[Anglican Communion News Service] Mothers’ Union celebrated 150 years of faith, service and transformation with a special anniversary service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. More than 1,500 members, senior church leaders, supporters and partners from the Anglican Communion and charity sector participated in the service. The June 10 service celebrated a movement that’s grown from a small parish initiative to a global Christian organization with 4 million members in more than 80 countries. It also marked the beginning of Mother’s Union’s next chapter as the organization continues to grow its impact across the Anglican Communion and beyond. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, a Mothers’ Union member, preached. Her sermon reflected on the movement’s legacy and thanked those who have worked towards ending poverty, injustice and violence. “You have made such a difference not just to the church [but] to your communities and to the world,” Mullally said. “You are salt and light and we are grateful.” Read the entire article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Pope Leo XIV’s first papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” invites reflection on the ethical implications of AI on war, relationships and the battle between good and evil. The pope signed the encyclical last month. “At key moments in history, the church is called to decipher the new things in the light of the Gospel and the dignity of the human being,” Leo said during an event marking the encyclical’s release. “Artificial intelligence already touches many areas of our lives and affects decisions that shape human coexistence. It is also dramatically changing how war is waged.” Some Anglican leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and Texas Bishop C. Andrew Doyle, have responded to “Magnifica Humanitas” and their perspectives on AI’s expanding role in society. “The pope is correct that there is a danger here. It is concerning that a few companies, individuals no less, hold a lion’s share of the world’s data and power. Such powers and institutions, easily taking on a life of their own and using the very people they promise to serve, are not new,” Doyle, who chairs The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property, told Anglican Communion News Service. “The encyclical is a gift, and as global Anglicans, we receive it with gratitude and learn from its clarity. Yet we must offer our own word on AI rather than echoing the pope.” Read the entire article here.

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church in Navajoland’s Standing Committee announced June 11 that it would, for a second time, postpone its bishop election to an unspecified date in the future. “After prayerful consultation and discernment, the election has been postponed to a future date. This is a postponement of the election process, not a cancellation,” the Standing Committee said in the June 11 statement. “Both nominees remain in the process and will continue to be considered when the election is reconvened.” The Rev. Cornelia Eaton, the missionary diocese’s canon to the ordinary, and the Rev. Leon Sampson, co-vicar of the diocese’s southeast region, were scheduled to stand for election on June 13. In its statement, the Standing Committee acknowledged that suspension of the Election Convention may come “as a surprise and raise questions,” and added that the diocese will still gather June 12-13 for worship, fellowship, prayer, conversation, and discernment.” The 81st General Convention authorized the creation of the Missionary Diocese of Navajoland in June 2024,  and that process was completed a year later, when Executive Council voted to accept the new missionary diocese’s constitution. “Navajoland was already living as a missionary diocese in spirit and practice,” GJ Gordy, an Executive Council member from Navajoland, said before the council’s vote. “This is not just a structural change. It is recognition of our readiness to lead ourselves.” The Episcopal Church’s ministry on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation dates back more than a century to medical missions established in Fort Defiance, Arizona; Farmington, New Mexico; and Bluff, Utah. Navajoland was the name given to the area mission created by The Episcopal Church in 1977. Area missions’ bishops are appointed to the role by the House of Bishops rather than elected by a local convention. The Rt. Rev. Barry Beisner was the last bishop appointed to the area mission in this way. He was scheduled to retire this year. In 2022, the 81st General Convention passed a resolution entrusting Navajoland “to establish its own rules and procedures for a process of discernment for the calling of a bishop that reflects the values, teachings, and traditions of the Diné.”  Navajoland leaders worked on the plan with the church’s Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons, and, in January 2024, a special convocation in Navajoland voted in favor of the request for missionary diocese status. Missionary diocese status empowered Navajoland to adopt its own constitution and canons, in compliance with The Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons, and to hold an annual diocesan convention and elect a bishop, standing committee, and clergy and lay deputations to General Convention. After bishops and deputies authorized the elevation of Navajoland to missionary-diocese status at the 81st General Convention, Navajoland followed up by holding its first diocesan convention in June 2025, where it approved its new constitution. Its preamble, written in English and the Diné language, incorporates Navajoland’s mission statement into a document that respects Navajo culture and spiritual practices. “In the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy One, we set out to walk in harmony, seeking forgiveness and wholeness,” the preamble says. “Through compassion and service, Love binds us in relationship to all creation. In the Beauty Way all is restored again.” The church’s 2025-27 triennial budget includes $800,000 for the bishop in charge of Navajoland, as well as a $1.4 million block grant. In November 2025, the diocese announced a slate of three candidates for bishop, including Eaton and Sampson, who were set to stand for election on Jan. 3, 2026. Both Eaton and Sampson had been serving as members of Navojoland’s Standing Committee but took a leave of absence after being named to the bishop slate. Then, in mid-December, the diocese announced it was postponing its election until sometime in June. “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,” the diocese said. A few days later, the third bishop candidate, the Rev. Alyssa Stebbing of the Diocese of Texas, announced she was withdrawing from consideration. “I hope that I can continue to support the Episcopal Church in Navajoland and walk with the people and their clergy, including the new bishop,” Stebbing said. The Standing Committee said it would answer questions about the election process and next steps during the June 12-13 gathering and in future updates. “The Episcopal Church in Navajoland remains committed to the election of its first Bishop Diocesan and to seeking God’s guidance for the future of our Diocese,” its statement said. “Please continue to pray for the nominees, the Standing Committee, our clergy and delegates, and all the people of Navajoland.”

[Episcopal News Service — Indianapolis, Indiana] For members of Christ Church Cathedral, here on the northeast corner of Monument Circle, the only thing sweeter than supporting Central Indiana-based nonprofits is doing so with homemade dessert. The Cathedral Women are putting that longstanding belief in action on June 11 by hosting the 60th annual Strawberry Festival on the cathedral’s front lawn. The festival, the downtown cathedral’s biggest fundraiser, is a beloved and tasty tradition that raises tens of thousands of dollars annually by selling strawberry shortcakes to thousands of hungry visitors. “It’s such a fun day because you see Monument Circle come alive. Anybody and everybody of all ages is there and hanging out,” Sarah McFetridge, a Cathedral Women member and the festival’s coordinator, told Episcopal News Service. “We have a lot of stories where kids went with their grandparents, then they took their kids and now they’re taking their grandkids every year. It’s really fun to be a part of those core memories for people.” That’s the case with Rebecca Robinson, who has been coming to the festival with her family annually for 50 years. “This work is fellowship. It’s love; it’s community. Everything that Indianapolis stands for is right there in that church,” Robinson, a parishioner at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, told ENS. Many festivalgoers enjoy their fresh treats on the steps of the Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which is across the street from the cathedral in the middle of Monument Circle. SPARK on the Circle, a free season pop-up park on the northwest quadrant, is also popular. The Strawberry Festival began in 1965, when the Cathedral Women baked and sold 100 shortcakes. The cathedral, however, has actually been raising funds by selling strawberries since 1864, according to “The Little Church on the Circle,” a history book published in 1957 and written by pharmaceutical industrialist and philanthropist Eli Lilly Jr. His grandfather was the founder of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company. The cathedral is marking 2026 as the 60th anniversary instead of the 61st because the festival wasn’t held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Strawberry Festival is an official cathedral event, staff and volunteers don’t use it to proselytize. They do, however, distribute small items, like cathedral-branded Pride stickers, that show the congregation’s beliefs. “I call the Strawberry Festival a sacrament with a little ‘S.’ It’s an outward and visible sign of the grace that this church has for our city and community,” the Very Rev. Gray Lesesne, Christ Church Cathedral’s dean, told ENS. “I think it’s the best snapshot of our life together in a day.” The cathedral donates all proceeds from the festival, which will be evenly distributed to designated Strawberry Festival grant recipients in the spring and fall – up to $3,000 per recipient. “The more strawberry shortcakes we sell, the more money we can give to these amazing local charities,” McFetridge said. Recent recipients include Deeply Ingrained, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that teaches youth and underserved individuals woodworking skills, and Project Period Indy, an organization that stocks schools, libraries, shelters and other places with free feminine hygiene products. One of the only conditions the charitable organization members must meet to receive a grant is volunteering the week or day of the Strawberry Festival. Many of them don’t seem to mind, McFetridge said, because they will often return to volunteer in other years, even if their nonprofit isn’t a recipient. “We blast music in the kitchen, share meals and work together in a kind of assembly line process. It’s very fun community building, and everyone feels accomplished when we see how many shortcakes we’ve made from scratch,” she said. The shortcake recipe is a “church secret” that, according to McFetridge, “can’t be replicated at home.” When Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows was acquainting herself with the diocese after her April 2017 consecration, her first experience of the Strawberry Festival was a “great way to kick off my understanding of what’s really important and core for ministries here.” “The cathedral is impacting so many lives through all the organizations it supports through the Strawberry Festival,” Baskerville-Burrows told ENS in an in-person interview. “[The festival] is really about the reach that this cathedral has. It’s a great way to get to know the values here in the diocese.” When she’s able, Baskerville-Burrows likes to greet festivalgoers on the cathedral’s lawn. She’s previously volunteered to prepare the strawberry shortcakes; her task on the assembly line was to scoop the ice cream. She described the quick, repetitive motion as “high pressure.” “It’s usually hot outside, people are hungry and the lines are long. I applaud the volunteers who come back year after year after year, because this is a way for them to give back to the community,” Baskerville-Burrows said. “Having done it myself, I know what a commitment and what a gift this is. We couldn’t do it without the volunteers.” Earlier this week, about 200 volunteers, including parishioners from other Episcopal churches in the diocese, made 15,000 shortcake biscuits. And by the end of the day-long festival, they will have gone through 12,000 pounds of strawberries. The ingredients, which are sold à la carte or together for $10 as “The Works,” include shortcake, sliced strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped topping. Nothing will go to waste. If the cathedral doesn’t sell everything, Second Helpings, a hunger relief agency serving Central Indiana, will collect the leftovers and distribute them to nearby shelters. As a longtime runner who maintains a healthy lifestyle, Baskerville-Burrows rarely eats sweets. Every June, though, she makes an exception for the Strawberry Festival and orders “The Works.” “It’s once a year, so I’m going to indulge delightfully,” she said. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] The Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando, Florida, memorialized the 49 people who were shot and killed nearly 10 years ago – June 12, 2016 – at Pulse, a nearby gay nightclub, today with a public livestreamed Votive Requiem Mass. The congregation prayed for healing, peace and hope as the victims’ names were read aloud. The Rev. Dan Smith, the Diocese of Central Florida’s canon to the ordinary, preached. He called for the need to respect the dignity of every human being and to practically and prayerfully seek peace and justice. “[The LGBTQ+ and Latino communities] 10 years ago, and unfortunately still today, experience discrimination, hatred, fear and violence,” Smith said in his sermon. “I think of those four words: discrimination, hatred, fear, violence. They are antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the vows that each and every one of us take at our baptism.” The Rev. Garrett Puccetti, resident priest of the cathedral and the service’s planner and celebrant, told Episcopal News Service ahead of the service that the cathedral wanted to honor the victims, survivors, loved ones, first responders and everyone else affected by the shooting because “the Christian response to violence and hatred is love.” “Because Christ first loved us and because we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we, as the cathedral, decided that we needed to continue the same ministry we offered right after the Pulse shooting happened,” Puccetti said. The service also included readings from Isaiah 25:6-9, Psalm 130, 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and John 11:21-27. On the morning of the shooting, the Rev. Nancy Oliver, then a deacon at the cathedral, woke up shortly after 5 a.m. to prepare for a full day of Sunday worship services. While getting ready, she turned on the TV. That’s when she learned about the shooting and that Orlando police had just fatally shot the killer. At 7 a.m., Oliver arrived at the cathedral with no intent to stay for worship. Instead, she spent the next 15 hours distributing bottled water and food, leading impromptu prayer circles and listening to people vent outside Orlando Regional Medical Center and at a nearby hotel where hundreds of people waited to hear from their loved ones. “It was a terrible time for everyone. It was very intense,” she told ENS. “While I was leading one of the prayer circles and everyone bowed heads together, I looked down, and I saw rivulets of blood all over this young girl’s boots from when she was inside Pulse. It was unreal. I’ll never get that image out of my mind.” Smith was rector of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Sanford, a north Orlando suburb, in 2016. Like Oliver, Smith learned about the shooting at Pulse that morning on television. He scrapped the sermon he had prepared and instead addressed the congregation with some handwritten notes. “I got up in the pulpit and just preached what was on my mind. It’s horrifying to think that the second-largest mass shooting in the history of the United States happened right here in the city that we love so much,” Smith told ENS. “The congregation and I dove headlong into the grief and the shock and the horror of this hate crime against the gay and Latino communities – two communities who are already pushed to the edge and discriminated against as is.” The Pulse nightclub shooting, which also left 58 people injured, was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history until one year later, when a gunman opened fire on a crowd gathered on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017. Most of the nightclub victims were Latino because Pulse was hosting “Latin Night” when the shooting occurred. The funeral of one of the victims, Christopher Andrew Leinonen, was held at the cathedral. Members of Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-LGBTQ+ congregation, attempted to picket Leinonen’s funeral, but 200 counterprotesters formed a human chain to block their view of the cathedral. “It was emotional seeing so many people go out of their way to shield funeral-goers from seeing that hate group,” said Oliver, who now serves at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in nearby Cocoa Beach. Greater Orlando is one of Florida’s more socially progressive metropolitan areas, but Central Florida is historically one of the most theologically conservative dioceses in The Episcopal Church. But, according to Smith, news of the Pulse shooting “affected everyone in the diocese.” “Central Florida is still one of the most conservative dioceses, but, to me, that makes it even more incumbent for us to pay attention to the anniversary of this act of violence,” he said. The June 10 service concluded with the cathedral’s bells tolling 49 times – one ring for each victim. During his sermon, Smith told the congregation to reflect on how they will respond to future hatred and violence. “The real question that I want you to ponder this day is, where will you be?” Smith said. “Where will you be when hatred is spewed? Where will you be when someone is pushed to the edge of our society or pushed out completely? Where will you be when violence raises its ugly head, as it undoubtedly will? Will we live into and up to the promise we make at our baptism, to share the hope of the gospel, to respect the dignity of all people and to seek, always, justice and peace?” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.