[Anglican Communion News Service] During a reception at the United Nations’ biennial Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, The Episcopal Church’s eco-region networks coordinator and former bishop of Kansas, shared how churches are working to restore and protect oceans. Bascom highlighted how the eco-region networks address region-specific biodiversity and climate issues, including aiming to “save the prairie and the Chesapeake Bay … restore oyster beds and to contain urban runoff in the Gulf Coast.” “Our network is preserving the continuum of habitats from the headwaters to the deltas in the Caribbean basin,” Bascom said. “They are focusing on coral reefs, to name just a few.” The 17th biodiversity conference, or COP17, is taking place Oct. 19-30 in Yerevan, Armenia. Bascom is there representing Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe as part of a five-person Anglican delegation. Read the full article here.

[World Council of Churches] The World Council of Churches Ecumenical Officers Network gathered online Oct. 27-28  for mutual learning and collaboration. The meeting brought together representatives of member churches worldwide to share experiences, address common challenges and explore priorities for the ecumenical movement. The meeting provided space for church representatives to introduce their work, welcome new participants, and exchange perspectives on ecumenical relations. For example, Gillian Kingston, from the Methodist Church in Ireland, reported that the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland, which is an Anglican church, have achieved full interchangeability of ordained ministries. “This was the result of a lengthy process, but it has now been successfully implemented,” said Kingston. “An ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Ireland can serve as a priest in the Church of Ireland, and vice versa.” The network seeks to strengthen relationships among member churches and support their common witness for justice, reconciliation and unity. Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church is approaching full compliance with payments of its diocesan assessments, which are the largest source of revenue supporting the churchwide budget. Each of the church’s 106 dioceses, after an exemption for its first $200,000 in annual revenue, is required to contribute 15% of the rest of the income to the wider church. Only five dioceses — Albany, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Florida and Navajoland — requested and received waivers from that requirement in 2026. The five previously had received assessment waivers for 2025 as well, as did New Jersey and Southwest Florida. Those two additional dioceses did not request new waivers for 2026 and are expected to pay their full assessments for the year. Full compliance from all dioceses would mean estimated assessment revenue of about $31 million in 2026, or nearly 65% of the church’s total $49 million in budgeted revenue. Every year, however, church officials plan for some dioceses to fall short, either because they are struggling under financial hardships or, in rarer cases, because they decline to pay their share. Executive Council, the church’s governing and oversight body between meetings of General Convention, voted at its Oct. 19 meeting to approve partial waivers totaling $285,000 to the five requesting dioceses in 2026. That is less than half the $582,000 in waivers approved a year ago. Financial hardship is typically seen as a valid reason for requesting waivers. They are also sometimes granted to dioceses that are gradually increasing their contributions after previously failing to pay their full assessments. The five dioceses that were granted waivers from paying the full 15% still have been asked to increase their payment rates for 2026, bringing them closer to compliance. The Diocese of Albany is now committed to paying a rate of 10%, while the Diocese of Florida has committed to 11.5%. Both dioceses previously had been paying lower assessment rates under former conservative bishops, who had been at odds with the wider Episcopal Church over some of its theologically more progressive stances, particularly toward LGBTQ+ inclusion. Colombia and Dominican Republic are two of the dioceses in the church’s Latin American Province IX that have struggled for years toward financial sustainability. Colombia received a waiver of $34,400, for an effective assessment rate of 1%, and the Dominican Republic received a $90,100 waiver, also putting it at 3%. Navajoland is a relatively new missionary diocese, established by votes of the 81st General Convention in 2024 and Executive Council in 2025. This month, it received an assessment waiver of $21,100 based on a 2026 assessment rate of 2.9%. The Diocese of New Jersey, which had been working to address past accounting irregularities, first received a waiver in 2024. A year ago, Executive Council granted it another waiver of $155,000 for an assessment rate of 11%, but this year it is paying the full 15%. A year ago, the Diocese of Southwest Florida was still recovering from Hurricane Milton, which hit in October 2024. It requested and received a waiver of $150,000 from its 2025 assessment and did not request another waiver in 2026. The only diocese that has not committed to paying the full 15% or requested a waiver for 2026 is the Diocese of Springfield, which encompasses the largely rural lower half of Illinois. In the past, it has followed an internal policy of leaving the question of assessments up to congregations – they decide what portion of their assessments to the diocese will be relayed to The Episcopal Church — which has produced an annual diocesan assessment payment well below 15%. Episcopal News Service sought comment from the Diocese of Springfield for this story, which will be updated upon receiving a response. The Episcopal Church has worked over the past several years to secure full assessment payments from nearly all of its dioceses and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Some less resourced dioceses are not required to pay any assessments because they have reported diocesan income lower than the $200,000 exemption. Dioceses that don’t contribute at the 15% rate and fail to apply for or receive approval for waivers can be ruled ineligible from participating in churchwide grant programs for one year. – 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] Wildfires across Indonesia are threatening human life and nature as they burn across the Southeast Asia archipelago. The fires are rapidly approaching churches and villages and have devastated wildlife and plant life, threatening numerous species. The Communion of Churches in Indonesia and several partners are working to establish oxygen shelters — temporary public health stations that provide filtered air or short-term oxygen therapy to people with respiratory issues, asthma or smoke inhalation symptoms — across Kalimantan. “We want our brothers and sisters in the affected communities to know that they are not forgotten and that the churches are standing alongside them in this difficult time,” said Rev. Darwin Darmawan, general secretary of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia. Read the full article here.