’s inception, this Christmas outreach began in 2013 at St. Mary’s parish hall, serving 100 families in its first year. The ministry’s initial $4,000 grant came from the Walker Area Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization that awards millions of dollars in grants annually.

As participation grew and because of St. Mary’s location along a busy street, church leaders began conversations with The Trace Church, whose larger campus would allow the ministry to expand. For the Rev. George Barrera, pastor of The Trace Church for 32 years, the partnership emerged as a clear answer to prayer.

“Jesus’ last prayer in John 17 was for unity, bringing the whole world together,” Barrera said. “We may not be able to go to the ends of the world, but we do have a responsibility to our community. Partnering with St. Mary’s is one way we have seen Jesus at work through relationships and a shared vision for a bright future.”

Grants from the Walker Area Community Foundation have increased substantially over the years, enabling the ministry to expand its reach, ensure its longevity, and hire a full-time director and a part-time assistant. Jennifer Andrews, who volunteered with the ministry for several years before accepting the director role, describes the work as extending beyond food distribution.

“This ministry offers human connection,” Andrews said. “It’s a chance to sit down, talk and truly see one another. Through every step, Jesus is present, and the work reflects a strong, love-based faith.”

Data collected through St. Mary’s regulatory software show that two-thirds of participants visit the ministry five times or fewer, indicating short-term need. Of the remaining third, 80% are senior citizens living on fixed Social Security incomes, while 20% live with disabilities that limit their ability to improve their financial situation.

The Christmas Giveaway is an extension of St. Mary’s Food and Diaper Bank, which began in the 1990s when parishioners donated nonperishable food items to families in need. Today, the ministry distributes more than 300 grocery bags and serves breakfast to 200 individuals every Tuesday. In November, in response to increased SNAP-related needs, the ministry served more than 400 individuals each week and distributed between 425 and 550 bags of groceries.

Jessica Hamilton, a supervisor with the Walker County Department of Human Resources, has supported the ministry for five years.

“Some of the biggest turnouts happen when SNAP benefits were cut out,” she said. “During that time, I saw something remarkable where people in the community stepped up in ways I’d never seen before. Even when folks had just a little extra, they gave.”

For many families, this outreach is essential. A family of four who are regular recipients shared that it is often their only source of Christmas gifts.

This year’s event involved 150 volunteers, including Spanish interpreters, who served in roles ranging from food packing and registration to truck driving and assisting families through the drive-through. Many volunteers were also available to offer prayer and pastoral support.

For Donna Corbett, a St. Mary’s parishioner and third-time volunteer in the Christmas Giveaway, the ministry has become deeply personal.

“After losing my husband, this has been healthier than sitting alone in a room,” she said. “It brings real satisfaction, and over time, you build relationships with both participants and fellow volunteers.”

A new partner this year is Baptist Health Walker Hospital, a private, not-for-profit, faith-based health care system serving Central Alabama. Dewight Davis, the hospital’s director of surgery, said staff participation reflects their calling to care beyond hospital walls.

“Serving the community outside of the hospital has been incredibly rewarding,” Davis said. “It’s a meaningful partnership.”

— Nana Afia Tenkoramaa is director of communications for the Diocese of Alabama.

Frazer has served as rector of the Church of the Ascension since 2018 and has held numerous diocesan leadership roles, including president of the Standing Committee, dean of the Montgomery Convocation and deputy to General Convention. Lawson has served as dean and rector of St. John’s Cathedral since 2017 and previously served parishes in Memphis, Tennessee, and Decatur, Alabama, and has longstanding ties to the Diocese of Alabama and Camp McDowell.

A meeting with both candidates will be held Jan. 3 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook. The electing convention will take place Jan. 24 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham.

More information is available at www.dioala.org.

Bishop Mark Edington is an official participant, and Giulia Bonoldi, managing director of Rome’s Joel Nafuma Refugee Center and the convocation’s chief welcoming officer for refugees and migrants, joined as a guest.

The meeting takes place under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.N.’s refugee agency, and comes two years after the 2023 Global Refugee Forum, the world’s largest international gathering on refugees.

The forum meets every four years to inspire support for refugees and discuss forced displacement around the world.

The review meeting is designed to expand support for refugees and work on implementing pledges made at the most recent forum.

At the 2023 forum, The Episcopal Church pledged its commitment to support refugees, noting resolutions adopted by General Convention in 2022 and 2018 that expressed full support of measures to protect refugees and asylum-seekers, including LGBTQ+ people, taken by the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration.

Edington, who also attended the 2023 forum, told Episcopal News Service by email that this review meeting highlighted for him what a crisis it is “that some of the wealthiest nations in the world are turning away from the needs of the most vulnerable people in the world at just the moment that there are more refugees fleeing violence, war and climate change than at any earlier point in human history.”

In response, he said faith communities can play a crucial role by stepping into a vacuum left by reduced public funding. “We cannot solve the whole problem, but we can do something — and we are capable of doing even more than we have been doing.”

For Bonoldi, the meeting offered “a shared commitment to deliver on pledges,” she said by email. However, she saw that “significant challenges” emerged around asylum and protection of displaced people “at a time when the gap between growing humanitarian needs and declining funding continues to widen.”

Across the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, which in Western Europe includes parishes and missions in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, congregations are serving refugees through its refugee grant program.

The convocation began serving refugees, with support from Episcopal Relief & Development, in 2022 at the start of the war in Ukraine.

Edington and Bonoldi were joined at the meeting by Tanzania Archbishop Maimbo Mndolwa, the Anglican Communion’s representative to the UNHCR Multi-Religious Council of Leaders, and Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion’s permanent representative at the United Nations.

Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the United Nations, in an email to ENS thanked Edington and Bonoldi “for their representation alongside the Anglican Communion and other faith-based partners” and prayed “for the safety and security of all asylum seekers and refugees around the world.”

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

The statement includes a call for prayers for the two Brown University students who were shot and killed Dec. 13 on campus while in a final exam prep session. One of the Brown University students killed, Ella Cook, was a member of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama.

The bishops also called for prayers for the Jewish community in Australia after 15 people were shot and killed Dec. 14 during a Hanukkah celebration on a beach. They denounced antisemitism as a “continued evil.” Antisemitism – hostility or prejudice against Jewish people – has been growing worldwide, including Australia and the United States.

A prayer adapted from Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail gun violence, is included in the statement.

As of Dec. 17, 14,030 people nationwide have died by gun violence in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an American nonprofit that catalogs every gun-related death in the United States.

The bishops’ statement follows.

Our Commitment to Peace and Justice in a Broken World

Beloved of God,

In the midst of an Advent full of joyful preparation, this past weekend delivered a stark reminder that our Lord Jesus Christ was and continues to be born into a broken world full of danger and sin. As Episcopal and Lutheran bishops in New England, we ask you all to hold the people of Providence, and particularly Brown University, in your prayers as they contend with the trauma of gun violence in their community. We pray especially for the repose of the two young people who have died and all who loved them. We pray also for all who are still in the grip of fear and uncertainty.

We also commend your prayers for the people of Sydney, Australia and particularly the Jewish community there and worldwide. Yet another attack on a Jewish religious gathering points to the continued evil of anti-Semitism across the globe. Please join us in standing with our Jewish siblings, while we continue to pray for peace and an end to religious violence of all kinds.

On Sunday we prayed the wonderful collect of Gaudete Sunday, called by some “Stir It Up” Sunday. It reads: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever.”

The collect resonates more than ever this week. May God’s power, grace, and mercy be abundantly revealed in our world. We pray also that God will stir up our own resolve to deepen our commitment to peace and justice. May our way and the way of all the lands be Peace.

Blessings upon your last week of Advent. May this time be one of renewed prayer and reflection as we await the entrance of Light into our despairing world.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Julia E. Whitworth
Bishop Diocesan
Diocese of Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
Bishop Suffragan
The Episcopal Church in Connecticut

The Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Brown
Bishop Diocesan
Diocese of Maine

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher
Bishop Diocesan
Diocese of Western Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld
Bishop Diocesan
Diocese of New Hampshire

The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely
Bishop Diocesan
Bishop of Rhode Island

The Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown
Bishop Diocesan
Bishop of Vermont

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello
Bishop Diocesan
The Episcopal Church in Connecticut

The Rev. Nathan D. Pipho, Bishop
New England Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

A prayer adapted from Bishops United Against Gun Violence

Almighty and merciful God, whose only Son came to preach peace to the nations: Hear us, we beseech you, and comfort those in Providence and Sydney with your steady hand, as we come before you in the wake

of unspeakable violence. Help those who mourn, those in pain, and those grieving to feel your healing presence and abiding love. In a world that seems hopeless, help us all to remember that our hope rests always in you, and in the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

For more liturgical resources, click here.

On Nov. 10, the diocese announced a three-candidate slate:

• The Rev. Alyssa Stebbing, rector of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Austin, Diocese of Texas.
• The Rev. Leon Sampson, co-vicar of the Southeast Region, Missionary Diocese of Navajoland.
• The Rev. Cornelia Eaton, canon to the ordinary, Missionary Diocese of Navajoland.

[UPDATE: On Dec. 19, the Diocese of Navajoland announced that the Rev. Alyssa Stebbing had withdrawn from consideration in the bishop search process.]

In its latest announcement, the diocese stated that the three priests had visited the diocese earlier this month, “visiting, listening deeply, praying, and sharing meals with our Navajo people.”

It said, however, that “as our nominees walked with us within the four sacred mountains of the Navajo Nation, we recognized that our discernment among these three nominees must be extended by six months.”

It also noted that the process of electing a bishop is new to Navajoland, which officially became a missionary diocese, rather than an Episcopal Church area mission, in June 2025.

The statement said this additional time would be used for both the diocese and the three nominees “to grow, learn, and strengthen our foundation through shared knowledge, lived stories, prayerful discernment, and truth spoken in love.”

This extension will also require a new date for a bishop’s consecration, which had been set for May 9, 2026, in Farmington, New Mexico.