[Episcopal News Service — Tijuana, Mexico] About 35 migrants, including 14 children, have received much needed support and services here on the U.S.-Mexico border since the 2025 opening of Comunidad de Luz, a shelter for migrant women and children operated by the Diocese of San Diego and its nonprofit and ecumenical partners. Episcopal News Service on April 14 joined some 20 attendees of this week’s Episcopal Communicators Conference in San Diego, California, to tour the shelter’s facilities in Tijuana and listen to residents share their stories. Many of the women and their children are fleeing violence, poverty and political and economic instability. ENS is withholding the residents’ last names because of their concerns for safety. “My family and I arrived in Mexico four years ago, but unfortunately my husband left us not long after,” Evelyn, a migrant from Honduras who lives with her son and daughter at Comunidad de Luz, told ENS speaking in Spanish. “My job working in the middle of the night was the only financial source I had to support my two children, and I didn’t have anyone – no family – to ask to help me take care of them while I worked. … Sometimes there was no food or water for my children. I was sad,”  The Diocese of San Diego partnered with Via International, the Vida Joven Foundation, the Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Anglican Diocese of Western Mexico to establish Comunidad de Luz – Spanish for “Community of Light.” Licensed by the Mexican government, the shelter can house up to 100 women and children, though it has not yet come close to reaching that capacity. Eleven migrant women and children are now staying at the shelter, according to Robert Vivar, the Diocese of San Diego’s immigration missioner and interim executive director of Comunidad de Luz. Some of them were deported from the United States while others have settled in Tijuana while waiting to legally cross the border. For some, Tijuana is the final destination. The hope, Vivar told ENS, is for guests to stay for at least four months to a year so that they have time to be treated for physical and mental health issues and develop employable skills while they get back on their feet.  “The goal of our mission is to provide the women different tools, workshops, mental health support and medical support so that they have the opportunity to support themselves through a dignified job and buy or rent their own apartment or home,” Vivar told ENS. “The goal is that by the time they leave here, they can continue as productive members of any community where they may see they want to live.” Vivar and his wife travel back and forth between Tijuana and San Diego to run Comunidad de Luz. Occasionally, the shelter functions as an emergency respite center for migrant women and children who need a few days to arrange transportation to their final destinations. Recently, a Mexican asylum-seeker living in Alaska and her sons were deported to Tijuana after she missed a court hearing. After learning about the family’s case from Alaska Bishop Mark Lattime, Vivar located the family and brought them to Comunidad de Luz, where they stayed for a day before relocating to Jalisco, where they have family. “This is one example of how we’ve determined that our mission is not only the long-term job training mission, but also sometimes we can be there to help people in the short term for many deportees and others who are in transition one way or another,” San Diego Bishop Susan Brown Snook told ENS in an in-person interview. “We’ve realized that there are people that we can help in a different way.” The origins of Comunidad de Luz date to 2023, shortly after Vivar started working for the diocese. Vivar preached about migration challenges at Christ Episcopal Church in Coronado, the church home of Tony Ralphs. Ralphs’ wife, Pilar, who is a Mexican citizen, owns the fenced 13-acre property in Tijuana where the shelter now sits. The Ralphses were already operating a six-story orphanage, retreat center and chapel on the compound but had another two-story building that wasn’t being used. After hearing Vivar preach, Tony Ralphs offered to license the empty building for a new migrant shelter. The building received significant upgrades and additions, including an apartment for its resident coordinator, bathrooms, showers and a larger water heater. The first floor includes a large commercial kitchen, a dining room, a laundry room and a meeting space for group therapy and other needs. The second floor has three large dormitory-style rooms with bunk beds provided by the Mexican government. In addition to basic necessities like food, clothing and hygiene products, Comunidad de Luz provides job training, physical and mental health services, nutrition and health education, language classes, child care, academic resources, transportation and spiritual care. Social workers are also available on site. Regular prayer services and pastoral care are offered at the shelter. Josette, a migrant and mother from Haiti, has been attending the cooking classes since she arrived at Comunidad de Luz in January. After learning new cooking techniques, she developed her own variation of fried green plantain chips that she now packages and sells at an outdoor market in front of the shelter. The chips are popular and quickly sell out every day. The money Josette earns will help her and her daughter permanently settle into a new home when they are ready to leave Comunidad de Luz. “The shelter has been a good place to be. I really want to thank the team because I feel really grateful for how they have helped me. I first felt like I stood out more at the shelter because of my dark skin and having to learn to speak Spanish, but everyone here has welcomed me,” Josette told the communicators in her native French. “I don’t work at the moment, so making and selling plantain

[Episcopal News Service] If you’re visiting East Hampton, New York, this week and want to find out “whodunit,” the plot twists and suspenseful storytelling likely will lead you to the parish hall of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. For the third year, the congregation is hosting a series of events as part of the Hamptons Whodunit, a four-day international celebration of mystery writing that bills itself as “the premier boutique mystery and true crime festival in New York State.” “It’s just one of those many things that we partner with the community to bring people in,” the Rev. Benjamin Shambaugh, St. Luke’s rector, told Episcopal News Service by phone. His congregation is preparing the space for various panel discussions with mystery authors this weekend and other festival events, including a “murder mystery game” on April 17. “What’s fun about it is you get to meet people from all over the country,” Shambaugh said, as well as mystery authors from the United Kingdom, Australia and other places around the world. He added that the authors and mystery fans also enjoy visiting St. Luke’s as a kind of stand-in for an Old World church, like something out of an Agatha Christie novel. “The church has that kind of Gothic feel to it,” he said. The Hamptons Whodunit festival runs April 16-19. Its schedule is filled with dozens of events, most of which will be held either in St. Luke’s Hoie Hall or the nearby East Hampton Library. The panel discussions come with genre-appropriate titles like “Write to Kill,” “Familiar Faces, Fatal Crimes” (about small-town murder stories) and “Vigilantes, Vengeance and the Price of Justice.” The murder mystery game at St. Luke’s will be an “interactive detective game” that allows participants to “collaborate with some of your favorite crime writers,” according to the festival schedule. St. Luke’s also hosts the festival’s trivia night on April 18, which “pairs teams of attendees with bestselling crime writers.” East Hampton is a seaside town of about 30,000 people on the far eastern end of New York’s Long Island. The festival was launched in 2023 as a way to draw more visitors to East Hampton in the off season. In the summer, the population “more than doubles,” Shambaugh said, but the town’s winter and spring vibes are more laid back. With that in mind, St. Luke’s has been supportive of efforts to draw outside attention to the community during the quieter months. The Hamptons Whodunit certainly fits that bill. “It’s a big festival,” Shambaugh said. When St. Luke’s isn’t welcoming genre writers and fans, it offers its space for plenty of other community events catering to the needs and interests of local residents. The Hamptons Festival of Music has scheduled a chamber music performance in the church’s parish hall on April 23. An art show is on the calendar in May. Yoga classes take place every week on Thursday. The congregation also holds Bible studies and supports an East Hampton food pantry. “We try to be a center for the community, so we do that with outreach; we do that by serving various groups,” Shambaugh said. “But we also do that as a venue for community events.” Shambaugh isn’t just a host. He’s also a fan of mystery writing, particularly the novels of Julia Spencer-Fleming. She features an Episcopal priest as one of her main characters. And as someone who, for nearly 40 years, has preached the Gospel — that biblical font of storytelling — Shambaugh enjoys meeting different people at the Hamptons Whodunit and hearing their stories. “It’s not really the murder or the mystery. It’s the storytelling,” he said. “And Jesus gave us a lot of truth by storytelling.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Western North Carolina Bishop José McLoughlin is stepping down from his role leading the Asheville-based diocese to join the staff of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe in the newly created position of chief administrative officer. McLoughlin, who was ordained bishop of Western North Carolina in 2016, will assume the new churchwide position in June. “In this new role, I will assist the presiding bishop as he seeks to reimagine and strengthen the ministries of The Episcopal Church, supporting dioceses, congregations, and Episcopalians across the wider church,” McLoughlin said in an April 16 letter to his diocese. “After much prayer and discernment, I believe this is where God is now calling me to serve.” Rowe offered additional details about the chief administrative officer position in a memo to churchwide staff. “In his new role, José will oversee much of our staff program and administrative functions, helping us build on the significant progress that all of you have made in the last eighteen months,” Rowe said. “Together, you have embraced a new vision for our ministry as a staff and made great strides in our ability to try new approaches and collaborate across departments.” The announcement comes a little more than a year after Rowe oversaw a major realignment of the churchwide staff, grouping many of the positions into the two new divisions of Mission Program and Public Policy Witness while laying off 14 employees and offering retirement incentives to 16 others. In addition, Rowe has hired other new staff members to a variety of newly created roles. Adding McLoughlin in a leadership role is “a way to support the growth that I have seen you work so hard to achieve,” Rowe told the churchwide staff. He added that he was responding to staff requests for “more help to break down silos and take initiatives” and staff feedback that “the press of my calendar and those of our other leadership team members mean that your momentum can be slowed by bottlenecks.” “By adding this leadership position devoted to overseeing program and administration, I hope to provide extra support in the areas you have identified and strengthen our collective capacity to support dioceses,” Rowe said. McLoughlin, in announcing the news to his diocese, said he first fell in love with Western North Carolina while visiting there on his honeymoon in 1993. “I sensed immediately that this was holy ground,” he said. “The mountains, the quiet beauty, the deep spirituality of this place — all of it spoke to my heart.” He intends to transfer ecclesiastical authority to the standing committee on July 31, and he is working with Rowe to ensure continued episcopal support and parish visits for the diocese as it navigates this leadership transition. “Over these past ten years, it has been an extraordinary privilege and joy to serve as your bishop,” McLoughlin said. “Together, we have walked through seasons of growth and challenge, celebration and uncertainty. We have strengthened congregations, fostered new ministries, navigated transitions, and remained steadfast in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in our communities. We have deepened our shared commitment to forming disciples, caring for one another, and embodying Christ’s love in Western North Carolina.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Pope Leo XIV has opened about his faith-based opposition to war, particularly the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, and the American-born pontiff has said Christians are called to follow Jesus’ model in advocating for peace. U.S. President Donald Trump and others in his administration have criticized Leo for expressing those views. On April 16, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, issued a statement saying she stands behind Leo in his calls for peace. The following is the text of Mullally’s statement. I stand with my brother in Christ, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, in his courageous call for a kingdom of peace. As innocent people are killed and displaced, families torn apart, and futures destroyed, the human cost of war is incalculable. It is the calling of every Christian – and of all people of faith and goodwill – to work and pray for peace. We must also urge all those entrusted with political authority to pursue every possible peaceful and just means of resolving conflict. As I prepare to visit Rome later this month to meet and pray with Pope Leo, I am mindful of his call to keep our eyes open to the suffering of the world, and our gaze fixed on our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ – the image of the invisible God, in whose image and likeness every human being is made. In him, we recognize that we are children of the one Father and members of a single human family. Prayer is not an escape from the world, nor a turning away from injustice; rather, it is a turning towards God in the midst of it, confronting evil, seeking God’s will, and becoming instruments of transformation and peace. As Christians, we are called to stand in solidarity with all who suffer, and to respond with compassion and love. Christ’s self-giving life, lived for the sake of others, reminds us that the command to love God with all our heart is inseparable from the call to love our neighbor as ourselves, especially the neighbor who suffers, who is displaced, who lives in fear, and who longs for peace. Time spent with Anglican Primates from across the Communion at my installation in Canterbury was a reminder of how many conflicts continue beyond the front pages of our news, yet demand no less our concern and prayer. Our shared humanity has long inspired peacemakers across generations, whether Christian or not. That vision gave rise to the United Nations, founded amidst the ashes of the Second World War. Many decades on, our generation must recommit itself to its Charter, upholding human rights, international law, and the dignity and worth of every human life. As the Pope has recalled, we echo the words of Pope Paul VI on his first visit to the United Nations: “No more war.” I therefore urge Anglicans across the Church of England and the Anglican Communion to join with His Holiness in raising our voices for peace and justice throughout the world. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, blesses the peacemakers and calls them children of God. In a time marked by hatred, division, and violence, may we be steadfast in that calling – witnesses to hope, agents of reconciliation, and bearers of God’s peace in a wounded world.

[Episcopal News Service] The United States launches a deadly war thousands of miles away in Iran. The “Secretary of War” frames the military attacks as aligned with “the providence of our almighty God.” The president threatens that “a whole civilization will die tonight” to pressure his Iranian adversaries to surrender. Two Christian theological traditions can help guide faithful responses to such actions and rhetoric by the Trump administration, according to the three panelists in an April 15 webinar convened by The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office Government Relations. Some theologians use a “just war” framework in analyzing government-sanctioned violence, while others argue for a pacifism rooted in Jesus’ teaching that Christians should love their enemies. Under either theological approach, the Trump administration’s war on Iran fails the test, the panelists concluded. “The U.S. war in Iran is unjust. It’s a violation of international law and the rule-based order. It’s an affront to the way of the prince of peace,” Kyle Lambelet, an associate professor of ethics at Virginia Theological Seminary, said in arguing for the doctrine of pacifism in the Zoom webinar. Lambelet was joined on the panel by the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, The Episcopal Church’s bishop suffragan of armed forces and federal ministries, and Charles Mathewes, professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. The discussion was introduced by Rebecca Blachly, the church’s chief of public policy and witness, and moderated by Scott MacDougall, the church’s director of theological resources. The Episcopal military chaplains whose service Ritonia coordinates “are feeling torn right now” as they provide pastoral guidance to military leaders and servicemembers at war. They must grapple with how to respond when military action “violates moral convictions,” such as the deaths of more than 150 Iranians at a school that was destroyed when the U.S. and Israel initially launched their bombing campaign on Feb. 28. The war with Iran “certainly doesn’t meet the criteria, at least in my opinion, of ‘just war,’” Ritonia said. She advises military chaplains to “sit in the tension of that space” and “let your presence make it easier for truth and mercy to be spoken in the same breath.” The theology of war has moved to the forefront of contemporary debate since President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance openly criticized Pope Leo XIV over the Roman Catholic pontiff’s calls for peace, as Jesus taught. “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sward and today drop bombs,” Leo, the first American pope, said in a social media post April 10. “Military action will not create space for freedom or times of peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.” That statement followed U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s frequent use of religious imagery to describe the conflict with Iran, including likening the rescue of a downed fighter pilot to Jesus’ resurrection. On Easter, April 5, Trump posted to social media a profane demand that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz or “you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Then a week later, on April 12, Trump attacked Leo by name, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” Leo responded April 13 that he had “no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.” The next day, Vance joined in criticizing Leo, questioning the theology of the pope’s faith-based opposition to military attacks. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?” Vance said at an event in Georgia. “I certainly think the answer is yes.” During The Episcopal Church’s webinar, Mathewes spoke about the deep theological roots of the “just war” tradition — which says violence, though wrong, may be justified within certain boundaries when seeking to prevent a greater evil. But he cautioned that the decision to go to war, as a Christian, is always understood as “part of a larger theology of history, of justice and of judgment.” A war can only be deemed “just” after acknowledging that all humans are corrupted by sin and that the decision to go to war is “made at real moral cost,” he said. “The justice and judgment of God are beginning to be worked out in history on this account,” Mathewes said. “And the just war tradition depicts us humans as necessarily part of the world and, as such, part of the awesome and horrendous unspooling of God’s providential judgment on the world.” Lambelet outlined two faulty theological arguments for war, both of which he said have been made by the Trump administration regarding its attacks on Iran. Hegseth’s use of religious language seems to cast this as a “holy war,” with God on the side of the U.S., Lambelet said, while Trump’s assertion that he has the authority to obliterate another country and its people echoes historical claims that “war is hell” and therefore “beyond moral constraint.” “Neither of these are aligned with the Gospel,” Lambelet said. In addition to biblical support for a theology of pacifism, he cited decades of church doctrine, as adopted by both The Episcopal Church’s General Convention and the global Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, in arguing that war is morally wrong. “War as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible with the teaching and example of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” the Lambeth Conference said in 1930, a statement cited by Lambelet. He also invoked the example of the earliest Christian disciples, who refused to participate in Roman wars because of their faith beliefs. “Jesus, the prince of peace, calls us to what Paul names the ministry of reconciliation, modeling in his own treatment of neighbors, of strangers, of enemies ways of engaging conflict without violence,” he said. Ritonia also referenced the dual theologies of just war and pacifism, saying