The 14 terminations and 16 early retirements help the church center shift from a staff of 143 to 110 and save the church approximately $2.13 million per year in personnel costs, surpassing savings goals set by General Convention.
The small rural diocese has not employed a full-time bishop in a decade, and it envisions a “shared episcopate model,” with leadership exercised by the standing committee, an assisting bishop, and key staff.
Pete Nunnally: “Water and Wilderness seeks to undo the formation of intentional and unintentional limits that our liturgy has put on what the church is, who God is.”
While bishops warn of racial profiling and share legal advice, one Maryland priest has become legal guardian of 15 children from his congregation whose parents are in danger of deportation.
“We need to find the face of Christ in the faces of marginalized,” Bishop Rowe said, adding that in Christ’s kingdom, “the people at the edge are in the center.”
Bishop Mariann Budde: “I wanted to emphasize respect, honor, and dignity of every human being. Unity requires mercy and compassion. Many people are really scared.”
The Bishop of Washington called on a glowering President Trump to be gracious to LGBT people and immigrants in an emotional close to her sermon. “They could do much better,” the president said of the service.
